CUPE Ontario hails Ontario NDP commitment to maintain public ownership of Hydro One

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 16, 2015) - CUPE Ontario welcomes the recent NDP's resolution to fight the sale of Hydro One, restore public ownership and oversight of Hydro One in the future and rebuild "Ontario's historic commitment to public power."

"The Ontario NDP has shown true political leadership in the fight to keep Hydro public and, through this resolution, are clearly committing to continuing that work for the long term," said CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. "It comes at a crucial time and is an important reminder that Ontarians are opposed to this sale. We are still the owners of Hydro One and we will fight to keep hydro public."

The Ontario Liberal government's budget announced the sale of Hydro One through an initial public offering (IPO) resulting in the largest privatization in Canadian history. Hydro One is the provincially owned monopoly transmission company that carries electricity between generation plants and community users.

"Poll after poll shows that Ontarians overwhelmingly oppose the privatization of Hydro One," noted Hahn. "We see clearly that one of Ontario's political parties - the NDP - are listening to Ontarians and will seek to restore Hydro One to public ownership.

CUPE Ontario and its community partners continue their efforts to keep Hydro One in public hands, mobilizing community groups and individuals through a series of town hall meetings in communities across Ontario; the next are scheduled to take place in Peterborough (June 18) and Thunder Bay (June 24).

For more information, go to http://cupe.on.ca/campaigns/keephydropublic.

CUPE is Ontario's community union, with 250,000 members providing quality public services we all rely on, in every part of the province, every day. CUPE Ontario members are proud to work in social services, health care, municipalities, school boards, universities and airlines.