Note to MHA's - are you really interested in information or will you continue to walk blindly into our economic and social demise?
People ask me frequently - why I am opposed to the export of the Lower Churchill power.
They also point out to me - correctly - that Hydro-Quebec also exports power.
Still with me MHA's?
First - Hydro-Quebec decades ago nationalized all the private power entities and formed what is now Hydro-Quebec. The consumers of Quebec benefit from this by eliminating the equivalent of Newfoundland Power from the rates to customers.
Understand this MHA's - you have no idea why we have not nationalized Newfoundland Power - and if you bothered to be interested you would know that we should. Newfoundland and Labrador does not have a population base to support competitive interests in the distribution (delivery to your door) system. Therefore a monopoly is guaranteed. Considering this is the case - why do we have a middleman - delivering power for a publicly owned crown corporation that generates and transmits the power? The reason is that corporate interests of Newfoundland Power a subsidiary of Fortis want government to continue to give them a license to print money - while we the consumers pay for it.
Let me add to this by saying that Newfoundland and Labrador hydro continues to be the distributor of power to 35,000 customers doors in many rural regions of our province and also Labrador. That is to say they get a bill from Hydro instead of Newfoundland Power. This is so because the greedy corporate was not interested in delivering power to smaller communities and remote regions as the return on investment was not satisfactory. So Newfoundland Power delivers to all major population areas to maximize return. This costs all of us money.We do not need to continue to pay profit over profit for necessary and essential energy.
A side note for young-ins like Steve Kent - a few years back Newfoundland Power wanted to buy all the poles in our system. The attempt would have been to have Newfoundland Power take over delivery of power in those regions such as the South-Coast and Northern Peninsula for new profits - why? - because you and I have paid off the assets required to deliver power to these customers. Now that the investment they would not make to electrify rural regions is complete, functioning, maintained and paid for - they wanted to take it over for a dime and reap the profits.
Now back to where we were. It has long since past the time that Nalcor should take over Newfoundland Power and start saving money for the consumers. The evidence is available at the Department of Natural Resources and there have been financial assessments of this potential and they are positive. Why therefore is our government - past Liberal and current Conservative - not doing this? Corporate lobbying and the interests of greedy shareholders continue to trump the interests of the people. This flies in the face of our democracy where these people we elect - are supposed to serve our interests first.
You see having two corporate headquarters (Nalcor and Newfoundland Power) two sets of executive salaries, two massive computer networks, two sets of management salary, two fleets of vehicles, double the actual building assets - costs us money. In the corporate world they call this unnecessary duplication and a waste of money. That is unless - one private - monopoly wants to keep its license to print money.
If we simply nationalized Newfoundland Power - we would save ourselves a fortune - even when including the cost of the nationalization. This one move would guarantee that our children would be able to offer competitive rates to industry - they might be clever enough to attract in years to come - and would also insure lower domestic rates to customers than would have been charged if we maintain this private monopoly. Now the bureaucrats in Natural Resources have made a career out of spinning the heads off naive politicians and rookie Ministers. An example of this would be when Danny decided that taking equity in the oil projects off our coast would be good for the people. Ask the Minister to honestly tell you what the bureaucrats in his department felt about that move. It only happened because Danny forced the policy through. This is one of the few times that Danny and I agreed on anything. These same bureaucrats are still fighting to privatize Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro - and I think they caught Danny's shareholders ear on that one - and very cynically I believe that this policy continues to be pursued by corporate interests.
Just curious Steve - are you starting to see yet - that you are only told what others want you to know - and in the spirit of being a team player - they pat you on the back like a little child - and expect you to follow them wherever they may take you?
Now let's carry on - I wonder has the reader yet figured out that I am not doing this for my health or for partisan reasons?
Exporting of Power
Let's get some things straight - Hydro-Quebec's export of hydropower only represents 10% of sales volume - frankly they continue to export what we have exported to them. The rest is used in Quebec for the generation of industry and to guarantee the people of Quebec have the best consumer electricity rates available.
By comparison Newfoundland and Labrador exports 5000 megawatts of its 6368 megawatts of hydro it produces - and with the latest Lower Churchill fiasco - well you can figure that out. 97% of our generated power is clean renewable hydro-electric yet we sit with one oil fired plant, four gas turbines and 26 diesel plants (Holyrood example)
You see we are seen by Hydro-Quebec and private energy companies as naive, gullible, easily taken, and foolish newfies (you know how hard it is for me to even write this term).
Let's compare how Hydro-Quebec's energy has been developed for Quebec and how Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro's energy has been developed for Quebec. Yep that's right - and maybe you should read it again.
