BY BILL BRADLEY
Heated discussion over the future of Ontario?s energy supply erupted Friday at the Our Future Our Energy public forum, organized by the Ontario Ministry of Energy, at the Holiday Inn.
Citizens from Sudbury, Manitoulin Island and the North Shore attended, as well as representatives from environmental organizations like Greenpeace and Northwatch.
?These so-called consultations are a sham. The government is whitewashing a massive new nuclear power program in Ontario,? said Greenpeace energy campaigner Shawn-Patrick Stensil at a protest outside the hotel. ?Nuclear power is uneconomical, unsafe and unreliable."
However the Minister of Energy, Donna Cansfield, couldn?t understand what the fuss was about.
?These consultations with the public here in Sudbury revolve around recommendations from the Ontario Power Authority. They recommend a dramatic increase in renewable energy and a stabilizing of nuclear energy at what it is currently,? she said.
?Wherever there is a potential for renewables like wind power it should be captured because it makes good economic sense - first it is renewable, it enhances economic development in areas like the north, and it provides energy to users in the area like forestry operations."
?Ontario needs both renewables and nuclear energy if we are to replace polluting coal plants. Nuclear is great for meeting base energy loads. Renewables help meet peak energy demands because they are intermittent-they don?t contribute if there is no wind for turbines for example,? said Cansfield.
