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The Ford government is going to pass laws cancelling renewable-energy contracts for projects still in development. The fact that still amounts to an eye-popping 758 contracts just shows how much deeper Ontario would have otherwise ended up digging its hole even years after voters demanded an end the very Liberal government renewable-energy policies that enabled these lousy deals.

Ontario’s Green party leader (and sole MPP) Mike Schreiner complains that “the only sign out right now says — in big letters — that Ontario is closed for business when it comes to the $7-trillion clean-tech economy.” In truth, business is open to any “clean tech” that doesn’t rely on government support — should such a thing ever exist someday.

Even John Manley, the former federal minister heading the Business Council of Canada, bemoaned Ford’s decision to outlaw a contract for the deeply unpopular, entirely unnecessary White Pines wind farm in Prince Edward County. Such legislation would “undermine investor confidence and set an unfortunate precedent for how the government intends to deal with the private sector,” Manley wrote Ford last week.

But here’s betting Ford’s planned cancellation legislation — which, importantly, would make it illegal for project owners to sue for compensation — won’t worry businesses that operate in the free market one bit. The only businesses that need to worry are the government cronies whose sweetheart deals have long ripped off taxpayers. Manley should know who they are; a few are his members. If Ontario is “closed for business” to those kinds of inefficient rent-seekers, it can only be better off for it.