While most of his address to the members of Belleville’s Chamber of Commerce was about improvements to Ontario’s electricity system and subsequent job creation, the Minister of Energy and Bay of Quinte riding MPP could not avoid questions about the growing problem of homelessness Wednesday.
Todd Smith said his government was investing heavily in housing programs, mental health and addictions supports and policing, but acknowledged it wasn’t enough.
He added that allowing affordable modular homes to be built was one step in the right direction and said the owner of All Season Fencing in Quinte West wants to get involved.
“He also has plans for a modular home business there as well and a modular home community so I’m looking forward to seeing where that all goes in the next year and we were pleased to support that project.”
Smith said homelessness is not a local problem but a national one, adding it involves complex societal issues that will not be solved easily.
“I can tell you as recently as last Wednesday we had a very very robust and hearty conversation around the cabinet table about how we can assist at the provincial level but how we ALL need to push the federal government to do more on this issue as well.”
Meanwhile, as mentioned, most of Smith’s address to the Chamber was about the province’s electricity system. Smith said that when his Progressive Conservative government came to power the system was a shambles, ruined by increasing costs to produce electricity caused by the Green Energy Act which the Auditor General of the day found to be a waste of billions of dollars. The Auditor General found the Act allowed green energy (wind and solar) producers to be paid far too much for too long for whatever energy they were able to produce.
“When we took over at Queen’s Park the province was in the process of losing 300,000 manufacturing jobs. And manufacturers simply told us Ontario had become far too expensive to do business in. Now, with all of the changes we’ve made we’re up by 700,000 manufacturing jobs and there’s been billions of dollars of investments made or about to be made by the auto industry, especially for the electric vehicle market. In the past year we’ve attracted more new jobs than all of the 50 American states combined.”
Smith reminded the audience that Magna Auto Systems, which operates three plants in Belleville, is the area’s largest private sector employer.
Smith said his government’s main focus will be providing enough clean power for a fast-growing province for years into the future and nuclear power is and will be the main resource in that effort.
A third big CANDU reactor is to be built at Bruce Nuclear and four 300 megawatt small modular reactors are planned for Darlington.
Smith also said that battery storage projects have become affordable to undertake in recent years and that his government will be focusing
on advancing that source of green energy wherever it makes sense.
Smith was asked about the long talked about the Marmora Pumped Storage project and whether it is still in play or not. Smith said he has asked experts at the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to finally decide whether pumped storage at the huge water-filled pits at the former Marmora Mine would be a benefit to ratepayers and the system or not.
“I hope it will be because I’ve been pushing to get this project rolling for 12 years and I know the folks around Marmora are all for it. I’m expecting an answer from IESO in the near future.”
A pumped storage system at Marmora Mine would see water pumped up during the overnight period when electricity is cheap and dropped down through turbines to produce electricity when the grid needs power during periods of peak demand in the daytime and especially during the summer’s heat waves.
In past studies it was estimated a Marmora Pumped Storage project could employ around 1,000 people during construction leading to around 45 permanent positions.
Smith said other local projects his government is promoting include twinning the Norris Whitney Bridge which links Belleville with Prince Edward County, continuing upgrades to the Quinte Skyway Bridge linking Tyendinaga/Deseronto with The County, making the highway 62/County Road 1 intersection in Prince Edward County safer and the rehabilitation of County Road 49 in The County which regularly makes the top 10 CAA Worst Roads list.
Other projects in the works involve the widening of Highway 401 through the Quinte region to 6 lanes and eventually to 8 along with the construction of the BEAR (Belleville East Arterial Route) linking the 401 with the area around the Northeast Industrial Park.
