The Ontario Power Authority OPG was set up as a temporary agency, but in less than six years it has become a bloated bureaucracy ballooning from 15 to more than 300 employees, spending $80 million a year, contributing to skyrocketing energy bills paid by Ontario families, and has been a driving force behind Premier McGuinty’s expensive energy experiments.
Of those employees, 75 are on the sunshine list. A full 25% of the OPA’s payroll is making more than $100,000 a year. No wonder this bloated bureaucracy is now costing Ontario families more than $80 million each and every year.
The OPA is the brainchild of Premier McGuinty and is complete with Liberal family ties going back three generations: the Premier’s former spokesman and, until recently, OPA vice-president of communications, Ben Chin; former Liberal leader and OPA vice-chair, Lyn McLeod; and former adviser to Liberal Premier David Peterson and OPA board member, Patrick Monahan.
The Ontario Energy Association is an organization that represents people from every possible part of the energy sector. Here’s what they had to say about the OPA and the political interference that it is constantly subjected to. In a survey of their members, “85% of respondents felt that the current structure with a number of agencies assigned to specific tasks either needs better implementation ... or needs to be changed altogether”—85%.
“For example, the OPA was established to provide planning and procurement in the expectation that the market would eventually respond to that information and make investments without OPA procurement contracts. However, these functions are no longer transitional.” That’s the Ontario Energy Association, which has serious concerns about the OPA, the way it has grown and the fact that it has become a governmental shield, but one that is subject to continuous ministerial interference and directives.
The McGuinty Liberals are out of touch with reality. Hydro rates have already gone up 75% under the McGuinty government’s watch; 100% if the OPA has already imposed a smart meter and time-of-use pricing on you. And do you know what? The OPA tells us they’re going to be going up another 46%.
The McGuinty Liberal government is incompetent.
October 6th please vote and please vote for the candidate most likely to unseat the Liberal!
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