For Immediate Release
March 2, 2009
Question Period can?t become ?The Smitherman Show?, Shurman says
(Queen?s Park) ? It started last year when George Smitherman was named minister of Dalton McGuinty?s new joint Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. Today, Smitherman continued the take-over of McGuinty?s cabinet by becoming the Minister of Everything, after answering questions directed at the Ministers of Seniors and Consumer Affairs.
?Minister, why have you been so silent on the new energy bill when you know it hits seniors hard when they can least afford it?? Progressive Conservative MPP Shurman (Thornhill) asked Aileen Carroll, the Minister Responsible for Seniors.
Carroll passed off her question and her responsibility for seniors to Smitherman after the Minister of Consumer Services did the same thing minutes earlier. Smitherman, in turn, sloughed off Shurman?s question.
?With that answer, the Minister of Everything has made clear to seniors that he is not in their corner,? Shurman charged.
?I asked a serious question about how hard the Liberals? expensive new energy bill will hit Ontario?s already struggling seniors,? said Shurman after Question Period. ?I expected an answer from the Minister Responsible for Seniors. Then, when the question was passed to George Smitherman, I expected an answer from him. I received none from either.?
?This new energy bill hikes up costs for many Ontarians who can?t afford it,? said Shurman. ?The Liberals can?t treat this like a game and turn Question Period into The George Smitherman Show. We need real answers ? from the mouths of the Ministers responsible ? on what the consequences of this bill will be to Ontario seniors, families and businesses.?
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*Draft Hansard below.
For more information:
Peter Shurman, MPP
(416) 325-1415
Senior citizens
Mr. Peter Shurman: My question is to the Minister Responsible for Seniors. Minister, as you know, seniors are the cornerstone on which our province has been built. As you also know, your government has driven Ontario into have-not status, destroying decades of their hard work and perseverance.
It?s hard to be a senior in Ontario today, Minister. The savings they have relied on for their retirement have evaporated due to the stock market crisis, and increased property assessments have raised their property taxes. Seniors now fear for their financial security.
Minister, why have you been so silent on the new energy bill when you know it hits seniors hard when they can least afford it?
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Minister?
Hon. M. Aileen Carroll: I will refer that question to my colleague the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Minister?
Hon. George Smitherman: I do want to thank the honourable member for the question, and do agree with him about the necessity of being very sensitive to electricity use and to the implications for any ratepayer, including for seniors.
The fact of the matter is that the Green Energy Act has an opportunity to advance our economic interest and to enhance the renewable energy that is in the supply mix. That?s why a cornerstone of the Green Energy Act is working and investing in local communities and in the operations of people?s homes, to lessen their electricity use so that the impact in terms of the overall bill is not so substantial.
I?ll be very happy to listen carefully to any suggestions that the honourable member has about how we can better tailor conservation efforts to our seniors so as to lighten any of the possible impacts from rising electricity prices.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?
Mr. Peter Shurman: I?m sorry. With that answer, the minister of everything has made clear to seniors that he is not in their corner. The Minister of Natural Resources, for that matter, whose riding has the highest percentage of seniors in this entire province, has also neglected their interests by remaining silent.
Will the Minister Responsible for Seniors commit now to educating the Minister of Energy about the hardships that this bill will cause for seniors, and promise to protect them from unsustainable energy costs?
Hon. George Smitherman: First off, I do want to remind the honourable member that we have increased the property tax grant for seniors. That was in a budget that I believe the honourable member and his party chose not to support.
I think it is important, no matter what technology you?re behind, to recognize that energy prices are under pressure to increase. Their plan is to take coal stacks that presently go up and to stick them down in the ground. That?s an unproven technology, and it sounds quite costly to many people.
What we?re offering is an opportunity for conservation initiatives, to lessen the impact that people have on the earth and to lessen their use of electricity so as to balance out any of those challenges around rising electricity prices.
Like I said, my mother is a senior, as an example. She has a smart meter. She looks forward to the opportunity to be able to use that in a fashion that allows her to manage her energy use more effectively.
I look forward to further opportunities to engage with the honourable member on this very important subject.