Small businesses were already concerned about energy costs - the recent budget moved to increases their electricity prices anyway
Ontario budget could cost small businesses - Windsor - CBC News:
Small business owners in Windsor could soon be hit with sticker shock when they open their electricity bills.
Many of them will no longer qualify for the 10 per cent Ontario clean energy benefit rebate if the provincial budget presented by Ontario's finance minister Dwight Duncan passes.
Al Kidd owns IXL Cleaners in Windsor. He pays about $1,000 a month to power a boiler for his heavy-duty equipment.
"It's huge. It's crippling," he said of the possible change in policy. "We've seen our energy costs go up probably 300 per cent over the last six to eight years and it's the kind of manoeuvre that we can't afford to deal with."
He said not receiving the discount may mean staffing cutbacks and lower wages.
Just remember, when the exodus really gets going, stand well clear out of the way.
ReplyDeleteI'm ready to "stand well clear out of the way". Where is it that you recommend I stand?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous.... you raise a good question and the answer may have something to do with the specifics of a ‘where to stand’ but even more so, it has to do with the specifics of a ‘what to do’. All one has to do is look at the experience of a place like say Spain to see where Ontario is headed. They have embarked on a comprehensive green energy plan which is several years ahead of us and in the end, like everywhere where such schemes have been tried, it has failed miserably.... in fact in Spain, it has failed spectacularly. They are now at 20% unemployment, costs are out of control, industry is fleeing and so on.
ReplyDeleteEconomies are very fragile things and it doesn’t take much for a catalyst to set them into a downward spiral. What to do if the economy here goes completely kaput? I suppose move to Alberta..... the economy there is doing just fine. And if one doesn’t want to move? Then it is time to address the ‘what to do’ part of the question. This involves drastic steps to get out of carrying all debt load, being careful to not get burned severely when the housing market turns sharply downward which it inevitably will, not investing in companies that will get hit hardest by higher energy costs and the higher taxes that are coming, taking a job that will be less immune to the exodus, doing whatever you can do to minimize your personal energy requirements.....and so on.
Many thanks for your kind response.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I'm snookered.
The house I built in order to "age in place" was surrounded after a 3 year experience of blessed peace and quiet rural living by 18 Vestas 1.65 MW IWTS all crammed in within a 3 km radius.
Since Nov 2008, my health has gone down hill from the sleep deprived nights forced on me by AIM PowerGen/IP Canada/IPR - GDF Suez/Plateau Wind.
But, on the bright side, I was able to accomplish all of your other recommendations.
After denial, anger, bargaining, understanding and acceptance, the best strategy for those who have lost so much is to live a life of the best quality possible and to find a raison d'etre every hour that we have left.