Clockwatchers: hydro meters keep of track of who uses what and when (Image: Anthony Easton)
Back when the Ontario government introduced time-of-use billing to hydro, it had two simple purposes: to reflect the higher costs of daytime power (when home and business energy use turns on expensive natural gas plants) and to try and shift consumer’s electricity use from expensive daytime power to cheaper nighttime power (when Ontario mostly runs off nuclear and hydroelectric power.) Just one problem: it doesn’t seem to have worked. According to the CBC, the government is now looking at making the peak power rates even more expensive.
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A new survey suggests that Ontario residents believe in the importance of the arts more strongly than ever before. The poll was last conducted in 1994, and this year’s version asked six identical questions, plus a few new ones. For all the duplicate questions (but one), Ontarians responded with more enthusiasm and commitment to the arts than 16 years ago. Some 80 per cent of respondents said that the arts are important to their quality of life, and three quarters said they would miss the arts if they were not available in their community, both increases since the last poll. 
