Questionnaire for Ontario PC Leadership Candidates
OCAA asked the candidates: Do you support a Nuclear Cost Responsibility Act which would make it illegal for nuclear power companies to pass their capital cost overruns on to Ontario’s electricity consumers and taxpayers?
Below is Frank Klees' answer; Christine Elliott, Randy Hillier and Tim Hudak have not responded.
Frank Klees, MPP (Newmarket-Aurora)
Cost overruns do sometimes occur in public and private sector infrastructure projects. Government has the responsibility to ensure taxpayers are protected against cost overruns through provisions incorporated into the agreements between the parties. These are enforceable in law and should be dealt with accordingly. To legislate that overruns cannot be assessed against taxpayers or ratepayers would not be practical and would likely prevent the construction of much-needed, job-creating, infrastructure projects in Ontario.
