Forum: Premier gathers praise as he talks up NB Power agreement at Global Cities event

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MARTY KLINKENBERG
Telegraph-Journal

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TORONTO - The government's agreement to sell NB Power to Hydro-Québec may be a matter of controversy in New Brunswick, but it was lauded as bold and visionary on Tuesday at a global economic summit.

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Yvonne Berg

Robert Reich

Invited to speak at the Toronto Forum for Global Cities, Premier Shawn Graham pitched the deal to business executives, economists and economic development officers from across North America, and afterward many clamoured for his ear.

At one point, a city development officer from Toronto chatted him up outside a conference room at the sprawling Metro Toronto Convention Centre. At another, a delegate from Africa tried to arrange appointments with him for officials from Nigeria and Namibia.

Some of the measures New Brunswick has taken to become more competitive even earned begrudging approval from Robert Reich, the former United States Secretary of Labour, who delivered a funny and fascinating 30-minute speech that covered everything from the recession and globalization, to politics and the recent replacement of his bad hip.

Reich said that emphasizing low costs is limiting for cities and provinces trying to attract investment, because there is always somebody else able to do it more cheaply.

But addressing the premier from the stage, he teased, "I must say, Premier Graham, you almost convinced me.

"I have a global capital fund and I am going to tell the people handling it to put some money (in New Brunswick)."

After attending a reception in Toronto hosted by former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna on Monday night, Graham served a panelist in a discussion on smarter economic development on Tuesday morning and then gave a 15-minute speech during a luncheon program on innovation.

He used the forums to talk about New Brunswick's proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro-Québec, while also touching on tax and education reform, job creation, and his long-term goal for the province to attain economic self-sufficiency.

The only premier invited to speak at an event that attracted CEOs and representatives from the White House, GE Canada, Deloitte & Touche, the World Bank and Scotia Bank, among others, he was introduced at the luncheon as an "energetic politician who knows what the right decisions are and has the conviction to make them" by Michel Brunet, the president and chief executive officer of law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain.

Talking about issues as wide-ranging as power rates and arguments over sovereignty, he stole the show at the panel discussion, which also included Sandra Pupatello, Ontario's minister of Economic Development and Trade.

"The Government of Ontario may have to hire an actor to do as good a job as the premier did for New Brunswick today," said Pupatello, who kidded Graham at one point, telling him that until Tuesday all she knew about the NB Power deal was what Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams had said about it.

Afterward, Pupatello said she was convinced it was a smart decision for New Brunswick, and said Graham offers "energetic leadership."

"I am totally impressed by what I heard today," Pupatello said.

"Quebec has had low industrial-based fees and that has given it a huge advantage in the marketplace.

"But now New Brunswick can share in that and benefit from it as well. I think it is important for people to know the whole story about the energy deal, and I don't think that has happened so far."

During both appearances on Tuesday, Graham talked about how the proposed sale would wipe away nearly $5 billion in NB Power debt, and provide for lower power rates for industrial customers and a five-year rate freeze for residential users.

He didn't shy away from the debate going on in New Brunswick, however.

"I am ready to weather the short-term emotion around the debate, because I am also looking at the long-term benefits," Graham said. "I value the passion in the debate, but I also value the concerns New Brunswickers have communicated to me about affordable power rates.

"They have told me they want us to find a solution to rate relief, and that is what this deal today accomplishes."

Reich, a member of President Barack Obama's transition team and Bill Clinton's cabinet, focused on the global economic recession and the U.S. government's fight to establish universal health care.

He also drew laughter with a story about the hips he had replaced.

"My hips were manufactured in Germany and designed in France," he said, in talking about the global economy. "I have French designer hips."

Before heading to a fundraiser in Toronto for military families whose guest list included former New Brunswick lieutenant-governor Margaret Norrie McCain, Frank McKenna, Rick Hillier, Don Cherry, Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper, the premier talked about the day and the exposure it brought to New Brunswick.

Approximately 1,200 people attended the Forum for Global Cities. Battery chargers for BlackBerrys were given out as party favours at Tuesday's luncheon.

"When you hear a global economist like Robert Reich reinforce that New Brunswick is on the right path, it reinforces my desire to continue making those decisions," he said.

"Nobody in the room today was talking about an agenda being proposed by any other province," he said.

In arguing in favour of the deal and to defuse the fears some people have of NB Power being sold to Hydro-Québec, he pointed out that New Brunswick acquires all of its oil from the Middle East, and its coal from Colombia.

"Now we are tying ourselves to the our next-door neighbour in the most stable country in the world," he said. "It's the right thing to do but it takes political courage.

"While this great debate is going on in New Brunswick, other jurisdictions are looking with envy at what we have done."