Libby Znaimer is joined by Peter Weltman, Ontario's Financial Accountability Officer followed by Peter Tabuns, NDP MPP (Toronto-Danforth) and Energy Critic as well as Paul Acchione, Senior management consultant with over 48 years of engineering and management experience in the nuclear and fossil power generation industry.
The Ford government promised that it would reduce hydro rates by 12% from 2018 levels. Instead, according to an FAO report hydro rates went up. More specifically, residents have been paying 4.3% more on their bills from between 2018 and 2021. And, Energy Minister Todd Smith is saying "that electricity bills will be 23 per cent lower in 2029 because of the action our government has taken to get Ontario back on track after years of Liberal mismanagement, representing billions of dollars in savings for Ontarians." Peter discusses the details of his report. And, we hear from you about what you think about your current hydro bill payments.
Later, Libby Znaimer is joined by John Wright, Executive Vice President of Maru Public Opinion, David Tarrant, Vice President, National Strategic Communications at Enterprise and Christine Van Geyn, Litigation Director at The Canadian Constitution Foundation.
A new Maru public opinion poll shows that a majority of Canadians (66%) are in support of the prime minister invoking the Emergencies Act to deal with protests in Ottawa and other parts of the country. Also, unsurprisingly, as many as 82% of respondents expressed that these protests should not have been allowed to go on for as long as they have. So, what do you make of all of this?
Meanwhile, yesterday in Parliament, eyes and ears were on the exchange between Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
During a debate over the ongoing trucker convoy protests, PM Trudeau said that Conservatives "can stand with people who wave swastikas, they can stand with people who wave the Confederate flag. We will choose to stand with Canadians". MP Lantsman, who is Jewish, took offence to this and has requested the PM to apologize for his remarks.