Tim Hudak’s Ontario Tories Call For Resignation Of Hydro One Chief

A Submission from Ontario’s Conservative Party 

(But before we post that submission below, here is a Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper.

This call by Ontario’s Tim Hudak Tories for the resignation of Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello occurs in the wake of the province’s Ombudsman, Andre Marin, launching an investigation into countless complaints from residents and businesses about soaring rates and misbillings by Ontario’s major electricity supplier.

No doubt at all that Ontario residents have plenty to complain about when it comes to the way this utility has been administrated. Yet in fairness to Marcello, he has at least had the guts to answer media calls with promises to cooperate with the Ombudsman and address the concerns being raised.

As for Hudak’s Tories, they are hardly in the best position to throw stones. When Hudak and so many of his other caucus members were serving in the late 1990s and early 2000s in former Ontario Tory government of Mike Harris, they continued to defend a Hydro One CEO they appointed until they were finally forced, under pressure from the media opposition parties and public, to get rid of her around charges of excessive salaries, expenses, etc.

That CEO was Eleanor Clitheroe who as recently as a few years ago was still reportedly receiving a pension from her job with Hydro of $25,637.08 per month (as much, if not more than too many parents out there are making per year to raise children and keep a roof f their head), and she filed an unsuccessful legal action to have that pension raised to $33,644.21 per month.

After Clitheroe was finally let go from her CEO job at Hydro One, The Globe and Mail ran a story on April 29, 2004 headlined; ‘Hydro Records Show Pay Windfall.’ The following is an excerpt from that story and I wish to note that the Deb Hutton referred to in these passages happens to be Tim Hudak’s wife.

“Eleanor Clitheroe, former president and CEO of Hydro One, was paid $5.3-million in salary and benefits between 1999 and 2002. She was fired by the former Tory government in July, 2002, amid a controversy over salaries at the province’s publicly owned transmission utility,” reads the Globe article. “Much of the uproar centred on Ms. Clitheroe, who received more than $2.2-million in 2001, including $174,000 for a car and $172,000 for a vacation. A yachting enthusiast, Ms. Clitheroe also was blamed for $360,000 that Hydro One spent sponsoring a yacht.”

“Ms. Clitheroe is suing the government over her dismissal,” the article continues.

“Also at Hydro One, Deb Hutton, who served as senior adviser to former premier Mike Harris, was paid $639,000 for less than three years of employment. She moved to the position of vice-president for government relations in the winter of 2000 before returning to the Premier’s office to help former premier Ernie Eves in his ill-fated election bid.”

So maybe -, just maybe- Hudak and company are the last ones that should be getting so high handed about the mess at Hydro today.) 

Now without further commentary from us, here is the Hudak Tories’ call for the current Hydro One CEO’s resignation.

QUEEN’S PARK, March 12^th, 2014 – For 11 years, the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals have presided over the biggest loss of good-paying jobs in Ontario’s history.  With the latest Hydro One billing problems, Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Jeff Yurek says this government can’t even get the basics right.

Hydro One’s current CEO Carmine Marchelo under attack over charges of excessive billing to hydro customers

 “I have with me here today a bill for $233,000 that was issued to a family-owned grain elevator business in my riding,” said Mr. Yurek.  “For a business that pays at most $4,500 a month, it’s clear that this Liberal government is failing Ontarians on delivering even basic services like hydro usage billing.” 

The bill was received by the business after previously receiving numerous incorrect and delayed invoices.  In addition to these oversights, the business has experienced a 30 per cent increase in its hydro costs over the past year something Yurek says is indicative of a province-wide trend that is deterring businesses from expanding and potential job-creators from investing.  

“Like many businesses across the province, this job-provider has to deal with high taxes, burdensome regulation, and ever rising hydro rates.  The least they expect is that government services be provided in an efficient and accurate manner.” 

Yurek went on to say that appointing a former Liberal Cabinet Minister to the board at Hydro One was a half-measure and would not solve the problem.

“If Hydro One was any other business, the people responsible for this colossal failure would be fired and a new team would be brought in to clean up the mess.  It’s time for the CEO of Hydro One to resign immediately.”

Yurek stated that the failure to hold Hydro One to account is just one in a long list of government failures that have hurt families and deterred job-creators.

“It’s time we look at the mess the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals have left us.  Only Tim Hudak and the PC Caucus – through our Million Jobs Act – has a plan to bring good-paying jobs back to Ontario.” 

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