Liberals shut Ontarians out in rush to sell-off Hydro One: Horwath

Queen’s Park – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath continued her fight against the Liberal sell-off of Hydro One by bringing an Opposition Day Motion to the floor of the Legislature today. Horwath called on Premier Wynne to stop ignoring public opposition and stop her short-sighted selloff of Hydro One. The NDP Leader’s motion read,

“That, in the opinion of this House, the Government of Ontario must abandon its plan to privatize Hydro One and maintain public ownership in this strategic asset to avoid losing annual Hydro revenues used to fund education, healthcare and other vital services; to avoid hydro rate increases related to privatization; and to retain public control over Ontario's energy future.”

The Wynne Liberals stubbornly refuse to hold hearings outside of Toronto and have pulled out all of the cynical procedural stops to shut down debate in the Legislature. And in yet another move to put Ontarians on mute the government has given people only 24 hours to sign up to appear during what little committee time there will be.  The Wynne Liberals voted down the NDP motion.

“I’m not surprised that Kathleen Wynne is doing everything in her power to shut down debate on her plan to sell off Hydro One. She knows that Ontarians didn’t vote for this, and they don’t support the sell-off of their shared public asset,” said Horwath. “This sell-off is good for Kathleen Wynne’s Bay Street friends, but it’s wrong for families. Ontarians will pay the price.”

Horwath vowed to continue the fight against the sell-off of Hydro One. She said that while Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals are hunkering down in Toronto, New Democrats will continue to hold town hall meetings across the province so that Ontarians can have their say on the future of Hydro One.