This is great…poor Howard….I wish I could have been there….

From Ben Polley:

Check out today’s National Post. A 17 year old who is working on our
local Guelph campaign took on Howard Hampton head-to-head yesterday in
TO and got some good licks in. The Post must have loved it! This kid
is a star and a future Premier in the waiting. You have to meet him
to know…or just read this article.

http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/ontarioelection/archive/2007/10/01/howard-hampton-schooled-on-energy-policy-by-teenager.aspx

Howard Hampton schooled on energy policy by teenager

– James Cowan, National Post 

A Sunday afternoon discussion with teenage environmentalists turned into a testy debate for Howard Hampton after the NDP leader was derided over his energy plan.

Billed as a “roundtable discussion,” the carefully coordinated event took place on the roof of a downtown co-op, with the building’s rooftop garden and Lake Ontario as a backdrop.

Mr. Hampton opened the event by reiterating his party’s promise not to build new nuclear plants if elected, a point he had emphasized during an earlier rally in Ottawa.

But the NDP leader was forced to drop his message of the day by Nick Annejohn, a 17-year-old high school student. The Guelph resident said it was “a terrible contradiction” that the NDP want to both cut electricity rates and promote energy conservation.

“It’s absurd to propose to further subsidize electricity, which will encourage increased consumption, which means your promise to close the coal plants will be impossible and just as empty as [Dalton] McGuinty’s promise in 2003,” Mr. Annejohn said.

Mr. McGuinty, the Liberal leader, promised during the last election to close the province’s coal-fired plants by 2007, but now contends it will take until 2014.
The NDP want to shutter the Nanticoke Generating Station, Ontario’s largest coal plant, by 2011. However, they have also proposed giving businesses a discount on electricity if the companies promise to stay in the province and meet other restrictions.

Mr. Hampton argued yesterday that lower electricity costs will allow companies to invest more money in energy saving technology. “If industries, businesses and even household consumers are paying these gargantuan bills, they have no money to invest in energy efficiency,” he said. “Simply driving up hydro rates will mean you have seniors on a pension who can’t pay their bill, people on a fixed income who can’t pay their bills and you’ll have hundreds of thousands of people out of work.”

But Mr. Annejohn said the NDP leader’s position defied “simple economics.”
“If electricity is cheaper, companies will use more electricity, they will automate more and they will not need to hire as many people,” he said. “If companies pay they real cost for electricity, then there will be more employment and less energy consumption.”

Mr. Annejohn later told reporters he is active supporter of the Green Party, which has proposed increasing energy rates over three years until they reflect market values.

Power rates are currently adjusted every six months to roughly reflect the cost of electricity while smoothing out any sharp hikes or drops in pricing.

After the meeting, Mr. Hampton said he welcomed the debate with Mr. Annejohn.
“Any time you get into a discussion with young people about climate change and the environment and issues like energy consumption, you’re going to get a lot of ideas,” the NDP leader said, adding, “And that’s good.”

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