Net-Zero Push and its Offshoots by Politicians and Bureaucrats Creates Strange Happenings Part 3

For those who failed to read Part 2 they missed how the IEA (International Energy Agency) and the WEF (World Economic Forum) are two of the entities who are major players on the world stage pushing the “net-zero” decarbonization buttons in concert with UN Secretary António Guterres who almost a year ago said: “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived“. Part 2 also looked at global coal consumption which continues to increase but rest assured its not the developed countries doing the consuming. This, Part 3, will focus on Ontario with only the following one World focused!

Bloomberg Releases its New Energy Outlook 2024

Before returning to Canada and Ontario in particular, it seems appropriate to point to the captioned report released by Bloomberg Professional Services. The report is full of scary stuff unless the “globe” achieves that “net-zero” target. It rambles on about the disasters that will occur if we don’t reach that target and keep the  temperature below even 1.75C or mankind will be doomed.  They suggest the cost by 2050 will be only $215 trillion and only 19% more than if we don’t reach the Paris Agreement goals and global warming reaches 2.6C.  I will not bore you with further details except for a reference to the “disclaimer” at the end of the report. The disclaimer sure as hell doesn’t display a lot of confidence in any of the data or conclusions reached in the report!

Here it is the full “Disclaimer” and please, note the highlights bolded and underlined:

“Disclaimer

The Bloomberg NEF (“BNEF”), service/information is derived from selected public sources. Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, in providing the service/information, believe that the information it uses comes from reliable sources, but do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information, which is subject to change without notice, and nothing in this document shall be construed as such a guarantee. The statements in this service/document reflect the current judgment of the authors of the relevant articles or features, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Finance L.P., Bloomberg L.P. or any of their affiliates (“Bloomberg”).  Bloomberg disclaims any liability arising from use of this document, its contents and/or this service. Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments or as investment advice or recommendations by Bloomberg of an investment or other strategy (e.g., whether or not to “buy”, “sell”, or “hold” an investment). The information available through this service is not based on consideration of a subscriber’s individual circumstances and should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base an investment decision. You should determine on your own whether you agree with the content. This service should not be construed as tax or accounting advice or as a service designed to facilitate any subscriber’s compliance with its tax, accounting or other legal obligations. Employees involved in this service may hold positions in the companies mentioned in the services/information. The data included in these materials are for illustrative purposes only. The BLOOMBERG TERMINAL service and Bloomberg data products (the “Services”) are owned and distributed by Bloomberg Finance . . (“BF”) except (i) in Argentina, Australia and certain jurisdictions in the Pacific islands, Bermuda, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, where Bloomberg . . and its subsidiaries (“B ”) distribute these products, and (ii) in Singapore and the jurisdictions serviced by Bloomberg’s Singapore office, where a subsidiary of BF distributes these products. BLP provides BFLP and its subsidiaries with global marketing and operational support and service. Certain features, functions, products and services are available only to sophisticated investors and only where permitted. BFLP, BLP and their affiliates do not guarantee the accuracy of prices or other information in the Services. Nothing in the Services shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments by BFLP, BLP or their affiliates, or as investment advice or recommendations by BFLP, B or their affiliates of an investment strategy or whether or not to “buy”, “sell” or “hold” an investment. Information available via the Services should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base an investment decision. The following are trademarks and service marks of BFLP, a Delaware limited partnership, or its subsidiaries: BLOOMBERG, BLOOMBERG ANYWHERE, BLOOMBERG MARKETS, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL, BLOOMBERG TERMINAL and BLOOMBERG.COM. absence of any trademark or service mark from this list does not waive Bloomberg’s intellectual property rights in that name, mark or logo. All rights reserved. © 2024 Bloomberg.”

OPG says staff shortage for Pickering refurbishment

Just in time, to warn the newly appointed Minister of Energy and Electrification, Stephen Lecce, OPG issued a report which CTV News obtained. The article stated, “It could take at least 11 years to complete the refurbishment of the Pickering nuclear plant, according to documents prepared by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), however a lack of skilled workers and potential scope adjustments could impact the project.“ The CTV article did go on to say the report “suggests the refurbishment of the plant is “both economic and technically feasible.” The length of time to return the five units with a total baseload capacity of 2,500 MW could affect the “electrification” process now embedded in the new energy Minister’s portfolio.

