Kick Doer out!

[IntotheWest]

^Sorry, I know my previous comment came across as me calling you Liberal unintentionally....I meant to make the comment of being at the very least "Anything but PC" - which, I would say is at least a little more accurate I'm just used to almost every Ontario (Toronto/Ottawa) colleague being in that group. I know you're targeting individuals specifically - which is always the right way to do it.

I know Harris is quite controversial in Ontario, but I still see his government as really kick starting the Ontario economy again - into arguably the hottest economy in NA at the time. But, like everything, I understand there are always two sides to a story - so, your points are well taken. This is just my opinion, and at a very high level.

[Only The Lonely..]

Doer's money bin: NDP dips into Hydro every year, and we end up paying for it

By TOM BRODBECK | Winnipeg Sun | July 8, 2008

With friends like the Public Utilities Board, who needs enemies?

I always thought regulatory boards were there to protect consumers from getting gouged by big monopolies, like Manitoba Hydro.

Not so in this province. At least not recently.

Hydro requested a 2.9% electricity rate increase earlier this year. And the PUB, in its infinite wisdom, not only accepted the rate increase, they jacked it up to 5% effective July 1.

MIRED IN DEBT

They also ordered a further 4% increase for April 1, 2009. That's on top of a 2.5% increase last year and two other increases before that in the previous three years.

Ouch. Thanks for nothing, PUB.

Worse, Hydro now says it plans to seek rate increases of 2.9% every year for the next 10 years.

And the PUB, in its report last week, hinted rates may rise higher than that because the Crown corporation is so mired in debt.

Great.

No doubt Hydro is facing some serious financial uncertainties, which explains why rates have to go up to some degree.

Hydro needs to get its debt under control, it requires higher revenues to help pay for a projected $18 billion in capital investments over the next 15 years and its exports have been hurt by a soaring Canadian dollar.

By the same token, the Crown corporation pulls in huge profits most years. Hydro's net income is expected to hit $300 million in 2007-08. It's not exactly hurting for cash.

What the PUB conveniently fails to point out is that Hydro would be in much better financial shape today if the Doer government wasn't raiding its treasury every year.

Eight years ago, the NDP doubled the amount it charges Hydro for "water power rentals" to $100 million a year. It also doubled the amount it charges the Crown corporation to guarantee its debt, adding another $30 million to the provincial treasury.

All told, the Doer government has been siphoning about $80 million a year in extra dough from Hydro since 2000. Add the fact the NDP took a one-time $203-million "dividend" from Hydro in 2002 and the tally will top the $1 billion mark by 2009.

That's a lot of cash. And if that money was sitting in Hydro's reserves where it belongs, we wouldn't be talking about 5% rate hikes.

The PUB ignores that.

They also fail to challenge Hydro's politically-motivated decision to build a new transmission line on the west side of Lake Winnipeg rather than the much less expensive -- and more efficient -- option of putting it on the east side.

Hydro originally decided to build the new line on the east side because it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars less.

But the Doer government intervened, and for political reasons they're forcing Hydro to build it on the west side.

The province says it wants to preserve the boreal forest on the east side. However, a study commissioned by Hydro concluded that either side would have about the same environmental impact.

Despite that, the Doer government is still choosing the west side and ratepayers will be stuck with the bill.

You won't find that criticism in the PUB report.

Hydro rates have to increase to some degree. But raiding Hydro's treasury every year and forcing the Crown corporation to spend hundreds of millions more on a capital project is going to hit ratepayers harder in the pocketbook than necessary.

[Boreal]

...The faster we seperate Manitoba Hydro from the oragne crown's grimy hands the better off we'll be.

Outside of TIF's there is pretty much nothing that I am the least bit happy that Mr. Doer did. Perhaps his vigilence with water. This is becoming an embarassment. His budget is now (and has been for a short while) double what that of Gary Filmon's was, with precious little to show for it. I'm completely disgusted.

How he manages to hold an approval rating so high, is absolutely beyond me. Is it the coiffe and nice suits? Because there isn't much else to the man. Or for that matter, the entire party. What I find particularly distressing is that it has been said on numerous occasions that the party doesn't want their next leader to be as centrist as Mr. Doer. They are hoping to fall a little further to the left.

I think my blood pressure just reached unhealhty levels.

[Greco Roman]

Is it just me or does it seem like a good chunk of Manitoba's "thriving" large businesses are not thriving so much and are/ or have died off?

[vid]

Originally Posted by Jeff1987

...The faster we seperate Manitoba Hydro from the oragne crown's grimy hands the better off we'll be.

Emphasis on the fast. If you don't do it fast enough you end up with the bizarre clusterfuck of quasi-crown corps we have to deal with in Ontario.

Why have one middle man when you can have twenty?!

Here is how it works: Crown Corp One decides how much power is needed, and tells Crown Corp Two. CC2 then tells CC3 to make more energy, which CC3 sells to CC2 for CC1 at a price CC1 determined. Then, in some markets, CC2 sells energy to CC4 for CC3 so that CC4 can sell it to residential users as surplus. Well, I don't know if that's exactly how it works (no one does) but I know that 5 rich white guys are getting multi-million dollar bonuses this year.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by Jeff1987

...The faster we seperate Manitoba Hydro from the oragne crown's grimy hands the better off we'll be.

Outside of TIF's there is pretty much nothing that I am the least bit happy that Mr. Doer did. Perhaps his vigilence with water. This is becoming an embarassment. His budget is now (and has been for a short while) double what that of Gary Filmon's was, with precious little to show for it. I'm completely disgusted.

How he manages to hold an approval rating so high, is absolutely beyond me. Is it the coiffe and nice suits? Because there isn't much else to the man. Or for that matter, the entire party. What I find particularly distressing is that it has been said on numerous occasions that the party doesn't want their next leader to be as centrist as Mr. Doer. They are hoping to fall a little further to the left.

I think my blood pressure just reached unhealhty levels.

This raping of Hydro is hardly a surprise ... and even while the utility is at record debt levels.

Doer can pretend to run a responsible balanced budget, while pushing Hydro futher into the red.

The faster MB Hydro is freed from the government's disasterour management the better. Privatize the generating assets of hydro must be considered, with the stipulation that Manitoba's power needs must be met first and formost. In addition allow other/new power companies to invest in additional hydro power generation facilities, but only if the company is HQ in the province.

[Winnipegger]

So, in reading the concern of the OP, and how to solve it, in which case was suggest to "become part of the process", how would one become part of the process? Forgive me if I am asking this in the wrong thread, but it's a question that I want to know the answer to, as it interests me, and I myself would like to become part of the process. Surely it takes more than just education and joining a political party to become mayor or Premier?

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by vid

Emphasis on the fast. If you don't do it fast enough you end up with the bizarre clusterfuck of quasi-crown corps we have to deal with in Ontario.

Why have one middle man when you can have twenty?!

Here is how it works: Crown Corp One decides how much power is needed, and tells Crown Corp Two. CC2 then tells CC3 to make more energy, which CC3 sells to CC2 for CC1 at a price CC1 determined. Then, in some markets, CC2 sells energy to CC4 for CC3 so that CC4 can sell it to residential users as surplus. Well, I don't know if that's exactly how it works (no one does) but I know that 5 rich white guys are getting multi-million dollar bonuses this year.

Life sure is a lot simpler where you come from.

[spiritedenergy]

Winnipeg needs a communist government. The end result? A beautiful subway.

Moscow


Saint Petersburg


Tashkent

[vid]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

Life sure is a lot simpler where you come from.

Manitoba needs a Dalton McGuinty!

Or, Manitoba's NDP needs a Bob Rae!