CUPE officially files lawsuit against Wynne over sale of Hydro One

CTV Toronto: Lawsuit over sale of Hydro One A public sector union has filed a lawsuit against the Premier over the sale of Hydro One. Paul Bliss explains.

Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees have officially filed a lawsuit against Ontario’s premier regarding the sale of Hydro One.

News of the lawsuit came in September when CUPE president Fred Hahn announced that lawyers representing the union served the premier, Minister Charles Sousa and Minister Glenn Thibeault with a 60-day notice of intent to sue.

On Wednesday, the union confirmed that the documents had been formally filed in court.

Speaking to reporters at Queen's Park on Wednesday, Hahn said the union had hoped the province would "come to their senses" and stop selling shares in the public utility so they could avoid proceeding with the lawsuit.

"Instead, in a speech to the Liberal Party, the premier made a vague reference to mistakes on hydro and offered an apology without any commitment to stop selling shares," Hahn said.

"Continuing this deeply unpopular and damaging plan will only make things worse for the people of Ontario."

He said the province did not have public support for the sale of the utility.

"The suit we filed against the premier, the ministers of energy and finance is a misfeasance in public office suit. As our elected representatives, they have a duty to protect. The premier and her government had no political mandate to sell off our hydro system," he said.

"And they had expert opinion provided to them that made it clear that the selloff would be bad for the province, despite all of this, they proceeded in selling Hydro One."

During the news conference, Hahn suggested that the union is concerned about fundraisers the Liberals hosted with cabinet ministers for up to $10,000 a plate.

"We also know the premier and her ministers have held exclusive fundraising events to raise money for the Ontario Liberal Party and attendance of these exclusive events, sometimes up to $10,000 a ticket, included the banks that had made nearly $60 million from the privatization of hydro so far," he said.

In a written statement emailed to CP24 from Thibeault's office Wednesday, the energy minister addressed the allegations of misconduct.

"The Integrity Commissioner has already reported on this, and recently confirmed that there was no wrongdoing. Our government is and has continued to be focused on building Ontario up and helping people in their everyday lives – broadening the ownership of Hydro One is a crucial part of that plan," the statement read.

"It allows us to significantly invest in infrastructure without raising taxes, increasing debt, or recklessly cutting public services."

Hahn previously said that the goal of the lawsuit is to prevent the government from following through with its plan to sell off up to 60 per cent of the utility.

"There is only one way to fix this problem. That is to stop selling shares in our public hydro system," he concluded.

While speaking to reporters at an event Wednesday, Premier Kathleen Wynne briefly addressed the lawsuit.

The premier said that while she can't comment on the court case directly, "broadening the ownership" of Hydro One is important if the province wants to continuing investing in infrastructure projects.

"Without finding those resources, we couldn’t make these investments," she said.

"There are so many reasons that these investments are important and we will have to let the court deal with the other issue."