08) STOP HYDRO PRIVATIZATION IN ONTARIO

By Liz Rowley, Toronto

            The Ontario government won re-election a year ago on a platform of massive investment in public transit and provincial and municipal infrastructure renewal in cities and towns across the province, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

            What Premier Wynne didn’t say was that the price would be covered by an across the board public sector wage freeze, and massive privatization of public assets and services. What she didn’t say was that Hydro One – Ontario’s publicly owned energy supplier – was on the auction block.

            The sale of Hydro One will cost Ontario residents and businesses "big time", with sky-rocketing rate increases for all users, and the loss of  $2 billion a year in profits that go straight into the provincial treasury to pay for public services and social programs. 

            The steady, certain supply of cheap energy that has been available to Ontario residents and industries for 100 years is about to finally end. The Liberals will finish off the privatization of Ontario Hydro that the Tories started 15 years ago under Mike Harris. 

            Premier Wynne is trying to "sell" the sell-off by arguing that the government will retain the largest single share in the business, but she’s kidding no-one with this simplistic argument. The new private owners will work together to maximize their profits on investment and overwhelm the "public interest" – represented by more government appointed bankers and businessmen. In fact, the proposal to privatize Hydro One came from a banker, Ed Clark, who is Special Advisor to the Premier on what she calls “unlocking the value in public assets” – a euphemism for the largest sell-off of a public asset in North America.

            The sale of Hydro One is the cornerstone of the massive asset sale now underway in Ontario.  Not even the Tories were able to pull off a privatization of this magnitude.

            But it can be – and must be stopped! This is the view of Keep Hydro Public, the broad coalition of public interest groups, unions and parties, mobilizing the public and leading this fight. The Communist Party in Ontario is also campaigning against the sale, declaring that energy belongs to the public, to serve people’s needs, not corporate greed.

            While the government contends that the provincial budget contained the enabling legislation needed to proceed with Hydro privatization, the CPC (Ontario), the Ontario NDP, the unions, and the coalition opposing  the sale say it was hidden in the budget, and that a public consultation debate is required before the government can proceed further. A mass campaign has opened up across the province that could yet spill into the federal election, and has every chance of stopping the government in its tracks. Over 80% of Ontarians are opposed to the sale, according to Keep Hydro Public.

            Privatization means sky-high electricity rates. All in favour?

            Only the new owners of Hydro One will benefit from that. And they’re the ones who will determine the price every year, going forward.

            PV readers can get in touch with the Keep Hydro Public coalition at www.keephydropublic.ca

, or the Communist Party at www.communistpartyontario.ca.

(The above article is from the September 1-15, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)