Tories leave energy consumers out in the cold

May 24, 2011

Alberta’s NDP Opposition leader Brian Mason says the PCs have failed a basic test of governing  - protect the lives of society’s most vulnerable – as spelled out in a fatality report into the 2006 freezing death of a man in Calgary.

“With no legislation to protect consumers from having their gas service cut off in cold weather, and no system to assure people on social assistance have their gas paid for during cold months, the Tories show they don’t care about Alberta’s most vulnerable citizens,” says Mason. “The fact that John Davis died of hypothermia in his own home is a sign that the PCs have failed Albertans.”

Davis died on Nov. 24, 2006 after ATCO gas failed to reconnect natural gas service to his home – despite Davis’s elderly mother paying the bill days earlier.

“Gas companies are left to set their own rules about gas service shut offs during cold weather. The report confirms there are clear roles for government to regulate these rules and protect Albertans,” Mason says.

The PCs should have drafted legislation immediately after Davis’s death, says Mason.

“Who knows how many people have suffered bitterly through cold nights since Mr. Davis died. His passing should have been a warning to the PCs,” Mason says. “They have failed in their  duty to protect Albertans.”