The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Here is the second part of The Reminder's interview with Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen. **** REMINDER: What does Flin Flon, the community not the riding, need right now? PETTERSEN: First, I'm thankful for the great leadership shown by Mayor Fontaine and the city council, who are working on some of those needs. We have a smaller tax base due to a lower population. Our infrastructure is aging and costs are going up. The mayor is trying to bring all stakeholders together to build a stronger community. I fully support him in this. Flin Flon is facing challenges it's never experienced before. We need positive solutions and ideas from citizens. In the past, we've taken the prosperity and success of our community for granted. Now, we need a shared vision among all stakeholders in order to thrive. We don't want to look back and regret that we lacked the teamwork to do it. REMINDER: Provincial books show that between now and 2015, the province will collect 13 per cent more own-source revenue than it is now _ and that was before factoring in the recent PST hike. Why do you support raising the PST and has your position caused you much flack? PETTERSEN: This is the same old problem, it just comes down to numbers _ dollars in and dollars out. Manitoba was hit with extraordinary flooding in 2009 and 2011, with a heightened flood risk this past spring. We are faced with clear indications that this is the new normal and we need to invest in better protection for communities. The entire central basin of our continent, from the Rockies to northwestern Ontario and down through the northwest and central states, has to drain through our province, primarily through the Red, Assiniboine and Saskatchewan rivers, then on to Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg. Climate change is now contributing to increased frequency and severity of flooding. The cost of fighting these recent floods has been well over a billion dollars. We now have an independent report recommending another billion dollars of investment in flood protection. We know that building flood protection costs a lot up front but proves to be a very wise investment in the long run. For example, for every dollar spent on flood protection in the Red River Valley, we estimate we have saved $35 in damage. During the 2011 flood, we built the temporary channel out of Lake St. Martin on an emergency basis to get levels on Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin back below flood stage as quickly as possible. That channel now must be made permanent, which would involve increasing its capacity and building control gates to enable its operation more quickly in times of emergency. We also need to build a second outlet from Lake Manitoba and into Lake St. Martin. Engineers are working on plans for both these projects, which are expected to cost $250 million. All of that will have to be paid for without putting at risk funding for our roads, bridges, hospitals and schools. We could do what our opposition has pledged and cut funding in all these areas and put people out of work*, but we believe that is the wrong approach. We saw that approach the last time the PCs were in government in the '90s, and the damage took years to repair. A decision to increase any tax, no matter how little, is never easy. But sometimes you have to make tough decisions. We have committed to ensuring in law that every cent of the PST increase will be dedicated to building our critical infrastructure, like flood protection, roads, hospitals and schools. We are committed to keep building and growing our economy, while ensuring Manitoba remains among the most affordable provinces in the country for families. REMINDER: You have defended the NDP's record on Manitoba Hydro by pointing out that Manitoba has the lowest (second-lowest now) electricity rates in Canada. That said, this past year (and change) alone we have seen rates shoot up eight per cent. The Public Utilities Board says rates are forecast to more than double over the next 20 years. Are you concerned about the financial impact on your constituents or is this a case of 'it costs what it costs'? PETTERSEN: Manitoba Hydro is one of the greatest economic drivers that we have in the North. Not only is Hydro one of the North's largest employers, but, as a public utility, every Manitoban pays the same rate for our electricity. This is a significant point that is often missed _ city, northern and even remote hydro customers all pay exactly the same rate. That's because our NDP government equalized rates across the province in 2001. That has saved rural and northern Manitobans about $120 per household on an annual basis. See 'It' on pg. Continued from pg. If Manitoba Hydro was privatized, as we hear the Opposition would do**, I can assure northerners that it would be the end of equalized rates and then we would see some really significant rate increases up here. It is essential that we build hydro now, otherwise Hydro forecasts that we will run out of power within a decade. There will be some upfront rate increases as we build the next generation of dams and transmission lines, but hydro has proven time and time again to be a wise investment in the long run. Manitoba Hydro is investing in new generating facilities to meet new growth in demand and it must also continue to invest in rebuilding and renewing the older, existing electrical infrastructure to maintain reliability in service to all Manitobans. We also must keep ourselves in a position to be able to export reliable, green power to the United States and within Canada. This keeps rates low for Manitoba families and businesses. The PC Party under Brian Pallister has pledged to cancel our plans to keep building hydro. Instead they want to import fossil fuels and build gas plants in the south. We think that is a shortsighted plan that will result in higher rates across the province. I also want to let you know that even with the proposed rate increases, Manitoba will still continue to have electricity rates that are among the lowest in North America. Since 1999, we have kept rate increases well below the rate of inflation. The price of electricity, in real terms, has actually gone down. In fact the average monthly residential electricity cost in Manitoba was $80 in 1994, compared to $69 today. Keeping Manitoba affordable remains a top priority of our government. We have guaranteed that Manitoba families will pay the lowest combined bills in the country for electricity, gas and auto insurance. We passed legislation in the last year _ The Affordable Utility Rate Accountability Act _ to guarantee that commitment to Manitobans in law. (* The opposition Progressive Conservatives deny Pettersen's allegation, saying they do not favour reductions in front-line workers but do support eliminating government waste). (** The Progressive Conservatives continue to deny the allegation that they would privatize Manitoba Hydro). The third part of this interview will appear Monday.
