Ontario Progressive Conservatives, Leader Tim Hudak, promised that if they were elected in the Ontario October 2011 Provincial Election they would end the feed-in-tariff subsidy for renewable energy.

"It would mean, basically, that we would close our factory and leave," said Paco Caudet, a general manager of Siliken Group, which manufactures solar panels in Windsor, Ontario.

"It would be hard to believe that anybody would come in and suggest that we're going to turn back the clock on job creation and economic diversification," said Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis.

In response, and in the lead-up to Ontario provincial election, numerous groups have created lobbying webpages and related activities, including:

• Come Clean, a project of Environmental Defence Canada, Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, CPAWS Wildlands League, Pembina Institute, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and Sierra Club Ontario, which tracks positions of Ontario politicians on renewable energy;
• Green Energy Act Alliance, a collaboration of Ontario Sustainable Energy Association and other leading trade associations, environmental groups, First Nations, developers, manufacturers, farmers and landowners, which campaigned to create the Ontario Green Energy Act, and now lobbies for its continuance;
• Friends of Wind, supported by wind energy industry leaders; and
• Stand Up for Solar, funded by solar energy manufacturers and retailers.

The Green Energy Act is estimated to created $4 billion in renewable energy investment and 50,000 industry related jobs. It is linked to the current Ontario Government’s plan to eliminate coal-fired power by 2014.