Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak Calls for Forensic Audit Hydro Debt Retirement Charges – March 3, 2011

Queens Park – Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak once again called on Dalton McGuinty to come clean on why families will be charged until 2018 for the debt retirement charge (DRC) that should be on track to be paid off next year. The Ontario PCs are calling for a forensic audit to explain why Ontario families paid all of the $7.8 billion debt, but Dalton McGuinty plans to charge them for an additional six years.

For eight years, Ontario families have made sacrifices to pay a debt retirement charge that amounts to between $67 and $84 a year on their hydro bills. The Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation has collected the DRC since May 1, 2002 and the debt was scheduled to be paid off by 2012.

At a time of historically low interest rates, the McGuinty Liberals now say the debt will not be paid until as late as 2018, with no explanation why the date keeps getting pushed back or where the money is going. The Ontario PC Caucus introduced a motion yesterday to bring in a forensic audit.

 

“Premier McGuinty expects hardworking Ontario families to keep paying this charge every month for the next seven years, but he won’t say where the money is going and is trying to turn the debt retirement charge into a permanent tax grab.”

— Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

 

“Dalton McGuinty government expects hard-working families to pay this charge every month for an extra six years, and they don’t want to tell families what they’re doing with the money.  That’s why we need a forensic audit.”

— Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

QUICK FACTS

 

  • The Debt Retirement Charge was created in May 2002 as a dedicated revenue stream to pay off a residual stranded debt of $7.8 billion by 2012.

 

  • The McGuinty Government first pushed back the repayment date from 2012 to 2014, and then until as late as 2018, with no explanation why, according to OEFC annual reports.

 

  • Yesterday, the Ontario PC Caucus introduced a motion to have the McGuinty Government instruct an external firm to conduct a forensic audit into the residual stranded debt and the debt retirement charge, and make the findings of the audit public.

 

  • The McGuinty Liberals used their majority to defeat the Ontario PC motion calling for the audit by a vote of 43-16.

Scott BeckIsland Ink Jet

 

10 Comments

  1. Perhaps Dalton McGuinty hired Alphonso Gagliano (Liberal Sponsorship Scandal) to oversee the repayment of the Debt Retirement Charge. That would explain everything! As always, where money is concerned, the Liberals put their “entitlement coats” on and try and steal as much as they can from us.
    It’s good to see that Tim Hudak’s team spotted this and have asked for a forensic audit. Good to know that someone is watching out for us!

  2. Now here’s something I can support Hudak on…

  3. And maybe while we’re about it, we could have a forensic audit on the Harris regime, and why they put Ontario into a deficit while the federal government was running at a surplus?

    What about it, Hudak? Care to put your money where your mouth is?

  4. @Stan, I agree. Maybe now we will be twice Blessed with leaders that actually want to expose the wasteful, criminal spendings. Premier Tim Hudak and Mayor Rob Ford.

  5. You know, I hear people complaining about the payouts to disgraced employees that were under McGuinty’s rule, such as the woman from OLG, as well as some others who abused their posts, and of course everyone sits there and complains that its unreal that McGuinty would do these payouts and all this Liberal entitlement crap, and now I read this as the headline this morning in the Ottawa Citizen.

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/canada/Disgraced+bureaucrat+Christiane+Ouimet+getting+severance/4380251/story.html

    This woman quit her post, she was not asked to resign, she resigned of her own conscience after the Auditor General started to audit her fraud of a department, and now she is getting a 400 grand payout???? WTF?? She is not entitled to anything, SHE RESIGNED AND WAS NOT ASKED TO DO SO!! This payout should be immediately rescinded!

    So all those Conjob supporters, read it and weep, no different at all! We need to get all new people in there that work for the people and not their entitlements!

  6. There is the entitled, or ruling class, and there is the rest of us. We peons have to realize that it costs a lot of money to be filthy rich, and if we don’t continue to support our superiors with our taxes, they will suffer badly.
    We wouldn’t want that, would we?

  7. It kind of looks like a HST charge on the debt charge as well! But people just continue to talk among themselves, or Harris.

  8. Just remember all of this when it comes time to vote. Get the Liberals out of Ontario!!

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