CHURCHILL FALLS, N.L. – New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham plans to set the record straight on the “empty rhetoric” coming from Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams on the agreement to sell most of NB Power’s assets to Hydro-Quebec.
“Premier Williams has talked a lot about this deal,” Graham said Thursday before the 17th session of the Council of Atlantic Premiers.
“But it’s empty rhetoric because he recognizes he can’t put as good a deal on the table as Hydro-Quebec.”
The proposed multibillion-dollar deal has sparked debate across the region and is expected to dominate the meetings between Graham, Williams and the premiers of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward that began Thursday and continue Friday. Williams has denounced the NB Power sale as an attempt by Hydro-Quebec – one of the biggest utilities in North America – to get a “stranglehold” on power exports to the eastern United States.
But Graham said Williams has yet to make and acceptable counter-offer.
“Premier Williams says he’s against the agreement but he has yet to put the figure of $11 billion dollars on the table to surpass the $10 billion that Hydro-Quebec has put forward,” Graham said.
“And he has yet to admit that he does not have the hydro capacity to meet the contract that we’ve signed with Quebec and the heritage pool that is being developed.”
The Newfoundland premier has said he would consider a legal challenge or an appeal to the federal Competition Bureau to stop the deal.
But Graham accused Williams of spreading non-truths about the memorandum of understanding signed between Quebec and New Brunswick nearly a month ago.
“I want to correct some of the misinformation that’s been presented on issues like energy sovereignty,” Graham said. “The suggestion that we’re giving up the future of New Brunswick’s energy sovereignty is totally false.”
Also, Graham said he wants to make it clear Newfoundland will continue to be able to export power through New Brunswick under the proposed deal with Quebec.
“There is nothing to prevent them from gaining access to our grid when their projects come to fruition,” he said. “Electricity can continue to be wheeled through New Brunswick, but it’s at a fair market value price according to the (Federal Regulation and Oversight of Energy) rules to have that access.”
The setting for the Council of Atlantic Premiers, steps from one of the largest hydroelectric projects in Canada, provides a fitting backdrop for meetings dominated by energy issues.
Comments