Mr. Speaker, we’re in a rush to procure enough electricity to replace the Pickering nuclear plant closing in 2025. How do we know it’s a rush? Well, this government has an expedited procurement for power starting in 2027, with a big bonus for starting earlier. For example, if you produce electricity on business days between May and August 2025, they’ll pay you 50% more.

In July 2018, this government cancelled renewable energy projects, letting hundreds of millions of dollars of investments go down the drain and losing four precious years. The Premier said then that he was “so proud” to have done that. Now we realize that we need that clean electricity.

You have to dig a little, but the list of qualified applicants for the next round of long-term procurement is full of renewable energy. Can we just admit that this government is quietly getting back into renewable energy, something it should never have abandoned?

La clôture de la centrale Pickering constitue une menace—peu de temps; contraintes liées au changement climatique. On ne peut pas attendre jusqu’à la prochaine élection. Et alors je voudrais influencer le programme du gouvernement maintenant.

I would like the government to think about the following question for the good of Ontario: We’ll need to produce lots of renewable energy quickly. Developers are already approaching landowners quietly in anticipation. Could the energy and the municipal affairs ministers talk and then start now to help municipalities prepare for deciding how they will or will not be part of this critical project? For example, could they help municipalities decide whether or not to zone areas for wind and solar projects now, so that developers could know beforehand where they could build clean energy projects with the speed we need?