The proposed privatization of Hydro One by the provincial Liberal government does not sit well with many members of Timmins city council.
A resolution on the matter was placed on Monday’s agenda by Councillor Pat Bamford, who hoped to raise awareness of the potential fallout such a move would have on every employer and taxpayer in Ontario.
“I’m going to state the obvious. Private corporations get into the business for one thing. It’s for profit. I’m not knocking profit, there’s a place for it. I’m thinking it’s not a place for a public and essential service such as electrical transmission,” he said.
Bamford elaborated on his point of view, citing local employment losses.
“We can see where the main focus is with private ‘for profit’ companies. We’ve seen that in our own area. If you look at what has happened with our smelter in Timmins. That move was designed to improve the profit margin. Ironically, it had to do a lot with our cost of energy. Likewise, with the loss of the Resolute mill in Iroquois Falls,” said Bamford
The resolution, which carried unanimously, states that the City of Timmins strongly protests the sale of 60 percent of the assets of Hydro One to the private sector.
“My question to everybody out there is, why would anybody put up 9 billion dollars for Hydro One shares if they didn’t think they were going to make a good profit? There’s lot of other places to invest,” said Bamford.
Bamford said in the private sector, one year’s profits are never good enough for the next, and that CEO annual bonuses and subsequent severance packages depend on increases to the bottom line.
He said he feels there are only two possible sources of higher profits, raising energy rates and labour cost cutting.
According to Bamford, Hydro One currently generates $1 billion dollars of dividends annually, which would seemingly remain steady if unchanged.
“So what happens if you sell 60 percent? We would net, according to the government, about a $4-billion, one-time profit that would go to infrastructure. Well, we don’t do too well up north here for infrastructure grants. A good chance that most of that one-time money would be spent in the GTA,” he said.
Councillor Andre Grzela said he reluctantly feels that the current provincial Liberal government will have no issue going through with the plan, as they hold a majority of the seats.
“We have to do what we can to show our displeasure of this. There was no mention of the privatization plan in the election,” he said.
Grzela strongly encouraged all citizens to visit www.youpaytheprice.ca to sign a petition, which aims to stop the sale.
A recent poll conducted by Mainstreet Technologies showed that 61 percent of Ontarians disapprove of the privatization of Hydro One, and that 77% of Ontarians expect the sale will result in higher prices.
Councillor Joe Campbell echoed Bamford’s sentiment.
“This is a bad deal for the residents of the province of Ontario” he said.
Councillor Rick Dubeau said every citizen needs to make their voices heard now more than ever.
“In the past, previous governments have considered this but they’ve put it aside because of public opinion. I think it’s very important that we get the message out, loud and clear, from the city of Timmins and from everyone else we can get to support this,” said Dubeau.
Bamford summed up his resentment once more.
“Hydro One belongs to the people of Ontario, not a few cabinet ministers.”
(PHOTO: Councillor Pat Bamford addresses city council regarding Hydro One privatization. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday)
