I am writing this petition because I care deeply about this issue and hope to encourage open discussion.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently said that Canada will have to go much more nuclear in response to growing clean energy needs. 

Todd Smith, Ontario Minister of Energy, has announced in July 2023 that preliminary studies are being done with Bruce Power to explore the expansion of Canada's largest nuclear power plant. The expansion would potentially make the nuclear power site the largest in the world (larger than Fukushima in Japan).

Smith has said that new nuclear generation is going to be critical to building the clean grid of the future. A plan was also announced for three more small modular reactors (SMRs) at Darlington nuclear power plant.

Unfortunately, the nuclear industry, run by corporations in the US and UK, has been lobbying heavily in Canada.

Small modular reactors are being promoted yet, SMRs are inefficient, risky, and far more costly than renewable energy. Studies have shown that SMRs generate more radioactive waste than conventional nuclear power plants.

Prime Minister Trudeau supports nuclear power and believes it is not possible to reach the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions without it. 

However, a report published by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance indicates that the great lakes provide tremendous potential for wind energy at a much lower cost than nuclear reactors and, for example, could provide 100% of Ontario's energy needs. 

Canada needs to put both feet in when it comes to renewable energy development because we have fallen behind.

New and innovative renewable energy technologies would help to create jobs and are more likely to attract socially-responsible investors.

Our energy sources must mimic our natural ecosystem by being both renewable and zero-waste. 

Nuclear power is neither renewable nor zero-waste.

Uranium radioactive mining and drilling is harmful to biodiversity and destructive to our ecosystem.

Nuclear power also produces an immense amount of radioactive waste.

North America already has a big and growing nuclear waste problem with no sustainable solutions for storage. Radioactive waste can take thousands of years to decompose. 

Thankfully lawmakers have recently rejected a proposal to store radioactive waste beneath the bedrock of the Great Lakes basin. 

The Great Lakes are the largest source of fresh water in the world; a leak could poison our drinking water.

Ontario currently has three major plants: Pickering and Darlington on Lake Ontario and Bruce County on Lake Huron.

Radioactive waste is currently stored in the middle of large urban areas and right near a major source of drinking water for millions of people.

As the world watches and other countries, like Germany, begin phasing out nuclear power, Canada is going backwards.

In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford cancelled 750 renewable energy projects while planning to build new gas-fired power plants which will increase emissions and smog. 

I respect our Canadian leaders, however, the lack of real commitment to renewable energy, such as wind and solar, is a mistake that future generations will have to suffer for. This is not the legacy we want to leave for our children.

No leader is more admirable than one who can admit to a mistake and rectify it; a true leader knows that doing the right thing matters more than being right. 

Nuclear power is dangerous and human error is inevitable. We must continue to learn from past mistakes—and the catastrophes caused by nuclear power accidents and disasters.

This petition is not intended to be a blame game but instead to implore our Canadian political leaders to do whatever it takes to ensure that biodiversity, and our precious ecosystem, are protected while we work to reduce emissions. 

Everything is interconnected—we are all in this together. 

Please help to spread the word about the dangers of going more nuclear.