Power Generation dominate all-candidates’ meeting

Jeff Green | May 29, 2014

The candidates were not surprised that the most popular line of questioning at the first all-candidates’ meeting in Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington in the current election campaign had to do with power generation and electricity rates. The meeting was held on May 26 at the Kennebec Community Centre in Arden.

“I've seen that at the door throughout the campaign. People want to talk about hydro rates, and where we are going with hydro generation in this province,” said NDP candidate Dave Parkhill after the meeting, an observation that was shared by Liberal Party candidate Bill MacDonald.

The four candidates, MPP Randy Hillier from the Progressive Conservatives and Green Party candidate Cam Mather along with Parkhill and MacDonald, were all happy to advocate for their party’s position on the issues that were brought forward. And the parties certainly have disparate views.

Dave Parkhill said that what is needed is to bring back the past. “The Conservatives made a mess of Hydro by splitting it into three entities; the Liberals made it worse, and here we are. What the NDP will do, and it won't be easy, is bring it back into one company. That way we can all decide what we all need to do in the future, we can build out our own capacity, and we can get the electricity that we need at a price that we can afford,” he said.

Randy Hillier said there were two main causes of problems at Hydro: decisions that the Liberal party made to move two generating plants “at a cost of over $1 billion, and a Green Energy Act that pays way over market value for solar and wind power, making good money for some people by pushing rates up for everyone else.”

Cam Mather said the other parties are all avoiding the most “pressing issue facing all of us, climate change ... the only way to deal with this is to put a tax on carbon. I know no one wants to talk about it but that's what needs to happen; we cannot afford to pretend there is no economic cost to producing carbon.”

Bill MacDonald supported the Green Energy Act, and moving one of the proposed gas plants into the LFL&A riding from Mississauga.

“By the end of this year, there will be no more coal-fired plants in Ontario. That's a promise we made when we were elected in 2003 and we are delivering, and the Green Energy Act has created good jobs in rural Ontario. Why would we apologize for that? As far as the gas plants are concerned, they will be creating construction jobs in this riding over the next two years and 30 to 40 permanent jobs after that.”

The candidates took time during their opening remarks to point to some of their own, and their parties’ key issues.

Dave Parkhill addressed the question of the NDP being targeted for causing the election to come about.

“When the people of Ontario sent a minority government to Queen's Park, they were telling all the parties to work together. The Conservatives said no from the start, and the Liberals responded by saying they could govern as if they had a majority. It is only the NDP who listened. We said we would only support the first budget with changes, and the second as well. But this last time Kathleen Wynne said, this is it, take it or leave it,” he said.

Randy Hillier said, “I have represented this riding for seven years, and in my first campaign I made a few promises. One was that I would represent this riding to Queen's Park and that my allegiance was to the constituents, not the party. I have held to that, and it has caused some problems, but I can say that everyone at Queen's Park respects me for it.”

Bill MacDonald addressed the local audience. “When you wonder why it is there is no long-term care facility in Frontenac County, and why there are other infrastructure deficits here, you might consider that the last time there was an MPP at Queen's Park from Frontenac County was Jack Simonett in 1963. I'm not saying MPs only serve their home county, because I would work for all three, but it might be time to send someone from Frontenac County to Queen's Park.”

Cam Mather stressed climate change from the start.

“All of the issues the other candidates are discussing will come to nothing in the face of climate change. Putting a price on carbon means that energy is going to be more expensive under the Green Party, but we have lots ways to deal with it, especially for those who can't afford it.”