Richard Brennan and John Spears
Toronto Star
May 1, 2002

In a surprise move yesterday, Energy Minister Chris Stockwell (pictured) said the Ontario government might simply lease the Hydro One transmission utility instead of selling it outright.

His comment came less than a week after Premier Ernie Eves vowed to push ahead with the sale of the utility for $5.5 billion and a day before Ontario’s electricity market opened up for competition.

Earlier yesterday, Stockwell stormed out of a heated public hearing in London, Ont., on the Hydro One privatization plan, abruptly ending the session after just 20 minutes.

Stockwell later told reporters at Queen’s Park that Dr. Calvin Stiller, a London, Ont., heart surgeon who is also involved in investments, proposed the leasing option.

"It runs like a private company with shareholders, but at the end of the 25 years or … however long the term, the ownership and the operation of the Hydro reverts back to public ownership," he said.

"We are actually considering this … as an alternative view … on first blush … it seems to accomplish both our goals. It gets us the capital dollars, it puts it in the private sector with shareholders … but at the end of the term, it reverts back to government."

This is a complete departure from the path mapped out last week by Eves, who said the government plans to introduce legislation this spring allowing it to sell off Hydro One.

The leasing idea was introduced as Ontario’s electricity market prepared to open for competition. Starting at 1 a.m. today, the price of electricity is to be determined by bids and offers of competing buyers and sellers, rather than the current regulated price.

Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty said Stockwell’s words give the electricity issue a bizarre twist.

"If it weren’t for the fact that we are talking about the single most valuable public asset, this would be laughable," he said. "It’s policy on the fly. They are still making it up as they go."

McGuinty said he considered Stockwell’s musings nothing more than a diversionary tactic.

"At the end of the day they have received some very clear marching orders from Bay Street, and those orders are quite simply sell off Hydro One by means of an initial public offering (IPO) … everything else is window dressing," he said.

New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton said this kind of policy on the fly "just tells how completely incompetent this is and how risky it is for the economy of Ontario and the people of Ontario.

"This government obviously doesn’t have a clue," Hampton said.

In London, the hastily-organized public consultation on the Hydro One sale got off to a rocky start when Stockwell heard only one deputation, by Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive of Bruce Power.

Stockwell was questioning Hawthorne when one of about 60 people in the audience tried to interrupt. Stockwell told him he couldn’t speak, which provoked boos and interjections from other spectators. Stockwell warned he wouldn’t tolerate interruptions.

"If you’re going to shout down the deputants, you know what? We’ll just pack it up," Stockwell said. At that, some audience members began chanting: "Pack it up, pack it up," and Stockwell promptly walked out.

The energy minister said afterward public access to future hearings slated through May 7 may be restricted.

"That’s an awful shame," he said. "You can’t do it this way. You can’t operate this way."

Tom Christensen of London, who had come with several friends, said he chanted out of frustration.

"They’re not listening to the people, they’re just ramming it down our throats," said Christensen, who was incensed that Stockwell had tried to silence the questioner so brusquely.

"The guy stood up to say something, and he wouldn’t acknowledge him. He said we’re here to listen to the people, and he wouldn’t acknowledge him."

The walkout stranded an annoyed Tom Adams of Energy Probe, who had been scheduled to give the second deputation.

"So this is what mob rule looks like," Adams said.

Lynn Girty of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was also stranded, but said the whole consultation process is flawed.

"This was hastily called. I expect the government probably expected some of this," Girty said. "It’s a very, very emotional issue. It hasn’t ever been debated. It hasn’t been brought to a vote. No government ever had the mandate to do this.

"The public is obviously concerned and upset. The process has been badly handled from Day One."

Girty echoed the criticism of many others that there was hardly any notice of the hearings.

"We didn’t know anything about it until yesterday … That’s not a good way to handle a consultation."

Stockwell said the opponents of privatization are hypocritical.

"All along, they’re saying we need public consultations," he said. "But the first meaningful opportunity to hear from the public, they shut it down."

Stockwell added that he will shut down the hearings scheduled for today in Thunder Bay and Sudbury if people opposed to the privatization plan start heckling him.

Stockwell, who in opposition was the most vociferous of the Tory hecklers, said he won’t abide people who disrupt his cross-province public consultations.

Opposition critics said Stockwell’s show of temper best illustrates the government’s unwillingness to listen to anyone who disagrees with the Tories.

"The government is treating these (hearings) simply as a chance to get its own propaganda message out and as soon as someone asks a question or tries to raise a different point of view, Mr. Stockwell shuts everything down," Hampton said.

Liberal critic MPP Michael Bryant (St. Paul’s) said the Tories’ "bogus" public forum on electricity reform is going from bad to worse.

"Tory arrogance and a contempt for the people of Ontario apparently has no limit," Bryant said. "The energy emperor, Chris Stockwell, won’t hear from Ontarians and shuts down dissenting opinion."