Horwath blasts Liberals for opening the door to more asset sales

As shares in Hydro One were sold on the TSX yesterday, Ontario’s Liberal government opened the door to selling off even more of Ontario’s revenue-generating assets. Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the government to rule out the sale of any more revenue-generating assets. 

“The Liberals have opened the door to selling more than just Hydro One,” said Horwath. “Today, instead of closing the door, the Liberals opened that door even wider. The Premier doesn’t have a mandate to sell Hydro One, and she doesn’t have a mandate to sell any other assets. She needs to stop any further sell-off of Hydro One, and commit that she won’t sell any other revenue-generating assets.”

On Tuesday, Deputy Premier Deb Matthews talked about the sale of Hydro One and said “but it’s not the only thing that we are doing… we are looking at other assets.”

Asked repeatedly by Horwath to rule out further asset sales, both Deputy Premier Deb Matthews and Finance Minister Charles Sousa refused to close the door on selling more revenue-generating assets.

“The Premier didn’t run on selling Hydro One, but yesterday it went on the TSX.  In the last election she told Ontarians she wanted to ‘optimize’ assets, and is shocked that people didn’t automatically assume that meant a sell-off,” continued Horwath. “Selling 15% of Hydro One is bad for Ontario. Selling 60% will be a disaster. I’m calling on Kathleen Wynne to send a message that she won’t sell off any more of Hydro One, and be crystal clear about whether she’s planning to sell more revenue-generating assets in the future.”