Tory talk. Provincial Tory leader Tim Hudak stopped in Guelph for a town hall meeting at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre on Thursday. Tony Saxon/Guelph Mercury Source: Guelph Mercury
May 17, 2012
GUELPH — Provincial PC leader Tim Hudak wasn’t about to holster his anti-green energy guns just because he happened to be in a riding with hundreds of solar energy jobs on Thursday.
Hudak held an early morning town hall meeting at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre that attracted around 30 people.
He stood fast on his contention that green energy initiatives are not cost effective in the big picture and that they should be a choice for those willing to pay extra for them.
“We can’t power a 21st century economy on when the wind blows and the sun shines,” Hudak said.
His party has called for the scrapping programs such as FIT and microFIT programs under the Liberals’ Green Energy Act, which he said boosts wind and solar companies but at the expense of Ontario’s power consumers. Affordable hydro and nuclear power are his preferences.
Hudak has been touring the province to keep his finger on the pulse of the province and to keep the Tory agenda on simmer should a provincial election be called.
In a post-town hall interview, Hudak was asked if his opposition to green energy stance was a tough sell in a riding like Guelph that has seen its economic benefits – through spin-offs such as the creation of the Canadian Solar plant.
“No, not at all,” he said. “What we’re suggesting is that we can’t continue down the path that we’re on today where we’re paying up to 10 times the price of power for wind and solar power.
“It’s got to the point it’s costing us jobs and families are struggling to pay those bills.”
The Tories would like to see green energy be a choice people are willing to pay extra for, not something that is jacking up the price for everyone.
Also on hand at the town hall meeting were members of the harness racing industry, including leading driver Jody Jamieson of Moffat, who asked Hudak what the Tories would do about the Liberal plan to end the current slots at tracks program.
The Liberals have announced plans to end a program that has fed over $300 million into the harness industry, a move harness people says could ravage the industry and cost up to 60,000 jobs.
Hudak pointed out he was part of the government that brought in the slots at tracks program and called it a “win-win-win” situation for the government, the industry and the host municipalities.
“It’s heartbreaking. It will devastate families. It’s a big tax grab that they haven’t thought through,” Hudak said of the Liberal plan.
He stopped short of outlining any policy his party has on the matter or supporting the continuation of the existing agreement, but was supportive of the horsemen’s plight.
Hudak also had some strong words for the province’s unions, as the PC party has proposed a wage freeze for public sector employees.
“Union leadership would probably object to that, but the front-line understands that we can’t keep digging a bigger hole.
“There’s a disconnect between people that get it and union leadership that seems stuck in the past sometimes.”
Hudak spent about an hour at the town hall meeting. He met with local agricultural groups later in the day.
This article is for personal use only courtesy of Gue
