Prince Albert could become more than a gateway to northern energy projects under the Saskatchewan NDP’s Grid and Growth Plan, according to the party’s SaskPower critic, who says the city should compete for research, manufacturing and nuclear supply-chain jobs.
NDP Leader Carla Beck and Aleana Young, the party’s shadow minister for Jobs and Economy, SaskPower and Crown Investments Corporation, presented the plan during a public discussion at Rock Trout Cafe. Rebecca Caron, president of the Society of United Professionals and a former Ontario nuclear industry worker, moderated the event.
The NDP is pitching the plan as an alternative to the provincial government’s electricity strategy. Young said the party believes its approach would keep power bills lower, attract investment, reduce emissions and generate $33 billion in economic activity. She also repeated the NDP’s criticism that the government’s coal strategy could cost at least $26 billion and lead to substantially higher electricity bills.
Asked in a follow-up interview what the plan could mean specifically for Prince Albert, Young pointed to the city’s rail, transmission, river and natural gas infrastructure.
“Prince Albert needs generational job security,” Young said.
She did not identify a specific power plant or major project planned for the city, but said opportunities could include manufacturing, energy supply-chain work, post-secondary training, research and innovation.
Young said Prince Albert’s position as a hub for northern mining and development could help it compete for those investments.
“It has all of the ingredients,” she said, adding the city could become a hub for investment and innovation in mining and energy production.
The question of what lower electricity costs would actually mean for customers was also raised.
Asked whether the NDP was promising that household bills would actually fall, rather than simply increase by less than under the government’s strategy, Young stopped short of promising an absolute reduction.
“Households will see significantly lower bills under our plan,” she said.
Young said the province will still require major investments in electricity generation and infrastructure, but argued those investments should create assets that remain useful for decades.
Hydroelectric power emerged as one of the unexpected subjects during the Prince Albert meeting.
Mayor Bill Powalinsky questioned why hydro did not have a larger role in the NDP plan. Young acknowledged during the event that she did not know why the modelling had not selected additional hydro development and said she would take the question back to the experts who worked on the plan.
Arjun Pillai/Daily Herald
Prince Albert Mayor Bill Powalinsky asks about the role of hydroelectric power during the Grid and Growth discussion at Rock Trout Cafe.
Asked about it again during the follow-up interview, Young said the NDP plan calls for maintaining Saskatchewan’s existing hydroelectric assets but currently contains no long-term plan to expand hydro.
She said there are unfinished or former dam sites around the province, but hydro projects can present significant financial, environmental, land-use and Indigenous rights considerations.
Young later said the Prince Albert discussion had made the party want to take another look at hydro opportunities.
“The question I heard that hasn’t been put to me before was one, the question around the capacity for hydro and why we don’t talk about hydro more in Saskatchewan,” she said.
Household and community power generation is another part of the proposal.
Young said the NDP would increase the credit for electricity produced through residential net metering to 75 per cent and make that rate change along with electricity prices.
The party is also proposing a Community Power Program aimed at people who cannot install their own rooftop solar, including renters, people in apartments and lower-income residents.
Municipalities could also pool credits from renewable projects. Young used Prince Albert as an example, saying solar installed on a municipal building could produce credits that could be applied against electricity used at other city facilities.
Arjun Pillai/Daily Herald
Rebecca Caron, president of the Society of United Professionals, speaks during the energy discussion at Rock Trout Cafe in Prince Albert.
Young was also asked whether Saskatchewan should invest more heavily in developing its own energy technology rather than simply buying equipment and expertise from elsewhere.
She said the NDP plan calls for working with post-secondary institutions, researchers and workers to develop expertise within Saskatchewan.
Young said research, training, manufacturing and secondary industries associated with future energy development should remain in Saskatchewan and could be centred in communities such as Prince Albert.
“We can and should be leading in innovations in this space,” she said.
The discussion also turned to the rapidly increasing electricity demands of large data centres.
Young argued existing households, farms and businesses should not be left subsidizing the extra electricity infrastructure needed by projects that consume hundreds of megawatts.
She called for greater disclosure about the power requirements and costs associated with major developments, including proposed data centres.
The NDP is also calling for an independent energy regulator to porvide greater oversight of Saskpower and its major decisions.
Young said greater transparency would be necessary to rebuild confidence in the Crown corporation and provide scrutiny over major generation and investment decisions
Young said the party is deliberately releasing the plan well before the next provincial election and continuing to take questions on it.
She said the hydro discussion in Prince Albert was an example of an issue the party had not anticipated and could examine further as the plan develops.
The provincial government responded to the Herald’s request for comment but said it was unable to provide answers by press time.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
