McGuinty’s “desperation” for election makes his “Job Creation” announcements “ludicrous”!

Misinformation on Green Energy in Ontario is now the “Norm”!

The following are two letters that will highlight the “misinformation” presently being forced into Mainstream Media’s “bilious” editorial pages across Ontario in one last desperate attempt for the “Green Scammers” to keep sucking money from the “public teet”.  With Tim Hudak’s majority “win” almost “inevitable” this October to remove McGuinty and cabinet from the taxpayer’s pockets means the rhetoric to keep the Liberals in power is “ramping up” with massive misinformation and out and out lies that may “confuse” uninformed voters.

Here first is a letter from a “supporter” of the Green Energy agenda that is now in play in Ontario that is actually destroying jobs, destroying lands, destroying people’s health, and driving people form their homes and land without any option for defense of same.

Re: Green Energy Act didn’t create jobs, by Eric Renaud, June 14.

The letter from Eric Renaud published in The Windsor Star is an example of how false information about renewable energy is being spread in this province without any proof.

According to this reader “facts are that only 27 jobs have been created.” As the general manager of Siliken Canada, just one of hundreds of companies already in the province, I can assure you that I currently have 121 employees, I’d be happy to share my payroll list.

Then he states that “the green energy industry in Ontario depends on government subsidies.” Well, we are currently manufacturing 5,120 solar modules for export to Europe, I can also show you the purchase order.

The only other subsidy we have received is training support for new employees through the Ontario Works program. A small contribution for which we are grateful, but it certainly doesn’t make our business viable. The municipal taxes we pay in Windsor are higher than the subsidies we receive.

Finally, the letter says that “in countries like Spain and Portugal, the job losses are now being confirmed.” We are a Spanish multinational that survived the cancellation of our own Green Energy Act two years ago by marketing internationally.

Many of our local competitors did not, and over 35,000 green jobs were lost in Spain: engineers designing the systems, manufacturers making the equipment, crews installing them, lawyers, consultants, financiers, maintenance people and so on – an entire industry.

The Spanish government is considering a new program. Germany and Italy are extending theirs, and new ones are popping up around the world. We can tap into those markets from Windsor.

PACO CAUDET,

Windsor

Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Green+energy+creates+many+jobs/5044632/story.html#ixzz1RBNSwLFv

Now comes a letter in reply that counters these false claims of “job creation” and how McGuinty’s Green Energy Scam is actually killing off jobs and reducing Ontario to a virtual wasteland!

RE: Green Energy Act didn’t create Jobs.

The letter from Paco Caudet is exactly what we’d expect from a politically favoured business when its claims of cleaner environment and “green” jobs is challenged.  Mr. Caudet admits that Spain lost 35,000 green jobs and that Spain cancelled their own energy act (after it proved ineffective). As a Spanish multinational company he survived that cancellation by marketing internationally.    Sounds to me he simply pulled up shop to take advantage of another latecomer to the green subsidy bandwagon-Ontario  and clearly doesn’t want to see Canada also go down the same enlightened path.

It’s interesting that he claims that his business gets little direct subsidy benefit, yet he never mentions Ontario’s outrageous 44 to 80 cent/kWh subsidies for solar generators and fails to connect the above market prices paid to the generators are subsidized by the ratepayer  which creates the demand for the product his company manufactures.   He also neglects to say that without European subsidies, he would not be selling any solar to Europe either. These omissions are also no surprise, as this type of selective vision is rampant in the green business.  What Mr. Caudet doesn’t seem to  know is that the jobs that benefit our country are those created through free market operations.  As Dr. Ross McKitrick an Environmental policy economist from UofG indicates,  “Subsidies create short-term jobs that have to be financed by new taxes on profitable activity, which drives away long-term investment and ends up costing jobs”.    Reports out of Denmark, Spain and Italy all show that renewable energy costs jobs in other sectors in large part because electrical energy costs must increase to support those subsidies.  In Spain the report indicated that 2.2 jobs were lost for each “green” job that was created. If Ontario’s experience is similar, the 121 employees that Mr. Caudet’s company employs has cost 266 jobs somewhere else in Ontario.

If you want to also refer to some independent assessments there are many good articles about this, like:
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/morriss-green-jobs-myths.pdf
http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-16-2009/0004989090&EDATE=
http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2009/03/better-green-jobs-the-one-word-solution
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/01/lessons-from-europe/?page=all#pagebreak
http://www.masterresource.org/2009/04/green-jobs-making-society-poorer-basic-math-can-show-interesting-things/
http://afl.org/index.php/AFL-in-the-News/myths-fuel-the-eco-lobbys-emissions-slashing-green-jobs-fantasy-ideologically-driven-employment-claims-dont-stand-up-to-scrutiny.html
http://www.pacificresearch.org/publications/how-the-green-jobs-agenda-destroys-jobs
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/dominic_lawson/article6122592.ece
etc.

Today the Ministry of Energy announced another 23.5MW of solar generators have received FIT contract offers. Those solar generators will be paid 44.3 cents per kWh whereas the market price for electricity is approximately 3 cents per kWh. The difference of 41.3 cents per kWh is the subsidy that the ratepayers must pay through their electricity bills. Annualized, this latest announcement will cost the Ontario ratepayers over $12-million for the next 20 years or $240-million.  Does this sound like the kind of opportunity we should be offering a Spanish multinational who claims that his municipal taxes are not even covered by his cut  of gov’t subsidies? 

Colette McLean