NB Power Deal

N.B. premier defends new deal
Graham: Revised power pact deals with concerns
By KEVIN BISSETT
The Canadian Press
FREDERICTON Shawn
Graham says a rewritten deal to
sell pieces of NB Power to Hydro-
Quebec addresses the concerns of
people who opposed the original
agreement, but a political scien-
tist says he doubts it will be
enough to quell discontent
among voters who are unhappy
with the New Brunswick pre-
mier's handling of the sale.
The revised deal came after a
public outcry and dissent within
Graham's own caucus, with some
members openly saying they
could not vote in favour of the
original plan.
On Tuesday, Graham said the
changes show members of his
cabinet are listening to their con-
stituents and relaying concerns.
"That's the valuable part of this
democratic process," Graham
said outside the legislature. "We
needed New Brunswickers to be
engaged. Not only have we lis-
tened, we have been able to meet
the benchmarks that we set out."
Graham said the revamped
deal still achieves the original ob-
jectives of lowering power rates,
and reducing debt and green-
house gas emissions while creat-
. ingjobs.
Under terms ofthe original ten-
tative agreement. Hydro-Quebec
would have assumed the major as-
sets ofthe New Brunswick utility
- including transmission lines,
hydroelectric dams and the Point
Lepreau nuclear power plant -
for $4.75 billion. That equals NB
Power's debt.
1\ government document ob-
tained by The Canadian Press
shows the agreement is worth
$3.2 billion and would include the
sale of NB Power's hydroelectric
facilities and Point Lepreau.
It says NB Power would retain
transmission and distribution
systems, and continue to operate
as a New Brunswick-owned and
operated Crown corporation, em-
ploying more than 60 per cent of
the utility's current workforce.
The New Brunswick govern-
ment was scheduled to release de-
tails of the revised deal today.
Don Desserud of the University
of New Brunswick said the new
proposal is just the latest in a se-
ries of major announcements
that Graham's Liberal govern-
ment has been forced to back-
track on.
"The problem is not just the
proposals that they've made, but
the fact that they seem to have
been rash and not thought
through sufficiently," he said in
an interview. "That speaks to the
government's ability to be credi-
ble and for people to have confi-
dence in their ability to make
judgments."
Desserud said no matter how
good the new NB Power deal may
be, it won't be enough to guaran-
tee the Liberals return to power
in an election set for Sept. 27.
"The stars will have to line up
perfectly for the Liberals and
they have to line up absolutely di-
sastrously for the Conservatives
before the Liberals are going to be
. able to rescue this," he said.
Graham also faced criticism
outside the province for the NB
Power deal, particularly from
Premier Danny Williams of
Newfoundland and Labrador,
who opposed the sale of New
Brunswick's transmission lines
fearing that would have given
Quebec a stranglehold on power
exports into the lucrative north-
eastern United States market.
Williams said the changes ap-
pear to be a step in the right direc-
tion. "From our point of view, our
major concern was access and
that access would slip into the
hands of Hydro-Quebec ... and I
was very concerned about that on
the basis of our relationship with
Hydro-Quebec," Williams told re-
porters in St. John's.