Canada's own power despot
Published Thursday November 19th, 2009
While New Brunswick, Quebec and P.E.I. are working toward the regional energy supply that northeastern states are looking for, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams has been lighting political fires like a pyromaniac. On Tuesday, he was in New York, taking his stock speech about Quebec undermining Newfoundland's economic opportunities to a U.S. audience.
In foreign markets, the bully boy of Confederation sounds like a third-world power despot - and his incendiary rhetoric could torch the region's energy export prospects.
Premier Williams is trying to bluster his way to a better bargaining position when the Atlantic premiers meet to discuss energy later this week. Atlantic Canadians have learned to tune out his ranting, because it is clearly the only tactic in his pre-school political playbook - but it poses serious risks if American business leaders take him seriously.
Just last month, the president and CEO of ISO New England warned that the Atlantic provinces must produce a united proposal for energy exports or risk losing the market. U.S. electrical utilities and their customers are looking for volume, reliability and political stability. Premier Williams sounds like he's fighting a civil war, and his Hugo Chavez routine is going to drive prospective customers to other energy suppliers.
It is astonishing that a leader who has staked so much on energy development could be so ignorant of the market his province is trying to access.
To the average U.S. energy consumer, New Brunswick is a city in New Jersey and Newfoundland is a fictional place in The Shipping News. The political debate that takes place here is irrelevant to those customers. What they want is cheap, reliable power. If the prospect of Canadian premiers duking it out over energy inspires any feeling at all, south of the border, it is the fear that a nation divided is not a secure energy provider.
This is a concern the Atlantic premiers must put to rest.
When they meet at Churchill Falls, the premiers must seek a new consensus. There are opportunities for each province to lower electricity rates and increase power exports in conjunction with neighbouring jurisdictions such as Quebec and Maine. These opportunities must be discussed, in public, in an atmosphere of good faith and mutual respect. If Premier Williams has his way, the discussions will be closed.
If Premier Williams is not prepared to explore regional energy partnerships, so be it. Others are.
Atlantic Canadians aren't waiting or willing to have their futures dictated by the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. Neither, we suspect, are U.S. consumers.
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Comments (18)
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Danny Williams might be a bit nutty in his approach, but he is going to bat for the people in his province. He is doing whatever it takes to make the rest of the country (and the US) see what this deal can mean in the long run.
Maybe the Editors should dig deeper and write about WHY there is so much backlash. Oh wait. Never Mind. I just remebered who the Editor of this paper is.
"the president and CEO of ISO New England warned that the Atlantic provinces must produce a united proposal for energy exports or risk losing the market."
Sounds like a negotiating ploy, and really I would take this warning with a grain a salt.
"U.S. electrical utilities and their customers are looking for volume, reliability and political stability."
Now you've gone over the top. With the exception of Quebec, which is the province most likely to cause political instability, to suggest we are politically unstable because Danny Williams debates vigorously and plays to win is, again, way over the top ?
Danny Williams is no despot and this editorial is silly.
I did not think you could top the "PC Party discredits itself" piece in the Moncton paper the other day but you pulled it and have delivered an even more ludicrous piece of dribble.
We – the people – see through all of this and are laughing at you and the silly attempt to bend public opinion towards a deal that will set NB back.
Please continue as these op eds are a daily source of early morning humour for us all.
What ever happened to journalism? to editorials that made sense or offered thought provoking argument?
This piece is the most blatent bunch of political BS that I have ever seen and I doubt very much that the readers of it will be fooled into thinking that it means anything other than industry support for the power deal with PQ.
This bolsters the argument AGAINST the sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec more than anything I have read elsewhere.
It really seems the Telegraph Journal has its finger on the pulse of it's readers, oh wait, I meant to say the pulse of it's financial backers.