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The conservative agenda doesn’t fly with people too well if they don’t frame themselves against the “tyrannical left” as the underdogs. That said, %60 of the eligible voters still didn’t vote for this carnival show.

It's more like 40% support of those that voted. The system allows a majority government.
 
The pension shift was to be expected.

By far the more interesting choice here, having just read the full report is to shift the hydro rate plan costs onto the government books.

The Commission does not make clear recommendations on HOW to do this.........

I think the entire Hydro rate plan was ill-advised, and the manner of its execution, dubious.

Be that as it may, the PCs campaigned on keep it as is.

If they follow this recommendation, it adds 2.4B to the deficit.

But its more complex than that.

The manner in which the Liberals accounted for it means its currently on the books of OPG and the IESO.

Shifting this means re-stating those accounts.

Further, if the government is to take responsibility for this, it could and presumably should, re-finance it at public, rather than commercial lending rates, which would then lower the number.

Though I'm not privy to the borrowing terms in the various agreements, so I can't speak to the ease of said shift.

****

300M of the increase is simply the choice to increase the Reserve. While I don't disagree w/the virtue of a larger reserve, there is no misstatement of the books here, this is a policy adjustment pure and simple.

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On the revenue side, they've made adjustments which lower forecast revenue by 1.5B this fiscal year.

I find some of the adjustments questionable. They may be supportable but the requisite detail is lacking.

For instance they are suggesting taking a charge of 800M against corporate tax due to US tax reform.

But they don't provide any basis for that revised assumption.

Given that Ontario was not a major source of off-shoring, and that our effective tax rate on corporations remains below the US number, this seems somewhat improbable. Though it is plausible.

****

Summation, some fair choices, some choices requiring further explanation, some unfair choices, using policy change to make the deficit appear worse than it would be.

Note that they have not reduced the deficit by any amount for cuts or freezes already implemented, which will have a material impact.

They are still leaving all the Liberal promises from the budget on the books (for now)

This restatement (for better or worse) is now a pretense for throwing the PC platform and expectations out the window.

Higher projected deficits are a given, in the absence of radical change.

Some unpopular cuts are likely coming.

But I fail to see how this is righted (using these accounting standards) without a tax hike.

Interesting times.
 
Long term commitment is something I hadn't thought of, but a very important one, like building a superhighway to a city not yet built. I was too busy thinking of the technical challenges. Just reading up on (I guess the term UHV is now redundant) HVDC and HVAC interconnections, and line phase always fascinates me, I'm an electronic tech, not electrical, and I presumed the DC was xmtted in ripple form, perhaps not, so *synchronizing phase* becomes a very real challenge. I'd presumed injecting a control signal into the switching control banks like is used for solar panels to an inverter would establish that, evidently not that simple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current#AC_network_interconnections

Some of this I knew, some I didn't. Now reading back some of the chapters. Incredibly well written Wikipedia piece, it must be from an engineering manual. And I see a lot of my questions being answered.

From what I gather from a quick glance, the only sane way to xmt pwr from PQ to Ont is HVDC. And the investment would be huge. Why have I spent so much forum space on this?

Because this subject if going to come up time and again, and be recklessly based on complete misinformation.

Incredible! I just sent that link off to friends and associates. Cynthia Mulligan has impressed me many times. She's far more than just eye candy.

Addendum to @lenaitch especially, you have the capacity to appreciate this:
Off topic, but remember the "disappearing energy" in the Southern European network last year, such that "clocks were running slow" (synchronous, of course)?

I still don't believe the story being touted for it, won't go into the technical details, but suffice to say generators would be programmed to disconnect if line freq was more than a few radians late or early:
European clocks lose six minutes after dispute saps power from

I don't believe it! Traced the story, Deutsche Welle and many other reputable popular sources and some universities and even science sites were in on the story. I'm sure there is a real story, just not this one...

Without spinning off into technicalities (which I am admittedly ill equipped to do), as you mention, all power generation within a given interconnected grid must be synchronous. Quebec is not part of our interconnect (neither is Manitoba). I'm not sure if there are technical reasons for their isolation or it is simply a matter of that's the way Quebec does most things. I thought I read some time ago that their phase angles are different but I've never been able to find the reference again. Regardless, connections between interconnect regions ('interties') must be done by ac-dc-ac conversion. Not cheap. I also undersstand that the Ontario intertie circuits with both provinces are at or near capacity. Electrical transmission, especially between Ontario and Quebec, is highly dynamic; energy moves both ways depending on load. We are summer demand weighted (air conditioning) and they are winter weighted (electric heating). Besides, it is not like they are generating to ground; they have lots of customers already.
 
Ford government is pulling the oldest trick in the book: Come into power, say that the books are worse than expected (because of the previous government's mishandling), and break all the promises to not cut services and jobs.
Interesting Tweet from Mitzi Hunter. She says there is nothing new here.
  • Basically admitting that the Liberals lied about their $6.7B deficit,
  • Also admits they hid things from the AG and FAO, who both came up with #$11.7B as the deficit.
  • And admits that the real number is $15B.

https://twitter.com/MitzieHunter/status/1043154502751318016

Another tweet from AG - agreeing that this is the real financial picture.

https://twitter.com/OntarioAuditor/status/1043124181137874945
 
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I thought I read some time ago that their phase angles are different but I've never been able to find the reference again.
It's so highly technical that it's 'beneath the radar' on the web. But it's an essential discussion. I'll keep searching.

