Huron Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson says the government is taking taxpayer dollars to pay for their promise to cut the 8% portion of the HST from Hydro bills.
Thompson says if Premier Kathleen Wynne really was serious about addressing the crisis caused by rising electricity rates she would have promised to halt any new expensive energy contracts.
Thompson says yesterday's throne speech confirmed for her that the Liberal government is out of steam and out of touch.
She says after years of ignoring skyrocketing electricity prices, the provincial government suddenly recognised the ongoing crisis after losing a by-election.
"Ontarians and the PC Party have been claiming for years that electricity rates are at a crisis point, but our concerns have repeatedly been ignored until just last week, after residents in Scarborough-Rouge River decisively elected a Progressive Conservative MPP. Today's commitment to repair our damaged energy sector is nothing but empty rhetoric. She has had thirteen years to do something, but only chose to act when it served to benefit herself and her Liberal Party. It is painfully clear that all the Premier is doing is trying to win favour with Ontarians before she has to face them again in another by-election. If she was serious, she would've repealed the Green Energy Act.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker says the Ontario Liberals are trying to pull their same-old tricks by offering more promises on the backs of taxpayers.
In response to the provincial Liberals’ Throne Speech at Queen’s Park, Walker says the government’s plan to cut 8 per cent from Hydro bills is a zero-sum game, as it will coincide with the arrival of the new massive carbon tax, a projected $1.9 billion tax increase that will raise the cost of virtually every product in Ontario.
He also concludes the Liberals’ monthly rebate plan won’t save small businesses from closure.
"What the Liberals don’t want you to know is that the promised relief on electricity bills won’t last," he explains. "Ontarians will again suffer a hit to their wallet after the government rolls out its new carbon tax. Therefore, whatever gains they promised today, they will in fact take away come carbon-tax time."
"Furthermore," he adds, "comparing their offer of a $45-monthly rebate against the average annual increase of $1,000 in hydro bills is nothing but disrespect for Ontarians."
The MPP for Perth-Wellington feels the government’s Throne Speech is mostly a rehash of old Liberal policies that will do little for our local communities.
Randy Pettapiece stated that for 13 years, the Liberal government has made life harder and more unaffordable, and no Throne Speech is going to change that.
Any rebate will be dwarfed by hydro rate increases in the years to come, Pettapiece said. "We can expect even more increases as long as the government continues shovelling money into industrial wind turbines to produce power the province does not need."
As the new legislative session begins, Pettapiece pointed to some of the local priorities he plans to champion: affordable hydro; access to healthcare, including a new Stratford Perth Residential Hospice; rural transit options; agriculture; and jobs and the economy. He also plans to introduce his private member’s bill to improve safety for firefighters.
