Latest News

PCs coming up short on ideas for hydro

Re: “Liberals have no credibility on hydro,” May 3, 2017

Dear Editor,

I was disappointed but not surprised to read MPP Lorne Coe’s letter in The Oshawa Express.

The PCs have been eager to criticize the Fair Hydro Plan, but have no plan of their own. As I write this, it’s been more than 60 days since we announced how we will provide real relief on electricity rates. In that time, the PCs have failed to provide a single constructive idea on how to reduce electricity costs and help Ontarians.

Ontario’s Fair Hydro Plan provides substantial, widespread and long-lasting relief that will have an immediate impact on peoples’ lives. Through the Fair Hydro Plan, our government is cutting electricity bills by 25 per cent on average for all families starting this summer, along with about half a million farms and small businesses. It is the single largest rate reduction in the province’s history, with rates also held to inflation for four years. Our plan is about real relief for Ontarians and a way to ensure greater fairness in our electricity system.

Governments of all stripes neglected investing in our electricity system for years, which led to a breaking point with the province-wide blackout in 2003. We had to rebuild, and we chose to do it with clean energy. We closed our dirty coal plants, which was not only the single largest climate change initiative in North America, but the right thing to do. Smog days are now a thing of the past in Ontario.

While the PCs are not the only ones to blame, their last government left our electricity system in shambles. We had to invest in the system, and that carried a cost. Our system is cleaner and more reliable than it has ever been, and now the Fair Hydro Plan is making it more affordable.

The Opposition has an important job to do holding government to account, but an important part of that job is bringing ideas to the table. It’s my hope that Patrick Brown and the PCs start taking their job more seriously.

Glenn Thibeault

Minister of Energy

 

 

UA-138363625-1