Canada needs vision and leadership, not bureaucratic rubber-stamping of blinkered OPG decisions

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is stuck in a rut from which it seems unable to escape. Its mantra of "nuclear, nuclear, nuclear" is technologically unsound and economically destructive.

The historian Prof. Alfred McCoy of the University of Wisconsin points out (https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/26/energy-policy-and-the-politics-of-american-decline/) that emerging empires are based on emerging forms of energy (the Spanish on slavery, the British on coal, the American on oil) and we are on the cusp of the latter giving way to the Chinese based on dominance in renewables. Granted that Canada is not quite embracing fossil fuels as wholeheartedly as the US under Donald Trump, but equally we are not displaying the vision required to move forward in the second quarter of this century.

To OPG, every problem is a nail for which the only solution is a nuclear hammer. Surely it is the responsibility of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) to seriously question its approach rather than simply rubber-stamping it. The mind boggles at the thought of almost a quarter of a trillion dollars (and counting) being spent to build the world's largest nuclear reactor by 2040-something (and counting).

An east-west grid across Canada delivering energy based on renewables is technically feasible today and could be implemented at a fraction of the cost of and far sooner than this nuclear white elephant. Not to mention that it would still be dependent on the US for the enriched uranium required to operate it. Wind and solar are free (as sources of energy), will never deplete, and would usher in energy self-sufficiency for Canada. 

If this project is allowed to go ahead, Canadians will be paying exhorbitant amounts for energy while much of the rest of the world takes advantage of the much lower cost of renewables. But this Liberal government will be long gone when this hits home, so who cares when our vision is measured in terms of election cycles?

As the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) puts it: "How can a federal agency be so uninformed, naïve and gullible?"