Powering on: Amid the challenges of COVID-19, we still rely on essential services – including electricity to power our homes, businesses and hospitals. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) employees help keep the lights on, by running our generating stations and related services. Unions and management work together to ensure the work is done safely, said OPG millwright Charlie Boudreau, in a recent interview with myFm News for its series on Kincardine’s Unsung Heroes of the pandemic.
Best in the world: This spring, we reported that the Wildlife Habitat Council awarded Gold certification, the highest level, to the Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) at the Bruce site, in recognition of its biodiversity programs and community partnerships to improve the local environment. This month, the Council further recognized the WWMF’s program with its “Gold Program of the Year” award – top honour among 259 submissions from all around the world.
Around Ontario and beyond:
· Finding a foothold: So far, 52 members of Indigenous communities have found employment through OPG’s Indigenous Opportunities Network (ION). Our series of stories on OPG employees looks at one of them, Thane Higgins, a mechanical engineering grad and a member of Constance Lake First Nation in northeastern Ontario, now on a one-year contract with the Darlington Refurbishment project. “Everyone needs to know that there are people that are willing to help,” he says, “and you just have to reach out to move forward on your career path.”
· Counting on SMRs: What role will Small Modular Reactors play in Canada’s future energy system? To answer that question, OPG’s Robin Manley, Vice President of New Nuclear Development, joins a panel of people with diverse views – presented by the Globe and Mail, and sponsored by OPG, on Tuesday, June 29, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. You can sign up for the free, virtual event at tgam.ca/Nuclear Energy.
· Future is electric: At the Empire Club, CTV’s Anita Sharma recently interviewed OPG CEO Ken Hartwick about the company’s Climate Change Plan, which commits to helping Canada achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. You can watch the event on YouTube to learn why Ontario’s largest clean-energy generator aims to electrify cars, trucks and buses – with an “all hands on deck” approach.
