Rejoice!

What More Do You Need to Know?

"The business community in Quebec is rejoicing" or so goes our rough translation of the first article in La Presse to talk about The Deal. The headline reads Favorable Reactions to Hydro Quebec Buying NB Power, which should tell you everything you need to know.

The President of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, Michel Leblanc, says the deal will not only lead to important economic advancements for Quebec, but also be important for the environment.

Later in the article, Quebec environmentalists are said to be very happy that the deal will mean two plants will close (Dalhousie and Courtney Bay) which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The environmentalists have already started lobbying Hydro Quebec to close down two more New Brunswick power plants - Coleson Cove and Belledune.

The head of the Quebec union that represents Hydro Quebec workers says it is too soon to comment on the story as he only found out about it this morning. But the representative of the union, Maxime Valade, did say they will be looking closely at the credentials of the New Brunswick workers and the procedures for accepting new members, to ensure "all the proper rules are followed".

Read more about the rejoicing here

Promises Made, Promises Broken

We were going to list the broken promises Premier Graham has inflicted on the people of NB, but we do not have the new Bell Fibre Op, and so lack the required bandwidth to handle them all.

Liberal '06 Platform Reprint

Charter for Change Election 2006

We’ll put our province on the road to self-sufficiency by turning New Brunswick into a leader in energy conservation and generation

Together we will ... Lead the country in energy generation, green power technology and conservation

The Best in Energy Generation & Conservation

We will give consumers real control over energy costs and we will put more money back in New Brunswickers’ pockets. As energy prices fluctuate worldwide, a Liberal Government will work to protect consumers here at home.

A Liberal Government will introduce an innovative plan that will position New Brunswick as an energy leader in generation, promote green power and implement a massive conservation program that will grant homeowners $2,000 for home conservation.

Through NB Power, New Brunswick has long met the electricity needs of its citizens. Large construction projects, such as the refurbishment of Point Lepreau, can also stimulate the economy and provide employment to highly skilled professionals and tradespeople.

The people of New Brunswick are the shareholders of NB Power. Government does not need to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the utility but there is a responsibility to provide clear strategic direction and to define expectations.

A Liberal Government will:

1. Maintain NB Power as a publicly-owned utility that will serve all New Brunswickers equally.

2. Amend the Electricity Act to include a clear statement of purpose that puts the public good of New Brunswickers at the forefront.

3. Establish a long-term energy plan for NB Power with clear strategic direction and objectives.

4. Pursue a Maritime Energy Accord between the three Maritime provinces.

5. Establish regular reporting between the CEO of NB Power and the Minister of Energy.

6. Amend the Energy and Utilities Act to restore the independence of the Energy and Utilities Board, including the ability to review NB Power contracts over $75 million.

7. Establish an independent Office of the Consumer Ombudsman at NB Power.

8. Appoint a Consumer Representative to the NB Power Board of Directors.

9. Establish a no-disconnect policy between November 1 and March 31 for households in legitimate economic need.

Charter for Change:The Best in Energy Generation & Conservation

Pursue an at source rebate on the eight per cent provincial portion of the HST on electricity, natural gas and home heating oil.

Time to Gloat?

Must mention the fact the NB Conservative Blog broke the story in July.

Just sayin'

See it here

Not in Anybody's Interest?

A bombshell rumour is circulating in the Provincial Capital that the Graham Liberals have been working on a secret deal to sell NB Power to Quebec.

Given the Graham track record on management and negotiating skills, the power generated from the collective shiver running down our spines could probably light up the City of Bathurst for a week.

These guys could not get a lower pay increase with New Brunswick doctors after 10 months of negotiations, threats of law suits, and passing legislation to give them all the authority to do whatever they wanted. Why do they think New Brunswickers would even remotely trust them to negotiate with the sharp dealers at Hydro Quebec?

In response to the rumours, the Premier's press flak said "it's not in anybody's interest to talk about a possible outcome" of their conversations with Quebec.

Hey, Buddy, every New Brunswicker is a share holder of NB Power Inc - therefore it is precisely in everybody's interest to talk about possible outcomes.

More to come . . .

A Giant, Gaping Hole

One of the constants of the universe is that the sun will rise in the East and set in the West. Another is that you can always count on TJ Burke to have an opinion on a topic.

MLA Burke is quoted in the morning papers reacting to the surprise news of a call center closing in his riding in Fredericton. Some of his comments include:

"It sickens me, quite truthfully"

"It's a pretty big shock"

"Nothing short of a catastrophe"

"It's a giant, gaping hole at the Brookside Mall"

Most tellingly however is his statement that he will meet with Premier Graham this week to kick around some ideas about what to do.

"I don't know what the strategy will be at this time" said Burke.

Why doesn't the government know what the strategy will be? Why were they taken by surprise on this announcement? Why aren't there any contingency plans in place? And if there are, why aren't the Liberal MLA's aware of them?

This is the second announcement of the closure of a Fredericton call center in two weeks, both of which announcements cruelly coincide with the annual conference of Contact NB, the call center industry association for this province.

