APPrO 25th Anniversary
Questions and answers for trivia quiz on power history
Q1: What revolutionary invention that is now commonplace was first proposed by Nicola Tesla and rejected by Thomas Edison?
A: Alternating current
Q2: In what year did Ontario’sNiagara Falls power station go into service?
A: 1922
Q3: Renamed the Adam Beck power station in 1950, what was the original Niagara Fallspower station called when it was first built?
A: Queenston Chippawa power station
Q4: In what town did Adam Beck famously flip the switch in 1911 that officially energized the Ontario power grid?
A: Berlin, now known as Kitchener-Waterloo
Q5: The Power Corporation Act was amended on April 5 1951 to increase the size of the Hydro Electric Advisory Council and senior public figures were appointed to serve on it in the following months. How many formal meetings did the Hydro Electric Advisory Council hold after that?
A: None
Source: Neil Freeman, page 100-101
Q6: When appointed in 1963 who was the first commissioner of the HEPC since 1931 (excluding chairmen) not to have come from either the OMEA (Ontario Municipal Electric Association) or government?
A: Ian F. McRae, former chairman, Canadian General Electric
Source: Neil Freeman, page 121
Q7: When was the last time a government minister held a position on the HEPC / Ontario Hydro Board? (Hint: it was a commissioner position)
A: 1963 Robert W. Macaulay (Note that the HEPC was later made statutorily responsible to the government)
Source: Neil Freeman, page 186
Q8: When the HEPC was burdened by excess capacity during the great depression, who were the supply contracts with that were most controversial and targeted by some for curtailment?
A: Quebec
Source: Neil Freeman, page 185
Q9: Who was the Saunders dam named after?
A: Robert Saunders, former mayor of Toronto and Chair of HEPC from 1948-1955
Q10: When was the HEPC reconstituted as Ontario Hydro and made subject to external review?
A: June 22 1973, as part of a package of legislative reforms
Source: Neil Freeman, page 155
Q11: In 1976 When Treasurer Darcy McKeough made news by threatening to withhold the government’s guarantee on future Ontario Hydro debt, what specific target did he say publicly that he was trying to achieve?
A: To reduce Ontario Hydro’s rate of expansion from 7 percent to 5 percent
Source: Neil Freeman, page 163-4.
Q12: Who was the first CEO of Ontario Hydro chosen from outside the company (and also the first time the post was not held by a professional engineer)?
A: Robert Franklin, former Executive Vice President of CN Rail, appointed to head Ontario Hydro in 1986
Source: Neil Freeman, page 168
Q13: In what year did Ontario Hydro announce its Non-Utility Generation program?
A: 1988
Q14: Who told a legislative committee in 1992 that Ontario Hydro was “A corporation in crisis”?
A: Maurice Strong
Source: Neil Freeman, page 173
Q15: Which electricity distributor did Ontario Hydro initiate a lawsuit against commissioners of, for operating an independent power project a few years prior to market opening ?
A: London Hydro
IPPSO FACTO, Vol. 11, No. 2, April 1997.pdf
Q16: What were the first three words in the title of the white paper released in 1997 that set the provincial government on its course for introducing electricity competition and the restructuring of Ontario Hydro?
(For extra credit – what was the full name?)
A: "Direction for Change: Charting a Course for Competitive Electricity and Jobs in Ontario"
Q17: What does MPMA stand for?
A: Market Power Mitigation Agreement
Q18: Who was the person who observed that it was interesting for the same person to have presided over both the opening of a retail power market and the closing of a retail power market?
A: Floyd Laughren, former minister of finance and chair of the Ontario Energy Board
Q19: APPrO director Linda Bertoldi of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has led the banquet proceedings through most of APPrO’s history. What law firm was Linda Bertoldi a partner in when she first joined IPPSO?
A: Holden Day Wilson
Q20: Who received the Electricity Competition Award in 2000?
A: Jim Wilson, Minister of Energy
Q21: Who was the first recipient of the Hedley Palmer Award?
A: Jeff Passmore
Q22: Where and when were the first RES contracts announced?
A: The first RES contracts were announced by the Minister of Energy at the APPrO 2005 conference, on November 21 2005. The minister was Donna Cansfield.
Q23: Who were the two previous chairs of the APPrO Conference Committee before Stephen Somerville?
A: Jim Baxter and Safouh Soufi
Q24: Which Ontarioministers of energy have served for more than 3 years in total? (Hint: In one case a minister served two different terms which together totaled more than 3 years)
A: Bob Welch
Jim Wilson
Dwight Duncan (in two stages)
Q25: How many Ministers of Energy have there been in Ontario?
A: 21
Dennis Timbrell, 1975 – 1977
James Alexander Charles Auld, 1978 — 1979
Bob Welch, 1979 — 1983
Bob Wong, 1987 – 1989
Lyn McLeod, 1989 — 1990
Jenny Carter, 1990 — 1991
William A. Ferguson, 1991 – 1992
Brian Charlton, 1992 – 1993
Bud Wildman, 1993 – 1995 (also Environment)
Jim Wilson, 1997–2002 (also Science and Technology)
Chris Stockwell 2002 (also Environment)
John Baird, 2002–2003
Dwight Duncan, 2003–2005
Donna Cansfield, 2005–2006
Dwight Duncan, 2006–2007 (2nd time)
David Caplan 2007–2008
George Smitherman, 2008 – 2009
Gerry Phillips, 2009–2010 (also Infrastructure)
Brad Duguid, 2010 – 2011
Chris Bentley, 2011 – 2013
Bob Chiarelli, 2013 – Current
From:
For extra credit:
Q: Who was the IPPSO / generator representative on the Market Design Committee in 1998?
A: Stephen Probyn
Q: Who was the primary author of the “Report of The Advisory Committee on theManagement and Disposition of Ontario Hydro’sContracts with Non-Utility Generators” in 1999?
A: John Grant
Abbreviations:
HEPC: Hydroelectric Power Commission of Ontario, predecessor to Ontario Hydro
OMEA: Ontario Municipal Electric Association, predecessor to the Electricity Distributors Association
Citation for Freeman references above:
Freeman, Neil B., The politics of power: Ontario Hydro and its government 1906 – 1995, University of Toronto Press, 1996.