With hydro rates climbing, and temperatures dropping, Ontario NDP Energy Critic Peter Tabuns says the time has come for a moratorium on hydro disconnections in Ontario.
“There is a newspaper report today showing that food bank use is soaring because families can’t afford to pay their hydro bill and their grocery bill,” said Tabuns during question period this morning. “This past summer, the Minister of Energy refused to call energy poverty a crisis, even though 60,000 Ontario families have had their hydro cut off. We can expect the number of disconnections to soar next spring, when Hydro One will resume cutting off families who can’t pay their bills.”
United Way of Bruce Grey is leading the call for a moratorium on hydro disconnections. Across the province, more stories are emerging daily about families struggling to pay outrageous hydro bills. Tabuns says the sale of Hydro One will only worsen the issue.
“The Premier has finally acknowledged that soaring hydro prices are a ‘mistake,’ but the minister refuses to do anything to correct that mistake,” said Tabuns, MPP for Toronto-Danforth.
Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault “won’t halt the sale of Hydro One even though we know that privatization is going to drive prices up even further. He won’t direct the Ontario Energy Board to put the interests of consumers ahead of the private investors who will benefit from that privatization,” continued Tabuns, asking, “Will he at least agree to a moratorium on hydro disconnections?”
Video: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64809496/Q5_Tabuns_11-28-16_1.mp4
Audio: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64809496/Q5_Tabuns_11-28-16_1.mp3
I am finding it harder and harder to recognize my Canada these days! It looks more and more lie the USA, or England in the days of Charles Dickens.
My Canada began to disappear after 1974, when the Trudeau government of the day stopped financing a large chunk of government via our publicly owned Bank of Canada’s debt free and low interest provisions, and began to borrow from private banks at commercial interest. Given that today around 95% of the accumulated national debt is due to compounding interest on this borrowing, we can expect that in a few years there will be no money for government programs and infrastructure. Even today, paying only the interest on these loans, Canadians fork out between 50 and 60 BILLION dollars annually. Do the math.
If you had your own bank, would you borrow from a private bank at commercial interest?This is incompetence beyond belief! Every MP should get a copy of the Bank of Canada Act under their tree! And memorize section 18!
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