Mayoral candidate John Tory says Rob Ford failed to hold Toronto Hydro accountable for a proposed five-year rate hike announced just before a long weekend.
On Friday, the city-owned agency announced that it was applying to the Ontario Energy Board to raise rates by about 2.5 per cent in 2015 in order to generate an additional $4 billion in funding to help replace aging assets.
“For a city-owned agency, with board members handpicked by the mayor, to have such disregard for transparency is unacceptable. Instead of keeping an eye on it, Rob Ford and his brother Doug are too busy picking fights with the police, media and others arising from Rob's alleged associations with criminals,” Tory said in a statement released Sunday. “The result is that the mayor is clearly not watching out for the interests of taxpayers and ratepayers - as he repeatedly, and falsely, claims he is.”
Ford has in the past claimed that no one will look after constituents or save taxpayer money as well as he does, but in an interview with the Toronto Sun published on Sunday Tory accused the mayor of “completely falling asleep at the switch on every aspect of protecting people,” suggesting that the rate hike is just the latest example.
Ford responded to the Tory's criticism Sunday afternoon, telling CP24 he was "very upset" to learn of the rate hike.
The mayor said that Toronto Hydro's president and CEO Anthony Haines told him the rate increase is necessary for repairs and upgrades.
"(He) explained it to me quite clearly on Friday. The worst case scenario is 2.5 per cent. Do I support it? Of course I don’t support it. He said, 'Well what are you going to have blackouts, blackouts and blackouts?' I said No," Ford said.
"I can’t stand it but that’s hydro. That’s Anthony Haines. He is the person to best explain it and I was very upset when I heard that. I wish I had control over the hydro but I don’t.”
Fellow mayoral candidate Olivia Chow echoed Tory’s criticism in an interview with CP24 during an appearance at a community barbecue in Thorncliffe Park Sunday afternoon.
“Mayor Ford has a lot of explaining to do about why the hydro rate needs to go up and he has even more explaining to do about the excessive salaries and benefits that some of these executives are getting,” Chow said. “I thought he is to cut gravy. There is a lot of gravy in there and if you have that much gravy in hydro why are you raising the rates?”
It should be noted that the councillors who sit on the Toronto Hydro board — Josh Colle, Gloria Lindsay Luby and Shelley Carroll — were chosen by council as a whole and not appointed by Ford as Tory suggested in his statement.
Speaking with CP24 on Sunday afternoon, fellow mayoral candidate David Soknacki called Tory’s criticism “rubbish” while another candidate, Karen Stintz, said it proves the former radio host “doesn’t actually understand how the city works.”
“The city has no influence over the hydro rates so it is unfortunate that John doesn’t know that,” Stintz said.
If approved, the hike will raise the total bill for residential customers by about $3.54 per month for the average household.
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