The Council of Canadians joined a massive protest against the privatization of Hydro One at Queen’s Park, May 28.
The Ontario government has taken another step towards privatizing the publicly-owned electricity utility Hydro One.
Premier Kathleen Wynne wants to sell 60 per cent of Hydro One. The government believes it can raise $9 billion from the sale and use $5 billion of that to pay down debt in the electricity sector and $4 billion to build new transit lines. The Council of Canadians, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), the Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) and many others oppose this privatization.
The Canadian Press now reports, “The Liberal government used its majority [on Wednesday] to pass the Ontario budget, which clears the way for the sale of Hydro One, the huge electrical transmission utility. …Once the bill gets royal assent, it immediately removes oversight of Hydro One by the provincial ombudsman, auditor general, financial accountability officer, integrity commissioner and privacy commissioner.”
In a legal opinion addressed to CUPE national president Paul Moist, lawyer Steven Shrybman writes, “…There are reasonable grounds for arguing that the sale of securities, debt or other interests in Hydro One would be subject to challenge…” He notes as a primary reason, “the government has no lawful authority to use the proceeds from such a sale to fund transit infrastructure, as it has declared its intention to do. Regardless of whether the sale itself is lawful, if the government fails to pay the net proceeds from any such sale to the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation, it would be in breach of the explicit requirements of the Electricity Act.”
In addition, a recent poll found that 60 per cent of respondents disapprove of selling off the majority of Hydro One to the private sector and that 77 per cent believe that privatization will increase electricity prices.
The Ontario government plans to sell 15 per cent of Hydro One within the year.
The Council of Canadians is encouraging its supporters to contact Premier Wynne and demand that she rescind her plans to privatize Hydro One and instead maintain it as a public service.
For more on the CUPE Ontario campaign to stop the privatization of Hydro One, please click here.
Further reading
Guelph, London chapters rally against sale of Hydro One (May 2015 blog)
Hydro One privatization has water and trade implications (May 2015 blog)
