Thanks to the member from Peterborough for the tough but fair question this morning. He’s absolutely right when he says one thing: Under the previous Liberal government, supported every step of the way by the NDP, we saw hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs leaving our province. Since we brought in some economic stability to Ontario, under the leadership of our Premier and our Minister of Economic Development and everybody working so hard to remove red tape and make this a sought-after jurisdiction, we have multi-billion-dollar electric vehicle platforms that are coming back to Ontario, Mr. Speaker—EV battery manufacturing.

The folks from Dofasco are here with us today. They’re putting in electric arc furnaces at their facilities in Hamilton, just like they are at Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie.

For the first time since 2005, we’re seeing increased electricity demand in our province to make sure that we’re powering those businesses and those homes that we’re going to be building as well, Mr. Speaker. We know that millions of people are coming to Ontario because this is the place where they want to do business and, earlier this summer, I unleashed our plan to power Ontario’s growth and I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

Under the plan we’re investing in 4,800 new megawatts at Bruce Power on the west coast of Ontario, taking that world-leading facility to an even bigger emissions-free generating facility for our province. We’re not just building one small modular reactor on the site at Darlington with OPG; we’ve announced under the Powering Ontario’s Growth plan that we’re going to be building four small modular reactors there. That’s enough clean power to power 1.2 million homes. We’re making the investments that we need in large-scale and small-scale nuclear reactors. We have the largest energy procurement in the country going with our battery-storage facilities located across Ontario, and we’ve invested $1 billion into energy-efficiency programs. We’re going to have the power that Ontario needs.

Let me first start by saying that we are very fortunate in Ontario to have an electricity system that is 90% clean, among the cleanest electricity systems not just in North America but in the entire world. Our intention is to keep it that way because it’s attracting new investment into our province.

When the NDP and the Liberals teamed up previously and we saw electricity prices soaring, we saw communities that had energy projects forced into their communities—we changed that in 2018 when we became the government. We gave municipalities the ability to make decisions on what would be located in their project.

In the case of Thorold that the member opposite mentions, we won’t be putting a new gas plant in that community, because the members of that council voted no to that. Having said that, we are at the peak of our nuclear refurbishment process here in Ontario, and we’re going to need to ensure that we have the power for all the growth that we’re seeing.

I look forward to the supplementary.

We are investing in energy efficiency programs, the conservation demand management programs. We have a billion dollars in that four-year framework, and we’re out consulting with municipalities and other stakeholders on a new CDM energy efficiency program for Ontario.

But we saw the track record of the Liberals and the NDP teaming up on energy policy. For many years, electricity prices were soaring in this province, out of control. Manufacturing jobs were leaving for other jurisdictions. Since we became the government, we’ve seen 700,000 new manufacturing jobs coming to Ontario. Why is that? It’s largely because of energy policy that makes sense, that’s predictable, that’s affordable and reliable, something you won’t get with those—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, what happened in Kanata last week was a distribution-level temporary issue with Ottawa hydro. The utility there, the LDC, has indicated that they’re going to repair the piece of equipment that was faulty that day so that this type of outage doesn’t happen again. But I can assure my ambulance-chasing friend over there that the provincial grid had more than enough power to meet the needs of the province on that very, very hot day. It was a record-setting day in Ottawa, to be sure, but we had a lot of excess energy that day.

I can assure all the members of the Legislature of one thing: If that member were in charge of our power grid, we wouldn’t have our nuclear supply—8,500 megawatts on that day that was there, at almost 100% of its capacity—and we wouldn’t have the natural gas fleet, which is our insurance policy, because not only is he against nuclear, he’s against natural gas as well.

While the member opposite clutches his pearls and pretends that the world is coming to an end, I can assure him that because of our consistent support for our nuclear grid, the refurbishments that are under way, on time and ahead of schedule, on budget—this member would not have those workhorses, those dependable baseload emissions-free power suppliers that we have in our province every single day.

At the same time we’re investing in new technology, a small modular reactor, that isn’t going to just power our grid; this is an SMR that’s going to be adopted by jurisdictions around the world to help them do what we’ve done in Ontario, and that is, reduce emissions and provide baseload power on a daily basis, 24/7, that the world can rely on. This is a great Ontario nuclear—

Speaker, we have a grid in Ontario that is the envy of all jurisdictions in North America: one that’s clean, one that’s affordable, one that’s reliable and one that’s safe. God help us if the NDP were ever in charge of our energy system. We’re seeing multi-billion-dollar investments in our province from companies around the world like Volkswagen, Stellantis, Umicore—so many others because we have a system that people can rely on.

