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economist suntribune the province saturday may 4 2002 11 supports privatizing hydro from page 1 public sentiment led to the decision to stop the sale i felt it was a mistake to introduce both initiatives concurrently mr klees said its important we allow the dust to settle the hydro market opened wednesday to a relatively calm climate but there has been confusion about the differences between a market that allows private suppliers to sell power to consumers and the governments plan to sell off the infrastructure that gener- ates and delivers that electricity the governments plans to put hydro one up for an initial pubuc offering were derailed in april when a court ruled the i prymcehas no leglatipriallowmgthe rsale mr eves vowed to rpress ahead with appeals and amended legislation but this week backed away ikleeopesipngoirig cohsulta- tion and the public- becoming more accustomed to private involvement in electricity supply will pave the way for the eventual sale of hydro one an asset valued at 55 billion there are advantages in the long term to privatizing hydro one philosophically i support it mr klees said but we have to make sure whatev er course we take is fully understood by the public has been fully debated and that we are comfortable with it ron bartholomew a thornhill resi dent who has researched the privatiza tion issue extensively is guardedly opti mistic about the governments move im not sure its a lasting commitr ment to step aytkisksle he said if they were smart theyd say theyve listened to the people theyve reconsidered their decisipn arid itsnpt for sale anymbrerbut tm not so sure how sm they arfc v he suggested leaving the decision to the public in pneoftoeewaysacpm- prehensive opinion pollja prpyincewide referendum or an electiohr 1 suttpntesident hessel rape another opponent of privatization said the elec torate will relay its message to the tories one way or another somevery unpopular decisions have been made its coming to the point where the political decisions and the policies the tories have developed are overwhelm ingly responsible for changing a certain percentage of the vote in the next gener al election mr pape said some very unpopular decisions have been made v ontario residents are afraid selling hydro one a profitable public asset will lead to foreign ownership of the provinces power generation grid and result in rising prices mr pape said i still maintain we should continue to keep hydro one as a crown corpora tion arid we should run it as a service rather than a profitoriented corporate entity he said 5 mr sorbara agrees with that view there can never be competition in the transmission business he said it is a natural monopoly while the decision to back off on the hydro one sale is a significant setback for the tories mr sorbara said it likely wont prove fatal they were relying on this privatiza tion to help them write their budget and it was sort of a philosophical cor nerstone mr sorbara said mr klees said the government should bide its time and reintroduce the sale when the public is better educated and more comfortable with privatiza tion this is far too important an issue to play politics or to play with peoples emotions he said may a 2qq2 fortinos johns tae kwon do markville shopping centre ontario spca vandemeer nursery unionville alliance church david khurana sears peoples jewellers the bay grand toy walmart fm industries petsmart radio shack zehrs stouffviue ida brita newspaper bag north durham real estate home hardware esp mechanical the office place main drug mart dr green lawncare dominion selected areas only no one delivers results like we do to find out more about how to reach your target market and get the same great response from your flyer distributions as these customers call us economist 8c sun tc stouffville tribune 9052948244 yorkdurham aphasia centre yorkdurham aphasia centre is celebrating 10 years of service helping adults with communication loss for a meaningful volunteer role call the yorkdurham aphasia centre at 905 6422053 12184 ninth line stouffville ontario l4a3n6 this message brought to you as a community service of the economist suntribune tfpn