Public meeting to stop Hydro privatization

Bill 91 Legislation on the sale of Hydro One removes all government and public oversight

TORONTO, May 14, 2015 /CNW/ - Given the dismal record of privatization both here and around the world, and given all the hand wringing about inequality, it is astonishing that Kathleen Wynne wants to privatize any public asset. How does it help Ontarians to be transferring more public wealth to the private few?

Wynne is also promising that "rates for private owners will be kept down by regulation". This is easily refuted. Despite promises to the contrary, the partial privatization of generation has caused Hydro rates to go up by over 320%, ten times the rate of inflation (Stats Can). Premier Wynne, on March the 10^th, 2015 went on the record in the Globe and mail and said "Whatever we do, we are going to control prices. We are going to make sure that the regulatory regimes that will protect people in this province stay in place," Ms. Wynne said when asked about the plan." She has repeated that promise in the Media again and again on many occasions.

Bill 91, in plain print, completely removes all government and public oversight. Oversight by the Auditor General and the Ombudsman has been removed from Hydro One. The cap on executive pay has been removed. The requirement to post Hydro One Executives salary on the" Sunshine list" has been removed. The Freedom of Information and Privacy act for both the province and municipalities has been removed from Hydro One and "All its subsidiaries." And there is much more. How can Premier Wynne say with a straight face that regulations will protect people in this province when she's removing virtually all of them?

There is a Public meeting to stop Hydro privatization on:
Tuesday May 19, 6:30pm, 55 Lakeview Park Avenue, Jubilee Pavilion, Oshawa,
This is an historic sellout and this is an historic meeting. Time is short. There is a lot at stake.  Don't miss this opportunity to tell Premier Wynne that she must stop the sale of Hydro One.

Gord Vickers, spokesperson for the Public Power Coalition in Oshawa says "We didn't sell Ontario Hydro during the depths of the Great Depression or during the height of the Second World War. It makes absolutely no sense to sell it now. We just lost 1,000 jobs in Oshawa. The rate increases from privatization will make it worse."

Paul Kahnert, the former spokesperson for The Ontario Electricity Coalition says "This is the most right wing Bill since Harris's Bill 26, the Omnibus Bill. Mike Harris would have been proud of it. When we stopped the sale of Hydro One in court in 2002, Judge Gans ruled the Government didn't have the right to sell it. It belongs to the people of Ontario. Wynne has no mandate to sell it".  

We pay double what people pay in Manitoba and Quebec. Private companies like Magna have stated they won't locate here because of our high hydro rates. The sale of Hydro One is a betrayal of the Public Interest and will cause severe damage to future generations of the people of Ontario. If Premier Wynne does not stop this unpopular sale, the Liberals will spend more than a decade in the political wilderness after the next election.

SOURCE The Public Hydro Coalition of Oshawa

Gord Vickers 905-432-1269, Paul Kahnert 647-391-5546