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Friday March 10, 2017

March 9, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 10, 2017

All parties should lay out their plan for hydro

Next year’s provincial election could be called the hydro vote. Of course there other issues — the length of the Liberal party’s rule, the economy, and others. But nothing resonates with Ontarians right now like hydro rates.

It’s understandable, even though some of the hyperbole being bandied about is over the top. So is laying all the blame at the feet of the Liberals when the Progressive Conservatives also played a role in setting the table.

But whether you agree with the weight being attached to energy as an election issue or not, it is what people are talking about. That’s why the Liberals have finally moved on plans to reduce bills. According to Alectra Utilities, Hamilton ratepayers will get a bigger than average break on their bills, with residential fees set to drop 27 per cent, and small business rates 28 per cent. That’s not insignificant.

The Liberal plan, though, is something like remortgaging your house. The money will be paid back over a longer period of time, so the resulting interest payments will end up costing more. Does that really matter to people if their bills go down? We’ll see.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath won’t be outshone. She has put forward a plan she says will save up to 30 per cent on bills and doesn’t involve remortgaging the house. The plan would allow consumers to opt out of time-of-use pricing, cap profits for private power producers supplying the grid and return Hydro One to full public ownership by buying back shares. This plan will appeal to many, especially since the partial privatization of Hydro One is widely opposed.

But wait, say the Liberals and other skeptics. The money from privatization is being used to fund health and education among other key areas. If that money is used to buy back shares, it will be at the expense of those other priorities. Now the NDP plan doesn’t sound quite so solid.

At least the two parties are putting out (relatively) clear messages. And by getting her party’s oar in the water on the most significant issue of the election, Horwath automatically positions the NDP as a credible alternative, on this matter at least.

Patrick Brown, come out, come out, wherever you are. The Progressive Conservatives have yet to outline in detail what they’ll do on energy. Perhaps because there is still a lot of time left. Perhaps because it’s a sticky issue for them, too. After all, it was Brown’s party that initiated the last attempt to privatize, which blew up in their face. And it’s going to be difficult for a party that believes in privatization to argue for making Hydro One public again. Then again, who would have predicted that the PCs would favour a carbon tax and support a modernized sex education curriculum. So who knows what they might have up their sleeve? They’d be smart to get at least some cards on the table soon though. (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

Thursday March 2, 2017

March 1, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 2, 2017

Premier Kathleen Wynne to cut hydro rates by 25 per cent

Premier Kathleen Wynne will slash electricity rates by 25 per cent this year, the Star has learned.

In a dramatic move to be finalized at cabinet Wednesday, Wynne’s government is poised to unveil sweeping measures to rein in the soaring hydro bills that currently have the Liberals’ popularity plummeting.

August 17, 2016

Sources say the massive reduction in rates will come mostly by “smoothing out” the financing costs of electricity generation contracts over longer periods.

It’s the equivalent of refinancing a mortgage to enjoy lower payments over a longer time on nuclear reactors, natural gas-fired power plants, and wind turbines.

Wynne’s office refused to confirm details of the 25 per cent solution Tuesday night.

But cabinet ministers are expected to approve the plan during a noon cabinet meeting at Queen’s Park with an announcement coming as early as Thursday.

The 25 per cent reduction includes the 8 per cent rebate of the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax that took effect on Jan. 1.

While the provincial Liberals have not convinced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to eliminate the 5 per cent federal share of the HST on hydro bills, they have found other savings.

“We’re taking it to the next level,” Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault told the legislature during Tuesday’s question period.

“We do recognize the system that we built — eliminating coal, rebuilding the grid — that cost billions of dollars. We know that cost actually came at the expense of many families,” he said. (Source: Toronto Star)

Friday February 24, 2017

February 23, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 24, 2017

Behind on your hydro bill? Don’t fear being disconnected in the winter

Electricity consumers behind on their bills need no longer fear being disconnected in the winter now that the Ontario government has banned utilities from pulling the plug on them.

“I’m hoping to have all of this done by the end of this week,” Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault told reporters after all three parties supported the passage of the Protecting Vulnerable Energy Consumers Act.

The bill got royal assent later in the day and gives the Ontario Energy Board power to order utilities to stop disconnections during cold weather months through changes to their licences, which could take until Monday.

Most utilities had already agreed to voluntarily end winter disconnects, but Thibeault said some could not do so in time for a midnight Tuesday deadline, prompting the new law.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said he was pleased the legislation passed, but added the government should have put the ban in place before winter.

“Unfortunately, this comes after far too many families and seniors were forced to suffer in the cold without power because the Wynne Liberals dragged their feet and played political games.”

Both the Conservatives and NDP said the government erred by putting the winter disconnection ban into a larger piece of omnibus legislation, the Burden Reduction Act, introduced last June.

The PCs supported it, but the New Democrats did not, citing objections to provisions on the sale of Ontario Place and weaker workplace protections in it.

