The Manitoba government is running an advertising campaign to tout a freeze on electricity rates even though the freeze has yet to be approved.
The ads say the freeze started Jan. 1 and helps lower costs for Manitobans.
Crown-owned Manitoba Hydro plans to request a one-year rate freeze on electricity this year but has not yet filed a request with the Public Utilities Board, the provincial regulator that can deny proposals.
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Finance Minister Adrien Sala says Manitoba Hydro has made the promised rate freeze achievable, and the government also helped by eliminating debt-reduction targets for the Crown corporation.
Christopher Adams, a political analyst at the University of Manitoba, says governments are often quick to promote good news, but the ad campaign is a mistake and should not have been launched before the freeze was approved.
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