Hydro was top concern in Ontario long before Liberals announced relief – Toronto Star
TORONTOOntarios government learned from its own polling that the rising cost of hydro was peoples top concern 10 months before the Liberals publicly acknowledged it and announced an eight-per-cent reduction on electricity bills.
The government-commissioned polling from 2013 to 2016 examined by The Canadian Press tells a tale of increasing distress about hydro rates over months, even years before across-the-board relief was introduced.
Monthly tracking shows that in December 2013, the cost of electricity became the worst-ranked issue based on performance, with 70 per cent of respondents saying the government was on the wrong track.
Read more:
Reducing hydro bills the fairer way forward: Wynne
Then in November 2015, electricity and the privatization of Hydro One surged to become a top issue of concern in the province, with 13 per cent of respondents saying it should be the governments top priority, over perennial concerns such as health, jobs, the economy and education.
In just one month, the percentage of respondents who rated the governments performance on controlling electricity prices as poor jumped from 38 per cent in October to 47 per cent in November.
By January 2016, jobs, the economy and health took over as areas of greater concern for the next few months, but the Gandalf Group polling told the government that controlling electricity prices was among its main perceived weaknesses and communications should focus on it.
Government responses to opposition questions about rising hydro bills over much of the 2013 to 2016 time frame focused on defending the cost of hydro as the result of building a clean and reliable system, while highlighting measures the government had already taken to lower consumer costs, such as a low-income support program and removing the debt retirement charge.
It wasnt until a September 1 byelection loss that the governments tune changed.
We heard at the door that hydro rates are increasingly challenging for people, Premier Kathleen Wynne said in a statement that night. I understand, as do my ministers, that the government needs to focus on helping people with their everyday expenses.
The inclusion of the eight-per-cent rebate in the governments throne speech less than two weeks later suggests the plan was already well developed by Sept. 1. But the premier has acknowledged she should have acted sooner, a spokesperson said.
In saying that, we have been making changes to reduce costs in the electricity system over the past number of years, Jennifer Beaudry said in a statement.
Changes she cited that were enacted before that eight-per-cent rebate include removing the debt retirement charge, reducing feed-in-tariff prices, renegotiating a green energy deal with Samsung, deferring new nuclear construction and delaying the start of other nuclear refurbishment, all of which saves the system billions.
While Wynnes eight-per-cent rebate was welcomed almost 90 per cent of respondents in October supported it it didnt resonate quite as widely as the government likely hoped. Still only 36 per cent said the government was doing a good job of controlling electricity prices.
Of utmost importance to Ontarians for governments attention is electricity costs, the polling research said.
And, evaluations of the governments performance at controlling electricity prices are worsening. Those who report being more familiar with governments recent eight-per-cent reduction of electricity prices are also more likely to evaluate the government poorly on this issue. Essentially, the solution is not proportionate to the perceived magnitude of the problem.
Fast-forward to March 2017 and the premier announced a further 17-per-cent average reduction on bills, holding increases to the rate of inflation for four years, cuts to delivery charges for some rural customers, eliminating the delivery charge for on-reserve First Nations customers, expanding a low-income support program and establishing a new home energy efficiency improvement fund.
Angus Reid polling conducted after that announcement found that Wynnes popularity continued to plummet to record lows, but 62 per cent of respondents said the reduction in hydro bills would be an important factor in deciding how theyll vote in next years election.
The polling was conducted until October 2015 by Pollara, and from then on by the Gandalf Group.
Read more from the original source:
Hydro was top concern in Ontario long before Liberals announced relief - Toronto Star
- Canada Liberals to vote on Trudeau's successor as trade war with US heats up - FRANCE 24 English - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- The Liberals are on the verge of a remarkable comeback. Theres one thing the new leader must do to clinch a win - Toronto Star - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- The Liberals Choose a Leader in the Shadow of Trumps Threats - The New York Times - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Liberals to turn the page on the Justin Trudeau era as party selects successor - CTV News - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Tesla, Inc. (TSLA): Jim Cramer Warns Liberals Arent Buying Their Cars! - Yahoo Finance - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Canada Liberals to reveal Trudeaus successor amid trade war with US - The News International - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Disgusting, Ugly Liberals Try To Smear Riley Gaines For The Dumbest Reason Possible - Outkick - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- The Liberals are about to choose the next prime minister. What happens next? - CTV News - March 9th, 2025 [March 9th, 2025]
- Canada's ruling Liberals move on from Trudeau with Trump boost - Reuters - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Liberals torch trash Gavin Newsom for launching podcast with Charlie Kirk interview - The Independent - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Canadas Liberals were heading into a crushing defeat. Then came Trump. - The Washington Post - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Carson Jerema: Free trade is dead. Someone should tell the Liberals - National Post - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Austrian liberals' vote removes last obstacle to coalition government - Reuters - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Gould hoping progressive Liberals will propel her to party leadership - iPolitics.ca - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Liberals torch trash Gavin Newsom for launching podcast with Charlie Kirk interview - AOL - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Opposition PCs hammer NL Liberals on health cuts to hit savings goal - SaltWire N.L. powered by The Telegram - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Gavin Newsom splits from California liberals and condemns transgender athletes in women's sport in chat with C - Daily Mail - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Analysis-Canada's ruling Liberals move on from Trudeau with Trump boost - MSN - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- An Emotional Torture Chamber for Liberals: 3 Writers on Trumps First Month - The New York Times - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- What conservative women know and liberals don't about happiness | Opinion - USA TODAY - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- What conservative women know and liberals don't about happiness | Opinion - Institute for Family Studies - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Liberals', conservatives' trust in US government's use of digital health data diverged during COVID - University of Minnesota Twin Cities - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- The changing face of gun ownership... Liberals reveal the bold reasons they're taking up arms - Daily Mail - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Omar El Akkad on Genocide, Complicit Liberals, and the Terrible Wrath of the West - Literary Hub - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- WA Liberals' Albany candidate Thomas Brough back in spotlight over abortion comments - ABC News - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- John