My question is for the Minister of Energy. The Liberal carbon tax continues to not only increase our energy and gas bills, but also drive up the cost of food, housing and so much more. That’s why, Speaker, it should be a given that all members in this Legislature oppose this tax. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Rather than join our government in calling for the federal Liberals to scrap this disastrous tax, the NDP and independent Liberals are choosing to play politics and ignore their constituents.

Our government stands with the families and people of Ontario, which is why we will not stop until the federal government finally listens and eliminates the carbon tax.

Could the minister please explain what steps our government is taking to support our clean energy future without resorting to the carbon tax?

Back to the Minister of Energy: We hear it time and time again: The Liberal carbon tax only stands to punish Ontarians.

As people in our province continue to struggle with high interest rates and a rising cost of living, all governments should be putting forward measures that provide financial relief for individuals and families. Instead, the federal Liberals, supported by their provincial counterparts, are choosing to drive up the prices of day-to-day essentials like gas in the tank and groceries. Speaker, Ontarians have had enough. It’s time to scrap the tax.

Could the minister please explain to the House why the federal government must end this unjust carbon tax?

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Energy. The carbon tax continues to drive up the cost of living for all Ontarians, from fuelling our cars to heating our homes and feeding our families. Instead of addressing inflation, the federal government wants to keep saddling Ontarians with higher gas, energy and grocery bills.

Ontarians are having a tough time, and they want to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But they are concerned that there is no end in sight for the carbon tax as the federal Liberals plan to triple the tax by 2030. The federal Liberals, supported by the opposition NDP, and the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, will continue to make life more expensive for everyone. This is unacceptable.

Speaker, can the minister please explain why Ontarians cannot afford the NDP-Liberal carbon tax?

But, Speaker, Ontarians deserve better. They deserve a federal government that works for them, not against and punishing them. Rising gas, heating and grocery costs are weighing on many households, and the last thing they need is another tax hike. The federal government must do the right thing now: End the carbon tax and the suffering it is causing Ontarians.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what a real plan for building Ontario’s clean energy advantage looks like?

Interjections.

I would like to thank my colleague from Toronto–Danforth for a very interesting one-hour debate on this bill. It’s becoming more and more obvious that all that the bill does is it gives this government the power to force gas consumers to pay costs that the Ontario Energy Board believes they should not have to pay. The Ontario Energy Board is a consumer protection board. It exists to protect the consumer from being gouged by any kind of company, be it natural gas—so why, with this bill, does the government give itself the power to do this? I feel like the title of the bill should be “pushing energy costs up act”—not down. What do you think?

As the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Energy, it is my pleasure to rise this afternoon to speak on the third reading of Bill 165, Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, introduced by the Minister of Energy.

Speaker, as the minister said, the changes proposed in Bill 165 will help to protect Ontario’s energy consumers and get housing and energy infrastructure built faster, while ensuring that families and businesses continue to have access to energy that is reliable and affordable, now and in the future. I’m proud of the work that the minister and our government are doing on a pragmatic approach to energy policy that provides customer choice and is also one of the cleanest in the world.

Speaker, just last week, I was proud to represent the minister at the Niagara Parks Power Station to celebrate 100 years of hydroelectric power in Niagara Falls with our friends from Hatch, a global engineering firm based in Mississauga–Lakeshore; Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati; and the Niagara Parks Commission CEO David Adames.

We’re extending the life of these stations by at least another 30 years, providing up to 1,700 megawatts of clean, reliable hydro power with a billion-dollar refurbishment plan to help Ontario meet our growing energy needs and to ensure we have the power we need for the homes we’re building.

For the next major international investment: Thanks to all the work our government has done to attract investments, Ontario is quickly becoming a leader in electric vehicles and battery manufacturing and green steelmaking, with over $43 billion in investments from global automakers like Stellantis, Volkswagen and Umicore, and just two weeks ago, another $15 billion from Honda, the largest auto sector investment in the history of Canada.