I would be happy to export power if we met the following conditions:
- Food products: US$3,340 million (3 Billion)
- Wood and paper: US$9,902 million (9 Billion)
- Textiles and clothes: US$3,045 million (3 Billion)
- Minerals and mineral products: US$10,598 million (10 Billion)
- Chemicals and petrochemical products: US$3,877 million (3 Billion)
- Machinery and tools: US$4,581 million (4 Billion)
- Transport material: US$15,750 million (15 Billion)
- Electrical, electronics, and telecom products: US$7,172 million (7 Billion)
- Electricity: US$832 million (under 1 Billion)
- Uncategorized products: US$9,146 million (9 Billion)
Now I am willing to put relative percentages on our failure. That is to say we generate less energy than Quebec but if one uses a relative percentage - we have failed miserably. If we could boast the same percentage of industry developed in Quebec - exporting products and expertise - using their and our hydro resources - I would be delighted to export power. Newfoundland and Labrador's tremendous Upper Churchill power is not being used to generate industry here. We do not even come close.
Newfoundland and Labrador generates 10% of Canada's hydro power - do we have 10% of the industry? Newfoundland and Labrador ranks third in the country in both Hydro generation and conventional crude oil production in the country. Do we rank third in industry development, employment, and population?
Newfoundland and Labrador employs 6500 people in the oil and utilities sector compared to Quebec's 46,000 employees in the hydro sector alone and the hundreds of thousands employed by industry fuelled by hydropower.
With 300,000 barrels of oil a day and 6400 megawatts of installed hydro power - we have nothing?
These politicians feel they are capable to sell even more power? They think it is okay that in the same time frame as we continued to lose industry - two papermills and fishplants - it is okay to export our only potential for industrial growth?
These politicians think it is okay to see our power rates go through the roof so that other jurisdictions can get our power cheap and attract industry for themselves - while we sit here in Newfoundland and Labrador and continue to see power rates rise?
These politicians have the audacity to celebrate this "term sheet" with a publicly traded company out of Nova Scotia "emera" while we sit here at 14% unemployment?
Newfoundland and Labrador has always been a haven for shysters - since the days of Smallwood. They see us as easy pickings - and they use our naive and ignorant politicians to do our bidding. These companies - offshore - sucking in our politicians and in some cases are our politicians.
We sit here in Newfoundland and Labrador devastated by federal fisheries mismanagement - exodus of tens of thousands of our people. We sit here in Newfoundland and Labrador making the economy of Quebec stronger and now they want to boost Nova Scotia and if one listens to Kathy Dunderdale - helping Canada with its greenhouse gas emission targets (did not know Canada had any). Our Premier and Ed Martin singing the virtues of the Emera deal for everybody but us - and then to add insult to injury for Labradorians - we will take Holyrood off while significant areas of Labrador continue to rely on thermal power or Hydro Quebec for power.
They are a joke and are mouthpieces willingly or unwillingly for greedy corporate interests that do not reside in Newfoundland and Labrador.
I have only just begun - and once again I call on Kathy Dunderdale or Shawn Skinner - Minister of Natural Resources to debate - really debate this issue.
And now I have to suffer the Minister of Human Resources Darin King on open-line politicking for Vaughn Granter in Humber West who spends his time ducking.
Stay tuned - still interested Steve Kent - keep bobbing your head and quoting from speaking notes provided by .....
5 comments:
Can't say it much clearer then that Sue.
Excellent work and for free. No taxpayers dollars used. I can just imagine what you could do if we were paying you.
If Labrador peoples only knew what service you were giving them they would be amazed and grateful.
Thanks very much Sue. You have one grateful servant here, anyway.
Sue , your article stirs the blood and the pride .
We have a fair size province (landmass), a small population that is widely dispersed .Combined , it makes for the perfect tool by which a people can easily be manipulated .
Generally speaking ,I suppose we are a "simple people", in our outlook and demeanor .
More trusting than we need be , which more often than not can be our downfall .
The older generation is habituated to this lifestyle ,we are an aging population .
Do we have the will to make such sweeping changes ?
Are our people being held captive by a handful of "greedy capitalists", some of whom who have excelled so well in the art of deception , that they are able to keep our people in the dark and out of the loop , while they rape and pillage our resources ?
One thing for sure is that our people will have no future , unless we change our ways .
You and I know that Sue , now all we have to do is convince others of that .
Change will only come about when our young people see that it is to their advantage .
There is an old saying "that when the student is ready , the teacher will appear" , could it be that you are that teacher ?
Ursula - putting the population aside for a minute - where are the media? Where are the journalists? Do you see what they cover day after day?
Norman,
I remain a servant to the next generation. They are why I do what I do everyday.
The media Sue , investigative journalism is non-existent .
I having been waging a one-woman battle with a certain newspaperman for a couple of years now .
The thing that really bothers me is that some journalists are becoming quite bold in displaying their partisanship .
I heard a very apt line in an old black and white movie the other night ,"journalists have turned into a bunch of stenographers ".
Somebody calls a media scrum and they take notes .
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