Is the NB Power deal with Hydro Quebec following the same trend as Swine Flu, or worse, Bird flu? All this talk about the proposed deal has struggled hard and successfully to get air time during the swine break out. But just how much is this coverage helping the situation?
The initial explanation of the deal from Shawn Graham caught a lot of people off guard since it seemed to come out so abruptly. The surprise got everyone talking, but it seemed what Graham said was enough to please most; No NB Power debt, price cuts for residents and industry, Point Lepreau’s massive bill won’t come out of tax-payers’ pockets - Does it get any better?
Well actually, it gets worse. The details released by the Liberal government don’t truly explain the entire situation. After being read in its entirety by opposition leader, David Alward, and New Brunswick Auditor General Mike Ferguson, among others, it was found that Shawn Graham pulled the information from the deal that showed the deal as a golden ticket to New Brunswickers, and left out just a few (several) minor (major) details...
While the Liberals were up front about the closure of the Dalhousie plant in northern New Brunswick that will see this already crippled town put on life support, Graham forgot to explain that the fine print about the rates for residential customers over the next 5 years, failing to inform New Brunswickers that the price will stay the same if and only if New Brunswicks population does not grow, or if Hydro Quebec feels it necessary to upgrade existing facilities. This one’s a big one because if price rates for industry go down and we see companies coming to New Brunswick, then the population is going to grow, and presumably, so will our rates. Secondly, if Hydro Quebec is in this deal to provide power to the energy hungry United States, then our facilities, including the Point Lepreau station which doesn’t work, and has no promise from NB Power to be completed, won’t be enough, and facilities will have to be built, or upgraded to meet the demand. All at a cost to us New Brunswickers.
This may seem like a rant about the NB Power deal, and it is, but we can’t overlook the secrecy and obvious connections that exist in this deal. Hydro-Quebec was the only player in this deal, a deal that came out just months before a planned meeting for Atlantic Premieres to come together to discuss how to share power among the struggling provinces. Let’s put it this way, New Brunswickers were left in the dark during the entirety of these talks, Hydro-Quebec and Irving Ltd seem to have laid out everything they wanted to have happen, and the deal reflects their desires. Would you sell your house after only talking to one person? Probably not, unless you live in Dalhousie, where you’d be lucky to sell it anyway. Especially now.
I leave you with some promises made on the campaign trail from Liberal leader Shawn Graham. See for yourself if he is keeping his promises.
"Establish New Brunswick as the region’s energy hub, a leader in energy efficiency and a world-class producer of goods and services for the global energy sector."
"Ensure that public engagement is meaningful, effective, collaborative and sustainable so that citizens can be active participants in governance."
Form an Energy Team to develop an investment strategy that will position New Brunswick as the energy powerhouse for the 21st century.
– (This team must have been Irving and Hydro-Quebec.)
“New Brunswickers must be active participants in the self-sufficiency process.To ensure the success of the efforts that will follow this transformative change, government’s relations with citizens will be transformed. Our objective is to engage New Brunswickers in a long-term dialogue that will make them active participants in working toward self-sufficiency. Through the work of its advisor on public engagement.”
From Shawn Grahams: "Our Action Plan to be Self-Sufficient in New Brunswick"
Part of my work at UNB is to record something called Mac Therapy. Now don't be fooled by the name, we don't break down into tears about how our Macs have changed our lives. It's actually a one hour, informal gathering given to inform, support and educate Mac users about their Macintosh computers and the software they use.
