THUNDER BAY – The Ontario Progressive Conservatives are set to mark January 21, 2011 as the first anniversary of the McGuinty Liberals signing what the PCs call their “secret, sweetheart energy deal with multinational conglomerate Samsung”. Ontario PC Energy Critic John Yakabuski (MPP Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke) revealed that, after a full year, Ontario families still have no idea what’s inside the $7-billion agreement.
“Hydro rates for families and small businesses have increased 75 percent under Dalton McGuinty,” charges Yakabuski. “Worse still, his expensive energy experiments – like the Samsung deal – are expected to raise hydro bills by 46 percent within four years, according to the McGuinty government’s own lowball estimates. In addition to the high cost to consumers, similar jurisdictions, such as Italy, found for every job their energy subsidies created, they were killing 4.8 jobs in the overall Italian economy and 6.9 jobs in the industrial sector”.
Premier Dalton McGuinty when the deal was signed stated, “With this step, Ontario is becoming the place to be for green energy manufacturing in North America”.
The Ontario PCs are calling on Dalton McGuinty today “to once and for all reveal the full details of his sweetheart Samsung deal and the true cost of his expensive energy experiments on consumers and the broader economy”.
“Although Ontario families were stuck with the bill, they’re still not allowed to see what’s inside Dalton McGuinty’s sweetheart Samsung deal. Although experienced Ontario companies weren’t allowed to compete for it, they’re nonetheless shelling out to a multinational with no track record in this industry,” commented Yakabuski “Ontario families deserve to know the details of the Liberal government’s expensive energy experiments and massive subsidies.”
According Yakabuskiis industry.s are set to mark to the president of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario has called the McGuinty-Samsung deal “fundamentally wrong” and a betrayal. In a November 5th letter to the Premier, the heads of the Canadian Wind Energy Association and Canadian Solar Energy Association condemned the McGuinty-Samsung deal as “manifestly unfair.”
Carlo Stagnaro and Luciano Lavecchia of the Italian Bruno Leoni Institute found that: “Our figures only seem to confirm what is intuitive: that the green economy may be very profitable for those who receive the subsidies, but that they are detrimental to the overall economy.” [Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2010]
Lavecchia and Stagnaro calculated that each green job Italy created came at the expense of 4.8 jobs in the broader economy or 6.9 jobs in the industrial sector specifically.