How a former energy minister is selling Canadian nuclear technology around the world

Todd Smith remembers getting the phone call from Premier Doug Ford. It was ostensibly good news — many politicians would be thrilled to be promoted from energy minister (with a budget of $7 billion) to education minister (with a budget of nearly $40 billion), not to mention a lot more profile around the province.

But Smith wasn’t thrilled. Quite the opposite, actually.  

Being Ontario’s energy minister was Smith’s dream job. His passion and fascination with nuclear energy started as a 12-year-old boy scout taking a tour of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in his native New Brunswick. He then spent several years as the energy critic while on the opposition benches at Queen’s Park. Eventually, in 2021, Ford tapped him to lead the ministry.

But in June 2024, he was in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France, trying to sell Canadian nuclear technology to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor when the premier told him his dream job was over and it was time to become education minister.

Smith’s immediate reaction: “Well, that’s not gonna work.”

Smith’s wife is an educator and the new minister just thought the situation was going to be fraught with trouble for both of them. He tried explaining that to Ford but the premier had made up his mind.

“There’s not a whole lot of discussion that happens before a shuffle,” he says. “So, when (the premier) calls and asks you to go somewhere, you’re pretty much […] This is an excerpt. Read the full article at TVO.org.