The Dream is Over...?

With the end of the deal to sell NB Power to Hydro-Québec, the opponents are claiming victory for the People. Time will tell whether we’ve won the battle only to lose a war.

In the March 31 edition of the Telegraph Journal, columnist David Campbell puts the NB Power debate in a different perspective.

Near the end of the 19th century, communities in the United States were looking at ways to develop their economies further. They reasoned that if there was a supply of relatively cheap electricity, the industrialists and their projects would come, and so would prosperity in some of the poorer areas. Canadian authorities started doing the same thing soon after.

For a long time, even New Brunswick could offer competitive rates, but this started to change in the early years of this new century. Large industry was becoming less competitive in New Brunswick, and was seriously thinking of pulling out. The deal with Hydro-Québec was meant to put things back on track.

Many people thought large industry was bluffing and they decided to call its bluff by opposing a deal that saw rates being reduced substantially for industrial customers, but only a rate freeze for residents and small business. We’ll now have to see if industry was merely bluffing.

Different people opposed to the deal had their own reasons for opposing it. Some opposed anything that had to do with a French province. Some opposed doing anything with Quebec given what Newfoundland has to say about Quebec’s bad faith in a deal which proved to be too beneficial to Quebec and not beneficial enough to Newfoundland. Some opposed the deal because Quebec “might” separate. At least one person wrote to say that scrapping the deal would keep jobs and money in New Brunswick, forgetting that most of the fuel for the generators comes from outside New Brunswick and has to be paid for.

But Campbell is probably right when he says many simply opposed the fact that industry would be getting a big rate cut. “Unfair!” they said.

Not that long ago, the New Brunswick government said a competitive tax regime would help stimulate economic growth. I doubted that very much since companies won’t move just for a better tax regime. But companies WOULD move if the infrastructure meets their needs, and electricity at competitive rates is an important part of the infrastructure.

I’m not pro-business per se, and I do have concerns with labour issues in some respects. But if we want the economy to grow, business must have access to the tools it needs to thrive. We can’t just say no without taking a closer look at the larger picture.