Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid holds a news conference at Durham College in Whitby, Ont., on April 8, 2010.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Heading into this week, energy executives in Ontario considered Brad Duguid a bit of a lightweight.
Dalton McGuinty's novice Energy Minister, they groused, doesn't even know the right acronyms for the very complex files under his watch. He's shown little ability to relate to the people who live and breathe this stuff. In his first senior cabinet posting - and a monumentally challenging one at that - he's clearly in over his head.
It's fair to say Mr. Duguid's speech to the Ontario Energy Association, delivered Monday night in Niagara Falls, didn't do much to change that impression. But then, it probably wasn't supposed to.
"I have a lot to say tonight," Mr. Duguid began. When he was done, his audience might have begged to differ.
In what was billed as a major address, he was noticeably short on specifics about where the province is headed on energy policy. The only news was that the government is embarking upon public consultations as it prepares to update its long-term energy plan - and that raised fears that it hopes to punt any major decisions, including on new nuclear investments, until after next year's election.
But what was slightly odd about Mr. Duguid's speech wasn't so much that he primarily looked backward at the government's purported achievements, it was that he did so in terms so unsophisticated that they were nearly insulting to his audience.
The province's energy infrastructure seven years ago was "weak, unreliable and dirty," Mr. Duguid explained. Today, it's "strong, reliable and clean." Highly political, his recap of how investments in transmission, clean energy and conservation achieved this transformation seemed geared more toward a Rotary Club luncheon than an industry event.
"Small beer for a knowledgeable audience," complained one executive, summing up what seemed to be the general consensus.
But at the risk of giving the Liberals too much credit, the jarring tone does not appear to have been an accident. Rather, it has something to do with why Mr. Duguid was given his job in the first place.
Dwight Duncan, the energy minister during most of Mr. McGuinty's first term, impressed the sector with his grasp of its issues. George Smitherman won over environmentalists with his commitment to green energy. But to this point, the current government has not been especially effective at communicating its energy policy to the broader public.
Given that the Liberals have indeed put the province's energy infrastructure into better shape than they found it (which admittedly isn't saying much), they believe they have a decent story to tell. Now, they're counting on Mr. Duguid to tell it. The hope is that, as an affable hockey dad, he'll be able to relate to Ontarians' pocketbook concerns, and help convince them the government is on their side.
That kind of messaging even crept into Monday's speech, which saw Mr. Duguid offer a reminder that investments have "been paid for by all of us through our electricity bills," and "have not been easy for Ontario families or businesses."
It all makes sense - up to a point. In an election year, there's little benefit in speaking only to energy executives. But given that his job involves putting out (metaphorical) fires on almost a daily basis, Mr. Duguid should at least be capable of communicating with them.
He doesn't need to speak in acronyms. But one has to hope that, deep down, he knows most of them by now.
Adam Radwanski