{"id":10602,"date":"2014-05-17T03:08:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T19:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=10602"},"modified":"2014-05-17T01:10:58","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T17:10:58","slug":"ndp-slags-liberal-tory-rivals-for-jaw-dropping-hydro-prices-in-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/05\/17\/ndp-slags-liberal-tory-rivals-for-jaw-dropping-hydro-prices-in-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"NDP slags Liberal, Tory rivals for \u2018jaw dropping\u2019 hydro prices in Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andrea<\/a>
Andrea Horwath and Michael Prue. Photo by Neal Jennings \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SARNIA, Ont.\u2014Wrong-headed policies that began with a Conservative government and continued under the Liberals are to blame for the mess that is Ontario\u2019s electricity system, New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Campaigning in the border city of Sarnia, Horwath railed against her rivals as she pledged an NDP government would get soaring hydro rates down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, power rates are projected to rise by about 40 per cent over the next four years, with the province\u2019s industries paying more than double that charged in neighbouring jurisdictions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis mess started with the Conservatives, when they began to deregulate and privatize our electricity system,\u201d Horwath said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last 10 years or so, the problems that the Conservatives started have just been entrenched by the Liberals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In an effort to lower \u201cjaw-dropping\u201d hydro bills, the NDP is pledging, if elected June 12, to merge four of the five agencies that run the power system in Ontario and cap the salaries of the CEOs in charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

The party, if elected, would end subsidized power exports. It is also promising to scrap the provincial sales tax on residential hydro\u2014worth about $120 a year for the average rate payer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Horwath said affordable hydro was once one of the province\u2019s strong points.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis beast used to be a beast that was of benefit to Ontario\u2019s economy\u2014we used to have rates that were very competitive,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

She did not mention that power rates were kept artificially low for years, or that cost-overruns on building nuclear reactors contributed to the province\u2019s huge hydro debt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Horwath also ramped up her attacks on her rivals, Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liberals, let\u2019s face it, are a scandal-ridden, wasteful government that has become out of touch with Ontarians that people tell me they simply don\u2019t trust any more,\u201d Horwath said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are (also) very wary of a Tim Hudak Conservative government that would throw 100,000 people onto the unemployment line.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Horwath also planned to campaign in London, Cambridge and Kitchener as part of a busy, day-long swing through southwestern Ontario.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SARNIA, Ont.\u2014Wrong-headed policies that began with a Conservative government and continued under the Liberals are to blame for the mess …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","mauthors-colin-perkel","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}