Todd Smith is hydro sale critic in shadow cabinet role
Administrator | Sep 10, 2015 | Comments 7
Todd Smith
Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith will be sitting in the shadow cabinet when the legislature begins sitting on Monday.
New leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, Patrick Brown, will be sworn in Monday.
In Thursday’s announcement of a 27-member shadow cabinet, Smith will serve as “Critic for the Hydro One Sale.”
Brown said the party will make hydro prices, red tape and manufacturing jobs priorities. He said the planned sale of 60 per cent of Hydro One could make power even more expensive, which is why he appointed a critic.
“Last spring, citizens across my riding were very engaged on the Hydro One sale because, I think, they recognized that this was the government selling the last tool it had to keep electricity rates down – particularly for rural residents.” Smith stated. “Close to a thousand residents contacted my office about it last spring, and they want the government to stop the sale of Hydro One.”
Smith says “a complete mangling” of the electricity sector means Ontarians are paying more for using less. He added that details of the sale and the removal of oversight by independent officers of the legislature have raised concerns.
Meanwhile, Prince Edward County is joining other municipalities in calling on the province to halt the sale.
“If you smell something, say something.” Smith said. “It’s impossible to look at the backroom deals around the Hydro One sale and not smell something. It’s not just that the Liberals are burning the furniture to heat the house, it’s that they’ve removed all oversight. There’s no one there to make sure they don’t burn the whole house down. Now, that’s my job.”
Meanwhile, Prince Edward County councillors at today’s Committee of the Whole meeting decided to support the County of Peterborough’s aim to keep Hydro One as a wholly-owned public asset.
Filed Under: Local News
Quebec has always had, and still has, the lowest hydro rates in Canada.
Oh come on people, you can’t blame deregulation for the current mess we’re in; Dalton and his gang were responsible for the so-called “Green” energy “plan”. So far this year it has cost taxpayers over $1.2 billion dollars selling excess power at a loss to the U.S. Rates will continue to rise as a result. These rates are partly the reason why Ontario is turning into a rust belt. This plan, by the way, has never been subject to a cost-benefit analysis which any responsible government would do.
It was McGuinty who wrote an act that virtually guarantees that individuals, municipalities, and even endangered species have no rights under the Act. Anti-democratic.
It is Wynne who continues this insanity which insures we will continue to lose billions. It is Wynne who has decided to “privatise” Hydro One to try to make Ontario’s dismal fiscal picture look better. She isn’t fooling anyone.
Hydro One should NOT be sold. It should, however, be examined from top to bottom by a knowledgable third party to make sure it is operating efficiently, with proper staffing levels, at appropriate salaries, and any necessary changes be made then.
I knew who deregulated our publicly owned Ontario Hydro. That would be the Tories who also gave us amalgamated government which we are broke from and still dealing with. And the Hospital amalgamations which has hurt the County bad. Good points Phil.
Good question Chuck
We already know the answer to that.
The PC’s under Mike Harris that’s who.
Once again conservatives talking out of both sides of their mouths.
But on the positive side one could say they broke it maybe so maybe they’ll know best how to fix it.
I doubt it though.
It’s easy to be a critic but much more difficult to actually run a province.
To keep cost down lets start by having a power company that is not to heavy with VPs and managers that MPPs protect and fire the ones that mismanage on a regular bases.
Who deregulated Ontario Hydro?
As if our rates aren’t high enough already! Selling off 60%, means selling only the profitable parts and leaving Ontario residents to pay more for the remaining inefficient Hydro. Our rates used to be among the lowest in N America, and I believe we are now the highest or second highest in Canada. That gas power plant that was not built in Oakville is being built beside the Lennox-Addington plant which rarely runs as it is a back up generator… So we really need another plant to sit beside idle beside it?