Scrapped power plants in the GTA cost taxpayers dearly, audit reports
Political decision-making is usually shaped by multiple factors, not the least of which is holding on to power. When a political party is attempting to hold onto a riding, they will sometimes make rash decisions in the moment that have dire long-term consequences. Such was the case with the issue of the half-finished power plant in Mississauga, which is now causing much stress for the new premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne.
In 2011, Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government was partway through the construction of a new natural gas power plant in Mississauga, while another in Oakville was slated to be built but had not yet broken ground. Residents of the expressed concern and fought against the building of the plants. McGuinty caved and cancelled their construction.
This move was not one of pure goodwill, but rather a politically strategic move that allowed McGuinty to save face and save Liberal votes. Both the plants were to be built in Liberal ridings, and McGuinty appeased the protestors to gain their support just in time for the upcoming election. The full, long-term consequence of having to relocate the power plants was not foreseen.
Now, in 2013, with the election of a new premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, the cancelled plants are posing quite a bit of a problem. The cost of moving the plants is estimated to be about $585 million dollars according to the Globe and Mail and the National Post.
The Globe and Mail warns that the cost could total more than $1 billion after the entire situation is finished because of legal costs, the money already invested, and the fact that a new plant still has to be built somewhere else.
Due to McGuinty’s attempts to hold onto power in those two ridings, Wynne is now faced with the consequences. The public wants a solution to the enormous cost of the cancellation of the plants, and wants to know what the new premier is going to do about it.
Wynne has said that this sort of thing will not happen a second time, saying, “We have the responsibility to move forward to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. That is what I’m focused on. That is my commitment.”
But the future of the plants is unknown, and it is inevitable that the money required for settling the score will be a huge blow to taxpayers and the Liberal Party of Ontario will likely not be let off the hook for this mistake.