Ontario is at a tipping point. High hydro bills are hurting families, driving people and employers out of the province, and keeping new investment away.

Last week, I released my plan to lower hydro bills by 30 per cent. It includes ending time-of-use pricing, scrapping unfair delivery charges and several other measures that will deliver immediate savings for everyone on their hydro bills.

It also fixes the system for the long-term by returning Hydro One to public hands — because owning it is a win-win that will deliver lower bills, permanently, and put $7 billion back into the province — money that can go into schools and hospitals.

So, when Premier Wynne rolled out her plan, it’s fair to say I joined Ontario families in being frustrated. It’s a borrowing scheme that gives an additional $40 billion in interest payments to bankers. That’s $40 billion that everyday Ontarians will pay for, one way or another.

The difference is clear: over the next 30 years, the Liberal plan will see as much as $40 billion in additional interest payments flow to banks, while our plan sees the province earn over $7 billion in the same time frame as a result of public ownership. That’s $7 billion we can use to reduce rates, invest in schools and hospitals, and build transit.

We’ve all heard the heartbreaking stories of families, businesses, farmers and community organizations that are close to the breaking point. Despite their enormous efforts and improvements in efficiency and conservation, their bills continue to skyrocket.

I think of the single mom in Kitchener who had to choose between paying the hydro bill, or buying Christmas presents. I think of Charlene in Sault Ste. Marie. She works two jobs, and her husband works full-time, and they’re drowning from the cost of hydro. I think of the curling club in Welland that may have to close its doors because of the hydro bills. It should never have come to this.

We all know that we have to fix the cost of hydro in the province. But the contrast between the plans couldn’t be more clear.

My plan helps people. Premier Wynne’s plan helps bankers. And Patrick Brown and the Conservatives have no plan at all.

Any relief that borrowed cash provides will be short-term — and, of course, for a premier seeking re-election, that might be enough. Ontarians I’ve spoken to across the province this week say they’re worried that loan will show up on their bills right after the election.

And the Liberal plan does nothing to address the underlying issues in Ontario’s hydro system.

Premier Wynne still plans to continue the sell-off of Hydro One, which will drive our bills up even further. And the Liberals refuse to stop unfair rural delivery charges or time of use premiums. Their scheme does nothing to address the private power contracts that continue to drive up our hydro bills, and it fails to end oversupply payments, where we actually pay private and foreign corporations for power we don’t use.

I want to be very clear: Ontario’s New Democrats will give careful consideration to any measure that will help ease the hydro burden Ontarians are facing. But this Band-Aid financing scheme does nothing to address the root cause of the problem. Bad contracts with private and foreign corporations, and a sale on public assets are still at the core of the Liberal plan.

In my plan, there are real, concrete measures we can take today that will start reducing bills immediately, including fixing unfair delivery costs, ending mandatory time-of-use rules, capping private profit margins, bringing real oversight to electricity prices, and using tax benefits to help hydro users, not bankers.

The NDP plan will actually fix the system, today, and for generations to come. It will lower rates immediately, and repair the mess the Conservatives and Liberals have made with their privatization and bad contracts — contracts that benefit private and foreign corporations, and not everyday bill-payers. We will end unfair delivery charges and time-of-use pricing, so people aren’t paying a ridiculous premium for doing things like living in a small town or making dinner for their kids.

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Our plan is online for all to read (ontariondp.ca/hydroplan ). I encourage Ontarians to take a look for themselves.

Andrea Horwath is the leader of Ontario’s New Democrats.

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