Economy let us delay nuclear plan, says premier
McGuinty, whose government announced it was putting off a $20 billion expansion of the Darlington nuclear station, said "we have more breathing space than we originally thought" before new energy generation capacity is needed.
"The estimates that our best experts gave us three and four years ago are pretty different from those that we're getting right now," the premier told reporters at Georgian College.
"We didn't factor in the single greatest global economic recession in the past 80 years," he said.
That has led to more and more manufacturers and mills in the province shutting down and shaving demand for electricity.
"We've had a massive slowdown in economic growth. I think every year for the last four years we've required less and less electricity – not more, less," said McGuinty.
"Now that will turn around, there will be an increase in demand. We cannot meet all of that through renewables (like hydro, wind, and solar power) and aggressive conservation programs.
"There will be a need for more electricity."
McGuinty said federally owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is "the front-runner but definitely not the clear-cut winner based on the price" if and when any new nuclear reactors are eventually built.
The premier said his staff has been in touch with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office in hopes that Ottawa, which is trying to sell AECL's reactor business, will help Ontario pay for new atomic needs.
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Wendy Watson, the director of communications at Greater Sudbury Utilities, says signs of the approaching deadline could be seen in their office of the past few weeks.
"We've had quite an active stream of people into our front office to catch up on their accounts and also we've had a lot of people calling us to make payment arrangements or pay their bill or deal with their arrears," she says.
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Watson says there are…