Ontario obituary

[lone wolf]

Obituary Notice:
It is with heavy hearts & profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of the Middle Class Sector of Ontario. Since its birth on July 1, 1867 it has worked diligently to create a comfortable existence in a Province rich with beauty and natural resources. It never asked for too much….never expected too much….just wanted a simple lifestyle that was fair to all. It has been beaten down and robbed repeatedly by various Political Parties and somehow still managed to sustain.

The newest battle however, has proven to be its likely demise….a simple necessity of life has caused strife for so many. Businesses that employed thousands have packed up shop & moved on elsewhere. The average family now has to choose from between feeding/clothing their children adequately or providing hydro/heat to their homes. Many of the Middle Class Sector were already living paycheque to paycheque just to get by….they were always at the risk of poverty should an emergency such as a job loss or an illness strike.

Even the most brilliant minds cannot understand the billing system of Hydro One…..it seems that no-one who works for the Organization can understand it either, never mind explain it!! It has become the final nail in the coffin…preceded by the temporary tax known as GST….which has now rolled into HST and somehow has become permanent!!!! So, it seems going forth…..Ontario will have two Sectors…..the Rich Upper Class comprised of mainly Politicians & the Corporate Elite who make their wages solely from the backs of the other Class…..the POOR working Class guesstimated to be about 95% of the new population. The biggest dilemma of the demise is…..if this is a democratic Province…..how can so many be over- looked so easily? A sad time indeed!

S Smith on FB Hydro One - enough is enough

 

[lone wolf]

https://www.change.org/p/hydro-one-...update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign&utm_term

 

[tay]

On January 26, the Power Workers’ Union (PWU) made a submission to Ontario’s Ministry of Finance on the 2015 Pre-Budget Consultation. These comments focused on the perils (risks or dangers) of the recommendation of the Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets (Council) to separate Hydro One into two companies—transmission and distribution—and to sell a majority share in the resulting distribution company to the private sector. The capital raised from the sale would be used to fund transportation infrastructure, including subways.


The PWU is supportive of the original objectives of Council, which were stated to be -maximizing the value of Ontario’s publicly owned assets for the benefit of the people of Ontario and the voluntary consolidation of local municipal distribution companies. The PWU considers the Council’s recommendation to split and sell Hydro One businesses as ill conceived. The submission presents information demonstrating how the implementation of this recommendation would be harmful to the province’s finances and to Ontario’s electricity customers.

The province is currently the sole owner of Hydro One. In stark comparison to many other government businesses, Hydro One is one of the very few that is a significant net moneymaker for the province. This helps offset revenue requirements for other critical government programs year after year, decade after decade.

The implementation of the Council’s recommendation would:

1. Significantly decrease the Government’s revenue stream as a result of the loss of net income and tax leakage to the federal government.
2. Diminish the existing valuable operational synergies between Hydro One’s transmission and distribution companies resulting in increased inefficiency and operations costs.
3. Result in significant transition and transaction costs.
4. Reduce service quality, reliability and storm response capability.
5. Require a complex and costly regulatory approval process.
6. Impacts 2, 3, 4 and 5 would thereby increase the cost of electricity for Ontario electricity customers.
   
   The Council’s recommendation is also inconsistent with recommendations made by the 2012 Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services which advised the Government to “not partially or fully divest any or all of the province’s government business enterprises … unless the net, long-term benefit to Ontario is considerable and can be clearly demonstrated through comprehensive analysis.”

Retaining Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation in public ownership, in addition to providing reliable, low-cost electricity to Ontarians, allows the province to continue to use these valuable assets and the services they can provide to fuel economic growth and create more jobs and more revenue for Ontario.

To the extent that the Province needs to address new and existing financial challenges like subways, the PWU calls for an open and transparent dialogue between government, industry, electricity customers and labour based on fairness and mutual respect. That dialogue should focus on providing needed revenues to the province while minimizing the risks to the affordability, adequacy, reliability, security and safety of Ontario’s electricity system.

Please read the full PWU submission to get a clear understanding of why splitting a Hydro One and selling the distribution system to the private sector is a bad deal for Ontario’s electricity customers and taxpayers.




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Power Workers' Union » News

 

[taxslave]

Of course the government unions would be against any move that would make them actually work. If Hydro 1 is making money then the rates are too high, another one of several factors that drove business away. Another would be taxes by all levels of government.

 

[petros]

IBEW isn't Gov.

 

[lone wolf]

PWU isn't IBEW

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Of course the province will do it. They need the cash to fund their corruption. Wynne is bleading money left right and center so she will sell her mother if it will make her deficit look slightly less monsterous.

 

[lone wolf]

Privatization - but ONLY if it comes with strictly enforced regulation and caps. For over a century, Hydro has been the cash cow for too many Ontario governments

 

[captain morgan]

Having an environment with multiple providers (public and/or private) will foster an environment of competition.

The problem is that Hydro 1 was/is a gvt controlled monopoly and they can dictate the price, which is subject to how much cash the gvt needs to collect to deliver on all the promises to the lobby groups

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Perhaps if the people of Ontario actually did something about this there might be some effective change. They could have started by not voting in the corrupt government they so readily handed a majority. I know I know its all Harris's fault and the PC's were just going to be worse than this hard drive erasing big brother you already have installed.

Every time I hear your Premier say words like "transparency or Integrity" I shake my head.

Jesus, Ontario, you really blew it in the last election.

 

[petros]

Having an environment with multiple providers (public and/or private) will foster an environment of competition.

The problem is that Hydro 1 was/is a gvt controlled monopoly and they can dictate the price, which is subject to how much cash the gvt needs to collect to deliver on all the promises to the lobby groups

Competition is why they are f-cked. SaskPower makes good loot selling to Montana and North Dakota.

SaskPower buys private produced power and reselling rather than charging distribution fees. This pushes private to be more efficient to gain an edge.

What makes me laugh is the wind operation in SE SK is running the Bakken boom in ND.

 

[lone wolf]

Harris' fault was in leaving the gate open. By the time he left, he knew the writing was on the wall for his revolution. Even Uncle Ernie knew enough to put brakes on it after Harris jumped ship. McGuinty didn't have to break any rules when he hoisted Eves' anchor. The rest is pure, crooked greed....

Yup.... It blew big. Toronto's doing well though....