Some things just need to be said...

Friday, September 23, 2005

BC Government gases BC Consumers

How does this grab you. The BC Liberals change the law in 2003 to allow for complete foreign ownership of BC Gas. BC Gas changes name to Terasan.

The name change was meant to help provide the political cover for both Terasan and the BC Liberal Government. It was intended to remove any connection to "Canadians" owning the company.

Executives of Terasen are likely to be receiving big financial bonuses in anticipation of this sale.
It has been reported that these executives are about to cash in $20 million in stock options should shareholders approve them at the meetings in Vancouver, October 18.

All this while we are being hit with a $150 average increase in our heating bill this winter thanks to the BC Utilities Commission approval of a rate increase for Terasan. It seems to me we are simply paying the money from our wallet directly to some senior executives that are working hard to sell the company to an American energy giant.

The BC Liberals were less than honest about this when they passed the law in 2003 allowing this. Bill Vanderzalm refused to give BC Gas this right to sell to Americans, Bill Bennett said no too. Seems the right wing government of today has learned nothing of the past, the recent energy problems in the United States and of course the the situation in California some years ago now.

So as the government sits back and tries to claim the market is dictating the sale of Terasan, that the BCUC was acting within its mandate to approve an increase in gas prices for you and I, we just have to accept it. We don't have to accept it.

When will we rebel against this kind of government induced market forces. Will we say anything when they go to sell BC Hydro, or BC Hydro transmission lines?

What about the Site C dam BC Hydro and the Liberal government have dusted off? For the sake of arguement here, lets say they get the approval to build it, will it be an American private company that does this. Thats my bet and the effect of this will be "selling off nearly 20% of BC's energy" needs to Americans.

Anyone getting gas yet or do you really need to throw-up.

1 comment:

Jamie said...

Rick,

You're pretty much an idiot. We live in a globalized world. Just because someone is Canadian, or British Columbian, doesn't mean they care any more about the citizens of BC than a foreigned. The goal is making money, regardless of who owns the assets.

And in the case of Site C, what's wrong with selling power to the Americans? We make a hell of a lot of money selling power to the Americans. It's the advantage of our hydro system that allows us to determine the timing of when we generate power - if Americans need more power during the day, good. Let's make money.