The investments don’t stop there. We’re also attracting massive investments in advanced manufacturing, life sciences and more. In fact, last September, in my own riding of Mississauga–Lakeshore, the member of Oakville North–Burlington and I were proud to welcome a $6.5-million investment by Eurofins, a global leader in bioanalysis, in a new lab that will support groundbreaking research while creating new well-paying jobs in Mississauga.

Across the province, we have been able to attract over $3 billion of investment in the life sciences sector in the last three years alone.

Since 2018, Ontario has added over 725,000 new jobs—more new manufacturing jobs last year than all 50 US states combined. That’s one reason why we’re seeing manufacturing move to electrify their systems, which will reduce emissions even further.

Adding to that, Speaker, Ontario’s population is growing faster, by over half a million people last year, and we’re on track for at least another half a million in 2024. That’s more growth than any US state, including the fastest-growing states of Florida and Texas.

All this means that, for the first time since 2005—20 years ago—Ontario’s electricity demand is rising. The Independent Electricity System Operator reports that electricity demand in the province could more than double by 2050. That means that our entire current supply, including all our nuclear and hydroelectric capacity, would need to double to meet this expanded demand. Clearly, it is critical that we start now to build new capacity to support all the new infrastructure and homes that Ontario will need, including the 1.5 million new homes to keep up with our growing population.

In my own community, we’re adding whole new communities along the Mississauga waterfront, including the site of the old Lakeview coal-fired generation plant. They will be homes for tens of thousands of people, including thousands of affordable homes. I know that the Liberal leader, Bonnie Crombie, is still livid about this, as she wanted to cut the number of affordable homes in half, but our government is moving forward on this.

Many of these new homes and businesses will require heating, and my constituents should have every choice available to them. With Bill 165, our government is ensuring that we hear from everyone to help guarantee that the right regulations are put into place.

As the minister said, the OEB made a decision last December that affects families and businesses without consulting the major players and stakeholders that understand this sector best, and without consulting the IESO about the impact this decision could have on Ontario’s electricity grid.

The minister has proposed amendments to the Ontario Energy Board Act in Bill 165 that would help to ensure that this never happens again. I want to take a moment now to echo the minister’s concerns about what commissioner Allison Duff had to say in her opinion. Given its importance, I’d like to read from here.

She wrote, “I do not support a zero-year revenue horizon for assessing the economics of small volume gas expansion” consumers. “The ... comparison table filed by Enbridge Gas did not even consider zero within the range of revenue horizon options.” As she wrote, “Zero is not a horizon. It is fundamentally inconsistent with the intent of E.B.O. 188 by requiring 100% of connection costs upfront..., rather than a contribution in aid of construction. There was no mention of zero in E.B.O. 188,” although “a 20 to 30 year revenue horizon was considered. To me, the risk of unintended consequences to Enbridge Gas, its” consumers “and other stakeholders increases given the magnitude of this ... change.

The commissioner also asked, if we switched completely to all-electric development, would electricity generation, transmission, distributors and the IESO be able to meet Ontario’s energy demand by 2025? And, Speaker, she didn’t know. Obviously I share the minister’s concerns about this, and I think that everyone in this chamber should be worried when the commissioner says she didn’t have the evidence she needed to reach a decision, let alone such a major change for a 40-year revenue horizon set in 1998 to a zero-year revenue horizon in less than a year. To be frank, Speaker, as the minister said, the OEB went outside of their lane when they made this decision.

Back in December, when the minister said the government would bring forward legislation to fix this change, we all understood how critical this legislation would be. The change that we’re proposing now in Bill 165 would ensure that major OEB decisions, with far-reaching implications like this one, don’t happen again without the appropriate stakeholder consultations. These changes, if passed, would allow for the broader stakeholder participation in all major OEB hearings.

Speaker, our government is working hard to ensure that the voices of Ontarians are heard, and it was sad to see that the voices that matter most were not even acknowledged here. To ensure that future OEB decisions reflect and support the priorities of the people of Ontario, the amendments in Bill 165 would require the OEB to provide opportunities for the organizations and individuals that are affected most to participate in the proceedings. As well, these changes would provide the government, through the Ministry of Energy, with the authority to ask for a hearing on any matter of public interest that could arise during an OEB proceeding. This would ensure that the voice of Ontarians are heard on matters that will affect their families, businesses and communities.

