ADAMS: Ford's PCs Are Now Paying for Years of Energy Mismanagement

Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce recently showed up in Edwardsburgh-Cardinal with hard hats and photo-op smiles, shovels in hand, to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Skyview 2 battery energy storage system (BESS) project. The government would like you to believe this is some sort of profound leap into the future, a turning point, a bold leap in energy innovation.

What it actually is, is a billion-dollar band-aid slapped onto the consequences of years of Ontario PC and Liberal energy policy failures.

The Skyview 2 lithium-ion BESS facility will cost Ontario taxpayers nearly one billion dollars and requires 30 acres of farmland to house a giant industrial battery. Ontario government officials insist that the project is “necessary” to store electricity during off-peak hours and release it back to the grid during periods of high demand.

They frame this as good planning, as forward-thinking energy security, and as the sort of prudent infrastructure investment Ontario desperately needs. But behind all the rehearsed talking points lies a truth the Ford government refuses to confront:

Ontario does not need utility-scale lithium-ion batteries. Ontario needs a functional energy strategy rooted in affordability, accountability, and real science, not political marketing.

And that strategy has always been obvious: nuclear power.

A Billion Dollars to Avoid Saying “We Made a Mistake”

If Ontario's electricity grid needed better load balancing and peak-demand stability, the province has already had the solution for decades: reliable, emissions-free, baseload nuclear power. But instead of doubling down on what works—what Ontarians actually depend on—Ford's PCs are pouring a billion dollars into a giant lithium-ion tax sink because they are too politically timid to confront the root cause of our energy instability:

The Liberal-era wind turbine contracts that continue draining public money at astronomical rates.

We were told repeatedly that the Ford government was going to fix the hydro mess. We were told the PCs had learned from the McGuinty—Wynne years and understood the Green Energy Act debacle was a catastrophic failure of planning and accountability.

And yet, here we are:

The exact same government that once promised to dismantle Ontario's wasteful “green” energy spending is now building a billion-dollar facility whose only real function is to compensate for that very waste.

Wind energy destabilized Ontario's grid. The PCs campaigned on acknowledging that. Yet instead of cancelling the remaining contracts—something they still refuse to do—they are now investing billions to work around the turbines rather than remove them. It is the equivalent of digging yourself into a hole and deciding the solution is not to stop digging, but to buy a more expensive shovel.

BESS is Not Energy Innovation, It Is Energy Damage Control

The government frames BESS as modern, efficient, and forward-thinking. But lithium-ion storage is not the transformative technology they claim. Let's talk facts:

• BESS does not produce energy.
• It does not lower electricity bills.
• It does not make Ontario’s grid more independent.
• It does not replace the need for reliable baseload sources.

What it does is smooth out the wildly inconsistent energy production caused by intermittent wind turbines, a problem that would not exist if Ontario stopped clinging to long-term wind contracts like political security blankets.

The PCs' pitch is simple:
We spent billions on wind. It doesn't work. Now we'll spend another billion on batteries so we can pretend it does.

If this is what passes for long-term planning at Queen's Park, Ontario is in serious trouble.

Nuclear Power: The Answer Sitting Right in Front of Us

Ontario is the world leader in nuclear energy. We have the expertise, the workforce, the regulatory infrastructure, and the global reputation for safe, consistent, affordable electricity production.

So why is our government chasing windmills and batteries like it's 2012?

If Ontario wants energy independence and low hydro bills, we should be expanding nuclear capacity—not tossing more public money at politically fashionable technologies that offer little real benefit to taxpayers.

Nuclear is clean.
Nuclear is reliable.
Nuclear is scalable.
Nuclear is affordable over the long term.

The same cannot be said for wind turbines and the billion-dollar battery farms required to make them look functional.

Ontario could take every cent currently being burned on wind and BESS projects and direct it toward new small modular reactors, refurbishing existing plants, or accelerating nuclear innovation. Doing so would not just stabilize our grid — it would position Ontario as a global exporter of nuclear technology and expertise.

Instead, this government is treating nuclear like an afterthought while doubling down on the same losing “green energy” bets the Liberals saddled us with for 15 years.

The Farmland Factor: Another Silent Casualty

We should not gloss over the land use issue. Thirty acres of farmland: gone. Once again, Ontario's productive agricultural land is sacrificed so the government can paper over the consequences of its own policy failures.

When wind turbines were eating up farmland across rural Ontario, the PCs promised to stand with farmers. But as it turns out, the Ford government is perfectly willing to pave over farmland as long as the project gives them a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a headline.

Ontario's agricultural sector deserves better. So do taxpayers.

A Real Energy Plan Means Ending the Fantasy

If Ontario wants lower hydro rates—not in theory, not in press releases, but in reality—there is only one path:

• Cancel the remaining wasteful green energy contracts.
• Stop subsidizing wind turbines that destabilize the grid.
• Stop treating billion-dollar batteries as clever solutions instead of political escape hatches.
• And invest unapologetically in nuclear power; Ontario's greatest energy advantage.

Until that happens, no amount of groundbreaking ceremonies and smiling photo ops will hide the truth: the PCs are not fixing Ontario's energy system. They are simply pouring more public money into patchwork solutions that treat symptoms instead of causes.

Skyview 2 isn't a victory for Ontario. It is a monument to a government too afraid to acknowledge years of energy mismanagement, and too unwilling to embrace the nuclear future Ontario deserves.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Provincial Times or Left Lane Media Group. Read our Content Policy here.