Urgent Priorities Act, 2018

What happened · Jan 1, 2023

Hydro One adopted the $1.5M framework in March 2019, but it lapsed on January 1, 2023 under a sunset clause in the government's own law, and CEO pay then more than doubled.

On March 8, 2019, Rickford announced that Hydro One had adopted a pay framework matching the directive, with CEO pay capped at $1.5 million a year. A clause in the Hydro One Accountability Act, 2018 (Bill 2) ended the framework requirements on January 1, 2023. Hydro One's 2025 management information circular puts CEO David Lebeter's target pay at $2.4 million for 2023 and $3.15 million for 2024, compared with $1,604,488 for the CEO role under the framework in 2022. The Globe and Mail reported on May 23, 2024 that Lebeter made $3.16 million in 2023, and that the Energy Minister's office did not answer why the cap was not made permanent.

What happened · Jul 25, 2018

The government cancelled 758 renewable energy contracts in July 2018 and legislated the termination of the White Pines wind project, at a cost the Energy Ministry put at up to $231 million.

On July 13, 2018, Energy Minister Greg Rickford announced the cancellation and wind-down of 758 renewable energy contracts, claiming $790 million in savings for ratepayers, a figure industry disputed. Bill 2 (Urgent Priorities Act, 2018; royal assent July 25, 2018) terminated the White Pines wind project in Prince Edward County retroactive to July 10, 2018, even though it had received its Notice to Proceed on May 11, 2018 and four of nine turbines were built, so it was not a pre-construction project. The 2018-19 public accounts showed $231 million in 'other transactions' that the Energy Ministry said covered the wind-down and termination costs, 'not anticipated to exceed $231 million', and in November 2019 the associate energy minister acknowledged taxpayers, not hydro customers, would pay it, despite the government's July 2018 statement that hydro consumers would be protected from cancellation costs. In 2024 the same government laid out plans to procure 5,000 MW of new renewable power by 2034.