Can't meet coal target, Ontario Liberals say

TORONTO, ONTARIO - An internal poll showed the Liberal government could get away with the recent breaking of a pledge to scrap Ontario's polluting coal-fired hydro plants by 2007.

In the weeks leading up to the controversial announcement, key Liberal adviser Warren Kinsella conducted a poll for Enbridge Gas that suggested voters wouldn't care if Premier Dalton McGuinty abandoned his two-year-old promise to close all coal-fired plants.

Sources say Energy Minister Dwight Duncan consulted the poll and electricity experts before announcing that the giant Nanticoke power plant on Lake Erie — the largest single polluter in Canada — won't be fully closed until 2009, at least 15 months later than promised.

One of Ontario's five coal-fired plant was recently closed and Duncan yesterday set out the timetable to close the three other smaller plants in Thunder Bay, Atikokan and Lambton, near Sarnia, by 2007.

Duncan said he would be proud to campaign on the government's coal plan during the next election, scheduled for October 2007, adding voters will be more impressed with the plan than frustrated by the delay.

"I believe people think we are doing the right things," said the minister, who insisted the target date for Nanticoke is only being missed by a "few months," instead of more than a year.

Despite protest by the opposition about another broken promise, the poll taken for Enbridge concluded that delaying closure of the plants would have limited impact on voters. It also found that a large majority of those surveyed said the delay would make no difference to their view of the premier.

"We are leading the way as the first jurisdiction in North America to put the environment and health of our citizens first by saying no to coal with an aggressive, ambitious plan to replace coal with cleaner sources of energy and conservation," Duncan said.

Yesterday, the government also announced a plan for more than 7,500 megawatts of cleaner power, including wind and natural gas, and the Ontario Power Authority will launch a competitive bidding process this fall for 500 megawatts of power in downtown Toronto and a 1,000-megawatt generating station in the west end of the GTA.

It's also reviewing a deal with Bruce Power for refurbishing two idle nuclear reactors.But the government is conceding there isn't the capacity available to fill the void that Nanticoke would leave — echoing longstanding warnings from the experts.

"Because Nanticoke plays a unique role in Ontario's transmission system, transmission upgrades and replacement generation are equally necessary for Nanticoke to close safely," said Duncan, who repeated his 2007 promise as recently as April when the Lakeview plant in Mississauga was shuttered.

The timing of the Nanticoke announcement is odd, coming days after the Ontario Medical Association warned that up to 5,800 Ontarians die prematurely each year from air pollution and as large parts of the province are shrouded in smog.

But OMA president Dr. Greg Flynn called the missed 2007 target a "relative failure" that is understandable given that "you can't turn a big ship around on a dime."

Opposition critics pounced on the Liberals, calling the Nanticoke delay the most significant broken Liberal promise since the government introduced a health tax last year after vowing not to raise taxes.

Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory, whose staff compiled a list of 50 broken promises, said all politicians are being tarnished by this failure. Since being sworn in on Oct. 23, 2003, Tory said the Liberals have broken an average of one promise every 12 days.

NDP leader Howard Hampton said it was irresponsible of the Liberals to make the promise in the first place because they knew during the 2003 election "there was no possible way that these coal-fired stations could be shut down by 2007."

Tom Adams of Energy Probe said he doubted Duncan can live up to his promise to close Nanticoke in early 2009 because of recurring problems with aging nuclear plants. Still, some environmental groups said that even though the target date is not going to be met, the important part is that the plants are going to close.

"While there is a delay... there is also a silver lining," said Jack Gibbons, chair of the Ontario Clean air Alliance, said.