Speaker, it is also important to note that if the amendments in Bill 165 are passed, our government may propose regulations related to specific stakeholders or economic sectors, such as housing, transit, low-income Ontario construction and government agencies, for which the OEB should have a process in place to ensure that the stakeholders are aware of the proceedings that may significantly impact them and also that they invite the participants in the OEB proceedings and other consultations.

Speaker, I know that better public and stakeholder input into OEB decisions will be a key mandate of the new OEB chair, who the minister will appoint in the near future, and I understand that there will be some clearly defined expectations about how the OEB and their new chair should conduct themselves in a number of areas. As I said, this includes improving OEB hearings to allow for broader stakeholder participation in OEB proceedings and more stakeholder input to the OEB in general, especially related to natural gas and electricity.

Speaker, the chair of the board of directors will continue to be accountable to the Minister of Energy for the effective delivery of the OEB mandate and to ensure that independence of the decision-making by the commissioner and others that carry out the work of the OEB.

Speaker, at this point, I would like to refer to a column written by Aleck Dadson, the former chief operating officer of the Ontario Energy Board, and Ed Waitzer, the former chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, who shared their frustration with the OEB decision.

They wrote, “In our view,” the OEB “should focus on deciding specific matters in a transparent, fair and non-partisan manner. They should do so by applying a legal and regulatory framework to findings based on evidence and arguments presented.... And they should avoid trying to resolve complex policy issues, in which any decision will affect unrepresented stakeholders and other areas of concern. In short,” the OEB panel “shouldn’t stray.”

Speaker, even the former COO of the Ontario Energy Board understands how important it is for the stakeholders to be involved in this process. Our government also understands the importance of cutting red tape and reducing costs to help get shovels in the ground faster, which is exactly what Bill 165 will help do, as we all recognize Ontario is in the middle of a housing crisis, but unfortunately, it seems that the OEB did not even take this into consideration when making this decision, and would force new families to pay higher upfront costs when buying a new home.

That’s why I was very happy to hear from the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, which thanks our government for introducing Bill 165. They wrote that they applaud the “government for introducing legislation to revoke the Ontario Energy Board’s December 21, 2023, decision. Securing energy choices for Ontario’s communities is vital to support economic development, energy access and reliability while we take a measured step toward energy transition.”

As well, the Ontario Real Estate Association also reached out to tell us how much this high, upfront cost would hurt Ontarians. Their CEO, Tim Hudak, said, “If we want to create more Canadian homeowners, we should not whack them with this massive upfront bill for infrastructure that will last for generations.”

And he doesn’t stop there. He goes on to explain how big an overstep this was: “This head-scratching overstep by the OEB will push affordability further out of reach for Ontarians, and put provincial and municipal housing targets at risk. Such one-size-fits-all policies will be particularly harmful to Ontario’s smaller and northern communities, where energy infrastructure is not well-developed.”

Catherine Swift, the president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada said this decision would have the effect of discouraging badly needed new home construction, especially regarding affordable housing.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture had similar feedback. They said, “We are supportive of this decisive action taken by the Minister of Energy to address the OEB decision, which threatens to increase costs for new homes relying on natural gas for heating, jeopardizing housing affordability and future access to natural gas. This decision also challenges Ontario’s efforts and current policy to bring reliable and affordable natural gas to Ontarians across the province, which has been an investment priority for agriculture and for rural communities.”

They continue: “The OEB decision has the potential to stifle the growth of the industrial sector, leading to higher costs for manufacturing, agriculture and consumer goods.” They wrote, and I agree, that our priority needs to be on providing infrastructure to support the growing province while minimizing unnecessary financial burdens on residents and businesses.

