Pressure points

The McGuinty government seems to have gone out of its way to avoid hearing from a lot of people about the problems with nuclear power. But one anti-nuclear voice evidently has McGuinty's ear, and isn't afraid to speak out:

Renowned environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki, a man Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty described Tuesday as his childhood idol, says he'll be "very disappointed" if the province chooses to expand its nuclear power base.

Suzuki, who was on hand with McGuinty for a green-energy news conference, said he's holding out hope that the premier will reject a recent report urging the province to spend up to $40 billion building or replacing up to 12,400 megawatts of nuclear capacity...

Suzuki offered to act as a pseudo-spokesman in Ontario to encourage consumers to conserve more energy. "As someone with a public persona, I'm willing to go and ask the Ontario public now to meet the challenge."

Energy Minister Donna Cansfield promised plenty more study before any new major power projects get off the ground, even after the government's formal response to the OPA recommendations, expected in mid-April.

There's little reason to be optimistic that the future study will be any less biased than the past evaluation of Ontario's alternatives...but at the very least, McGuinty's idol is making sure that Ontario's rush toward more nuclear power doesn't go unchallenged.

(Edit: typo.)