December 10, 1*959
THE FISHERMAN
Poge 11
Pipeline Deal Recalled
Peace' For Power Or Private Profit?
By TOM PARKIN UFAWU Public Relations Officer
[RITISH COLUMBIA has experienced the most haphazard, bungling power development program, if it can be termed a program, ever believed possible.
Public power in the mole thinly populated regions trying vainly lo compete with private power in the heavily populated and highly industrialised areas. Net result? The highest electric rates in Canada with but a few minor exceptions.
Vancouver's rates are more than double those of Montreal and Toronto and over three times the rates charged in Seattle, where in each instance there is a public utility.
We might have expected .some lessons would have been learned from past mistakes, but no, the government in Victoria has announced that a start on the giant Peace River development will be made by the Wenner-Gren' interests as early as 1960.
This Union welcomed the announcement of the tremendous Peace River power potential, knowing it was a salmon-free river. We cannot however, in all conscience, stand quietly by and see this huge slice of our heritage handed over to a foreign company (with local sharing by the BC Electric) knowing it can only result in the continued high rates charged in the past.
Even worse, as a part of the package gift to Wenner-Gren, we have made him a present of the minerals, timber, and other rich resources of the Rocky Mountain Trench.
This "reserve" we propose to give Wenner-Gren totals 42,000 square miles or 26,880,000 acres, approximately one eighth of our province.
In addition to timber and' minerals, (no one knows what deposits of oil and natural gas may be found here) there is a power potential of over 4'/2 million horsepower to be developed on the Peace River in BC.
At this time of the year we are conditioned to giving, but a king-sized giveaway of this kind will make us the grand-daddy of all Santas.
GOVERNMENT leaders have stated the province cannot finance this huge development, that it is a job for private capital. Not many months ago, the same spokesman claimed this province was free of direct debt and in a most favorable position.
In any case, where will Wenner-Gren obtain the $300 to $400 million that will be needed? Is any-
Quislings Ready To Snatch Profit
Commenting on the share deal involved in the Wenner-Gren Project, the BC Federation of Labor through its na-tural resources committee, charged that certain leaders of business in the province are supporting the Wenner-Gren deal.
"How these leaders of industry and government can justify the foisting of such false capital structure costs on to the public only goes to demonstrate further that once the integrity of a government, administering the resources of a rich province such as British Columbia, 'has been challenged and found wanting, there are many quislings who will jump in to snatch a rich profit.
"Therefore, it is labor's contention that government and business leaders have a dual set of standards—one that they show to their community and family and expect labor to live up to, and one that allows any form of skulduggery they do business by."
put up this kind of risk capital even if it did have it?
In my humble opinion another pipeline deal is shaping up that will see more huge private fortunes created, through stock options to preferred customers and company executives; there will be guarantees of enormous profits to a chosen few, just as there were in the Trans Canada Pipe Lines scandal.
Wenner-Gren proposes to set aside for itself 6,800,000 shares of Peace River Power Development at 33 1-3 cents per share. A further one million shares is purported to have been sold to the BC Electric for $1 per share. Even if the balance of the required capital, some $300 or $400 million, was raised at $1 per share (and this is most unlikely) Wenner-Gren would make 200 percent profit on an investment of some $2l/4 million.
According to the Natural Resources Committee of the BC Federation of Labor, a reputable investment advisor has estimated the shares, apart from those to preferred customers and Wenner-Gren itself, will sell as high as $10. Not bad. This would give Wenner-Gren a profit of 2,900 percent or about $68 million on a $2Vi million investment. While these may be hypothetical figures at this point, we can be certain they are not too far from the mark. And now. where do you and I
one naive enough to think it will  come in while this is taking place?
Obviously there will be no stock options for us to cash in on but we could still get in on the $10 deal (il we had the money). To most of us who cannot make large, medium, or even small stock investments, we can only look forward to continued high electric rales.
UNDER the deal that is shaping up, the BC Electric will be getting in on the ground floor enabling it to purchase power from the Peace to bolster its output. A large block of the excess power will go to the US where there is a ready market.
Even more ridiculous is the fact that the lower rate structure in Washington and other northern states will compel the sale of that power in the US at rates far less than consumers will be charged in Canada.
The federal government has offered to pay half of the cost of the development of power on the Columbia, another non - salmon river. Settlement of downstream benefits is expected in the very near future but there is still no policy statement from Victoria.
Almost four million horsepower will be realised at Mica Creek alone while engineers claim a total of 7% million horsepower is possible through full development of the Columbia, Kootenay, Pend d'Oreille systems in Canada.
We can no longer afford to permit our natural resources to be a pawn in a political game of chess, played by chess players whose one motive seems to be to rook the public.
EXPERTS believe the downstream benefits from the Columbia will bring a substantial return from the US to offset the large initial outlay. We cannot continue to think in terms of a fast buck today and to hell with the bill our children must pay. BC's water power resources are not the property of the existing government to bargain off any more than our salmon or other resources.
None will deny that we need more power. BC produces at present only 3l/A million horsepower from hydro electric sources. The Mica Creek development alone will almost equal that amount which will double our total developed hydro power.
Joint federal-provincial development at Mica will for the first time make cheap power available in BC.and there will be a rich return from downstream benefits.
In this writer's opinion, there is no possible justification for this rush to turn over the Peace River power to Wenner-Gren. Unless, of course, someone is anxious to get his sticky fingers into a very full cookie jar.
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-Van. Province Photo
nr kf*C DIN/CD R P I VSC C Taken from Taylor Flats, this picture shows the 2,100-foot I lALC l\l v tl\ Di\l uvjl Peace River Bridge which spans the river 35 miles north of Dawson Creek on the Alaska Highway. Dotted line in the background indicates right of way clearing for natural gas pipeline. Will Peace power be developed under public ownership or become another private empire linked to the BC Electric? Tom Parkin discusses the issue in the accompanying article.
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