I haven't posted anything since last Friday. I was too preoccupied over the past weekend with other things. I just couldn't think of anything too significant to discuss either.
The Liberal government in Ontario wants to pass its budget bill by this Wednesday. The budget bill includes the provisions to sell Hydro One, the government-owned electrical transmission and distribution utility.
This afternoon, I heard reports on CBC Radio from the legislature in Toronto about the government's plan. The Progressive Conservatives are to be cautiously commended for opposing the privatization plan. Their House Leader, Jim Wilson admitted it was a mistake for his party to attempt to sell Hydro One back in 2002 when it was the government--a government Mr. Wilson himself was part of. Andrea Horwath, leader of the third party NDP was furious. Both Ms. Horwath and Mr.Wilson criticized the government for selling Hydro to pay for mistakes resulting from their poor management of the Ontario treasury. Premier Kathleen Wynne responded by saying her government only wants to do what is right for the serious infrastructure needs of the province. In typical Wynne fashion though, she spoke as though there is no Ontario outside of the major population centres in the southern part of the province. She accused Ms. Horwath and Mr. Wilson of not caring about the transport infrastructure needs of Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton (Ms. Horwath represents a Hamilton constituency). The Premier only gave passing mention to "connecting links in rural areas." There was no mention of other important centres like Kingston, London, Windsor, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Thunder Bay. And as for Chatham, Stratford, Owen Sound, Peterborough, Belleville and Timmins? I'm not even sure if the Premier knows they exist. Her comments focusing solely on urban southern Ontario indicate the Premier is really only interested in the public transport needs of those places. The Greater Toronto Area will get most of the supposed revenues from the Hydro sale for subways, trains, and highways. If you live in North Perth, Centre Hastings, South Stormont or Shuniah, you will get whatever is leftover for your potholes.
When I was younger, one of my favourite records was called Six Stories from Faraway Places. The record had belonged to my grandparents. Actor-comedian Danny Kaye told six old European and Asian folk tales on the album, all with some kind of moral. One of the stories is The Big Oven by Leo Tolstoy. It's the story of a man with a big oven in his house that he uses for cooking and heating. When winter comes, he requires a lot of wood to keep it operating. The man had an inadequate supply of firewood the oven was too big to operate efficiently. He ends up tearing down everything on his property, including his house, and burned it in the oven. Due to the mismanagement, mediocrity, and ineptitude of the Liberal government, they are selling off Hydro One to meet infrastructure needs. What they are forgetting though is that Hydro One is part of the public infrastructure! They are basically tearing down the house to keep the oven running! And like the man with the oven, they too will be left with nothing in the end!
They will be left with nothing because once Hydro is under the ownership of private investors, it will be very difficult for the government to have any control over the organization. Other large corporations will buy shares and attempt to control the company. Many of these investors will not even be Canadian. There will be Americans and Europeans--both of which are somewhat tolerable in comparison to the possibility that Ontario's energy transmission and distribution could end up being controlled by investors from such ethically and morally questionable regimes like mainland China or Russia. In addition, rates will increase even more, a catastrophic thought to many Ontario residents who have already faced ridiculous increases after over a decade of bad deregulation and so-called green energy policies. Private companies are profit-centred, and investors appreciate dividends. This is completely heretical to the founding spirit of the old Ontario Hydro and its first Chairman, Sir Adam Beck, and the governments that presided in Ontario during most of Hydro's 93 year history. Power was to be supplied "at cost" to customers "for the people." Through selling Hydro One, Premier Wynne is only serving a minority of Ontario's population at a high cost to the majority of it. This is unacceptable to do for the head of a government who is supposed to ensure that all decisions are made with the most benefit to the public good.
To listen to Danny Kaye read "The Big Oven," click on this link;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut_L21miQyQ
No comments:
Post a Comment