Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It's great to do this.

The previous Speaker from the Ontario Liberal Party was talking about hare-brained schemes, and I can tell you something: Hare-brained schemes are what are ruling the day by this Liberal government.

Today my colleague from Parry Sound-Muskoka, Norm Miller, has put forward a very sound motion, a reasonable motion, one that calls for transparency and accountability and making sure that the debt retirement charge is transparent to Ontario families-and how we're paying down this residual stranded debt.

Presently in Ontario-and this is why he has brought this forward-it is unclear what the residual debt is, even though to date, Ontario taxpayers have paid $7.8 billion toward the residual debt that's been collected-or we believe it's been put toward the residual debt.

Let me put this into perspective. My colleague opposite even acknowledged this: $1 billion per year has been paid toward this debt, or we think, since 2002. This McGuinty Liberal government has consistently pushed back the date to pay this debt off. First they said it would be 2014, and now it is 2015. This is not a surprise to us. This is the Liberal government that told us they would close coal-fired generated plants by, I believe it was 2007. Then it was 2011. Then it was 2014. They don't get it done. They make promises that they can't keep or don't intend to keep. That's why my colleague from Parry Sound-Muskoka and the entire Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus are standing here today asking for transparency in that $1 billion per year that Ontario taxpayers and Ontario families have been paying toward the stranded debt.

Almost every electricity user in the province of Ontario is paying the debt retirement charge on their electricity consumption, and there is no transparency. Ontario families are left to continually pay the bill without any knowledge whatsoever on where that money is going, and if there's any relief in sight. They have no idea.

Let me put this into perspective as well. This equates to about $7 per bill per family, plus the HST on hydro bills. In addition to that, they're actually paying for their electricity plus the HST again. Ontario families have had enough.

In fact, in my hand I have correspondence from the people that I represent in Nepean-Carleton, who have had it up to here with this Liberal government and their expensive energy schemes, and their inability to pay down the stranded debt while they continue to hide it from us.

Let me read this: "I just opened my monthly hydro bill. They have increased my billing plan amount by 50%. These increases are outrageous considering that about half the bills have nothing to do with the amount of electricity you use, but it is debt reduction-and there are millions sitting in that fund-delivery charge and HST."

Another: "I am completely outraged at what McGuinty is doing with hydro and how he is effectively treating us like fools. I fear he will announce removal of the debt reduction charge, thinking it's the pacifier for the people, while failing to handle this properly."

Another one: "I'm writing this email because I am concerned about the rise in hydro rates and the current Liberal government planning further rate hikes. It's their responsibility to lessen the load on the middle class."

A further email comes from my riding: "To spend money on expensive hydro production by green methods and wind power is wrong, especially when we in Ontario could buy power cheaply from the province of Quebec."

This comes from my riding as well: "I write to you today to express my dismay at the course of action the government has chosen to take in regards to energy costs. Furthermore, the headlines in today's Citizen trumpet the fact that Ontario is now going to borrow another billion dollars to subsidize or reduce hydro rates for Ontario taxpayers. Isn't this just having the taxpayer pay from the left pocket rather than the right?"

This is the problem. There is little transparency surrounding the debt retirement charge and how it is paying the residual stranded debt. It's unclear what the residual stranded debt is today. We know that $7.8 billion has been collected from my constituents and from constituents right across Ontario to pay this down, yet this crowd opposite, this Liberal government, continues to mismanage tax dollars, and we don't know what that stranded debt is today. That's why my colleague from Parry Sound-Muskoka had the foresight to bring this forward, so that we in Ontario and the constituents we represent would have an idea of what they are paying, how long they'll be paying it for, and when they will finally be free from the burdens of this Liberal government.