Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce says he wants to turn his province into a “clean-energy superpower.”
That might come as a relief to people who worried his appointment to the job last month might signal a return to the anti-decarbonization positioning of Premier Doug Ford’s early days in office, before Todd Smith, who was then the province’s energy minister, began steering Ontario toward a re-embrace of renewables.
Speaking by phone this week, Mr. Lecce – a former federal Conservative staffer who just finished a contentious run as Ontario’s education minister – instead touted initiatives he inherited, including the country’s largest investment to date in grid-scale battery storage, and a coming procurement of wind and solar power.
At the same time, Mr. Lecce signalled an enhanced focus on nuclear power. That means not just refurbishments and construction of a small modular reactor (SMR), which are under way, but also building new large-scale reactors – all of which he framed as essential to domestic needs and export opportunities.
The interview also pointed to other ways he intends to make his mark on the job, including an emphasis on sheltering the province’s electricity rate base from the costs of such investments, and a more openly combative approach toward Ottawa than that of his predecessor.
There was some surprise around the energy sector when you replaced Mr. Smith, and people have been trying to read tea leaves. Can you speak to your marching orders?
There are three key priorities for Premier Ford and our government.
First, we are absolutely committed to ensuring an affordable electricity system for families, seniors and small businesses.
Second is the expansion of clean-energy generation for the people of Ontario. We already have one of the cleanest grids on the continent. The vision is to continue to generate more as our population increases, our industry expands and our manufacturing electrifies.
Third is to help build out Ontario as a clean-energy superpower, able to export our energy – as we already do. We’re already a net exporter to New York and other places. We want to strengthen our clean-energy advantage and export technology and electricity around the world, particularly in the United States.
I was at the margins of [this month’s] NATO summit, at the Canada-U.S. nuclear summit. And energy security was at the core – an issue that overwhelmingly unites Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. There is an acute awareness that, now more than ever, we must decouple our dependence on despotic regimes abroad.
We have an opportunity to emphasize that, among nations who share democratic values, Ontario has the technological expertise and capability to build, refurbish and expand nuclear, on time and on budget.
Obviously small modular reactors is a key component of that export vision. There is huge national and international potential for Ontario-made nuclear innovation to lead the way.
One other important point is going to be advocacy to the feds to eliminate the carbon tax.
So, a series of priorities that all focus on further strengthening an Ontario electricity system that is affordable, reliable, and clean.
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Obviously your government is favourable toward nuclear, but there can be a lot questions around costs. In addition to refurbishments and the SMR, how wedded are you to new builds?
I think nuclear energy is going to play a critical role in the decarbonization of economies, and economic growth and the significant increase in population taking hold across the country. You know, the Independent Electricity System Operator is projecting a minimum 60-per-cent net increase in energy generation between now and 2050.
While we’ll continue to support renewables, and hydroelectric refurbishments, I do believe that in order to achieve that significant amount of new energy, nuclear will be at the core.
Keep in mind we’re demonstrating that our refurbishments can be done on time and on budget. And the first G7 grid-scale SMR is being built at Darlington, which is demonstrating to the world that we have the intellectual and human capital.
Before you came into the job, there were plans to launch a power procurement process that would include the first major new wind and solar investments since your government took office. Where does that stand now?
I’ll have more to say on that procurement over the coming weeks. I can simply affirm that renewables will absolutely be eligible to compete.
And the world has changed for renewables. We now have significant storage and battery capability that we didn’t five or 10 years ago, and the costs of solar, for example, have come down significantly.
This gives a great sense of hope that those renewables can be procured and harnessed and deliver value to our economy and the environment.
My message is we’re going to need all of the above, plus some, to generate the energy Ontario’s economy and population demands over the next 20 or 30 years.
You’re stressing affordability. But with all the investment needed, how much will Ontarians need to accept significant increases to electricity prices in the coming years?
The overarching priority for the government is to maintain affordable energy rates now and into the future. The former [provincial] Liberal government signed 32,000 contracts above market through the disastrous Green Energy Act. It led to families being driven into energy poverty.
It’s why we currently oppose the Liberal carbon tax, which will further increase costs on people.
So our priority is affordability – it will be into the short and medium term, and as we look forward to the future.
Can you elaborate on your export ambitions? It’s not necessarily obvious, because just meeting Ontario’s growing demand will be challenging.
If we were a stand-alone country, Ontario would be the third-largest U.S. trading partner, after Mexico and China. We’re the top export destination for 17 states, and second for 11 others.
We have an integrated economy. We’ve established free-trade market access to over 50 countries in the world. It’s a huge economic advantage.
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The vision of the Premier is to first and foremost ensure we have clean, affordable energy for Ontario families and businesses, but also to look at a path to harness Ontario-made technology for the world.
Compared with some other provinces, Ontario hasn’t been as public with its concerns about Ottawa’s proposed Clean Electricity Regulations (CER), but there’s been a lot of back and forth behind the scenes. Where are discussions currently at?
Look, we have one of the cleanest grids in the country. Nearly 90 per cent of our electricity comes from emission-free sources – be it nuclear, hydroelectric, renewables – because of the earlier decision to phase out our coal fleet.
We have a pretty ambitious plan on nuclear. The largest procurement of clean-energy storage in the country’s history is taking place. And a significant electrification mandate, supporting industries like the EV and EV-battery sectors, clean steel. All this matters to the government, to grow our economy while reducing emissions.
Having said that, we did seek perspective from the Independent Electricity Systems Operator on the CER. And they said that the imposition of the regs [as initially drafted] would represent a 60-per-cent increase in monthly electricity bills, or could make us reliant on emergency actions such as blackouts.
Either way, that would be unacceptable.
I’ve communicated personally to the federal Environment and Natural Resources ministers our strong concern, and our willingness to work with them to come up with a regulatory policy that is responsible and that supports affordable, reliable, clean energy.
This interview has been edited and condensed.