LIBERAL PLAN: It's just a plot to raise funds for party, opposition says


Michael Smyth, The Province


Published: Sunday, April 01, 2007

IPP stands for independent power producer, but in British Columbia's fractured political landscape, it could easily be interminably prattling parties.

Few issues divide the ruling Liberals and opposition NDP more fundamentally than the government's decision to contract out new power production to the private sector.

As B.C. strides to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2016, private companies under contract to B.C. Hydro are building power-generation projects worth $4.4 billion.

Where do the Liberals and New Democrats differ on this approach? When it comes to IPPs, you're better off asking what they agree on: nothing.

Let's start with that 2016 target date. The government wants to wean the province off dirty, imported power -- currently about 15 per cent of our total consumption -- and replace it with clean, homegrown stuff.

Nine years to energy self-sufficiency is a good thing, right?

Wrong, says the NDP, who think the deadline was fast-tracked so the Liberals' business buddies can line their pockets as quickly as possible.

"Having an artificial date makes no sense at all -- unless, of course, you want to prop up the independent power industry," NDP MLA John Horgan told the legislature in a recent, raucous debate on the issue.

"'Go forward and buy power from our friends. It's a gold rush."

But the government says the 2016 date is all about saving the planet: Most of the IPPs are eco-friendly, like micro-hydro projects on small streams and rivers, and they must come on line quickly so the province can reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions.

But by reducing emissions is the government also increasing donations to the Liberal party? The NDP says profiteering private power companies will be generous to the Libs at election time.

"This isn't about the future of the province," argued NDP MLA Shane Simpson. "It's about trying to ensure the future of the Liberal Party, and that's wrong."

Actually, the Liberals say, it's about spending money on health and education, not election campaigns. Under the IPP model, private companies build the projects and Hydro buys the power. That frees up billions of public dollars that can be spent elsewhere.

"I'd like to know which hospitals and schools and infrastructure they would forgo while we divert $4 billion," shot back Liberal Joan McIntyre.

But what happens when Hydro's power-purchase contracts with the private companies expire?

The government says the contracts will simply be renegotiated and the power will keep flowing into the B.C. grid.

Wrong again, says the NDP.

"Every single one of them will go to the highest bidder -- and that will be California, not B.C. Hydro," Horgan predicts.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 97th term as governor, stewed in steroids, is going to say: 'Thank you very much, government of B.C., for allowing us to buy your rivers!'"

You'll find out in 40 years or so whether he's right. In the meantime, they'll keep arguing.

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msmyth@direct.ca