In Late August, Greenpeace Canada organized a ride where forty cyclists bearing flags that read “don’t nuke green energy” rode from Pickering Nuclear Generating Station to the Darlington Nuclear Station in Bowmanville, Ontario in an effort to urge Premier Dalton McGuinty to go green. Ride Coordinator, Shawn Stensil, questions the government’s decision to spend billions of dollars to build a new plant at the Darlington site, stating, “If you spend $26 billion to build new reactors, you’re certainly not putting it into green energy.” Greenpeace Canada appears to add substantial momentum to the “renewable is doable” report it co-wrote with the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which concludes that a mixture of green technologies and conservation is more cost-effective than using nuclear energy.

Green Energy Is at The Forefront of Toronto’s Mayoral Race

From Greenpeace activists to Toronto’s mayoral race, green energy has dominated the headlines in Ontario in recent weeks. Toronto Sun columnist, Ian Robertson, highlights Mayoral candidate George Smithermans’ vow of a cleaner, greener Toronto in which the politician comments that “Building owners who add or switch to renewable energy will reduce pollution and electricity costs and deserve to receive financial assistance.” Smitherman continues by saying, “We have a unique opportunity to combine employment with green policies.” Smitherman is a former Ontario energy minister, and part of his program would be to create “green energy districts” where he estimates up to 50,000 “green collar” jobs could emerge.

Green Jobs Are the Future of Ontario

The Ontario government faces a key challenge as it explores ways to replace non-renewable resources like oil and gas with renewable sources like wind and solar. In order to tackle this problem, the economy of Ontario must evolve, and green jobs are at the heart of the transformation because they encompass all avenues of economic growth from agriculture to the manufacturing of solar panels to energy production to transportation. Comments Jacob Travis, Director of Ontario Solar Academy, “The demand, desire, and lip-service are all there. We’ve seen demonstrations and heard from candidates with ‘green’ headlining the agenda.” He adds, “No substantial progress can take place unless Ontario builds a green workforce able to make this transformation complete. We still have a ways to go.”