Letters to the editor

A10

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Why hasn't Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton weighed in on the subject of the potential NB Power sale to Hydro-Quebec when it's clearly a situation that might impact every Canadian?

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In recent days much has been printed about the Liberal government's attempt to sell off New Brunswick Power to Hydro-Québec. Some of it has been little more than political bafflegab, some has revolved around provincial or local issues and some has been out and out speculation. Little has been said about the larger ramifications of the "deal" from a national or international perspective.

The sale of NB Power to a company fully controlled by a potentially separatist jurisdiction is concerning enough both provincially and federally. Add to this, though some may argue the point, that such a sale will provide that jurisdiction with a virtual monopoly over existing export and import power distribution from the Ontario border east and the magnitude of the problem begins to present itself. But that's not the complete story.

Consider that an Atlantic Canadian economist recently identified that Hydro-Québec, by spending billions on this purchase, are assured that much of the money spent will be recovered by Quebec via taxpayer-funded equalization payments and we find ourselves having crossed over from the realm of the concerning into the frightening and absurd.

Could it be that the self-serving politicians in the nation's capital are happy to remain silent in the face of a pending national crisis simply to protect their political futures in Quebec?

MYLES HIGGINS

Portugal Cove, N.L.

Power rate freeze a key selling point

I've been listening to the debate regarding the proposed NB Power sale. Starting with the facts, it's exactly that: a business deal.

It certainly is not a vote on which party can lead New Brunswick better. This process began under the Conservatives and is being concluded under the Liberals. So, both parties have thought it a good idea. Why? Because NB Power has two strikes against it - debt and aging infrastructure. Both governments recognized that 40 per cent of the provincial debt (nearly $4 billion) belongs to NB Power.

We have a financial mess on our hands! We can sell NB Power and pay off the $4.75 billion debt and also freeze our power rates for five years. That alone sold me.

If Hydro-Québec or anyone else wants to give us that much money for NB Power and will guarantee our electricity rates stay the same for five years, I'm all for it. Debt is bad. If I don't pay my mortgage, the bank will take my home. That is a business deal. I am just a common taxpayer but it does not take a rocket scientist to see that every time something happens at Lepreau it costs a billion dollars to fix and therefore more debt.

I don't want higher taxes to pay for NB Power. The government must negotiate as strong a deal as possible. Focus on paying off the debt, controlling power rate structures and protection for NB Power employees and their jobs. Keep my taxes down.

MALCOLM LITTLE

Riverview

Referendum or election needed

The government of Shawn Graham has made one giant miscalculation concerning the sale of New Brunswick Power to Quebec. What they forget is the government is only the custodians of NB Power for us.

They have no right to sell our heritage without the consent of the owners, the people of New Brunswick.

If the Liberals really want to act on our behalf, they need to do one of two things to gain legal standing in the eyes of the people.

They will have to call an election to settle matters. The other choice is to have a province-wide referendum, not just Liberal politicians. They have no moral right to sell future generations' birthright to our own power lines for temporary short-term gain.

What would be the use of new wind or tidal power if Quebec said there was no room on our once-owned power grid?

Buying electricity from Quebec is one thing, giving up our well-connected power lines forever is something entirely different.

In my opinion if the Liberals don't call an election or referendum over the under-valued sale of NB Power to Quebec they don't deserve to have political power in New Brunswick.

This short-term, one-side deal must be stopped. The only way this will happen is for others to speak up now and not listen to paid spin doctors like the Graham team have already hired to give us a snow job.

DONALD A GOODSPEED

Bathurst

Try to avoid stereotyping

Don't you hate stereotypes? In my youth, I hated the brutal Germans, liked the stalwart Russians, pitied the feeble French; now I admire the stalwart Germans and the clever Japanese, and regret the misguided Russians and the bombastic French. All are stereotypes.

A few years ago, a 60-plus woman paused at an intersection, then drove on with something dragging under her car. Her home was nearby, so she went there before checking for the cause of the problem. There was a fortyish woman wedged underneath the vehicle. All the news items blamed the 60 woman and many thought anyone that old should have her driving abilities checked yearly/monthly/daily. Not one report suggested that fortyish women should not step off the curb under a moving vehicle! Stereotypes.

Who, if anyone, damaged the cenotaph? We don't know yet. Let's blame the teens; they can't fight back. Stereotypes.

My career was teaching high school. Many a parent on parent-teacher night suggested that teaching the youth of today must be especially tough. I always replied that teens are nice people and I liked them. I didn't say that stereotyping is for the feebleminded; that would be stereotyping.

I don't know who or what damaged the cenotaph. Until we get more facts, I am willing to write it off as due to a low-flying UFO.

Yes, stereotyping.

STUART MILLS

Fredericton

Fund International Immunization, too

On November 20, Minister Bev Oda unveiled CIDA'S Children and Youth strategy, now a welcome priority of Canadian foreign aid. It includes increasing child survival, improving the quality of education and ensuring the safety of children and youth.

I applaud the large amounts committed for micronutrients and education. But, while acknowledging that immunization is a priority for action, Minister Oda didn't use the opportunity to announce new funding for the Canadian Initiative for International Immunization. Tried and proven over 16 years, the CIII has contributed to the impressive impacts of vaccination worldwide such as a 74 per cent drop in deaths caused by measles and the near eradication of polio.

According to the World Health Organization, if all the vaccines now available against childhood diseases were widely adopted at the cost of $1 billion per year globally, an additional 2 million deaths a year could be prevented in children under five years old. Canada's fair share would be $50 million per year, a mere one per cent of Canadian foreign aid. One per cent to save 100,000 lives per year.

What exactly are we waiting for?

PAMELA WALDEN-LANDRY

Montréal

Public hoodwinked on climate change

Every institution needs its whistleblower and the world was extremely fortunate to find one existing within Britain's notable Climatic Research Unit. A group of academic researchers (people had come to trust) have been exposed for the cheats they are.

Unconvincing excuses aside, their now public scandalous emails - ripping the veil covering the deceit involved in fudging climate data - could well be the climate warming skeptics' Berlin Wall moment.

Those manipulated to believe its studies can now translate CRU's definition of "settled science": Science that is fixed; science that ignores conventions of respected science; science that generates data to support a myth; science that manipulates data to further an agenda; science to justify an economy wrecking cap-and-trade scam; and science driven by some researchers who have been bought.

After reading only about a dozen quotes taken from more than a thousand emails, it's easy to see just why the "scientific experts" at CRU might have wanted to keep them confidential.

Having dealt with insect population control, I can recognize smoking guns when I see them.

Those secret emails are the smoking gun that exposes CRU's politicizing of science and the corruption of academia in which intellectually and morally dishonest persons attempt to hoodwink public effort to get vital objective information.

THADDÉE RENAULT

Fredericton