For Immediate Release:
May 10, 2011
Queens Park – With even Dalton McGuinty admitting the largest contributing factor to rising hydro bills over the next several years will be his FIT and Samsung projects, it’s time to slam on the brakes.
That from Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett following Opposition Leader Tim Hudak’s announcement to restore transparency and competition to Ontario’s energy mix by shutting down the shady Samsung deal, and ending the FIT program.
“Dalton McGuinty signed the sole-sourced $7-billion Samsung deal in January 2010 – he still refuses to tell Ontario families, or even key decision makers in the energy sector, what he committed Ontario to,” Barrett reported. “There is no place in Ontario for sole-sourced backroom deals that ignore the competitive bidding process, while freezing out home grown companies.
“That’s why I join Mr. Hudak in his commitment to scrap the secret Samsung deal.”
Barrett pointed out that he and his caucus colleagues value renewables as a part of Ontario’s diverse supply mix, but they must be at rates that Ontario families and businesses can afford. He noted that expensive energy experiments like Dalton McGuinty’s Samsung deal flunk economic sense.
“Competition, transparency and affordability are the best means of delivering value to families who pay the bills,” acknowledged Barrett. “Quite simply, there is no place in Ontario for sole-sourced backroom deals that ignore the competitive bidding process, while freezing out home grown companies.
“This was a deal cooked up by George Smitherman before he hightailed it for his failed Toronto Mayor election bid – and now we’re all left to pick up the pieces.”
Today’s announcement follows Hudak’s commitments to restore municipal decision making powers and local input on renewable energy projects that were taken away under McGuinty’s Green Energy Act.
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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (416) 325-8404,
(519) 428-0446 or 1-800-903-8629