Trudeau gets it, Freeland gets it, Todd Smith gets it. Its time to save and refurbish Pickering.

Economist Milton Friedman once said, "Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions taken depend on the ideas lying around. Our basic function is to develop alternatives to existing policies and keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable." This quote became @CanadiansEnergy guiding philosophy in our campaign to save the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station from early decommissioning. As energy demand forecasts skyrocketed, and now as Trump's trade war brings energy security, domestic manufacturing and Canadian strategic autonomy to the forefront, our work to develop alternatives to the policy of shutting down Pickering became the "ideas that were lying around." We are pleased that this government accepted our recommendations and made the right call to prioritize Ontario jobs and workers, clean air, and medical isotopes, and we look forward to the tremendous economic multiplier effect of this CANDU refurbishment during the challenging times of Trump's trade war on Canada. Our campaign, launched in 2020, was an uphill battle. Labour unions that supported refurbishing the plant appreciated our efforts but had given up. Not only were we the only organization fighting for this refurbishment at a time when nuclear power was struggling reputationally, but major bodies in the nuclear industry made several "interventions," asking us to call off our campaign. Bizarrely, they communicated to us that our efforts were harmful to the nuclear sector. Over and over, they told us the decision to shut down the plant was a "done deal" and that we were "kicking a dead horse." @CanadiansEnergy, however, receives no funding from said industry and had total freedom of action to continue our "Quixotic" quest. Our determination to struggle on, which included holding rallies with placards painted with my son's art supplies at Queen's Park and outside @OPG headquarters, and the 100s of hours of collective energy and expertise we poured into our highly influential "Save Pickering" policy report authored by the extraordinarily talented @dylanjmoon, was rooted in our unshakeable and pan-partisan values: Pro-worker, pro-clean air, pro-climate and pro-health. After all, the reactors at Pickering support 4500 direct and indirect jobs. They are a vital part of our nuclear backbone, which underpins Ontario's energy security and self-reliance. Its 2,200 MW baseload contribution was slated to be replaced by smog-producing natural gas generation, and the plant contributes 20% of the world's vital Cobalt-60 medical isotope, which is vital to maintaining the sterility of the medical supplies I use every day on shift in the Emergency Department. To us, that was worth fighting for. We faced several crises of confidence along the way, asking ourselves why we were pouring so much time into a seemingly hopeless campaign. No one played a greater role in keeping our spirits up and our efforts laser-focused on our goal than Canadians for Nuclear Energy co-founder @cadlam. I'll close with another quote from the opposite side of the political spectrum as Mr. Friedman, American Anthropologist Margaret Mead. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has." Long live Pickering!