No Mandate to Sell NB Power

November 30, 2009, at 9:00 pm
Submitted to the Times & Transcript 20091130.
(This was my fourth letter)

In my opinion, for the Executive Council of the Province of New Brunswick to even consider the sale of NB Power to another entity, whether governmental, privately owned, or publicly traded, given the fact that they had no mandate to do so, and actually promised they would not do so during their election campaign, is an absolutely absurd, traitorous thing to do.


Have you read the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)? It reads like a flyer from a liquidation warehouse. Bargain after bargain at pennies on the dollar for a publicly owned electric utility that is profitable, viable, and sustainable. The MOU can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.lowerratesnb.ca/nb/.

The argument that the monies from the sale will be used to pay down our debt is absolutely moot. If I owned a personal vehicle worth $10,000 and I sold it to pay off a credit card, I would be left with no car, but my net worth remains the same. No big deal.

It’s a different story for NB Power. We own it now, but we have debt. If we sell it, we no longer have it, but we’ve lost earning power. And our net worth decreases because the company is worth more than the 4.5 billion dollar price tag.

NB power shows in their financial report, available online, net earnings of $70 million dollars for last year. How are we going to replace that income? The answer is, “my pocket and yours, year after year”!

NB Power has spent tons of money keeping their assets in “tip-top” shape, according to their financial summary available online. Therefore, this company should not be sold at a fire sale price.

The Graham government has no mandate to even consider this deal, let alone spend more of our money trying to make us believe it is for our own good. We should all be demanding an election over this issue.

Gary T. Bastarache