No doubt at the conference, participants will be discussing the "giant gaping hole" - not the one that will be left at the Brookside Mall, but rather the "giant gaping hole" in the Liberal government's contact center strategy.

Get It?

"Did you hear the one about the Finance Minister who believes in Self-Sufficiency but wants the federal government to give him more handouts?"

"Greg Byrne"

A horse walks into a bar and orders a Shirley Temple with a side of self-suffiency. The bartender says, "Hey, you know we don't serve your kind in here". And the horse says, "Greg Byrne".

"Knock-Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Finance Minister who believes in Self-Sufficiency but wants the feds to give him more handouts."

"Finance Minister who believes in Self-Sufficiency but wants the feds to give him more handouts - who?"

"Greg Byrne"

A Priest, a Rabbi, and an Imam are walking in the park and talking about self-sufficiency. The Priest says, "In order to have self-sufficiency you need to have a growing economy". The Rabbi says, "Self-sufficiency means doing more with less and not asking for handouts". And the Imam says, "Greg Byrne".

There once was a Finance Minister from Lincoln,

Who about self-sufficiency was thinkin'.

But more money from the feds,

Was what was in in head,

"Greg Byrne"

** News item: Finance Minister says despite growing economy he doesn't want Ottawa to lower transfer payments to NB.

Cry Me a Chocolate River

Few projects stand as a testament to Liberal hubris as blatantly as the project to replace the Petitcodiac River causeway between Moncton and Riverview.

Despite countless studies and environmental impact assessments, Shawn Graham has decided that the causeway must go because this project is "not significant only here in New Brunswick, but across Canada and around the world" *

That's right - people in China, India, and even Swaziland are just waiting with baited breath to see that causeway replaced by a bridge. Sheesh!

All political hyperbole aside (or as the Premier used to pronounce it - "hyper-bowl") the opening price tag on this project is in the neighbourhood of $100 million dollars, which amounts to about $1,000 for every single person living in the Greater Moncton Area.

Back here in the real world, we at the NB Conservative have a not so novel idea for the Premier. Do what they do in the US states when they have a mega project to fund - they ask the good citizens to vote on taking out a bond. In other words, they ask first if everyone agrees to borrow the money and then they actually pay it back.

In fact, we double-chocolate-river dare the Premier to put this initiative on a ballot, either province wide or in a local referendum, and then see if it's worth pursuing.

* In case you might have thought we made the quote up, here it is in its entirety from an actual government press release:

"The construction of the Petitcodiac causeway did not simply block the river," said Graham. "It devastated the river's ecosystem, eliminated commercial fisheries, and changed a way of life for residents of Fort Folly First Nation who had used the river for fishing, travel and trade.”

"Our undertaking of this important environmental project is significant not only here in New Brunswick, but across Canada and around the world. When the Petitcodiac River's magnificent tidal bore can be appreciated once again, and when species such as salmon, smelt and shad return, this endeavour will stand as a symbol of what we are capable of here in this great province, and why we can be proud to call it home." - www.gnb.ca

Missed Op-portunity

Shawn Graham's good friends at Bell-Aliant have really screwed him this time.

This week it was announced that they would be closing down their call centers in northern New Brunswick putting hundreds of workers on the unemployment line.

Didn't Shawn just give Bell-Aliant a big million dollar pile of our taxes so that they could install fiber optic cables in Fredericton and Saint John?

Didn't Shawn also just tear up the public procurement rules to give Bell-Aliant a sweetheart contract extension on their government business worth millions more?

What exactly are we getting in return? The chance to pay $100 a month for an over-priced internet connection and now, it turns out, job losses in the one area of New Brunswick that needs jobs the most.

Spending Up and Math Scores Down

While the Liberals were recently touting their success in raising literacy rates among our school age children, they were just as aggressively down-playing the three-year drop in numeracy rates.

The conspiracy theorists here at the NB Conservative are wondering if maybe lower numeracy scores aren't one of the objectives of the provincial Liberal party. After all, why would Liberals want New Brunswickers to be good with numbers? If more people understood the size of the provincial deficit this year they would be a lot more pissed off about it.

In December, the Graham Grits are going to produce a follow-up budget to the last deficit balloon they released only 7 months ago. All accounts are that it is going to be full of rosy predictions and very light on difficult choices.

Of course the fewer the number of people who understand just how bad their number are the better for them. So don't count on any extra budget money going towards math education.

What Did You Expect?

After a week of traveling around New Brunswick, the Finance Minister has announced some surprising news - all the people who came to the pre-budget meetings want the government to spend more money.

These meetings were not recorded or televised so we will have to take his word for it. But from the sounds of things there were plenty of union reps at all the stops encouraging more spending on government programs.

Then again, Mr. Byrne, what did you expect?

The Liberal government put out a pre-budget questionnaire that asked people how soon they would like to see the deficit paid off: 3 years from now, 4 years from now, or 5 years from now.

That's right - they told the public that balancing the books immediately was not even an option.

So when you tell people in advance you want to keep spending and borrowing more money that we have - why would people come to your meetings with ideas for spending less?