OTTAWA – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the soaring energy bills in the province are “worth the cost” if it means the air is cleaner.
Ontario’s Auditor General has reported that Ontarians have over-paid $37 billion for power between 2006 to 2014 and will hand over $133 billion more by 2032 because of a “global adjustment” electricity fee on hydro bills.
“The Minister of Energy is in conversation with the Auditor General and has been about those costs, but if I am the mother of a child with asthma, it’s worth the cost, it’s worth the cost to have clean energy,” Wynne told Bell Media National Affairs Specialist Evan Solomon. “Citizens should be able to trust the auditor general and should be able to trust politicians to do what they need to do to make sure that, yes, the numbers are absolutely accurate and that we make the right policy decisions for the health and the well-being of people in the province.”
“$4 billion in healthcare and related costs have not been paid out because of the changes that we have made in creating clean energy in the province,” Wynne said Thursday on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA.
Wynne was booed at a recent plowing match when she mentioned power rates and she has taken a tumble in the polls.
A recent Mainstreet poll for Postmedia shows the Progressive Conservative Party polling at 35 percent, with the Liberals at 21 percent and the NDP at 18 percent.
The poll also showed that only 16 percent of voters approve of Premier Wynne’s record, while 34 percent strongly disapprove.