Mediaboss Marketing

TORONTO - Residential consumers will still see their hydro bills go up, even though the governing Liberals are planning to remove the controversial debt retirement charge from their monthly statements in 2016.

The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, which takes 10 per cent off hydro bills, will also expire at the same time. The majority of ratepayers will also be expected to bankroll a proposed program that would offset energy costs for lower-income families.

According to the government, a typical family consuming about 800 kilowatt hours per month would save about $75.60 a year after taxes once the debt retirement charge is removed on Jan. 1, 2016.

But those savings would be cancelled out by the loss of an $180 annual rebate from the clean energy benefit, which was introduced in 2012.

However, the Liberals are promising a support program for famillies with an income of up to $40,000 that would provide about the same savings as the clean energy benefit after it expires.

An eligible family could save on average $250 a year when combined with the removal of the DRC, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said Wednesday.

"We fully understand the electricity price pressures facing families, and that's why we're taking these steps," he said.

"This is real rate relief for those who need it most."

The program will add about 90 cents on the average monthly bill of the rest of the ratepayers, Chiarelli said.

"We feel that this is a very modest tradeoff to be made in order to accommodate those who are in significant need," he added.

Read this article:
Liberals trying to tackle high hydro bills

Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press Published Wednesday, April 23, 2014 12:05PM EDT Last Updated Wednesday, April 23, 2014 7:25PM EDT

TORONTO -- Residential consumers will still see their hydro bills go up, even though the governing Liberals are planning to remove the controversial debt retirement charge from their monthly statements in 2016.

The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, which takes 10 per cent off hydro bills, will also expire at the same time. The majority of ratepayers will also be expected to bankroll a proposed program that would offset energy costs for lower-income families.

According to the government, a typical family consuming about 800 kilowatt hours per month would save about $75.60 a year after taxes once the debt retirement charge is removed on Jan. 1, 2016.

But those savings would be cancelled out by the loss of an $180 annual rebate from the clean energy benefit, which was introduced in 2012.

However, the Liberals are promising a support program for famillies with an income of up to $40,000 that would provide about the same savings as the clean energy benefit after it expires.

An eligible family could save on average $250 a year when combined with the removal of the DRC, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said Wednesday.

"We fully understand the electricity price pressures facing families, and that's why we're taking these steps," he said.

"This is real rate relief for those who need it most."

The program will add about 90 cents on the average monthly bill of the rest of the ratepayers, Chiarelli said.

Read this article:
Liberals expected to announce end to debt retirement charge on hydro bills

Jonathan Alter: When Will Liberals Call For More Boycotts Of #39;Racist #39; Rush Limbaugh?
Former Newsweek editor Jonathan Alter appeared on the Ed Show, Tuesday, to lobby for more boycotts of the "racist" Rush Limbaugh. The talk show host #39;s crime,...

By: yazchat

Original post:
Jonathan Alter: When Will Liberals Call For More Boycotts Of 'Racist' Rush Limbaugh? - Video

Star photo by Geraldine Brophy

About 75 people attended a public meeting on the proposed new regional hospital in Corner Brook Tuesday put off by Liberal Opposition members and held at the Greenwood Inn and Suites.

A commitment from the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador to put a radiation unit in the new hospital in Corner Brook was met with a loud round of applause Tuesday night.

About 75 people, many of them Liberal supporters, attended a meeting at the Greenwood Inn and Suites hosted by the Opposition Caucus members on the proposed new hospital.

After taking those gathered through the results of a study conducted by the party over the last three months Liberal Leader Dwight Ball said, I needed to be sure before I came back to the people in this room that we came back with evidence.

Ball was referring to a statement he made during a January meeting at the hotel held by the West Coast Health Care Action Committee. During that event, Ball committed to putting a PET scanner in the new hospital if the Liberals form the next government, but couldnt say the same on the radiation unit until the party took a closer look at the issue.

We did our research, weve taken the time to do it, he said. The evidence is there to support it and, as the official Opposition, were committed to delivering radiation services to Western Memorial Hospital.

Before getting to that conclusion Ball went through the results of the study, which countered all of the PC governments reasons for saying no to putting the service on the west coast.

From the unproven model of a single unit, to the need to be located at a tertiary care centre, the challenges of recruitment and retention and finally the numbers, Ball presented information that showed none of those reasons should prevent a unit from being located here.

If we were here making this decision on emotion well all of us in the room, all of us in the province, would do this, said Ball following the meeting. But you have to base it on evidence and thats what weve been able to do over the last three months.

Read more here:
Liberals commit to putting a radiation unit in new hospital

SAN ANGELO, Texas Liberals advocate many wonderful things. In fact, I suspect that most conservatives would prefer to live in the kind of world envisioned by liberals, rather than in the kind of world envisioned by conservatives.

Unfortunately, the only kind of world that any of us can live in is the world that actually exists. Trying to live in the kind of world that liberals envision has costs that will not go away just because these costs are often ignored by liberals.

One of those costs appeared in an announcement of a house for sale in Palo Alto, the community adjacent to Stanford University, an institution that is as politically correct as they come.

The house is for sale at $1,498,000. It is a 1,010-square-foot bungalow with two bedrooms, one bath and a garage. Although the announcement does not mention it, this bungalow is located near a commuter railroad line, with trains passing regularly throughout the day.

Lest you think this house must be some kind of designers dream, loaded with high-tech stuff, it was built in 1942 and, even if it was larger, no one would mistake it for the Taj Mahal or San Simeon.

This house is not an aberration, and its price is not out of line with other housing prices in Palo Alto.

One couple who had lived in their 1,200-square-foot home in Palo Alto for 20 years decided to sell it, and posted an asking price just under $1.3 million.

Competition for that house forced the selling price up to $1.7 million.

Another Palo Alto house, this one with 1,292 square feet of space, is on the market for $2,285,000. It was built in 1895.

Even a vacant lot in Palo Alto costs more than a spacious middle-class home costs in most of the rest of the country.

Go here to read the rest:
THOMAS SOWELL: Liberalism makes our lives more expensive