We’re making sure that we’re hardening the infrastructure here to deal with some of the conditions that the member is talking about, but at the same time, because of our success on this file, we’re now building North America’s first small modular reactor that’s going to go online in 2028. Our nuclear fleet is being refurbished. When they come back a little bit later on this decade, that’s 3,500 megawatts of clean non-emitting electricity, enough to power the city of Toronto for the next 35 years—the largest procurement of energy storage in Canadian history—

Thanks very much to the member opposite for the question. My number one job is to ensure that we have an energy system here that’s reliable, one that’s affordable and one that’s clean. I’m glad to say it’s an A+ on all three of those categories in Ontario. We have a system that is 90% clean, one that is attracting investment from all around the world. They’re coming here because our system is clean, because it’s reliable and it’s affordable.

If the member opposite was in charge of our energy system—God forbid that that should ever happen—we certainly would become one of the most unreliable jurisdictions in the world because he is against baseload power.

I want to thank the member from southwestern Ontario where there’s a lot of growth going on because of the environment we’ve created. I can assure him that, yes, we are going to have the power they need for all that growth and investment.

I’ve been working since day one, since becoming the Minister of Energy, to ensure that we had a plan so that our electricity grid could support the growing electrification and the growth in our economy that we’re seeing. Our work, again, includes building Canada’s first small modular reactor at Darlington, the first on-grid in the G7—it’s going to be online in late 2028—and the first battery storage facility, Oneida, in partnership with the Six Nations of the Grand River. We’ve also got the largest battery storage procurement out in the field right now with the Independent Electricity System Operator—the largest in the country’s history.

We’re leading the way, Mr. Speaker, on building energy. And the former Liberal government, as I mentioned earlier, that drove manufacturing jobs out of our province—we’re making sure that we’ve got the energy to bring them back.

But Ontario does have one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, and we’re doing everything we can to ensure it stays that way by investing in our large nuclear reactors and our small nuclear reactors. As I mentioned earlier, we have four of our nuclear reactors that are down now for refurbishment. That’s 3,400 megawatts of power at the Darlington and Bruce sites that are going to be coming back on over the next number of years, ensuring clean, reliable energy for our system, energy that’s going to continue to be there for all of the new investments that come our way.

If the NDP had their way, those reactors wouldn’t have come back at all, and neither would the jobs that are flocking back to Ontario.

Well, I’d be pleased to respond to that question. Mr. Speaker, we endured 15 long years of Bad Medicine from that government—a Liberal government that drove up electricity prices across our province, drove jobs out of our province. Since we formed government in 2018, we’ve been bringing them back. We’ve been bringing them back by the thousands, Mr. Speaker.

And instead of a disastrous plan—a failed plan that even their former Premier admits was her biggest mistake, Mr. Speaker—we’re getting it right. The fundamentals are right: low hydro, low taxes, making sure that companies want to invest in Ontario’s wealth and growth. We’re seeing it on a record pace, including in the electric vehicle sector. And I’ll have more to say about the supply that’s coming, Mr. Speaker.

But we’re not stopping there, Mr. Speaker. We’re building the first grid-scale small modular reactor in the G7 here in Ontario. We’re building the largest battery-storage facility in Canada here in Ontario. We’re procuring the power that we’re going to need to power our—

As a matter of fact, I can. Thanks again to the member.

All types of businesses, including those in the automotive sector, are placing a greater emphasis on corporate environmental goals to use 100% clean or renewable energy. This registry announced this morning means those businesses are going to have one more tool to meet those commitments and demonstrate that their electricity has been sourced from clean resources.

We had the folks from Bruce Power here earlier this morning, as well. They’ve got a great medical isotope announcement that James Scongack is making later today.

As well, proceeds from this credit registry, these sales, are going to go into the newly established future clean energy electricity fund. That means we’re going to be reinvesting that money in Ontario for new clean energy projects that are only going to make our grid greener, make our grid more reliable, and drive down electricity costs for the people of Ontario.

Thanks to the member from Ontario’s clean energy capital, the Durham region, for the question this morning.

I was pleased to join another member from that Durham caucus at Toronto Metropolitan University this morning to announce that Ontario is leveraging our world-class electricity grid by launching a voluntary clean energy credit registry. This registry is going to help boost competitiveness and attract jobs to Ontario, helping businesses meet their environmental and sustainability goals.

We know that global businesses are looking to expand in jurisdictions like Ontario with clean and reliable electricity.

Along with our well-trained workforce, which we have thanks to Toronto Metropolitan University, and competitive tax credits, which we have thanks to the Minister of Finance, and an exemplary R&D ecosystem, and clean energy in the province, the credit registry announced this morning is just one more reason for those big companies that the member mentioned to continue investing in Ontario.

Thanks to the member from Whitby for the question.

From small modular reactors to battery storage, our government really has embraced innovative and bold energy solutions. That also includes last week’s announcement of a new Hydrogen Innovation Fund. This fund is $50 million that’s going to be invested over the next three years to kick-start and develop new opportunities for hydrogen to be integrated into Ontario’s clean energy system, including hydrogen electricity storage. This launch marks another milestone in the implementation of our low-carbon hydrogen strategy, positioning Ontario as a clean manufacturing hub for hydrogen. This fund is going to help us lay the groundwork for hydrogen to contribute to our diverse energy supply that we have in the province, Mr. Speaker, and it’s going to help us build on the clean-energy advantage that we now enjoy in Ontario.