That it took until late February to pass a winter disconnection bill shows the Liberals are “out of touch,” Brown charged.

The energy board does not have statistics on how many customers were disconnected from hydro for non-payment so far this winter.

Under the new legislation, which does not contain dates, the energy board will work with local utilities on a definition of winter, which technically ends Mar. 21, the first day of spring, Thibeault noted.

The bill does not contain any deadlines for reconnecting customers who were cut off. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she hopes utilities will abide by “the spirit” of the legislation. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Tuesday January 17, 2017

January 16, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 17, 2017

Wynne gets cold shoulder from Trudeau on hydro costs

Feeling more heat over hydro bills — and a cold shoulder on the touchy topic from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Premier Kathleen Wynne acknowledged her government has to do a better job curbing electricity costs.

October 29, 2015

Wynne was greeted Friday by protesters outside a luncheon speech in Oakville shortly after Trudeau was put on the defensive over hydro prices at a campaign-style stop in Peterborough.

“It is not enough,” the premier said of her Liberal government’s move to waive the 8 per cent provincial portion of the HST on electricity bills starting this month. ‎

While Wynne was taking responsibility for hydro rates that have skyrocketed in recent years and left many homeowners and businesses struggling, Trudeau, under fire for a Caribbean Christmas vacation on a “listening tour” of the country, made it clear electricity prices are Wynne’s cross to bear.

November 22, 2016

At a Peterborough town hall meeting, a weeping woman brandished her hydro bill for the prime minister, saying she earns “almost $50,000 a year and I am living in energy poverty.”

Trudeau, who has frequently campaigned with Wynne in a mutual support pact, praised the woman for speaking out publicly and tried to alleviate her concerns about the impact of looming carbon pricing on energy rates while insisting that “hydro bills are provincial.”

Speaking with reporters after that emotional encounter, the prime minister tried to dodge questions about Wynne’s electricity policies.

“As a Quebec-elected MP I have been trained to be very, very careful about weighing in on provincial areas of jurisdiction. It’s something that is important for positive working relationships with all provinces and I respect provincial rights and responsibilities to make determinations in their areas of jurisdiction,” said Trudeau.

Wynne took credit for the Liberal government’s upgrading of the electricity system since taking power in 2003 so “there are no more blackouts … no more smog days,” but admitted “the cost of the changes has burdened people.”

She told 440 people at an Oakville and Burlington Chamber of Commerce chicken lunch about a father of three who wrote to her at Christmas to say he had to scale back on presents for his kids. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Cartoon demeaned women and PM

Letter to the Editor, Hamilton Spectator, January 24, 2017 RE: Jan. 17 editorial cartoon

I feel Mr. MacKay crossed a line in his attempt at humour in this cartoon. His depiction of the prime minister rescuing the distraught woman during his cross country tour a lack of respect for this woman’s concern about her hydro bill and was demeaning both to her and Mr. Trudeau. Women do not need to be rescued by men nor do we deserve to be shown as weak and in need of this form of support from men.

Barb Howe, Hamilton

Friday December 11, 2015

December 10, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 11, 2015

Payday loan industry comes under microscope

The province is moving to protect vulnerable people from cash stores and collections agencies — but a local councillor calls the efforts “half-hearted.”

If passed, new legislation by the Ontario government promises to increase protections under the Payday Loans Act, Consumer Protection Act and the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act. The aim is to provide safeguards such as a cap on the rates charged by cheque-cashing services, a grace period for repayment for customers of rent-to-own services and reasonable costs for optional insurance on instalment loans.

It would also offer longer repayment periods for repeat payday loan borrowers, and expanded rules against unfair collection practices from businesses that purchase and collect overdue debts.

But Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Green says the legislation “doesn’t go nearly far enough in terms of really tackling the core elements and the predatory nature of this industry.”

There are 813 licensed payday lenders in Ontario — more than there are McDonalds restaurants. Roughly 35 of those are in Hamilton, according to the ministry’s online database.

For starters, Green wants to see the “ridiculous” interest rates on payday loans slashed.

Green put forward a motion this summer to limit and regulate these stores at a municipal level, which would have made Hamilton the first city in the province to do so.

Staff is now looking into the feasibility of that.

In the meantime, he and a working group made up of local agencies, including credit unions, are actively researching a model for a market alternative low-cost loan service.

Tom Cooper, director of Hamilton’s Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR), says he’d like to see provincial legislation that enables municipalities to license lenders at the local level.

He agrees there’s more work to do on this.

“At the end of the day … these services are predatory by nature and they’ll continue to take advantage of people who run into desperate financial situations,” he says.

According to a survey of 500 Ontario payday loan users earlier this year, more than half of the borrowers surveyed said they are using the service for recurring expenses, not crisis situations.

Of those surveyed, 27 per cent reported making less than $30,000 a year. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)