NB Power sale evokes strong reactions at UNBSJ forum

Baron writer Dana Miller offers her take on the public forum orchestrated by UNBSJ’s faculty of Arts to discuss the controversial decision by the Liberal Government to sell NB Power to Hydro Quebec.

“One way to silence the opposition” Dr. Yves Gagnon said ominously “is to keep them in the dark.”

Dr. Gagnon, Chair of Sustainable Development at l’Université de Moncton, was one of three key speakers on Monday, February 8^th, 2010, in the crowded Oland Hall classroom. The Faculty of Arts hosted an open forum at UNBSJ to discuss the proposed deal between Hydro Quebec (HQ) and New Brunswick Power. The forum allowed for key speakers to discuss aspects of the proposal made by the Shawn Graham government and allowed the public to express their opinions, concerns and reactions to the propositions they had heard.

The theme expressed by all the key speakers was that the HQ deal was not in the best interest of the population of New Brunswick and that it needed to be discussed and investigated further.

Gagnon talked in detail about how this issue had evolved over the past months, emphasizing his view that the deal seemed to not be in the interests of New Brunswick and that public consultation was severely lacking.

The current deal being considered, he explained, was not presented in a press conference, but had been leaked out to the general public.  Gagnon described it as a “nice story”, wherein the government later issued a brief summary of the deal, no official deal in writing was available.

This led to Gagnon asking the question, does the deal even exist, or “is a 3.2 billion dollar deal being processed without the proper documentation?”

The first deal made between NB power and HQ in October 2009, Gagnon explained, was also made without consulting the people of New Brunswick. The pitch was that the people of New Brunswick would see lower rates of electricity, share industrial rates with, eliminate the provincial debt, and allow NB to become self sufficient. In return, Hydro Québec would receive the assets that NB power had left – which includes power generation and distribution.  HQ would also receive the Point LePreau power plant, but only once it was fully operational again and it would receive the financial assets of it as well.

While the rates would be comparable to Québec and stable at first, they would rise after the first five years. HQ revenue would exponentially increase year after year -  “for infinity”, as the deal contract has no expiration.  Gagnon demonstrated that this deal would supremely benefit HQ.

Perhaps in response to public outcry, in January of this year there was another deal presented. Once again, the deal was formed without public. This version of the deal stated that New Brunswick would be fulfilling its energy demands by Hydro Québec, paying their rates for the first 5 years, and then be subjected to increases and decreases based on the NB consumer index.  Employees who work at NB power generation facilities would become employees of HQ, and since there is little documentation aside from a press release, the pension plan for these employees remains unclear.

Premier Graham has said that the deal is to be closed by March 31^st, 2010 and yet there have been no conditions set to debate the issue further in government.  The opposition have yet to see the details of the deals and argue their position.  Gagnon led to the conclusion that the government may just be covering up the truth about the deals.

Tom Mann presented the view from the protest groups, NB Power Not for Sale.  As a law alumnus of UNB, and having worked with the NB trade union programs and the labour unions, he spoke of why the citizens of NB should not be in accordance with the deals proposed by Graham.  He spoke of the measures being put into place to stop the sale of NB power to Québec, having 60% of New Brunswickers against the sale.  He also spoke of the goal of the coalition groups; to stop the sale of NB power.  Mann made it clear it would take more than just the coalition alone, saying that “No single one group can wage the challenge by themselves.  This is much bigger, much bigger than the individual parts”.

Mann, as part of the coalition has a mission, to prevent the sale of NB power from going through, and the coalition plans on doing this by coordinating forces and becoming united with others in town halls and forums like the one held on campus, to educate New Brunswickers on the issues hitting the table of public debate before government.  The deal has yet to be set in stone and finalized, and it is still possible to delay or stop the deal from going through.

“Pressure has to be put upon the politicians”, says Mann, because the government wants to take advantage of our apathy”.  The deal needs to be stopped so it can be discussed in due time.

Mann also says in order to prevent this deal from going through, the people of New Brunswick need to stay focused on what is at stake, because there are many solutions to this debate. Mann quoted Margaret Meed on this subject:  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world”.

And last to speak was UNBSJ history professor, Dr. Greg Marquis.  Dr. Marquis wrapped up the information session with a brief history of New Brunswick, in relation to where the province has been and the events it has been through.  He considers this deal with HQ and NB power to be the “7^th or 8^th biggest thing that has happened since 1867”.  Canada and NB have seen controversy, and nothing was ever settled and decided on so quickly and quietly, stressed Marquis.  Many major decisions have taken years to be decided; and nothing was ever “settled over night”.  Marquis said that he considers this “a very dark time in our history”.

Dana Miller is a volunteer writer with the Baron.