Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s fall economic statement getting a failing grade from Bruce Grey Owen Sound Tory MPP Bill Murdoch.
There will be a 10 per cent rebate on electricity bills in Ontario starting in January.
The move is to offset an expected 46 per cent hike in hydro rates over the next five years.
Speaking with Bayshore Broadcasting News, Murdoch says that economic statement shows that the governing Liberal really don’t understand the basic pocketbook issues facing average Ontarians.
He says the 10 per cent cut in hydro rates is a meagre offering and does not provide any long term relief for consumers.
Murdoch says it would have been much better if the Government had followed the advice of the NDP and eliminated the HST on Hydro bills.
He says it also should have been eliminated on home heating fuel and gasoline as for people in rural Ontario, transportation is a necessity.
Murdoch fears that the high cost of electricity could very well spill Ontario into another recession as people will be saving their money to pay the power bills rather than spending it to stimulate the economy.
Murdoch also says this 10 per cent reduction in hydro rates will really not help farmers all that much, who still have to heat their barns and run their equipment.
He predicts the ever increasing cost of hydro could eventually put some farmers out of business.
