Preville on Politics

Oh no, more nukes

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Philip Preville

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Apparently Ontario’s bright future could include up to eight new nuclear reactors. Energy Minister Dwight Duncan is downplaying the applications to build them, but Tory leader John Tory (formerly of Torys, now just a Tory) has been predicting this for a some time now.

A couple of weeks ago, at the Ontario PC’s mega-fundraiser at the Toronto Convention Centre, Tory supported nuclear energy in his speech. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Tory claimed that Ontario needed “more nuclear reactors than the current government says we need.” He openly endorses nuclear energy for two reasons: in the communities that are already home to nuclear facilities, people support building new ones; and two, nuclear reactors produce zero greenhouse gas emissions.

What they produce is a radioactive slurry, but no matter. Energy production, like waste disposal, is all about picking your poison. Tory is betting that, given fears over global warming, people will prefer cooling towers to smokestacks. This issue alone ought to make for a worthwhile campaign.

Image of John Tory: www.ontariopc.com

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Philip Preville

Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.


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