And again, our government did not make this decision lightly, but it is critical that we support fair and inclusive decision-making at the OEB. My constituency office in Mississauga hears daily about the housing affordability issues we’re having, not just in Ontario, but across Canada. And I know that most members are hearing the same thing in their offices. Unlike the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and some in the opposition, our government takes these issues very seriously. Our new members from Milton and Lambton–Kent–Middlesex take these issues very seriously as well.

In addition to saving new home buyers money and creating more opportunities for economic development, the changes in Bill 165 will help to ensure that the province can continue to attract critical investments in the auto sector, life sciences, technology and much more. Through Bill 165, our government is seeking to do what we always do: to grow Ontario’s economy, cut red tape and get shovels in the ground to build the homes and infrastructure we need, while also ensuring the Ontario continues to be a place where the people’s voices are heard on the issues that matter most to them.

Speaker, access to affordable and reliable energy is critical to our province’s growth, and the changes that we’re proposing in Bill 165 will help to preserve customer energy choices and to ensure that all voices are heard when the OEB makes any major decision. In fact, Bill 165 would improve the OEB and ensure its decisions are based on feedback from the entire sector and consistent with government policy to protect ratepayers.

Ontario is in an excellent position. We have one of the cleanest electricity systems in the entire world, and we have been able to attract tens of billions of dollars of investment from companies who want to do business here in Ontario. And I want to thank the Minister of Economic Development for all the businesses that he’s been able to bring into the province of Ontario: $43 billion of automotive investment to build the cars of the future right here in Ontario, for the world. This has never happened with any other government in the history of Ontario, so I want to thank the minister and the Premier for being able to attract all these companies here to Ontario. At the same time, our growing knowledge in nuclear technology is creating new opportunities for our province and for Canada.

The future for Ontario is bright, but we need to make the right decisions today to ensure that we continue to have access to affordable, reliable and clean energy tomorrow. I know Bill 165 an important step towards this brighter future, and I want to urge all members to make the right decision and support this bill.

I want to thank you, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity here today to speak on Bill 165.

I rise today to speak to Bill 165, the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act.

Ontario is in an affordability crisis. Energy costs are high and consumers are struggling to pay their bills. And yet, the Conservatives are bringing forward this legislation that is going to drive energy bills up by forcing nearly four million natural gas consumers to pay costs that the Ontario Energy Board says they shouldn’t have to pay. Not only that; this Conservative government is making the unprecedented move of interfering with a decision of the Ontario Energy Board, an arm’s-length independent regulator.

Conservatives claim that they’re keeping energy costs down, but this legislation is doing the exact opposite and is doing it at great legal risk.

Speaker, when looking at this bill, Bill 165, a big question came to mind, and thanks to the recent investigation by the Narwhal, I believe we have an answer. But before I get to that, I’d like to first ask the most obvious question presented in this legislation: Keeping energy costs down for whom? Not for Ontario consumers. They’ll be forced to pay costs the OEB has ruled they shouldn’t have to pay.

Right now, gas customers’ bills include charges worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year to cover Enbridge’s costs of expanding gas pipelines into new developments. The OEB decided to put a stop to this subsidy because it raises consumers’ energy bills and increases financial risks for the whole gas system.

Bill 165 would allow the government to add $1 billion in costs to the gas bills of nearly four million consumers, costing each an average of more than $300. It would also allow the government to approve a gas pipeline project that the Ontario Energy Board has deemed too expensive, not economically viable or otherwise not in the public interest. This would leave consumers on the hook for costly, uneconomical projects they don’t even benefit from.

Energy lawyer Kent Elson explained this clearly in the Globe and Mail, as he said, “Gas pipelines are paid off over roughly 60 years ... so a pipeline built today will be paid off in the 2080s ... long beyond the point at which fossil fuel use is set to drastically decline. Investments in new gas pipelines today will almost certainly go bad, and Bill 165 forces Ontario’s gas customers to make that bad investment.”

The OEB has a mandate of protecting consumers and making sure they aren’t gouged or silently stolen from. By listening to the experts, this Conservative government had the opportunity to put money back in people’s pockets and finally start addressing the realities of climate change. Instead, at a time when the world needs to move toward renewable energy, they are using their majority to drive up carbon emissions and gas bills and to undermine an independent regulator. This legislation does not keep costs down for Ontario’s consumers.

