[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Nelles_Viv_02.jpg” caption=”Viv Nelles. Photo credit: Wendy Benedetti”]Viv Nelles, McMaster's L.R. Wilson Professor of Canadian History, is hoping to reinvigorate public debate over the future of Ontario's electrical system. In his inaugural lecture Thursday Feb.16, Nelles told his audience that when he passes Hamilton Cemetery on York Boulevard, he hears voices; early twentieth-century community leaders engaged in a lively and constructive political debate over the power question. Now, in the early twenty-first century, the people of Ontario once more need to engage in a vigorous debate over the future of electricity. The conclusion to be drawn from the lecture: important and complex issues are for elections.

Nelles introduced his audience to the historical voices he hears in Hamilton Cemetery. The voices of entrepreneurs like John Patterson and John Gibson, whose company built what was then the second longest transmission line in the world to bring hydroelectric power to Hamilton in the 1890s. The voices of activists like labour politician Alan Studholme, who believed not all the people were well served by that private company. And the voice of Adam Beck, the man who championed public power throughout Ontario.

All of these men became engaged in a very public debate, often during elections, over how best to deliver electricity to the people of Ontario. That debate laid the foundations for a public hydroelectric system in Ontario that became the envy of the world.

Not any more. Nelles outlined the collapse of Ontario Hydro in the late twentieth century: foul-ups with new technologies, increasing criticism from economists and environmentalists, and finally, “the revolt of the politicians”. At this critical juncture, Nelles points out, the public has been denied the type of information that would invigorate a healthy public debate over the alternatives. We are, Nelles concluded, in the dark.

In spite of the stormy weather, the lecture was well attended, and a lively discussion followed. In attendence were L.R. Wilson, whose generous donation to McMaster made the creation of the Centre for Canadian History possible, past and present faculty and students, as well as members of local history societies and interested members of the public.