March 20th, 2017

NDP hydro plan is on the table, Krmpotich wants to see Romano's Conservative plan

Last week, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and NDP Sault Ste. Marie candidate City Councillor Joe Krmpotich, revealed that hydro bills at the Sault Area Hospital have jumped nearly $1 million in recent years. With Horwath questioning the premier on that issue this morning, Krmpotich wants to know what Ross Romano would do about soaring hydro bills.

'Last week Andrea was here, listening to the people of this community, and today she has taken those concerns back to Queen's Park to fight for us,' said Krmpotich. 'That's in pretty stark contrast to Mr. Romano, whose reaction when he heard that soaring hydro rates are threatening frontline care at the Sault Area Hospital was to issue a press release arguing that privatization of our system hydro wasn't the problem.'

Romano, a cut-and-privatize Conservative, tied himself in knots, to blame anything but privatization for skyrocketing hydro prices. But Romano has refused to provide Sault voters with any kind of a vision or plan to make hydro more affordable.

'My message for Mr. Romano is this,' said Krmpotich. 'The NDP has released our extensive plan to lower all hydro bills by about 30 per cent. Where's your plan?' 

Horwath's plan to cut hydro bills by about 30 per cent includes returning Hydro One to public hands – a move that will provide Ontario with an additional $7 billion that can be invested in Ontario services like hospitals. It also included immediate cost-cutting measures like removing time-of-use billing.

The NDP's public plan is in stark contrast to the Wynne government's phantom plan – a borrowing scheme that will force people to pay $40 billion more in interest to bankers. Since the Wynne government hasn't released their plan yet, it's not clear when or how Ontarians will be billed for that $40 billion. 

'Our community deserves a healthy debate about how to fix the sky-high hydro bills families and our local businesses are facing,' said Krmpotich. 'Now let's hear Mr. Romano's plan.'

The entire NDP plan is online at ontariondp.ca/hydroplan.