So then who does it keep them down for? Not for Ontario homebuyers. If we want to make housing more affordable, we need to give people access to sustainable, low-cost energy sources like electric heat pumps that are much cheaper to operate in the long term than gas furnaces. The NDP put forward Bill 172, the Affordable Energy Act, which creates the framework to set up large-scale programs to finance and organize deep home energy retrofits, including installation of heat pumps.

We are in a cost-of-living and climate crisis. A focus on conservation and community-based distribution for renewable energy can substantially cut energy costs down. We have the technology to build a reliable and sustainable energy future in Ontario that does not leave Ontarians with a pricey bill.

The OEB’s decision tried to protect homebuyers by making the costs of natural gas connections visible to them and to developers. They wanted to ensure that the costs of installing a new gas connection would be paid by those who benefit from that choice, and not by consumers who don’t benefit. With Bill 165, Conservatives are ensuring that when a developer chooses to install a gas connection, they are not required to consider the cost consequences to homebuyers and tenants. They aren’t keeping costs down for Ontario’s homebuyers.

Who are they keeping them down for? Not for Ontarian taxpayers. They’re the ones who are going to foot the bill for the high costs of climate change and the damage to highways, bridges, hospital buildings and other infrastructure if we don’t get serious about the clean energy transition. Climate change is already costing us a lot, and it’s going to get so much worse. The Financial Accountability Office estimates that it could add more than $4 billion per year to the cost of maintaining Ontario’s public infrastructure over the rest of the century if we don’t adapt. And the FAO warns that this cost impact estimate should be considered in the lower range since it doesn’t factor in costs incurred by hazards like river flooding and wildfires.

There are already warnings that Canada is at risk of another devastating wildfire season this year. Taxpayers are already paying the price through devastating property damage, health emergencies, and more.

Methane gas, the fossil fuel used in natural gas connections, accounts for one third of Ontario’s carbon emissions. According to Environmental Defence, 19% of Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from heating our homes and buildings with methane gas. The NDP’s Affordable Energy Act will help us to stop burning it and will give residents and tenants the tools to cut their energy usage and costs. As has been said many times in this House by the NDP, “The cost of doing nothing is billions of dollars higher than the cost of proactively investing in our public infrastructure for climate adaptation.”

Bill 165 does not keep costs down for Ontario’s taxpayers. So keeping energy costs down for whom? Not for young Ontarians.

As this Conservative government’s own energy transition panel observed, the global energy landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace. To take advantage of the economic opportunities that this change presents, the panel concluded that Ontario should commit to electrification and a clean energy economy by 2050. This includes following the transition panel’s recommendation that the Ontario Energy Board “employ all tools within its existing mandate to implement activities consistent with Ontario’s goals for a clean energy economy and the requirements of the energy transition for Ontario.”

Bill 165 carries economic costs for young Ontarians. It slows our move to a green energy economy and foolishly invests in gas pipelines that are going to become obsolete and present a massive cost to customers as we move away from gas heating.

This is not to mention the broader costs of climate change that young Ontarians will bear the brunt of, from the infrastructure maintenance that I mentioned earlier to mental health distress and health emergencies linked to extreme weather events, negative impacts on air quality and the increase in vector-borne diseases. We know that young people and people in marginalized communities will suffer the most from these effects as the climate crisis creates more instability in housing, food, employment and quality of life.

I tabled the Climate Crisis Health Action Plan Act, which would require the government to ensure that Ontario is prepared to address the current and future health impacts caused by climate change. The cost for young Ontarians and for all of us is simply too high, and Bill 165 is going to drive it higher.

So if not for homebuyers, if not for consumers, if not for taxpayers, if not for young Ontarians, who exactly does this Bill 165 keep energy costs down for?

Speaker, we have a pretty clear answer to that question. The Narwhal reports that hours before the government announced its unprecedented decision to overrule an independent regulator, senior officials from the Premier’s office worried that the OEB’s decision would create a “magnitude” of costs for developers and for Enbridge Gas.

