I want to answer this honestly rather than give you the answer the question is looking for.
I am not unconditionally supportive of this project and I have said so publicly and repeatedly. I am also not prepared to declare against it before the impact assessment has produced the information that would let anyone judge it properly. That is not fence sitting. It is the position I think an elected representative should hold at this stage of a federal impact assessment, when the studies that would answer the real questions are not finished.
On the rate question, I would be cautious about accepting that premise as settled. Electricity pricing in Ontario is determined provincially through a mix of generation costs, system costs and policy decisions, and the effect of any one project on what a household pays is genuinely contested among people who study it. I would rather see that examined properly than have it asserted by either side.
What I want is a community conversation that we run, starting now and continuing through the assessment as information becomes available. It begins with understanding where our lines are: what impacts we are willing to bear, and what we expect in return. We have not had that conversation.
And before we consider signing on as a willing host, I want that tested properly, through something like a citizens’ assembly. Residents chosen at random to reflect this community, including the people living closest to the site, paid for their time, hearing from experts they choose rather than experts chosen for them, and writing a report that Council commits in advance to publish and answer point by point.
If that process concludes this is not in Port Hope’s interests, I would stand behind that conclusion.
