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Lysyk’s report, issued Wednesday, is stuffed with examples of poor thinking, bad planning and rampant mismanagement. Yet once again the province’s response has been an enormous shrug of the shoulders, as if heaping billions of dollars in extra costs on Ontarians — $37 billion more than necessary between 2006 and 2014 according to Lysyk – is no big deal. The last time Lysyk took the government to task for its fumbles over the power grid, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli dismissively suggested she didn’t understand the electricity business. On Wednesday he once again brushed off her findings, blaming previous governments (although the Liberals have been in power since 2003) and insisting Ontarians support energy conservation.

Such complacency is becoming a defining feature of the Ontario Liberals. They seem to be convinced that, after 12 years or surviving one mistake after another, Ontarians will quietly accept any amount of mismanagement. But Lysyk’s report is too filled with concrete examples of incompetence to be waved away. Among her many findings:

• The biggest source of spiralling bills is the “Global Adjustment charge”, which represents the gap between the market price for power, and the higher price Ontario actually pays generators. Chiarelli says the fee was introduced by the Progressive Conservatives, but fails to note that under the Liberals it has increased from $650 million in 2006 to $7.03 billion in 2014. In all, Ontarians have paid $37 billion above market rates, Lysyk says.