Reaction from NB Power deal collapse

The New Brunswick and Quebec governments scrapped plans for a $3.2-billion power deal on Wednesday saying they could not agree on unexpected costs.

The proposed power deal had been a source of intense controversy in New Brunswick where Premier Shawn Graham faced a series of protests, a caucus revolt, a cabinet resignation and declining poll numbers.

That deal fell apart on Wednesday. The following are excepts from what people said about the failed power deal.

N.B. Premier Shawn Graham:

We may have closed the door on an energy agreement with Hydro-Québec.  But I know that new doors of opportunity have opened before us.  We will not look back, we will keep moving forward because that is what we were elected to do and that is what we must do to grow our province.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest:

The deal didn't work out, and that's too bad, we hoped it would, and I think we all were in this with good faith.

N.B. Opposition Leader David Alward:

What is clear today, and I hope that New Brunswickers are listening-is that, if this government can do it in secrecy after a Sept. 27 election, it will try to do it again. What is clear today is that the Premier said that this was his deal but that he is blaming everybody else but himself. He is saying that Quebec realized that New Brunswick was getting too good a deal. Surprise, surprise. That is interesting, when literally thousands of New Brunswickers know the reality of this deal and how good a deal the province of Quebec was getting.

New Democratic Party Leader Roger Duguay:

Just for today we can be happy this deal was cancelled. Shawn Graham flipped and flopped, spent money we don't have, and never even showed us the deal. The Conservatives never developed a policy; they just asked us to trust them. Now the deal is dead, because Hydro-Québec doesn't want to risk buying NB Power. We should be worried about the future. There is no time for back-slapping; we need a hard conversation about the future of NB Power and the province. We need pragmatic solutions and an end to secretive and incompetent government, Liberal and Conservative, which led us to this point.

Green Party Leader Jack MacDougall:

Good on Premier Graham. I think he made a very courageous decision. I caution anybody to sort of rub his nose in it. I think it is time to say let's move on. A great thing happened here besides the act of democracy, everyone in New Brunswick was engaged in a discussion on where our energy comes from, what kind of energy can we have in the future. As far as the Green Party goes, we celebrated that.

Yves Gagnon, University of Moncton professor:

I think we need to work to restructure the energy sector both in New Brunswick but also in the Maritime region. I think we need to do this in New Brunswick first of all by doing an energy policy, a policy that we don't have in New Brunswick. We do not have a roadmap for the development of the energy sector.

David Coon, executive director of the Conservation Council

Finally this gives us a chance to start over and engage New Brunswickers in a discussion on what our energy future should be like, what do people want it to be, what are our priorities. We are ready to roll up our sleeves and participate in that.

Tom Mann, executive director of the New Brunswick Union

What we saw here today, it is no longer business and politics as usual in this province. It's not over. We are going to have to push for open and accountable government. All political candidates and political leaders and parties have learned a lesson from this.

Tim Curry, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy

This may open up other opportunities for development of other sources of energy either within the province or within the region.