By Jessica Smith Cross and David Hains
The Ford government is planning to freeze rents for "the vast majority" of residential tenants.
Housing Minister Steve Clark released a statement late Friday announcing a plan to table some kind of rent control legislation this fall.
"Since the very beginning of COVID-19, our government has called on landlords and tenants to come together and be reasonable with each other — and landlords and tenants across the province have shown the Ontario spirit by doing just that," said Clark.
"In that spirit, our government is announcing our intention to stabilize rents for Ontario’s 1.6 million rental households."
In November 2018, the Ford government moved to eliminate all new units from rent control but left all pre-existing units subject to the province's rent control legislation, which had been expanded under the previous Liberal government and ties allowable increases to inflation.
In the coming year, the allowable increase would have been 1.5 per cent, said Clark.
"But this year is not like every year," he said. "That’s why the premier has directed the minister of municipal affairs and housing to bring forward legislation this fall to support renters across Ontario."
"The legislation would ensure that the vast majority of families do not see a rent increase next year."
Clark said the government will engage tenant and landlord groups in the process of developing the legislation. So far, no further details are known.
"We know that families are continuing to be impacted by COVID-19," said Clark. "We know landlords have worked hard to be accommodating and have made sacrifices. And we know that by continuing to work together, we will move past this extraordinary time and increase housing — so that every Ontarian can find a home that suits their needs and their budget."
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A <a href="http://www.ieso.ca/Sector-Participants/Energy-Procurement-Programs-and-Contracts/Generator-Contract-Review" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new report</a> says that there are limited opportunities for the government to achieve significant cost savings.
The Independent Electricity System Operator delivered a report to Energy Minister Greg Rickford, prepared by third party Charles River Associates. The report looked at potential cost savings in existing generation contracts and found that there were some savings to be had when it came to solar, wind and gas contracts.
An estimate in the report found that the government could save about $37 million in 2021 by executing buydowns of existing contracts, taking advantage of the province's lower cost of borrowing to pay contracts in advance.
The report indicated that energy stakeholders provided limited ideas in the way of lowering costs for ratepayers. "About a quarter of the responses commented that they did not have any cost-lowering ideas. The majority of the other responses were of modest detail, speaking generally to overarching themes and ideas prompted by the language in the directive," the report noted.
This is despite repeated government calls for the industry to provide its best advice to lower prices for ratepayers, and a key government promise to lower hydro rates by 12 per cent.
The NDP seized on the latter, criticizing the latest report as not doing enough to help everyday people hit hard by the pandemic. "Doug Ford has blown it," energy critic Peter Tabuns stated. "He had an opportunity to fix the broken hydro system to make bills more affordable for everyone, and he chose not to."
Tabuns charged, "I think Doug Ford was making things up when he promised a 12 per cent hydro bill reduction."

In brief: Rent control legislation coming and few electricity savings found

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