Dalton McGuinty
It’s hard to overstate the impact of the Premier and his vision for a more sustainable Ontario. Despite endless fear-mongering by his opponents, the Premier demonstrated clear-thinking leadership as the Government passed the Green Energy Act and, in the first year alone, 22,000 individuals applied to contribute energy to the grid via the MicroFIT program. Ontario’s first year efforts surpassed similar efforts in Europe and made it a leader in North America overnight. The Act has stimulated not only contracts to provide over 2,400 Mw of renewable power, but has also created tens of thousands of “green” jobs—expected to grow to 50,000 by the end of 2012. As well, under Dalton’s leadership, the Government of Ontario has closed numerous coal generating plants and is committed to removing the balance of them, and created the Greenbelt, limiting development in an area surrounding Toronto.