Ivison: Why Conservatives say they arent sweating the Liberals Lazarus-like revival - National Post - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Liberals top Tories for 1st time in years, new Ipsos polling says - Global News Toronto - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Why White Christian Nationalists are Freaked out: Liberals are More likely to be Non-Religious than Christian - Informed Comment - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- The Week in Polling: Liberals gaining fast on the Conservatives; Canadians think Trump is serious about the 51st state; Carney not far ahead of... - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Letters to the editor, Feb. 27: One of my greatest regrets is voting for the Liberals in the last election - The Globe and Mail - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- How the shattered German Liberals will be shaped from Brussels - EURACTIV - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Preston Manning: The Liberals' disingenuous deathbed conversion in the face of Trump tariffs - National Post - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Opinion: Before electing Mark Carney as leader, the Liberals should pause for a moment of reflection - The Globe and Mail - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- New poll puts Liberals ahead of the Conservatives for the first time since 2021 - CityNews Vancouver - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- There could have been a better result Liberals regain official party status but remain in third place - iPolitics.ca - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- FIRST READING: The most telling indicator that the Liberals remain doomed - National Post - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- CPACs MAGAfest returns to rub it in the faces of DCs liberals - The Independent - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- Austrian liberals join talks on forming a centrist coalition government - Reuters - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- Conservatives and liberals will give free theater performance at local church - Decaturish.com - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals loved this earnest Kate McKinnon moment on SNL but Lorne Michaels wasnt a big fan - New York Post - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals need to take a chill pill for Trump headaches and other opinions you read most - Yahoo - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- WA Liberals endure bruising week as election race gets tough - ABC News - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- Some Liberals say mistakes costing party, while others defend campaign team punching above its weight - iPolitics.ca - February 23rd, 2025 [February 23rd, 2025]
- Liberals have me worried. Their fury and stress is hurting someone. It isn't Trump. | Opinion - The Columbus Dispatch - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- The boom of in vitro fertilization in Poland after the return of the Liberals to power - Le Monde - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Jon Stewart reveals the anti-Trump insult he's sick of liberals using and warns it has lost its power - Daily Mail - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- The Guilting of the Liberals - lareviewofbooks - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Teslas Used to Be Cool. For Liberals, Now They're Anything But - Newsweek - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Michel Maisonneuve: Only an election can save Canada from the old, tired Liberals - National Post - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Inside Winnipeg Politics: Could the Liberals really win again? - Winnipeg Sun - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Letter: Canada cannot afford to re-elect the Liberals - Cowichan Valley Citizen - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Opposition MPs criticize Liberals for failing to rein in record federal spending on outsourcing - The Globe and Mail - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Federal vote intention tightens to near-tie as Liberals and New Democrats rally around Carney - Angus Reid Institute - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- Meet the new Liberals. Same as the old Liberals - The Globe and Mail - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Bell: What's up Canada? Liberals could win the election, are you nuts? - Calgary Herald - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Liberals are up 7 in a month, but the Conservatives still hold a 19-point lead - inFocus with David Coletto - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Liberals will soon pick the next prime minister. Here's what candidates are promising - CBC.ca - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- You may not like Trump. But his attempts to seize the Fed contain a lesson for liberals | Leah Downey - The Guardian - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Liberals will soon pick the next prime minister. Here's what candidates are promising - MSN - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Doctor compares liberals reaction to President Trump to Americas shock after 9/11 attacks: It is affecting their lives - New York Post - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Liberals would be tied with Conservatives with Carney as leader: poll - National Post - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- For Israeli liberals, Trumps a double-edged sword - The Times of Israel - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Canadians are focused on the here and now: Darrell Bricker on what accounts for the Liberals polling resurgence - The Hub - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- GOLDSTEIN: Federal Liberals can't be trusted with the economy - Toronto Sun - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- NDP, Liberals ask integrity commissioner to probe Ford's anti-tariff trip to Washington, D.C. - Yahoo News Canada - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Conservatives still frontrunners but hemorrhaging support to Liberals: Nanos survey - CTV News - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Terry Newman: Ontario Liberals stalked by the ghost of Kathleen Wynne - National Post - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Radical rights mission is to wind up liberals - The Times - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- PODCAST: Have the Liberals given up on Sault Ste. Marie? - SooToday - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Michael Higgins: Finally, the Liberals start tackling the scourge of fentanyl - National Post - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Where are they? Liberals, Greens remain Ontario election no-shows in Windsor-Essex - Windsor Star - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Nunavut MP calls on Liberals to extend Inuit child funding program - EverythingGP - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Nunavut MP calls on Liberals to extend Inuit child funding program - pentictonherald.ca - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Morning Update: PC Party, Liberals promise to take over LRT if they win election - CTV News - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- In Israel, Even the Liberals Love Trump. This Is Why - Haaretz - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- FIRST READING: The Liberals' extremely low-barrier plan to pick the next prime minister - National Post - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Young families grappling with the cost of living are the focus of policies announced by WA Labor and Liberals in upcoming state election - MSN - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Trump should send a bouquet of flowers to the Liberals: Poilievre - CTV News - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Allan R. Gregg: 1993 redux? Not necessarily. How the failing Liberals may just win again - The Hub - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Letters: Liberals can't be trusted to navigate Trump's tariffs - National Post - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]