SPRING BAY—A Spring Bay woman has well surpassed her goal for the number of signatures she has garnered on a petition calling on the Ontario government to take action on climbing Hydro One costs and improve services provided by the company, as well as to not sell off Hydro One.
“I have 1,230 names signatures on my petition,” stated Tanya Giles, last Friday. “My goal had been to collect 1,000 signatures and I haven’t collected the petitions displayed in Mindemoya, so there will be more to add on to this total.”
Ms. Giles noted that she will be presenting the signed petitions to Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha, who will present them in the provincial legislature in September.
“Recently, I also received a letter from MPP Jeff Yurek (Elgin-Middlesex-London) on a letter I had sent to the Ontario government and the Ontario Minister of Energy on my concerns,” said Ms. Giles. “He pretty much bashed the government for what they have done.”
In his letter to Ms. Giles, Mr. Yurek wrote, “due to the poor planning, financial mismanagement and scandal of this Liberal government energy rates in the province are simply unaffordable for families and uncompetitive for businesses.”
“This government has no credible plan to address Ontario’s unaffordable hydro rates which are among the highest energy rates in North America. Under this Liberal government, hydro costs have increased by more than $1,000 per year on the average family, and an additional 42 percent increase is expected between 2013 and 2018,” wrote Mr. Yurek.
“Unfortunately, this government is moving full steam ahead with the sale of Hydro One,” continued Mr. Yurek. “There has not been any assurance that the fire sale of Hydro One will not result in rate increases for ratepayers. The public does not support this fire sale and experts do not think this is a good deal for the province. The Wynne Liberals are not acting in the best interest of Ontarians.”
“The government subsidies of solar and wind have driven up the cost of energy and have divided communities throughout the province,” wrote Mr. Yurek. “I will continue to push the government to develop a credible energy plan that make energy prices affordable to Ontarians. I would suggest that you continue to collect signatures for your petition and write the Minister of Energy and premier voicing your concerns. The more the government hears about a single issue the harder it is to ignore.”
Ms. Giles added that, “I had mentioned (previously) about a booth being set up at the Providence Bay Fair, August 19-21. The booth is booked. The Citizens Coalition Against Privatization (CCAP) will be there promoting the Hydro Not For Sale campaign. I will be there helping them out and sharing information.”
