Manitoba NDP promising to freeze hydro rates for a year if elected

Manitoba’s Opposition New Democrats are promising to freeze hydroelectricity rates for one year if they win the Oct. 3 provincial election.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew says he would reduce the annual fees that Crown-owned Manitoba Hydro pays the government by $37.5 million, which he adds would be enough to allow for the freeze.

The Progressive Conservative government recently cut those fees in half, which prompted Manitoba Hydro to revise its desired rate increases downward.

The utility has said it needs annual increases of about two per cent for the next several years.

The Manitoba Liberals are accusing the NDP of trying to fix a system they broke in the first place.

“Manitobans have faced electricity rate hikes and Hydro workers have faced cuts and freezes because the NDP and PCs were bleeding Hydro of hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” leader Dougald Lamont said in a news release.

“This half-hearted policy to lower rates and cut Hydro costs is taken straight from the MLP 2019 election platform where we committed to ceasing the practice of raiding Manitoba Hydro of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”

Recently the Manitoba NDP have been making several announcements related to affordability and the cost of living.

They include subsidies for people who buy electric cars and a temporary suspension of the provincial tax on gasoline.