Opposition MLA Mike Currie accused the Liberal government Thursday of trying to make a backroom deal with a Quebec power company to acquire Maritime Electric and hand it over to Hydro-Quebec.
During question period Thursday, Currie asked the premier about his current negotiations with Hydro- Quebec, which is planning to take over the public utility in New Brunswick, NB Power.
Premier Robert Ghiz said he is trying to negotiate a deal with the Quebec power company to potentially get a better energy rate for P.E.I.
But in the legislature Thursday, Currie questioned why P.E.I.’s privately owned Maritime Electric is not part of the negotiations.
“Is the reason why Maritime Electric is not at the table is because you are negotiating to buy Maritime Electric so you can turn around and give it Hydro-Québec and then allow them to have a complete monopoly on not only New Brunswick but also Prince Edward Island?” Currie asked.
Ghiz denied that accusation, but did say he is working on some kind of deal with Hydro-Quebec.
“The only thing we’re looking for is a power purchase agreement with the province of Quebec because, as the honorable member would know, Hydro-Quebec produces somewhere around 40,000 megawatts of electricity,” Ghiz said.
“Prince Edward Island is in the need of about 100 megawatts of that, and our government is going to work to try and find cheap renewable energy sources for Islanders.”
But Currie pointed to an opportunity that P.E.I. had in 2007 to bid on an energy corridor through New Brunswick that was later acquired by the Quebec company. P.E.I. did not bid on that tendered transmission space.
Currie said this was a missed opportunity to not only have the ability to export energy to the United States, but also the loss of a potential asset to bring to the table in the current negotiations with Hydro-Quebec.
“I think the premier lost an opportunity and allowed Hydro-Quebec to gain a monopoly on all the power that’s going to be transmitted into Quebec.”
Ghiz said later the government did not bid on the transmission capacity tendered by NB Power in late 2007 because it was a new government and at that point did not have a strategy developed for energy.
It also would have cost the province upwards of $65 million — a hefty price tag for a small province, he said.
He also insisted the province’s hopes to export energy to New England and its negotiations with Hydro-Quebec for cheaper power are not connected at all.
“We’re looking to buy energy for Prince Edward Island — that’s totally different and has no relation whatsoever (to export),” he told The Guardian
He said he is still at the negotiating table with Quebec and is hoping to use P.E.I.’s close proximity to the Iles de la Madeleine as leverage.
“The fact of the matter is that we are close to the Îles de la Madeleine, which is part of the province of Quebec. At some point they may be looking at finding a way to get their renewable energy over to Îles de la Madeleine, which puts us at a very strategic advantage.”