Electric Empire: The Inside Story of Ontario Hydro
The Inside Story of Ontario Hydro
McKay, Paul
Publisher: Between the Lines, Toronto, Canada
Year Published: 1983
Pages: 301pp Dewey: 354.710
Resource Type: Book
Cx Number: CX2912
Electric Empire is a close-up look at Ontario Hydro, the second-largest public-owned utility in North America, a giant enterprise presiding over 30,000 employees, 80 generating stations, and 32,000 kilometers of transmission lines serving over eight million people.
Abstract:
Electric Empire is a close-up look at Ontario Hydro, the second-largest public-owned utility in North America, a giant enterprise presiding over 30,000 employees, 80 generating stations, and 32,000 kilometers of transmission lines serving over eight million people. Ranked by its assets, it is the second largest financial institution in Canada, after the major chartered banks. Electric Empire documents that this giant is out of control, with a $15 billion public debt piled up through an unnecessary expansion program which has stripped the Ontario Treasury of funding for social services and caused incalculable environmental damage, while simultaneously reducing Ontario's energy security and dispending billions of dollars to an "invisible corporate welfare network."
Since its inception in 1906, Ontario Hydro has worked successfully to build a reputation for independence, dependability and technical excellence, which has in turn created a wellspring of public awe and gratitude. Behind this image, however, lies an institution which has acquired a dangerous concentration of political and economic power, and has abused this power repeatedly for its own ends
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