February 15, 2002

Major B.C. industries oppose hydro privatization

A Who's-Who of British Columbia's manufacturing sector has come out against deregulating and privatizing the province's electricity system.The 30 industrial companies include Teck Cominco Ltd., Pacifica Papers Inc. and Canadian Forest Products Ltd. They employ more than 15,000 people and have invested $10 billion in B.C.

They say deregulating electricity will have disastrous economic results. An industry electricity committee pointed to the unregulated, market-driven power system across the U.S. border in Washington State where prices skyrocketed in late 2000 and early 2001.

If the same thing happened in B.C. "massive plant closings would have been the result ... Employee layoffs would exceed 6,000 persons," the Joint Industry Electricity Steering Committee says in its response to a B.C. task force report on energy policy.

"Regulated, cost based rates are the key aspect of the model we would propose," the industry committee says.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said that's exactly the system in place in Ontario -- a system that the Conservatives and Liberals are prepared to dismantle and sell off to multinational energy corporations.

"This is a wake up call for the boardrooms of Ontario," Hampton said. "Our corporate leaders need to wake up and speak up the way their British Columbia peers have. We need to stop deregulation and privatization in order to save jobs and preserve Ontario's economic independence."

Copyright 2002 Canadian News Wire