Richard Brennan
Toronto Star
December 6, 2002

Ontario’s energy minister was accused yesterday of being cavalier about the province’s supply of electricity.

During debate in the Legislature, NDP Leader Howard Hampton was questioning the government about keeping secret the names of power companies that suspend electricity production and increasing fears of blackouts or brownouts.

"Minister, don’t you think the people of Ontario deserve to know whether or not the lights and the heat will come on when they flick on the switch?" Hampton said. Energy Minister John Baird responded: "People of Ontario just have to flick the switch and they’ll know whether the lights come on."

Hampton said Baird’s "cavalier" comment "indicates a minister of energy who frankly is not doing his job of protecting the people of Ontario and their need for heat, lights and electricity when we have temperatures of 20 below."

Liberal MPP Dwight Duncan said this is the kind of "arrogant response that people have come to expect from the Tories."

The Independent Market Operator, which runs the power grid, has been importing power to keep Ontario’s lights on after about 3,000 megawatts of power were knocked out of service by mechanical problems.

Tom Adams, executive director of Energy Probe, cautioned that releasing too much information can harm markets, the Star‘s John Spears reports.

If out of province suppliers are informed immediately when a big generator breaks down, he said, the suppliers are likely to dramatically increase their offer prices into the Ontario market.