Hydro One slammed for ‘outrageous’ vote

Ford demands board resign after move upped CEO’s severance pay

Doug Ford has unleashed another attack on Hydro One, calling on its board to resign over revelations directors voted “secretly” to make it easier for CEO Mayo Schmidt to get $10.7 million in severance if he’s fired without cause.

The Progressive Conservative leader said Thursday the changes are “outrageous” and accused Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government of being complicit while ordinary Ontarians struggle with electricity bills.

Last week, Ford pledged that he would fire the entire Hydro One board if he’s elected premier June 7, and force replacement directors to axe Schmidt over his $6.2 million annual compensation.

“They only care about increasing their payout and lining their own pockets and feathering their own nest,” Ford said of Hydro One executives who benefit from severance deals.

“While the six-million-dollar man and his buddies were helping themselves to your hardearned money, where was Kathleen Wynne?” he added during a news conference at an airport hotel. Hydro One declined comment Thursday.

Ford’s remarks came after the Globe and Mail reported that change of control provisions at Hydro One were quietly altered in a vote of the board last November to discourage government intervention in the former Crown corporation.

Under the new provisions, any moves by the government to change a majority of the board of directors during a two-year period would constitute a change in control, triggering Schmidt’s $10.7 million payout if he were to be fired without cause.

Previously, only a wholesale firing of the board would have constituted a change of control. Schmidt is entitled to a smaller, $5.04 million payout if fired without cause absent a change in control.

Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault could not explain why the government, which owns 47 per cent of Hydro One and holds 40 per cent of the director’s seats, did not balk at the new provisions, given that it retains the power to fire the board in the event of scandal or mismanagement.

“Ultimately, this is the board’s decision. We are a shareholder, not a micro-manager of the business, and we make sure that the best interests of ratepayers are taken at heart,” Thibeault said at the Legislature’s daily question period.

He said firing the board and Schmidt “doesn’t do a thing to actually reduce bills.”