OEB (Ontario Energy Board) seeks “special rates” for EV charging

It appears if you purchased an EV, you may well be further subsidized by other Ontario ratepayers and taxpayers as the OEB is holding a hearing destined to provide lower rates for charging both EV automobiles as well as electric commercial delivery vehicles. They hired none other than Power Advisory to complete a report with their recommendations and that report recommends reducing rates as much as 36%!  It is interesting they choose Power Advisory as that is where Jason Chee-Aloy is now employed. Mr. Chee-Aloy was formerly the Director, Energy Procurement with the Ontario Power Authority who brought Ontario those renewable wind and solar contracts that increased our electricity prices by well over 100%. Power Advisory has also done work for CanWEA (now called CanREA) so they are surely in favour of Ontario taxpayers absorbing the extra costs now well in excess of $6 billion annually to try and keep electricity prices almost affordable! The OEB’s mandate is to ensure energy prices are kept at reasonable levels, but it seems they have lost their way as they support this agenda! It has become electrifying to watch the Ford led Ontario government buy into the Steven Guilbeault push to eliminate fossil fuel use without recognizing the harm it inflicts on households and businesses!

The Ford Government Bragging about EV Manufacturing is Costing Jobs and Taxpayers Money

We Ontarians have noted how Ontario Premier Doug Ford and PM Justin Trudeau seem to love handing out taxpayer dollars to attract EV and battery plant related companies to Ontario claiming they will generate jobs or will they?

Ford Motor Company recently announced they would be delaying EV production by at least two years despite the handouts of tax dollars as those EV are just not selling, and they are losing money on every sale! 

As a result of the foregoing and other automotive layoffs in Ontario there have been press releases by the province announcing handouts to Unifor with one to them aimed at, “investing more than $684,000 in a new action centre that will help 3,179 laid-off workers impacted by the retooling of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited plant in Halton. The funding will allow Unifor to offer job search assistance, job training access, one-on-one career counselling and help with resume and interview preparation.“ Another recent press release said “ The Ontario government is investing nearly $955,000 in a new action centre that will help 3,752 laid-off workers from various individual parts suppliers in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent connect with the services and training they need to find new jobs in the same sector or further their careers in others.“  So, handing out tens of billions of our tax dollars to GM, Ford, Stellantis, Honda and others to create EV plants and related parts so far, has resulted in almost 7,000 workers losing their jobs!  Premier Ford and PM Trudeau should not smile and brag about job creation for the media when this is what it brings to Ontario!

The foregoing two “investments” of $1.639 million works out to $236 dollars per laid off worker but the tax handouts they said will create jobs works out to millions per worker. It begs the question; why do politician think they can pick winners?

Despite the foregoing the province is still chasing three more battery related plants as noted in a recent article which we should presume will entail more tax dollars flying out the door!

The Big Ministerial Switch

Premier Ford recently exchanged the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Todd Smith and Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education and at that time renamed the Ministry of Energy deleting the Natural Resources responsibility and replacing it with the word “Electrification”!  He also created a separate  Ministry of Natural Resources and appointed MPP Graydon Smith as Minister.

We taxpayers should wonder was Premier Ford so smart that he recognizes those EV and their batteries will require an increasing amount of natural resources such as copper for their manufacturing process.  On the latter an article from 2022 noted a primary pillar of the clean energy transition to reach “net-zero” by 2050 are copper as EV are up to 4.5x more copper intensive than ICE vehicles.  The article went on noting; “there is a consensus view that by 2026 there will be a copper supply deficit. According to Wood Mackenzie, “There is a need for ~9.7mt of mine supply over the next decade from projects that have yet to be sanctioned.“ It’s worth pointing out  in 2020 Canada ranked 11^th in the world for copper production! That newly appointed Minister of Natural Resources better get busy to ensure Minister of Energy Lecce can achieve the added responsibility of “Electrification”. 

Oh yes, we should all wonder will copper mining development add any of those nasty “emissions” to Ontario delaying the achievement of the 2050 “net-zero” target?

In respect to how Minister Lecce sees his role, he expounded on it in an article saying; “In order to grow the economy, with millions of people coming to our shores and significant industry moving to Ontario, including the fact that under our previous leadership, we’ve put (Ontario) on the map as one of the primary destinations for EV construction”.  He then went on to say; “We need a significant supply of affordable, reliable energy for the people of Ontario. We will build the energy capacity we will need to supply the energy to grow our economy“.

Conclusion:

Minister Lecce should pray that some of that existing “affordable, reliable energy” from the Pickering nuclear plants arrives sooner than the 11 years of OPG’s refurbishment. Its delay and the push to close our natural gas plants will lead Ontario to become the “blackout” capital of Canada!