CORNWALL, Ontario – While Thursday the first shares of Hydro One were sold on the open market local MPP Jim McDonell was warning of steep electricity bills in the future.
The Tory MPP lambasted the governing Liberals for the move to open the market for Hydro One, suggesting even the Financial Accountability Officer (FAO) had issued a warning against the sale, stating it would harm the province’s budget in the long term.
“The Liberal government ignored the advice of the opposition, the public and an independent financial watchdog, and set the course for Hydro One to be privatized in an inefficient and unaccountable manner,” McDonell said. “Ontario’s Financial Accountability Officer highlighted that the sale will not generate the revenues that the Liberals expect, and will take away $750 million of yearly provincial income from the utility.
“Electricity rates are already set to rise by 41 per cent by 2019, and consumers can now expect to be saddled with the extra cost of paying down Hydro One’s $27-billion debt, when this annual dividend is lost.”
Cornwall Electric customers are insulated from the skyrocketing price of utilities in Ontario, thanks in large part to a deal with Hydro Quebec that is expected to run tuntil nearly the end of this decade.
But the balance of the province has seen wholesale complaints from residents about the cost of electrcity.
According to the FAO, the sale of Hydro One will net only $1.4 billion.
“The net proceeds of the sale would hardly pay for an average Liberal scandal, such as the $2-billion E-health system, $1.1 billion in cancelled gas plants or the billion wasted at ORNGE,” McDonell chided. “Despite doubling the provincial tax revenue since taking power, the Liberals are selling off public assets without regard to the long-term consequences, all in the name of feeding their addiction to spending and waste.
“They take twice as much from Ontarians than the Harris and Eves governments ever took, yet have nothing to show for it except debt and a rising cost of living. This is unacceptable.”
