It's time to unite against this arbitrary decision
Published Wednesday November 4th, 2009
Letters to the editor
Re: Sale of NB Power
Our premier has definitely gone beyond his mandate in the decision to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec.
The repercussions of this unilateral move will be felt for generations to come.
It is interesting to note that we apparently have learned nothing from the past. The classic example of Newfoundland's sale of the Churchill Falls project and the billions of dollars of Newfoundland's lost revenue cannot go unheeded.
Quebec's interest in the purchase of NB Power is solely for its benefit. This would create an excellent opportunity for the premier to garner much need finances to distribute for political reasons - an unlimited use of "Quebec" money prior to the next provincial election.
NB Power definitely requires a major overhaul; this does not mean a complete sale.
For far too many years, it has been the political pork barrel. The answer is not selling our assets, but rather a meaningful evaluation of long term goals with realistic outcomes.
The premier's proposal is simply playing into the hands of one of the richest provinces in Canada.
There is a strong probability we will be displaying Quebec plates on NB Power vehicles. As well, hiring will be weighted toward Quebecers.
Let's not kid ourselves. Under the present system, New Brunswickers are refused employment and contract bidding in Quebec.
This has been a bone of contention throughout this province for many years.
Graham has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged all New Brunswickers to take a stand. Now is the time to unite against this arbitrary decision.
Contact your MLA, organize demonstrations at both the local and provincial level, and bombard the premier's office with your complaints.
Complacency on our behalf will only lead to further major decisions without consultation.
We have been down this road before and it apparently has no end.
The gauntlet has been thrown - either take a stand or accept, without question, this and all further autocratic decisions by the Graham Liberal government.
Max White
Lincoln, N.B.
Have you all taken leave of your senses?
Re: Sale of NB Power
Congratulations on becoming a colony of the Quebec nation.
What are you people thinking? You have put your energy supply and the future of your province under the control of a bloated, incompetent and corrupt instrument of the Quebec separatists.
Have you all taken leave of your senses? If the deal you have signed turns out to be grossly unfair to you in the future, don't look to Quebec to even contemplate to reopen it - just ask Newfoundland how cruel and vicious the separatists really are.
One word of caution, the French are not gracious colonizers. Just look at the trail of devastation they have left behind in every part of the world they have been. God help you all!
Pat Biondi
Montreal, Que.
Why not lease?
Re: Sale of NB Power
This is an open letter to Premier Shawn Graham:
Why are we selling? Why not lease to Hydro-Quebec? It could be a 10-year lease, a $10 billion deal, one billion per year, with options to renew.
We could have New Brunswick industry rates at par with Quebec industry rates at the beginning of the agreement and residential rates frozen until New Brunswick rates are at par with Quebec residential rates.
At the current difference it would take almost 20 years for this to happen.
The deal has Quebec residential rates staying 30 to 45 per cent lower than New Brunswick rates after five years. After five years, if we are paying higher rates, we start paying for energy used in Quebec, and the difference in rates between the two provinces will start growing even farther apart again!
We need a no-foreign-ownership clause. There is a team of men from Quebec in Ottawa trying to make Quebec a separate nation from Canada.
All New Brunswick-based assets should revert back to provincial ownership if this event comes to pass. A lease could allow for this.
Hydro-Quebec only wants better access to the big American market. Where is the assurance that local blackout times will not get longer?
Mr. Graham, you cannot sell the transmission easement in my yard. I own it! These easements were personal contributions to the development of a provincially owned utility.
What are my options if Hydro-Quebec decides not to keep the maintenance up on it? It is not a part they need to reach the big American market.
How do we sell a nuclear power plant, or dams that comes with inherited responsibilities for generations of New Brunswickers to come? You can't.
Hydro-Quebec does not want the assets that can be sold and don't come with long-term, inherited responsibilities. The federal government has already ordered them to be closed at the end of their life cycles anyway. Just ask the good people of Minto. They know all about it.
We even lose the prospect of building our own competitive green energy industry here because we will have to sell it through Hydro-Quebec.
Engineers have been doing things to extend the life of the Mactaquac Dam for the last 20 years now. What are the future plans now for the replacement of it? Rebuilding it could yield two to three times the energy production now put out here.
Mr. Graham, I do not see how selling is a good deal for the future energy security of New Brunswick.
John R. Staples
Fredericton
Let's vote on this
Re: Sale of NB Power
Dear Premier Graham,
You ask us not to get any preconceived ideas about the sale of NB Power.
I suppose we shouldn't, as you probably have the same negotiators working on this deal as you did for Coleson Cove, After all, they only cost us 170 million tax dollars for that fiasco.
Or wait, you could get the same people that worked so well with the doctors. Oh yeah, the doctors took you to court, didn't they?
Perhaps the education people?
The point is, Mr. Premier, that you and your negotiators can't be trusted to make a deal that will be good for New Brunswickers.
You have backtracked so often this year, I'm not sure you know what is forward any more.
Not giving any details about what you're selling/giving away just makes us New Brunswickers nervous, so be a leader. Stand up now and tell us what is on the table and let us vote on it.
Ed Rowlinson
Mazerole Settlement, N.B.
A suggestion to broker the deal
Re: Sale of NB Power
I would hope that Premier Shawn Graham uses the Belleisle ferry group to help broker a deal with Hydro-Quebec and NB Power.
That group certainly out-negotiated Shawn Graham's Liberals and every other group on the St. John River ferry issue.
Ross Wetmore
Gagetown, N.B.
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Just another dumb idea that we won't stand for. We hired you Mr. Graham and we will fire you, too. Wake up!
Sure looks like a short term winner and long term loser for NB.
In the 1980s NB looked at building generating capacity to be dedicated to export to the US and backed out. Now Quebec is prepared to do much the same thing. Can't we work with Quebec to the benefit of both Quebec and NB?