By making these investments early, we’re paving the way for the growth of our own hydrogen economy in Ontario. We’re cleaning up the mess that was left by the previous Liberal government and bringing a stable Ontario energy supply to Ontario. It’s just one more part of our plan to build Ontario’s clean energy advantage and to make Ontario a leader in the latest frontier in energy, and that would be the hydrogen economy.

Thanks to the towering member from Brantford–Brant.

Our population is growing. As we heard from the Minister of Economic Development earlier, our economy is continuing to grow, with huge investments in our province. That means our demand for clean, reliable and affordable electricity is continuing to grow too. When the Oneida battery storage project goes online in 2025, it’s going to more than double the amount of energy storage that is currently on Ontario’s grid, from 225 megawatts to 475 megawatts.

The announcement is another milestone in our plan to build and strengthen our electricity grid. We’re going to continue to support innovative and bold technologies like the small modular nuclear reactor program, where construction has started over the holidays, as well. This also includes Canada’s largest procurement of clean energy storage that is in the field right now and of course Canada’s largest energy storage project, the Oneida project, which we announced a couple of weeks ago with the Premier in this member’s region. We’re making our grid more efficient. I must say, when it comes to energy, Ontario is leading the way.

Thanks to the member opposite from Brantford–Brant for that great question this morning.

Ontario has a world-class electricity system. It’s 90% emissions-free. We get over 60% of our power from our nuclear fleet emissions-free. We get about 25% from our hydro fleet emissions-free. There are about 33,000 other generators across the province: wind and solar and biomass facilities. Many of those facilities are still producing power at night, though, when demand is low, at off-peak times. Under the former Liberal government, what we had happen was this surplus power was sold to neighbouring jurisdictions at a loss.

We’re bringing that to an end, thanks to our government’s work on the Oneida battery storage project, one of the largest battery storage projects in the world. We’re partnering with the Six Nations of the Grand River to build this. We’re making full use of Ontario’s clean grid by drawing and storing the energy at off-peak times and then dispatching it at times when we’re on-peak, when we need that power. Making our—

Thanks to the member opposite for the question.

As Minister of Energy, my top priority is to ensure that we have a reliable and clean electricity grid that meets the needs of everyone across Ontario, especially in remote communities.

The member is right that there are still some remote fly-in communities that are operating on diesel generators. That’s expensive, it’s not good for the environment, and it doesn’t allow for growth in new homes and an expansion to be built in these communities.

That’s why it was really important last week that I joined my friend and colleague the MPP from Kiiwetinoong in Kingfisher Lake, his home community, with many of his family members. It was a tremendous day, as we lit up that community to the provincial grid, thanks to the Wataynikaneyap power project, which is a tremendous project—it’s known as the line that brings light. I would add that it’s the line that brings hope as well.

It’s pretty rich coming from the member opposite—to talk about affordability in the energy sector, when his own party believes that we should get rid of natural gas, a base-load power supply. And that member, in particular, is not supportive of nuclear, which provides 60% of our base load power in the province every day. Each and every day, my job as the Minister of Energy is to ensure that we have an affordable and reliable supply of electricity in the province. The Independent Electricity System Operator has advised us that if we were to remove natural gas from the system, we would have blackouts and brownouts. Is that what this member wants? It’s certainly not what this government wants or what the people of Ontario need.

We’re seeing record investments in our province because we now have a reliable and affordable electricity grid in Ontario—one that is competitive with other jurisdictions—and we’re seeing the results with multi-billion dollar investments here in Ontario.

Thanks to the member for Durham for the great question this morning. I want to start off by recognizing the amazing job that Ontario’s nuclear workers are doing every day to keep the lights on in Pickering, at Darlington and also at Bruce Power. Pickering provides Ontario with a source of low-cost and reliable zero-emissions electricity every day to meet the province’s baseload energy needs, not like the intermittent wind and solar projects that were brought on—33,000 of them—by the previous government.

Our nuclear fleet, our world-class facilities—they’re providing power that’s available when we need it every day of the week. And at the same time, by supporting the safe continued operation of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with those workers in the Durham region—those good-paying jobs, those hard-working people that are providing the clean power that Ontario needs for the future.

Earlier this morning, in estimates, we heard from the member from Kingston, who seems to be opposed to nuclear energy, Mr. Speaker. We heard from the member opposite who is now the leader of the NDP, who seems to be opposed to nuclear energy. That source of electricity provides 60% of our electricity every day. It’s a zero-emission source of electricity, one that is the only pathway to get us to net zero in our province. The leader of the NDP in this House, Mr. Speaker, on dozens of occasions has spoken about the lack of support for nuclear in our province.

We’re standing firmly with the people of Pickering, the people in Darlington, the people in Bruce, who are providing low-cost, reliable and affordable electricity—