A11

Robert Goguen

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Despite the government's carefully orchestrated publicity stunt held this past Thursday and the premier's best sales job, the people of the New Brunswick are feeling like victims. And why? Because we are. Once again, the Graham government created a dust-storm of speculation and then announced a joint memorandum of understanding with Hydro-Québec that, upon closer examination, is not like any other MOU I've ever seen before. Instead it is a purchase and sale agreement for our public utility and an agreement that the premier swore he would never entertain the idea of during his 2006 election campaign. He is certainly breaking another promise he made to New Brunswickers, but what's most important is that he doesn't have a mandate to sell NB Power without going to the people of New Brunswick.

Quite simply, this is just a swiftly pulled-together deal and a great example of the Graham government taking the easy way out of a financial mess they generated.

The agreement deals New Brunswick a death blow on two fronts: the self-sufficiency idea no longer holds water and neither does the energy hub idea. Oddly, both had been touted as the province's lucky ticket by the Shawn Graham Liberals since being elected in 2006. You can't be self-sufficient when you don't have the means or any provincial resources to be self-sufficient with. And you can't be an energy hub when you no longer own your own energy source, transmission lines or even have a say in it.

Shortly after the press conference on Thursday, our leader David Alward called for the government to either delay this deal until after the election next fall, or call the election now. Graham does not have a mandate to sell the province's public utility. The government says there will be adequate debate on the issue, but we maintain that's not good enough. The people need a means to declare their opinion and either an election should be called or a referendum arranged.

Straight out of the gate, let's be clear on a few points that the Graham government will try their best to run a spin cycle on. They claim New Brunswickers will see lower power rates. This is not true. Residential power rates would be frozen for five years. After that, New Brunswick power customers will be at Hydro-Québec's mercy. A good deal for New Brunswick would have been rates comparable with what the ratepayers of Quebec now pay. So under this arrangement, New Brunswickers will pay their current rate for the next five years and during that period, Quebec ratepayers will pay 40 per cent less than N.B. ratepayers. Does this seem fair to you? Two provinces served by the same company but one paying 40 per cent higher rates?

The big winners in this scheme are the large companies that will see a 30 to 35 per cent reduction in rates. Don't residential ratepayers deserve a sizable decrease, too?

Some big losers will be the people of Dalhousie since Quebec doesn't want the generating station there and so it will close. The "MOU" also stipulates that Coleson Cove and Belledune won't be taken over by Hydro-Québec but they can require them to be shut down. Hydro-Québec's CEO has confirmed several coal-fired and diesel-powered facilities will be phased out.

New Brunswick's transmission lines obviously go with the package. Hydro-Québec will make a killing, as they grow their hydro electricity generating capacity in Quebec and then pump it through New Brunswick. New Brunswick has long been called the drive-through province - certainly, it would be the drive-through province for transmitting power.

Folks, there's only one winner in this deal. It's Hydro-Québec. They are going to grow their own energy producing capacity, pump it all through New Brunswick free of charge and New Brunswick won't see a dime of the profit.

Shawn Graham is going to do whatever he can to say we need to finalize this deal by March of 2010. He's trying to scare New Brunswickers with rate increases that kick in April 1 and he's going to continue with this tactic until this is a done deal.

But he doesn't have a mandate to sell NB Power. New Brunswickers own their public utility and it has been this way for 90 years. As our leader said, "This meant we had control over our destiny. To surrender this to another jurisdiction should never be allowed without the consent of the owners - the people of New Brunswick. What this amounts to is giving up our basic constitutional rights."

My fellow New Brunswickers, we need to make our voices heard. We need to shout loud and clear that this is not acceptable; that we don't agree to this deal; that we want to keep our public utility; that we will not surrender control of our own destiny. We are proud New Brunswickers and we stand firm together in our decision to retain our assets.

Folks, we have great potential as a province. We can grow our energy production facilities; we can capitalize on our geographical location and make money ourselves on our transmission lines. Stand up for your province and make your voice heard.

Robert Goguen is the President of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.