In the midst of chaos, something very interesting happened last week.
A torrent of controversy - particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador - erupted when news recently broke that Hydro Quebec had struck a deal to buy NB Power, effectively throwing a major wrench in Premier Danny Williams' plans to develop the Lower Churchill project and send the power to the U.S. without involving Quebec.
While Williams was busy criticizing New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham for cutting a deal with the utility that has wreaked political and economic havoc in Newfoundland and Labrador, Liberal leader Yvonne Jones decided to jump into the fray and try to score a few political points.
Here were some of her words: "It is clear that the premier has mismanaged and misread the entire political landscape surrounding the energy context in Atlantic Canada. Subsequently, he has isolated himself and this province while the rest of the energy players have moved forward with multi-billion (dollar) generation and transmission deals among themselves."
While it's easy to see where Jones was trying to go, she missed the mark badly. Yes, Williams has isolated himself politically, and not just in the energy field. But misread the political landscape surrounding energy in Atlantic Canada? Hardly. Williams hit the nail right on the head. Hydro Quebec is gearing up to steamroll everyone in its way, and New Brunswick has given it the final helping hand it needed to accomplish that goal.
Williams certainly wasn't the only one criticizing the deal. Graham's move has been largely greeted with scorn by New Brunswickers, who can't believe their government plans to sell them up the river and leave them to the tender mercies of North America's biggest, and some would say most ruthless, power utility. The voters in New Brunswick will decide Graham's fate next fall.
Also, business leaders from near and far are struggling to accept Graham's logic. After all, New Brunswick has agreed to give up control of its energy destiny in exchange for some short-term rate relief and the clearance of a hefty chunk of provincial debt.
But here's the point: the NB Power Hydro-Quebec contract, when completed, won't have an expiration date, unlike the Upper Churchill agreement. This doozy of an deal goes on forever.
Jones saw what she thought was a political opportunity and ran with it. But she was dead wrong. Williams was, and is, dead right. From Labrador to New England, every player in the energy business is quaking in their boots over what this all means: an energy superpower that could, one day, be controlled by a government with a separatist agenda. And let's be honest, Hydro Quebec's record in dealing with outsiders isn't good.
Jones will never gain the support needed to remotely threaten Williams' grip on power until she can make better arguments than the ones she tried, and failed, to make here.