Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford‘s announcement that he would fire the CEO of Hydro One is yet another example that Ford doesn’t seem to grasp the ramifications of his lofty promises.
The big boss at Hydro is Mayo Schmidt and the $6-million salary he stands to make this year is beyond outrageous, to be sure.
But Ford’s rant against Schmidt was long on bluster and short on facts.
First of all, taxpayers only pay 20 per cent of Schmidt’s salary, the remaining 80 per cent is paid by Hydro shareholders.
Second, the premier cannot fire the Hydro CEO, only the board of directors can do that; so Ford would have to fire the entire board and replace them with Ford sycophants who would do Ford’s dirty work for him and replace Schmidt with a new boss who’d be loyal to Ford.
I’m not sure Ontario taxpayers would be comfortable with that kind of political empire building.
More importantly though, is the fact that firing Schmidt would entitle him to a $10-million payout and where do you think that money’s going to come from?
The reality is, Ford’s plan to fire the boss won’t do anything toward lowering hydro bills. In fact, it might dump more costs onto ratepayers.
Ontario voters may want change in this election, but not if that change means going from bad to worse.
Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News
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