Yes, you heard that right. An independent board of people with expertise and experience and a mandate to protect consumers made a decision to put money back in your pockets, and this Conservative government jumped into action and went to extraordinary lengths to keep energy costs down for a giant gas monopoly.

Hours before the OEB decision was even announced, the Minister of Energy’s chief of staff set up an urgent touchpoint meeting to strategize the government’s response. An official response was drafted, talking points were agreed upon and legislation was brought into the works, all before the OEB’s decision was made public. Staff from the minister’s office even consulted with Enbridge executives for input on the minister’s statement.

The government’s lawyers warned the Premier’s staff that intervening in the OEB’s decision carried legal risks. Their warnings were ignored. This Conservative government was just that determined to overrule an independent regulator and drive up gas bills for Ontario consumers.

At the committee meeting last week, a number of amendments were brought forward by the NDP to protect people from higher bills. Every amendment meant to protect consumers from higher energy prices was defeated by the Conservatives. So even when there were opportunities to include actual measures to keep costs down, this Conservative government voted against them.

Speaker, the Ontario Energy Board did its job. Its decision would protect consumers and the public interest by lowering energy costs and carbon emissions for current and future Ontarians. It is a win for almost everyone. But with Bill 165, the government is interfering with an independent regulator to raise gas bills for Ontarians so that a multi-billion-dollar gas company can make more profit.

This bill is giving the government the power to push energy costs up, and it’s forcing four million natural gas consumers to pay the costs that the Ontario Energy Board would otherwise disallow. This bill enables unprecedented political interference with an independent regulator in order to help a powerful gas monopoly at the expense of consumers. It does exactly the opposite of keeping energy costs down.

When the Liberals were in power, the Conservatives used to criticize their politicization of electricity planning. The Liberals disregarded evidence, disregarded professional independent analysis. The Liberals directed the IESO to write blank cheques for new gas plants and sign hundreds of overpriced private contracts with no OEB hearing to find out if these were a good deal for consumers. As a result, hydro bills skyrocketed.

We’re seeing now this Conservative government do exactly the same thing with the natural gas system. Speaker, this bill should not be titled Keeping Energy Costs Down Act. It actually should be titled “pushing energy costs up act,” because that’s what this bill is doing. It’s a shame that they are pushing energy costs up on behalf of a gas monopoly.

The government still can do the right thing for Ontario’s consumers, for Ontario’s homebuyers, for Ontario’s future generations and not proceed with this bill. This is the wrong direction. I urge this government to keep the interests of the people of this province and not their well-connected insiders before they make this grave mistake.

Thank you to my colleague for a very well-put analysis of what this bill does. I fully agree with her; I don’t know why this bill is called Keeping Energy Costs Down Act. It does anything but.

We face an affordability crisis right now. We also face an environmental crisis. Do you see anything in this bill that will help with the affordability crisis? Do you see anything in this bill that would help with the environmental crisis that we are facing?

While the Ontario Energy Board makes hundreds of decisions a year and—and to their credit, almost all of them without issue—this one, this particular decision, did raise some concerns about the public engagement in the decision-making process. In fact, in the decision itself, one of the commissioners noted that this decision, which could have significant impacts on electricity demand, was reached without input from the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator.

So to the member of Beaches–East York: Do you agree that it’s concerning that members of the commission didn’t know the impacts of the decision before signing off on it, and do you agree that the changes we propose to increase public engagement is the right thing to do to ensure that the people of Ontario are heard on decisions that impact them?

My question is quite simple. The bill is called the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, yet we saw that this bill would allow the government to basically approve gas pipeline projects that the Ontario Energy Board has reviewed and believe that it is not economically viable, it is too expensive and not in the public’s best interest to do so. So how can she reconcile the two?

We have the energy board telling us, “Don’t go ahead with those projects that are too expensive,” and yet we have a bill that’s called Keeping Energy Costs Down. Do you think there is a problem here?