The Prime Minister Burns*
Credit David Aiken for the title’s wording.
But I would like to add a clause of my own:
And All The While, Ontario Continues To Hollow Out
You will all likely know that it was announced today – after 113 years of operation, Stelco of Hamilton will no longer manufacture steel, as of the end of this December.
At its peak in the 1970s, Stelco had over 25,000 employees – with the coming shutdown, there will remain less than 900 and none of those will produce steel.
The cause for the shutdown can be placed at the feet of our Liberal Provincial Government and its stupid, dumb, foolish, ludicrous, brainless, inane (you get the idea) … Green Energy Program.
The very program that pays landowners to produce unneeded power via solar and wind – at a cost of upwards of 82.5 cents per kwh when the wholesale rate is but 2 cents per.
Stelco is the not the first and will not be the last manufacturer to be struck down by these unbearable rates.
And how can we expect our manufacturers to compete against other non-ontario jurisdictions where retail power costs are 5 to 6 cents per kwh when their costs are approaching 20 cents per.
They can’t and moreover they won’t – either they will move or they will shutdown.
Simple as that.
It makes the Senate shenanigans look like small potatoes.
Let’s quickly look at the numbers…
In the early 1980s there were over 1 million Ontarians employed in manufacturing – the ratio to the then population (1982 / 8 million) – 1:8
Now flash ahead to 2013 – Ontario’s population is 13.5 million and yet the number now employed in its manufacturing sector is 770k – for a ratio of 1:17 – a reduction of over 50% in a little over 30 years.
Is it any wonder then that Ontario is now a have-not province?
Nor is it any wonder that our provincial debt is nearing $300 billion – far worse than California which has triple Ontario’s population and considers itself bankrupt.
But with the antics in Ottawa and the Fords in Toronto – the Ontario Grits get more or less a free ride.
Ever heard the term – going to hell in a hand basket?
Things could be done to mitigate the situation – especially in the case of Stelco – ever heard of pipelines?
Had the green light been given – they would have been produced in Hamilton – and Stelco would have survived at least for another day.
You would think under these circumstances that the NDP would be fighting tooth and nail to see these pipelines produced …but no they are totally against them.
I guess unless you are a fat cat government worker the New Democratic Party is not interested in you.
And the Ontario Liberals are most certainly not interested in protecting its fragile manufacturing sector.
I guess we had all better brush up on flipping burgers – at least until the Chinese develop a robot that can do it for us.
As I see it …
‘K.D. Galagher’
