Phasing Out Coal-Fired Electricity in Ontario

AbstractThe phase-out of coal-fired electricity production in the Canadian Province of Ontario has been widely described as one of the most significant measures taken by any government in the world to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The phase-out of coal, which in the early 2000s constituted a quarter of the province’s electricity supply, was completed in 2014. The phase-out was associated with dramatic improvements in air quality in the southern part of province. At the same time, Ontario’s approach to the phase-out involved a series of significant environmental, economic, and political trade-offs, the benefits of which continue to be debated, and whose consequences have affected the province’s politics profoundly. The chapter examines the evolution of the role of coal-fired electricity in Ontario, the emergence of the concept of a phase-out, and the factors that contributed to its ultimate implementation. Within McConnell’s (2010) framework for assessing policy outcomes around programmatic results, policy processes, and politics, the chapter concludes that outcomes of the coal phase-out process range from a resilient and political success in terms of the phase-out itself, to a political failure with respect to the McGuinty (2003–2013) and Wynne (2013–2018) governments’ overall handling of electricity policy.