Half of Ontarians Believe Government to Blame for Rising Hydro Rates

| Filed under: Ontario

Half of Ontarians Believe Government to Blame for Rising Hydro Rates

Hydro One’s privatization and executive salaries well back

Toronto, February 21st – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1,120 Ontario voters, (47%) believe that government mismanagement is the cause of rising hydro rates, well ahead of the privatization of Hydro One (17%), and executive salaries (11%).

The opinion that government mismanagement is causing the cost of hydro to rise in Ontario is most common to those between 35-44 (50%), 45-54 (48%), and 55-64 (52%), with almost half of males (48%), and (46%) of females holding this opinion.

The most wealthy (60%) overwhelmingly believe that the government is responsible, but the least wealthy are most likely to give the province the benefit of the doubt (32%).

Progressive Conservative supporters (61%) and NDP supporters (45%) strongly believe the government has mishandled the hydro file, while Liberal supporters are less likely to believe this (26%).

Other options less popular

Hydro One privatization (17%), executive salaries (11%), and don’t know (10%), are the other choices with the largest proportion of support, but they follow well behind government mismanagement as the main reason hydro rates are rising. Wind turbine/green energy investments (9%) and closing coal plants (2%), while much discussed in the media, have not had much of an impact on the opinions of Ontarians in relation to the origins of rising hydro rates.

“The opinion that government mismanagement is responsible for rising hydro rates could present a problem for the Liberals in 2018, as the increasing costs are becoming more and more of an issue for voters across the province. It’s an issue that the Liberals need to address, if they want to win,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research.

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.