Power Workers Seek Retention of Coal-Fired Power Generation in Ontario

Canadian ICEM affiliate Power Workers’ Union (PWU), part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), is calling on Ontario’s provincial government to rethink its plans to close all coal-fuelled electric generation plants in Canada’s largest province.

Within the next few weeks, the Ontario Power Authority will release a report recommending the power source mix for the future and it is expected coal-fired plants—now 17% of Ontario’s power supply—will be targeted for closure.

PWU President Don MacKinnon said in a 24 November address that abandoning coal for generation will harm the industrial economy of the province. “Given price and supply issues, it would be unwise to eliminate any one source of energy from our electrical generating mix,” he said. PWU is urging the government to retrofit plants with clean-coal technology.