One bully stands out for me in my life. At high school this guy had terrorized our whole class. He divided and conquered, brashly and loudly intimidating everyone. He made threats that at the time seemed so real. I can remember him threatening to kill me as he waved a hammer with nails glued to its head.

There are bullies on the playground of Ontario's energy sector and, unfortunately, the teacher is even more terrified of their rhetoric than the kids are. On Friday February 11th two announcements were released.

The first announced a freeze on offshore wind development, bowing to pro-fossil fuel, pro-nuclear and anti-wind proponents.

The second was the bomb dropped on average Ontarians who are developing small microFIT projects to do their part for their children's future and Ontario's strengthening economy. Hundreds of individuals who have been waiting months for approval to proceed, received a letter telling them that there was no capacity on the transmission lines for their power, despite being told previously that their projects were so small they were capacity exempt...and no timeline for when there will be capacity.

Bad news...and a wake up call.

These two announcements have sent a horrible signal to not only the renewable energy sector but to all industries thinking of investing in Ontario's economy. These two decisions by the government are a wake up call for all of us who support a cleaner and more prosperous future for Ontario!

Grandparents concerned for their children's future, farmers committed to staying on the land, municipalities striving to be hubs of economic development, churches and synagogues trying to be good stewards, manufacturers building the new equipment and creating thousands of new jobs across the province and all others who want Ontario to lead must work together to ensure that a small vocal minority does not undermine our future.

Like the kid being bullied, no one should be left to stand a lone. We must look inside ourselves for the strength to stand up shoulder to shoulder with our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues for what we believe in.

There are decisions that must be made this year and they have nothing to do with Liberals, Conservatives, NDP or Greens. We are going to decide what our energy system is going to look like for the next 50 or more years because new generation and new infrastructure must be built.

We are going to decide whether we will leave a clean or dirty legacy for our children. We are going to decide if we are willing to invest in our own prosperity.

To understand where we want to go, we need to ask some hard questions of ourselves and our leaders. Compared to new renewable energy, how much will new and refurbished nukes cost? How about coal and natural gas? What is the impact of the supply chain? Who will get the benefits? Will new industry and new jobs be created? How many? What are the risks and who will carry them? What will it cost us if we are buying the solutions to our energy future rather than supplying them to the world? And ultimately, what will be cost of climate change - to ourselves and to our children?

It is time to come together - individuals, communities and the commercial sector - to talk about what prosperity looks like across Ontario. It is time to support the bureaucrats working within the various agencies who want to do the right thing but have their hands tied. It is time for us to stand up to the bullies while building bridges between all parties, and all parts of the province for the benefit of all.

Please contact your MPP and let them know that renewables and community ownership need to be a priority for Ontario! Join us online on facebook and twitter and get up to speed on what's going on around the province! Get involved in a project and make sure your local leaders know about it and are engaged! Join other members, friends and supporters during our upcoming webinars, networking events and workshops.

This is our opportunity and we must not let partisan politics or bullies get in the way of what is right.

Power and prosperity to the people!

The OSEA team