Energy strategy a bright idea

Murray Campbell
Globe and Mail
13-Aug-2005

COMMENT: Canada has avoided talk of a national energy strategy ever since it was first tried in the 1970s by the government of Pierre Trudeau - and eventually succumbed to the self-centred bullying and influence of the oil companies and of Alberta.

The federal government is still afraid to talk energy strategy, but others are not - the Pembina Institute, for one. Some of the corporations, for another. And the Council of the Federation - Canada's Premiers - at last.

There's still a long way to go to an enlightened, visionary, sustainable policy for the country, but it's a start.

BANFF, ALTA.

The Council of the Federation is looking for some legitimacy. It wants Canadians to see that their provincial leaders are not just whiners looking to squeeze more money out of the federal government.

Luckily, it has seized an issue that has the potential to burnish its reputation. It can help Ontario out of a pickle and, in the process, save the country. It didn't get much notice but the decision of the premiers to strike a committee to look at energy strategy has the potential to make Canada a slightly smaller, less regionalized country. It might also help make it more prosperous.

Right now, Canada is a collection of fiefdoms when it comes to the transmission of electricity. This may have made sense historically because of the way the various provinces generate power. Some provinces - British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland - are blessed with abundant hydroelectric resources. Others, such as Manitoba and Saskatchewan, rely on the coal in their backyards. For its part, Ontario will take electricity any way it can to meet unceasing demand.

Interregional co-operation is rare. Look at a map of North America and you see lots of transmission lines from Canada into the United States. There are four major U.S. east-west lines but none in Canada. We've managed to build transcontinental railways, air corridors and a national broadcaster, but we've neglected to find a way to ship megawatts across the country.

As Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said yesterday: "It's crazy that we don't have an east-west grid."

This omission is thrown into stark relief every time Ontario struggles to keep the lights on. Its neighbours have very little capacity to help it avoid brownouts and blackouts whenever demand threatens to exceed supply. Yesterday's decision by Ontario Power Generation to abandon two 30-year-old reactors at the Pickering A nuclear generating station is simply another illustration of why Ontario needs help.

The 10-year forecast for energy resources in Ontario is gloomy. The province's nuclear fleet is aging and it has to decide very soon whether to refurbish existing units and whether to build new ones. It is also in a race against time to see if it will be able to replace the power lost when the plug is pulled on the coal-fired stations in 2008. It is working to get power from Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland but nothing is assured.

The 1,030 megawatts that the Pickering units might have supplied were not part of any supply predictions. But in an ideal world the units could have been brought back on line in three years for about $2-billion and the fact that this isn't going to happen will not allow Mr. Duncan to sleep more comfortably at night.

Ontario's plight might cause some across Canada to snicker, because it's always fun to see the mighty humbled. But this would be a wrong-headed reaction, because Canada - even those still hoping the eastern bastards freeze in the dark - needs Ontario.

The province provides 40 per cent of the revenue the federal government receives but gets back much less in services. It is Canada's economic powerhouse because industry has been able to count on an abundant supply of affordable energy.

Ontario will suffer if investors get spooked about the reliability or price of electricity. But so, too, will those provinces getting transfer payments from Ottawa that are underwritten by Ontario.

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams says his colleagues recognize that they cannot insulate themselves from Ontario and that's why they agreed this week to develop a "pan-Canadian" energy strategy that would match demand and supply nationwide.

"We need to look at it nationally," he said yesterday as the premiers ended their talks. "We've never done that. Everybody's sort of been dealing within their own territory and that's why I think it's a great initiative."

It isn't controversial like the premiers' opposition to the U.S. softwood lumber position. It doesn't yet involve big money like the plan to revive postsecondary education. But the premiers have thankfully begun the work of making Canada stronger.

mcampbell@globeandmail.ca