Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen says results from the Bipole III review confirmed all of his concerns.

The review concluded that rerouting Bipole III down the west side was the wrong decision, but that it is too late to attempt an east side route. It also confirmed escalated costs.

(Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen)"It's actually a little bit worse than I would have thought and maybe than most Manitobans thought," admits Goertzen.

He says in talking to Manitobans during the last election campaign, they understood there was a problem with Manitoba Hydro. He says the Conservatives were also well aware.

"It's not a quick fix," he says. "It's not something that you can do something policy-wise and change it overnight and it just really does impact the generation of Manitobans."

Goertzen refers to Manitobans as shareholders of the Manitoba Hydro corporation. It is his opinion they have a right to feel their asset has been handled terribly by the previous NDP government. He says to put it into perspective, Manitoba Hydro is expecting its debt will nearly double to $25 billion in the next three to four years. That is equivalent to the size of the debt for the entire province. Goertzen says that will be difficult to deal with both now and in the future.

"We knew that the NDP were accelerating the builds on Bipole III and that they were trying to get things built faster," shares Goertzen. "We've also found out now that they were signing contracts before the election to try to ensure that things couldn't be changed."

Goertzen says he is left shaking his head. He says voters elect a government which they feel will make the best decisions on their behalf.

"When you look at what happened here, it almost feels like the previous government was doing something exactly the opposite and trying to leave a legacy that was extraordinarily difficult for Manitobans and I'm bewildered by it frankly."

Goertzen says his government has asked Manitoba Hydro to hold a series of public consultations to have open dialogue. And that is exactly what is happening.

"I don't think that's really happened in the last many years," says Goertzen. "I don't think people have felt that they had much to say into what was going on with Manitoba Hydro."

He notes the public consultations will enable the public to hear from Manitoba Hydro about what is going on with the corporation, what some of the choices are that need to be made in the future and to gather input for this decision making.

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