NDP campaigns to stop $4B Hydro One sale

Ontario's New Democrats have set up a website as part of their campaign to galvanize opposition to the planned sale of 60 per cent of Hydro One.

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne unveiled the sell off as part of last week's budget. The $4 billion the sale is expected to bring in will help fund a $130 billion, 10-year infrastructure plan.

Wynne's government says the province will keep controlling interest in the utility, since no single person or group can control more than 10 per cent of the shares.

But NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said that reasoning is “balderdash.”

"Anywhere else in the world, it takes 51 per cent to control anything," Horwath said Monday in an interview. "Kathleen Wynne is not being honest with the people of Ontario.

"If 60 per cent of that sell off is held by a group of folks who want to do things a certain way, then guess whose will is going to rule? It's the rule of the 60 per cent, not the 40 per cent."

Horwath's party has set up a website – youpaytheprice.ca – where Ontarians concerned about the sale can download petitions and contact their MPPs in an attempt to force the province to change its mind.

She said the last time something similar was done with hydro – in the 1990s, when Tory Premier Mike Harris privatized power generation – it caused rates to skyrocket.

"Our rates went up 25 per cent almost overnight,” Horwath said. “The same thing is going to happen here. And once it's gone, it's gone. Once this mistake is made, we can't get a do-over."

Hydro rates aside, she said the sale will mean less transparency and control over what can be done with a public assets

"It's going to mean less accountability, less control over what we can do with that utility in terms of conservation, economic development, job creation -- there's all kinds of pieces we're going to lose out on," she said. "It's a very, very bad deal for the people of Ontario.

"We're not going to have ombudsman oversight anymore, which means we won't have a complaint mechanism that's working in the public interest. We're not going to have disclosure of salaries anymore. The Sunshine List will no longer apply."

Dividends from Hydro One revenues will no longer go to the province, she said, but will be paid out to private investors. And there will be pressure to increase profit margins, which will lead to higher rates.

"Already the government is saying that, over the next five years, hydro is going to go up 42 per cent,” she said. “That's before they put this bad deal on the table. Imagine how much further it will go up now -- will it go up 60 per cent? 70 per cent?"

To find money for infrastructure, Horwath said the Liberals could stop allowing corporations to write off the HST when they entertain customers, which she says costs $1 billion a year. Or they could raise corporate taxes.

"We have a combined corporate tax rate here that's lower even than Alabama,” Horwath said. “It's time the corporate tax rate gets looked at to start helping share the burden of investing in our infrastructure and transit."

In addition to the website, the NDP is planning town halls and telephone town halls to get feedback from the public.

"We're trying to make it as easy as possible for people to get engaged," she said. "We want to give the people of Ontario the voice they deserve on this file."