Windstream mentioned in Ontario Legislature Question Period – February 22

Question by Todd Smith, PC Energy Critic, Prince Edward–Hastings. Response by Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, Sudbury.

Todd Smith: My question is to the Premier this morning. Speaker, yesterday another mind-numbing example of Liberal mismanagement on the energy file. Speaker, yesterday we learned that Windstream energy would like the government to pay the 28 million dollars the NAFTA court says they were owed since the government cancelled their offshore wind project. So my question to the Premier is has the federal government asked your government for the money to pay Windstream?

Glenn Thibeault: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we have been working with our federal counterpart to ensure that we rectify this payment. Mr. Speaker, we’re continuing to work with our federal counterparts and we’re hoping to have that done in short order, Mr. Speaker.

Smith: I think the thing that everybody wants to know, Mr. Speaker, is how much more is this going to cost the ratepayers and the people of Ontario. The Premier has two options on this file, Mr. Speaker. The Premier is either going to pay Windstream or she’s hoping that the electricity prices that her government has created has blown over, though I don’t see that happening, and she can announce that the government is actually going to go ahead and build this $5.2 billion project with Windstream. Either way, Ontario families are on the hook for millions or billions of dollars. So is the Premier going to make them pay now, for this project, or are they just going to make Ontarians pay for the next twenty or thirty years on this project?

Thibeault: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I think I answered that question earlier. We’re working with our federal counterparts on that, Mr. Speaker. But based off of Windstream’s and the offshore wind turbines, Mr. Speaker, we’re relying on the science coming from our colleagues at MOECC, Mr. Speaker. But the one thing I find very interesting, Mr. Speaker, is from a party that has no plan on how to deal with the energy crisis—the only thing they can offer is ripping up contracts which would actually cost us billions of dollars more in litigation Mr. Speaker, I find it a little ironic, Mr. Speaker, that they’re saying one thing on one side and then another thing, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.