FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 16, 2016
SIMCOE – In a time when people are already struggling to pay their electricity and grocery bills, Ontario does need the added expense of switching from natural gas to electricity for heating as detailed in a Globe and Mail article released today.
Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett, also the Opposition Critic for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said the proposal will amount to an unfair attack on agriculture and our rural way of life. The plan proposes to phase out natural gas despite the Ontario Federation of Agriculture pushing for an expansion of the natural gas network.
Approximately 76 per cent of homes and business in Ontario heat with natural gas. Estimates are switching the average home to electricity will increase heating bills $3,000 per year.
“I try to afford to heat with electricity,” Barrett said. “Trust me – you don’t want to go there.”
“Under this plan, the Liberals will also impose a tax on gasoline – which will increase the cost of fuelling up by hundreds of dollars a year,” said MPP Lisa Thomspon, the Opposition Environment Critic. “Ontarians who must commute to work will bear the brunt of this unfair gas tax. The Liberals are forging ahead with this scheme despite Kathleen Wynne’s promise in 2014 that she would not raise gas taxes. Now, with no regard for the lives of Ontarians, she has broken her promise.”
Barrett also pointed out the plan will kill thousands of jobs in the energy and automotive sectors.
-30-
For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or toby.barrett@pc.ola.org