Hello Chestermere! We have had some beautiful sunny days this week and it was wonderful to see people out swimming in the lake, playing in the parks, and the smell of barbeques is a wonderful part of our summer season. It was great to see some of you at Langdon Days. I hope you enjoyed the beautiful wagon we rode in the parade. Many thanks to Verne Kemble, Connie Challice, Dwight Beard and Dan Dorsey and of course the horses Buck, Buddy, Skyla, and Neisa who after all did all the work towing the candy and freezies along!
We also had some spectacular storms this week as well, and we are not just referring to the weather. We are sure that you have been following along with the rest of Alberta regarding the “PPAs” (Power Purchase Agreements) and the balancing pool which is the government created entity that manages power supply in Alberta. When electricity was deregulated the power suppliers were separated from the existing power sellers which were almost exclusively coal fired plants. The sellers then entered into long term contracts (the PPAs) with the power producers. Because these were long term contracts the government gave them the right to cancel the contracts if actions BY THE GOVERNMENT made the contracts unprofitable, or more unprofitable. If you look at prices for power we have enjoyed very competitive prices since this was put in place. Well, guess what. The government doubled the carbon cost in these contracts (and bragged about it) and now has added the carbon tax and accelerated coal power phaseout. This has basically made it impossible for these contracts to ever be profitable in the future so companies like Enmax are exercising their right, granted to them BY THE GOVERNMENT, to return these contracts to the balancing pool. So now we have the spectacle of the government suing itself along with companies like Enmax, owned by the taxpayers of the City of Calgary. We’re probably talking millions of dollars in lawyers’ fees. And guess what, you get to pay through your taxes for BOTH sets of lawyers. The Government either did not know or chose to ignore the consequences of their ideologically driven policies. I don’t know which is worse. Now you, the Alberta taxpayers, are facing major consequences for their lack of knowledge. The fallout of this decision will have a huge impact on what you pay, and you will be even more impacted when businesses and services that you use are charging you more to keep their lights on. Supposedly this information was not part of the transition binder or the briefing books as stated by Chris Varcoe in his recent article in the Calgary Herald. Your tax dollars hard at work folks! My colleague Don MacIntyre the Shadow Minister for Electricity and Renewables mentions in that same article that the Balancing Pool had discussed and warned about this issue with government as early as September, 2015. This is not going to go away, and we Albertans will need to be vigilant as we move forward.
We were also watching the gathering of all the Premiers in Whitehorse to discuss a nation wide carbon tax, and “free trade” talks. We think that what was most interesting about these “talks” is that nothing was shared with the people of Canada. There was no information shared about what exactly was going to be included in this “ground breaking” not yet ratified agreement. The Federal Government chooses to ignore that it has jurisdiction over interprovincial trade and commerce. We already pay a pretty penny for internal trade barriers. It costs us Canadians about 130 billion per year. Just imagine what we could do with that money! However, when it came to the idea of a national carbon tax, our federal leader seemed to have no problem inserting himself into the provincial arena. What a week! As always, we love to hear from you. Please let us know what you think.
Leela Sharon Aheer, MLA
