Governments continue to mismanage publicly owned utilities, from East to the West. Newfoundland and Labrador’s government, still reeling from a 1969 agreement providing Churchill Falls’ electricity to Quebec at meagre prices (to 2041), built another utility...
Hydro was once heralded as “Manitoba’s oil”. The Limestone Dam was finished in 1990, twice the size of Keeyask (still under construction) – at one-sixth its cost. With Limestone running, residential and industry customers could look forward to having cheap and...
BC Hydro is the electric power generating holding company and retail utility supplying the province of British Columbia (BC). As its name implies, it is nearly entirely a hydro-electric generation-based provider. The Peace River Site C project is scheduled to be...
Nalcor is the electric power generating holding company supplying the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, ‘NL’. It is also the parent company of Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro, ‘NLH’, the actual utility that distributes and sells electric power to households,...
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
Yukon Energy Corporation (YEC) is a sprawling generator and distributor of electric power to customers in Yukon Territory. It could be worth as much as $212M were it divested, making the assumption that its chronic heavy capital investment program will end soon. As a...
Hydro-Québec, (HQ), is the electric power utility for Quebec, Canada’s largest province by area, and is owned entirely by the provincial government. It could theoretically be worth as much as $162B were it divested; or, far less if investors believe that its...
Nearly every province in Canada has its dubiously cherished government-owned power utility. Rarely in this country has there been one as hobbled by debt as NB Power, ‘NBP’. The fundamental business is relatively sound and appears to be resilient. However, its capital...
Keeping Sask Power and being compelled to throw in more billions of dollars to keep it viable, or having an additional 15,000 teachers, nurses, or paramedics? This is the choice Saskatchewan would have if this Crown asset were sold. There are two generally accepted...
Keeping Toronto Hydro or having an additional 15,000 teachers, nurses, or paramedics? This is a choice Toronto citizens may welcome if the asset were sold. There are two generally accepted methods for valuing a company: its intrinsic value as a cash-generating...
British Columbia’s quandary: To keep Columbia Power, or add 15,000 teachers, nurses, or paramedics? There are two generally accepted methods for valuing a company: its intrinsic value as a cash-generating enterprise, and its standard market value in comparison with...
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has just released the concept paper Financial Reorganization of Manitoba Hydro. This paper is authored by Graham Lane, a retired Chartered Accountant and former Chair of Manitoba’s Public Utilities Board. He has had a multifaceted...
This report explores the Manitoba governments’ plans to spend a (presently) forecast of $33-billion, based on borrowing tens of billions in order to finance a massive expansion of hydro-electric capacity in the province, incurring risky liabilities that may bankrupt Manitoba in a not too distant future.
Ron Penney and David Vardy examine the risks associated with the planned Muskrat Falls hydroelectric mega-project in Atlantic Canada.