NDP plans for Manitoba Hydro are retrograde and perverse

NDP plans to mess around with Manitoba Hydro are retrograde and perverse. In this case, we agree with former Premier Ed Schreyer. The Gary Doer NDP are wrong to use try to use dollars from Manitoba Hydro's hydroelectric operations to subsidize the costs of natural gas.
The is bad economics and bad environmental management. It takes away the normal transparency and accountability in running the separate hydroelectricity and natural gas divisions of Manitoba Hydro.

For the last several years, the NDP have acted to interfere in the orderly management of Manitoba Hydro. When the NDP were having trouble balancing the provincial budget, they took about $200 million in extra taxes from Manitoba Hydro. As we found out earlier this year, to provide a political staff person for the Minister of Energy, the NDP have been using funds from Manitoba Hydro. Now, in Bill 11, the NDP want to provide for the use of dollars from Manitoba Hydro's hydroelectric power operations to create a fund which will allow them to do various things including subsidizing natural gas costs.

On Tuesday, we presented our Liberal approach to rescuing Manitoba Hydro from the "clutch and grab" approach of the Gary Doer NDP.

The Liberal Rescue Plan for Manitoba Hydro includes:
- legislation to end the NDP practice of creating politically-driven slush funds using assets and profits from Manitoba Hydro
- legislation to prohibit all cross-subsidization between the natural gas and electricity divisions of Manitoba Hydro
- permanently removing the February 1 natural gas rate review at the Public Utilities Board to stabilize gas prices for the winter months
- provide for targeted assistance when needed to individuals on low and fixed incomes using gas rebates from general revenues at the actual time of gas price increases, rather than resorting to the poor economic practice of cross-subisidization.

We made it very clear that a Liberal government in Manitoba would not artificially distort market incentives which promote the move away from fossil fuels to cleaner electricity. Rather Liberals would harness price signals and incentives to promote environmental sustainability instead of fighting the marketplace the way the Gary Doer NDP do.