THUNDER BAY — Rural households that heat with propane or oil could benefit from an NDP bill that proposes to mainly provide relief against the cost of heating with natural gas, said Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois.
Vaugeois noted her party's bill, which received its first reading on Tuesday, also aims to support "low-income consumers of non-regulated fuels."
That includes oil and propane, which, unlike electricity and natural gas, are not regulated in Ontario. Costs are based on the market, and retailers set prices as they see fit.
Both fuels are widely used to fire furnaces in municipalities outside Thunder Bay, such as Neebing and Conmee.
"People also heat with wood," noted Vaugeois.
The NDP's proposed Affordable Home Heating Act would be similar to the existing Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP), the party says. It's being put forward by St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens.
"Young families and seniors in my riding saw their (natural gas) bills double last year," Stevens said in a news release.
Opposition-backed bills rarely find the support with majority governments. Even if her proposal passes in the legislature, it won't apply until next winter. According to a legislative schedule, the bill wouldn't come up for a second reading until May.
Last winter, when propane and oil costs soared, Vaugeois suggested subsidies would be appropriate to offset those costs since such measures are available for electricity. The government has its own energy bill proposal.
Vaugeois has also said she will be pushing the government to make their new heat pump rebate available across the region. Kenora is the only Northwestern Ontario community that has access to the program.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Conservative government announced a bill of its own — the Affordable Energy Act — while promoting an expanded role for nuclear power.
The Tory bill, if passed, would "lay the groundwork for large-scale energy expansion, more affordable homes (and) expanded energy efficiency programs," a provincial news release said.
Ontario's electricity demand "is forecast to increase by 75 per cent by 2050 — the equivalent of adding four and a half cities the size of Toronto to the (provincial power) grid," a provincial backgrounder indicated.
While the government touts nuclear power as "emissions-free," it still produces waste.
Sometime later this year, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is expected to announce its preferred choice for an underground storage site that would house spent radioactive fuel rods from the country's nuclear reactors.
The organization, which is funded by the nuclear industry, will select one of two candidate locations: a site about 35 kilometres west of Ignace and another in southwestern Ontario near an existing nuclear plant.
Several Indigenous groups, including Fort William First Nation, oppose transporting radioactive rods to the proposed Ignace area site.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization maintains that whether the rods are transported by truck or rail, they would be placed in specialized containers designed to withstand hard impacts, fiery crashes and immersion in water.
The Chronicle Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
