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with John Curran
Guest columnist
Monday, August 17, 2009
Previous columns
With the Electricity Review Team's Phase 1 report now a matter of public record, it's clear our territory is at a crossroads. The high cost of power has long been a barrier to economic development in the North, but the choices made in the coming months could steer us in a new direction that would improve the lives of all Northerners.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
This is one of many columns that appear bi-weekly in the News/North business section. The column, which addresses business issues affecting Northerners, is penned alternately by John Curran, executive director of the NWT Chamber of Commerce; Mike Vaydik, executive director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines; and Don Worrall, executive director of the NWT Construction Association. |
Following its meeting with the GNWT's Electricity Review Team, the NWT Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors supported the idea of private investment in the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC).
When some people talk about outside investment in NTPC they instantly throw around the word "privatization." This is blatant fear-mongering, pure and simple. No one is suggesting that the GNWT should just wash its hands of power completely. There is no insidious scheme to clean up the territorial balance sheet by holding a secret auction in some smoke-filled Calgary back room under a banner boldly proclaiming "Everything Must Go!"
Future private investment in NTPC would likely occur on a project-by-project basis as is already the case in several regions around the NWT.
By further expanding this practise and using a three-way partnership model, you would have all of the relevant players involved - the First Nations who control the land, private firms who have the capital and expertise, and the GNWT and its arms-length corporations who are responsible for ensuring service for all Northerners - at the table with a vested interest in making it work.
New doors would open for developing additional power generation infrastructure and transmission lines facilitating the sale of power, both within the NWT and to export markets.
This would result in new sustainable revenue streams for First Nations and the other partners, a larger customer base served by non-diesel generated power and eventually an integrated territorial grid.
Costs and emissions would go down while reliability and Northern benefits would go up.
At the end of the day, isn't that what we all want and expect from our Power Corp?