Apr. 30, 2002. 05:56 PM Ontario may not sell Hydro, Stockwell says
Energy minister walked out of hearings this morning after being jeered
Just hours after storming out of a heated public hearing on the planned sale of Ontario's power grid, Energy Minister Chris Stockwell abruptly acknowledged today there may be a better way to go.
Instead of a $5-billion privatization plan for Hydro One slated for this fall that has critics howling and ratepayers scratching their heads, Stockwell is now entertaining the idea that it be leased to the private sector.
The apparent departure from the original Conservative plan came after a day that began in disarray for Stockwell, who bolted from the first public hearings into the sale after being booed by a handful of spectators.
"It makes sense, we'll review it," Stockwell said of the idea of leasing the grid to private operators on a long-term basis.
"It's a different process. You still go through the privatization process, it just has a term and after 25 years and that term is up ... it reverts back to public ownership."
The idea, which the Finance Ministry is now studying, was put forward today by Dr. Cal Stiller, who was scheduled to make a presentation to the hearings in London, Ont.
And after listening to the government insist for months that Hydro One had to be sold off, critics wasted no time pouncing on Stockwell's willingness to entertain a different approach.
"This is clearly amateur hour," said New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton.
"We have a government that apparently is going to make up policy on the fly with respect to an essential service. This government obviously doesn't have a clue."
Earlier in the day, a frustrated Stockwell bolted from the hotel hearing room after someone in the audience tried to ask a question.
"We're not doing that," said Stockwell, who threatened to shut down the hearing, then made good on his threat after just 25 minutes when the jeering continued.
"All right, fine. Let's adjourn," he said before storming out.
Retiree Frank Green, who held up an anti-privatization sign during the brief hearing, called it "atrocious" the government is ``ramming" through the sale of Hydro One.
"This isn't a hearing; it's not a consultation," Green said. ``When they privatize Hydro, the rates will go up for me and everybody else."
The hearings were to involve a list of seven presenters, including the head of Bruce Power and Energy Probe.
Despite widespread opposition and a recent court ruling that the sale was illegal, Premier Ernie Eves said last week the government would change the law and the privatization would proceed this fall as planned.
The ruling had no effect on the long-planned deregulation of electricity generation in the province, which was to take place as scheduled Wednesday, allowing the price of raw power to be determined by market forces.
However, the planned privatization of the transmission wires was only announced in December by former premier Mike Harris. The government originally planned no public hearings into what would be the largest share offering in Canadian history.
Hampton, convinced the hearings were little more than an exercise in optics, said Stockwell abandoned the hearings when he realized he would be forced to listen to genuine public input.
But Stockwell said there was simply no point trying to continue.
"You can't have public hearings when a series of people are screaming and yelling and chanting," he said in an interview after the hearing.
"They've been clamouring for public consultation all these months - the first chance we have for public consultation, they come in and shut the process down. What are they frightened of?"
Critics argue that only Bay Street brokers and directors of Hydro One will benefit from the sale and that once the grid has been sold, there's no going back.
"Once we have the shares in the hands of foreign shareholders, I think it's going to be virtually impossible to get those back," said Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty.
"If they sell it for $4 billion, it could cost us $8 billion to get it back."
Stockwell said he would ensure there are further hearings and accept written submissions to allow input into the legislation he plans to pass by June 28.
Hearings were scheduled for Wednesday in the northern Ontario cities of Thunder Bay and Sudbury.
After Stockwell had left, about 100 members of the public and others opposed to the privatization took over the London hearing room and held their own impromptu hearings.
"I'm not an NDP member, I'm not a member of a union, I'm just a concerned citizen," said Muriel Libby, who heard about the hearings on the radio this morning.
"I don't feel we've had any public discussion around this issue and I would call for an election."
In the only formal presentation, Duncan Hawthorne, head of Bruce Power, praised the "vision" of the Ontario government for deregulating and privatizing the province's electricity sector.
"Competition drives down cost, improves customer service and improves reliability," Hawthorne said.
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