Regardless, connections between interconnect regions ('interties') must be done by ac-dc-ac conversion.
Even getting details on this is difficult. I have to delve to see if they're 'filtering' their DC ripple or not. I would have thought not, because you lose the equivalent of 'torque' if put through a cap bank. Again, a crucial point, because reintegrating final AC from asynchronous ripple DC requires a filtered source (one would presume), unless reformation (unrectifying by a switching circuit) could reconstitute AC assuming certain factors, like ripple phase angle if unfiltered. Whether the phase angle could be led or lagged by LC coupling is a good question. Obviously in theory it is. In practice? Whenever I do get hits Googling on it, the one thing that's a given is "cost".

Still digging on this, and on PQ/Ont interconnects.

Btw: "UHV" is still current terminology (duplicitous meaning unintended). It's still on the books, but not showing much in discussions now. I guess the 'ultra' aspect has become so commonplace now...

Addendum: Found an excellent paper on the topic (what a difference a day makes for finding key search words!)
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Ontario-Quebec Interconnection Capability: A Technical Review - Ieso


See review here:

Ontario-Quebec Interconnection Capability - A Technical Review - Ieso
 

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I’m still enraged about the Toronto municipal election fiasco.
One of the more obnoxious ministers in Dord’s cabinet is Steve Clark, minister of Municipal affairs. He likes to sit next to Dord in the legislature and gloat while Dord is screwing T.O. He is a truly objectionable hick. Perhaps someone on this forum could check my math. Clark is from Brockville. Brockville has a population of about 38,500 and a city council of 8 members so each councillor represents about 4,812 residents. Meanwhile, Toronto, with a population of about 2,800,000 now has a city council of 25 members so each councillor represents about 112,000 Torontonians.
So, according to my “math” to make things equitable Toronto should have 581 councillors or Brockville should have only o.045 councillors (less than 1).
What also really galls me is people who live in small cities and love to hate Toronto don’t seam realize that their roads, schools, hospitals, emergency services, police, etc. couldn’t exist without the taxes gleaned from Toronto. I feel another angry letter coming on. This time to weasley Steve Clark and the Star.
 
So it seems Wynne was lying that all of her spendings would cause a small increase in the debt because it seems if she stayed in power all of her Freebies she was promising people would have exploded the debt like crazy. Furthermore, taxes would have gone up like crazy as I suspected.

Not saying I am looking Forward to Fords cuts but I think the cost of living is way too high in this province to greatly increase taxes too.

Thanks Wynne.
 
Not saying I am looking Forward to Fords cuts but I think the cost of living is way too high in this province to greatly increase taxes too.
I can support most cuts, as long as we’re not laying off hundreds or more civil servants. Payroll is not, AIUI the government’s biggest cost.

Killing the green energy programs was smart. How McGuinty/Wynne ever thought it was a good idea to lock the province into long term contracts with Liberal insiders to overpay for wind power, when we have a massive surplus of energy eludes me.

My relationship with Queens Park is purely transitional. I want good and affordable infrastructure (roads, hydro, sewer, etc), health care, education, transit, city planning, emergency services, parks, and economic policy that encourages jobs and prosperity. I’ll pay pretty much any price in tax to get that.
 
when we have a massive surplus of energy eludes me.
What "massive surplus of power"?

Supply
Ontario’s electricity supply was clean and diverse in 2017. Preliminary generation data showed over 95 percent of electricity generated in Ontario came from non-greenhouse gas emitting* resources (nuclear, hydro, wind and solar). Nuclear power continued to be a significant form of generation for the province, making up 35 percent of installed capacity on the transmission system and representing 63 percent of the energy produced in 2017. Corresponding to lower overall and peak demand, gas generation use went down in 2017 to four percent. Even though its use was down overall, gas continued to provide important operating flexibility to the system.
http://www.ieso.ca/corporate-ieso/media/year-end-data

I can see the Cons have completely confabulated this debate. Yes there was gross mismanagement of the Green Energy Act, but it doesn't mean you turn your back on it and listen to the morons at OntCon HQ the Sun and the Pest.

There are really good answers to be had. Too bad Ontario is missing them...

Meantime, on the other extreme, the Greenies are choking on the algae:
Ontario electricity ratepayers could save $12 billion if the province made a deal to import low-cost water power instead of rebuilding aging nuclear reactors.

Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone massively over budget. It has recently been revealed that the initial stages of the Darlington project are already massively over budget and that OPG has gone to great lengths to try to disguise the true cost of the project.

Meanwhile, Quebec has a growing surplus of low-cost water power available for export. In 2017, Quebec offered to supply Ontario with a large amount of power at a cost of just 5 cents per kWh. Compare that to the projected cost of power from rebuilt reactors at the Darlington nuclear station — 16.5 cents per kWh and possibly higher.

If you think Ontario should make a money-saving deal with Quebec, sign our petition!
Agreed on Nuclear cost, but to magically import this power from Quebec means building costly and complicated infrastructure.

Power transmission towers don't just grow on trees...and as @lenaitch pointed out in another string, it also means *committing* to a source with no long-term guaranteed supply or price to it.
 
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