Re: Dam delay a disaster for NDP - by Tom Fletcher in the June 14 Saanich News.
Poor Auld Tom. His breakfast porridge is cold, because he is late arriving at the table, and he’s in a bad mood. Any realistic and viable proposal to construct the Site C dam on the Peace River near Fort St. John was laid to rest years ago.
British Columbia has already contracted to pay $58 billion for the purchase of electricity generated from wind, run-of-river and other renewable power projects over the next 55 years.
As directed by the BC Liberal provincial government, BC Hydro entered into deals with independent power producers, which is the province’s largest set of contractual obligations, without the need to enter into any other decisions to build electricity generating projects.
In the real world, this in itself should have all of the province’s political parties undertaking to adhere to those contracts and support the role of the independent power industry as part of B.C.’s clean energy policy.
So why the suggestion that a pause or cancellation of work on construction of the Site C white elephant might cause any greater hardship to those recently hired workers, than to workers who have already been promised career opportunities in earlier contracted work within the independent power industry?
P.W. Bailey
Saanich