Opposition urges residents to "stand up and be heard" on NB Power deal

Energy was the topic of discussion on the agenda Monday night as local residents gathered at the Tantramar civic centre to discuss the proposed sale of NB Power with opposition MLAs.

So it only seemed fitting that those residents were encouraged to draw upon the "power of the people" to stop the deal.

"The people of New Brunswick have to stand up and be heard," said Bruce Fitch, the Conservatives' finance critic.

"You need to continue to petition the government, and continue to tell the government you're not satisfied with the answers you're getting," he said in response to a resident's question about how to stop the Liberals from moving forward on this deal. "There's still some hope; it could change."

Fellow MLA Jeannot VolpÉ, former Minister of Energy and Finance under Bernard Lord's government, agreed.

"The voice of the people is pretty strong," he said, noting that mass protests and petitions can make an impact on government decisions, pointing to the Liberals' back-tracking on French Immersion, post-secondary education and doctors' salaries as examples.

Local resident Layton Fisher wonders why the government is in such a hurry to push the deal through.

Tantramar MLA Mike Olscamp, who hosted Monday night's town hall-style meeting, said his government has asked the Liberals that question many times in the past few weeks but hasn't gotten a response.

"That's the style of this government," he said. "But we think it's so important, it needs more time. So we're going to push this as far as we can in the Legislature. We're going to try and delay it and make it an election issue."

At the same time, Olscamp acknowledges that there's only so much a minority opposition can do.

"They're 33 strong and we're 22. So we're going to do our best but we can only go so far."

Fisher also questioned why the government isn't pursuing a collaborative energy partnership with the other Maritime provinces that might result in a better deal.

Volpe said there are plenty of alternatives the government should be considering, including Maritime partnerships that would allow all parties to share the potential market to the US and benefit from it.

He also pointed out that New Brunswick could develop a long-term partnership agreement with Quebec instead of selling the "proverbial farm."

"I don't think we need to give up everything," he said. "We have the best location of any other jurisdiction. There's a value to that, why not try to get a benefit out it?"

Local resident Paul LeBlanc agreed that the deal simply doesn't add up.

"We don't need a government who is going to sell the assets of our province," he said.

Fitch pointed out that the Liberals, in their election platform three years ago, promised they wouldn't put NB Power up for sale.

"So it's offensive to me that the Liberals went ahead and made a deal to sell NB power when they promised they wouldn't," he said.

What's even worse, he insisted, is that the government is using a substantial amount of taxpayer dollars to promote the agreement, "to tell you this deal is good for you."

He said Premier Graham wants New Brunswickers to believe they will save money on their power bills and that NB Power's "crippling" debt will be relieved.

However, Fitch pointed out that NB Power's debt was being paid down and that there was no reason to sell off the corporation's assets.

Volpe said the deal will not result in lower power rates for residential customers, as promised by Graham.

"Hydro Quebec will not sell power to us at lower rates; they'll sell it to us at the market price."

Volpe also noted that the five-year rate freeze promised in the Memorandum of Understanding is not as rosy as it appears. He claims that New Brunswickers will have to pay interest on the deferred funds.

"They will be making a profit on the rate freeze. So in essence, we'll be buying back our own debt."

New Brunswick will also be on the hook for the costs of decommissioning the Belledune and Coleson Cove plants, said Volpe, but the province won't receive the carbon credits for doing so.

"All the benefits go to them and all the costs go to us."

Local resident Judith Weiss asked whether there would be any way to reverse the deal once it is passed, particularly if the opposing Tories form the next government after next September's election.

Volpe stressed that although the Conservatives are opposed to the deal and will do what they can to prevent it, they can't make any promises about overturning the decision because "we don't know what type of clauses are in that deal."

That's why the MLAs urged the people of New Brunswick to make their voices heard now.

"The Liberals are telling everyone that when the deal's done, that's when you'll get the details. That's not good enough. If we don't get these questions answered now, it'll be too late," said Volpe.

Olscamp also shared his concerns over the potential impact this deal could have on Moloney Electric, a local firm that supplies and refurbishes transformer units for NB Power.

He worries that Moloney, the only New Brunswick firm to do this type of work, may not be highly considered by Hydro Quebec when the contracts come up for bid.