D6

Alec Bruce

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To read (let's say scan) the more than 600 news reports and editorials that have issued since last Thursday, when Shawn Graham announced the deal with Hydro-Quebec for the major assets of NB Power, you'd think the province had relinquished its birthright in Confederation to a cabal of evil carpet-baggers.

The "how dare he" and "we weren't consulted" crowd have jammed the printed pages, airwaves and viaducts of both the mainstream and online media with their worries, fears and indignation over a sale that, if approved, would eliminate $4.8 billion, or roughly 40 per cent, of public debt -- as if this were of trifling significance.

Far more important, they bluster, is the humiliation attached to the transfer of the utility's ownership to an extra-territorial behemoth which can't be trusted to keep New Brunswick's best interests in mind as it seeks to plunder the fat energy markets of the U.S. northeast -- markets that, by all rights, should have been ours to conquer.

The reaction, while not entirely rational, is understandable. No one likes to have the rug pulled out from under him -- even a worn and tattered one. If NB Power was a burden on the pocketbooks of every man, woman and child in the province, at least it was our burden to bear.

Who asked Graham to lighten our load, anyway?

But even a cursory examination of the memorandum of understanding reveals less peril than perspicuity -- starting with the clear-eyed, if uncomfortable, conclusion that successive governments, including the current office-holders, have not been particularly effective stewards of New Brunswick's long-term energy aspirations.

It's one thing to wail, "There goes the neighbourhood." It's quite another to recognize that the "neighbourhood" has always been largely imaginary. And without the fiscal muscle to leverage massive investments in the province's so-called energy hub, the chances of turning fiction into fact have been, for years, illusory. So, how can you lose something you never really had?

In fact, despite statements to the contrary early in Graham's tenure, NB Power is actually structured for sale. Its quasi-independent operating units are their own cost centres. Its bond-holders are private, international conglomerates. Its senior management are accomplished scions of big business, not big government.

You can quibble over the choice of suitors. (After all, Hydro-Quebec is another publicly owned utility). But it's hard to argue, with a straight face, that New Brunswick's power company is, first and foremost, a civic trust whose fate should be determined through referendum or election.

It's an asset and, like all assets, it's in play.

Much more relevant is whether the proposed deal is good for consumers either in the short term or over the long haul. Naturally, the provincial government says it's brilliant because it fixes residential rates at current levels for five years and provides industrial users with favourable and predictable energy costs.

Moreover, it insists, rate increases after 2015 will be held to inflation which, historically, runs at 1.5 per cent a year -- far less than the average 3.3 per cent annual hikes customarily levied (until now) by NB Power.

And should the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec run afoul of one another . . . well, that's what the Energy and Utilities Board is here to arbitrate.

Frankly, Graham and his spokespeople may be gilding a few lilies in all of this. Whatever is signed today -- or five months from now -- does not guarantee happy consequences for New Brunswick in perpetuity. Regulatory regimes exist to be challenged. And no one can predict the future of greener, more renewable forms of home-grown energy in the province.

Then again, few predicted the catastrophic effects of the global economic downturn on New Brunswick's fiscal health, or the multi-million-dollar delay in the refurbishment of Point Lepreau, or, indeed, Irving Oil's decision to indefinitely postpone its plans to build a second refinery in Saint John.

Even less predictable, perhaps, has been Shawn Graham's dawning realization that deeds, not words, define truly transformative change. And those who inveigh against a deal that will indisputably enrich them -- at least for now -- can take some small comfort in knowing that their premier seems to appreciate the distinction.

* Alec Bruce is a Moncton-based journalist. His column appears in this space every Tuesday and Thursday. He can be reached via www.thebrucereport.com