An Energy Minister who boasts that his decision is supported by Greenpeace is an Energy Minister spectacularly out-of-touch with ordinary voters.

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I live in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. Our Energy Minister is a gent named Bob Chiarelli.

From my perspective, his primary responsibility is to keep energy prices as low as possible. As Germany and other jurisdictions have discovered, when electricity costs too much, businesses flee – taking jobs with them (see here, here, here and here).

Working families, young people near the bottom of the wage ladder, and seniors on fixed incomes all have especially tight budgets. The more these people are forced to pay for electricity, the fewer dollars they have to spend on other things. Like food.

In recent years, electricity prices here in Ontario have risen dramatically. This is largely the result of our government pursuing renewable energy policies without doing some basic math first. As a 2011 report by Ontario’s auditor general observed:

electricity prices for the average consumer have increased 65% since the restructuring of the electricity sector in 1999, and prices are expected to rise another 46% in the next five years.

In the same report, the Auditor General tells us our coal-fired electricity plants were told to shut down as quickly as possible – before anyone bothered to ask if this made economic sense (more info here).

In other words, our energy policy is a mess. And activists more interested in green energy than working families deserve a lot of the blame.

Four days ago, Chiarelli defended one of his government’s recent decisions by telling us it has the support of Greenpeace. Here’s what he said on Twitter:

Ontario does not need new nuclear at this time agrees the Pembina Institute and Greenpeace

Have I stumbled into an alternate reality? Greenpeace is vociferously opposed to nuclear power. Under any and all circumstances. Of course it thinks we don’t need any new reactors. Duh.

But that’s just the beginning. Greenpeace is doing everything it can to prevent children in poor countries from gaining access to golden rice – a food designed to save millions of them from blindness and death. Greenpeace has produced a video in which a menacing child in the affluent world refers to adults as enemies. In other words, Greenpeace is now an extremist organization.

Ontario residents have never elected a single Green Party member to our provincial legislature. That tells you something. It suggests that green activists enjoy a miniscule level of public support. Most of us don’t want our energy policy – or any other matter – determined by green zealots.

An Energy Minister who boasts that his decision is supported by Greenpeace is an Energy Minister spectacularly out-of-touch with ordinary voters.

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hat tip to Parker Gallant

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