The Ontario Liberals should never have added the provincial portion of the HST to hydro bills in 2010, and a temporary rebate to bring down hydro bills is not the answer for today, either.
Instead of continuing to manage our electric grid and economy based on the political fortunes of the corrupt Ontario Liberal Party, it is time for the government to get real about doing the right thing for a change.
When then-Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman defended the Green Energy Act at the legislative committee reviewing the bill, on April 8, 2009, he said:
He was completely and totally wrong.
The Ontario Liberals decided to make matters worse when they chose to add the provincial portion of the HST to hydro bills -- something the province did not feel it was appropriate to charge when we had PST. They defended this while exempting the provincial portion of HST from your morning Tim Hortons in an effort to quell unrest.
In 2010, the Liberals decided to help buy the next two elections by offering a 10 per cent Ontario Clean Energy Benefit rebate for five years at a cost of another $1.1 billion dollars per year.
Two elections later and a majority in hand, Kathleen Wynne's Liberals let that rebate expire as planned.
Wynne is less popular than McGuinty was when he quit in disgrace during the notorious gas plant scandal. Yet she's chosen to try to change the channel by throwing all business before the Ontario Legislature out the door, and invited the Lieutenant Governor to deliver a Throne Speech that had about as much substance as you would expect from a plan hatched less than a week before being delivered.
Finally, the premier has realized that hydro rates are driving voters away in the stronghold ridings she needs to hang on to if she is to stay in power, and that it's time that something is done about it.
Instead of doing the right thing and doing what Dwight Duncan should have done in 2010 -- remove the provincial portion of the HST from hydro bills -- the government is offering another temporary rebate.
Ontarians have to stop letting their government play them like fools.
If Ontarians want the government to truly clean up their green energy follies, it is time for Ontario voters to become Energy Voters and demand the provincial portion of the HST be permanently removed from hydro bills in this province, once and for all.
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5 Ontario Liberal Scandals Likely To Resurface
Ornge(01 of05)
Open Image ModalOntario's publicly funded air ambulance service has been under fire for almost two years over sky-high salaries, financial irregularities and corruption allegations. A legislative committee has been probing the service's complex structures and pay scales in detail, and opposition parties have been alleging wrongdoing with nearly every revelation. The auditor general has criticized the governing Liberals for failing to oversee Ornge, despite giving it $730 million over five years and allowing it to borrow another $300 million. The Liberals insist Ornge went rogue with a web of for-profit companies and questionable business deals, as well as exorbitant salaries and lavish expenses. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Lars Hagberg)
Cancelled Gas Plants(02 of05)
Open Image ModalScandal has swirled around the government's decision to cancel the construction of two Toronto-area gas plants ahead of the 2011 election, in which the government then led by Dalton McGuinty was reduced to minority status. The cancellation costs have now been pegged at $1.1 billion, but opposition parties have accused the Liberals of actively trying to cover up that figure. Ontario's privacy commissioner has concluded that staff working for McGuinty and a former energy minister broke the law by deleting emails pertaining to the project. Ontario Provincial Police are also investigating the document deletions, seizing government computers at both Queen's Park and beyond. (credit:(Fred Lum/Globe and Mail))
eHealth(03 of05)
Open Image ModalThe provincial agency was given a $1-billion budget to develop electronic health records, but wound up building themselves a bad reputation. A lot of the eHealth money went for untendered contracts given to highly paid consultants who then billed taxpayers for additional expenses in a scandal that cost former health minister David Caplan his job. In 2009, the auditor general said the agency had very little progress to show for its efforts, and opposition parties have alleged further financial mismanagement since then. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
Windsor Parkway(04 of05)
Open Image ModalThe government has taken heat for not immediately acting when it learned a $1.4-billion infrastructure project didn't live up to safety standards. The Liberals were told that questionable materials were being used on the support beams on Windsor's Herb Gray Parkway in December 2012, but didn't halt the project until July. More than 500 support beams are being replaced by the project overseer at no cost to the tax payers, but the NDP has accused the Wynne government of trying to cover up the affair and only backing down when threatened with media exposure. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)
PanAm Games(05 of05)
Open Image ModalPremier Kathleen Wynne has hailed the 2015 games as a cause for celebration, but opposition parties call it just another scandal. The $1.4-billion budget for the games does not include some key expenses, like the $700 million athletes' village. The government has also come under fire for $7 million worth of bonuses paid out to 64 executives. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)