Andrea Horwath says she's "really worried" that Hamilton's light-rail transit (LRT) will be a private operation that places the bottom line over the needs of residents.

The Ontario NDP leader and Hamilton Centre MPP discussed the project in a Facebook Live interview Wednesday with CBC Hamilton.

Horwath said she's concerned about plans to make LRT a private-public partnership, or P3. The $1 billion system should be publicly owned and operated, she said.

"If the service is about providing value to private interest, how do we make sure it's Hamiltonians' interests that are at the top of the agenda?"

Horwath cited 2014 auditor general findings that showed Ontario spent $8 billion more than necessary on infrastructure projects because of its P3 model — and suffered a lack of oversight to boot.

Metrolinx and the city have said Hamilton's LRT will be a P3. That "makes me really worried," Horwath said.

"I believe public services and public transit should be owned and operated and serving the needs of the public."

Hamilton's union of transit operators, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107, is adamant that HSR operators, not Metrolinx ones, should run the system. Coun. Tom Jackson of Ward 6 has put out a similar call.

LRT was just one subject in a wide-ranging interview.

Other highlights:

Horwath said an NDP government would stop selling shares of Hydro One. "When it comes to an essential service like hydro, it should be about the public interest, not the private interest." It would also "review energy contracts "with a fine tooth comb to see if we can find any value at all for the people of Ontario." The problem, she said, has "been 20 years in the making."

The NDP was disappointed with the results of the last election, she said. "But you can't fight the last election again in 2018. It's an entirely different environment."

Horwath talked about recent polls showing that people are leaning toward Patrick Brown's Conservatives rather than the NDP. Save for one NDP term, either the Conservatives or Liberals have represented Ontario since its founding, Horwath said.

Her goal is to show that the Conservatives and Liberals have similar ideas, such as privatizing public services, she said. "When people get to 2018, they have to make a choice as to what the next government is going to do."