Let’s be honest. Bobolinksolar is located in Ontario. A region of the world that is consistently rated at the top of “great places to live” indexes.
So why is Ontario 18th on the investment index? Why do entrepreneurs not flock to this highly educated, beautifully built, connected to nature part of the world.
In a word: Cost. High electrical prices, very high government debt with no sign of sustainable spending,1 high taxes. These elements create uncertainty.
We can’t fix the government. But maybe we can fix power production. Or at least help.
Many Ontarians are looking on in dismay at our government planning to spend billions on the Pickering nuclear plant. Power that is not only not needed, but is dangerously located, and horribly overpriced. Ontario has yet to build nuclear capacity that didn’t go billions over cost.
There’s a way to beat back the nuclear bloat. Put solar on your roof. In your backyard. Reduce demand and you reduce the need for a Pickering refurbishment. So if you don’t want nuclear. Go solar.
Environment: The joy of reducing the nuclear hazard and CO2 emissions.
Plus: Lower energy costs. The real danger to our current path is that we price ourselves out of the world markets.2 Capital, talent are very fluid. They go to where the opportunities grow.
Ontario’s $308 billion debt (2016) makes Ontario the most leveraged jurisdiction in North America. To put that in perspective, we now have twice the debt of the state of California with less than half the population.
Let’s not forget the lessons of the National Energy Policy. Basically during the 70s “oil crisis” the government of Canada subsidized Ontario manufacturers with Alberta’s oil. When the oil crisis subsided, the entire world had adopted more efficient manufacturing to deal with the high cost of energy. With low energy costs returning Ontario jobs fled en mass to the lower cost production areas. 100,000 jobs is the estimated initial loss. See the International Productivity Monitor by CSLS for many articles on this and other productivity related topics.