REGINA – The Government of Saskatchewan has joined other provinces and territories in signing an agreement to advance the development of a National Energy Corridor.
The agreement was announced at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention by Ontario Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce. According to the province’s news release, this is a partnership between Saskatchewan and Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Yukon, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories.
In speaking to reporters at the Legislature Wednesday, Minister of Crown Investments Corporation called it a “very, very exciting announcement” and the “culmination of a lot of, you know, really diligent work that went in across the country.”
“Provinces and territories coming together for the very first time, really in a historic way, to build a national transmission infrastructure program across the country, with the Government of Canada being a significant part of that discussion, and we are very hopeful a significant partner in that program as we go forward.”
Harrison said he looked forward to announcements from the Government of Canada, adding that they have had some “very, very good and productive discussions, including a couple of weeks ago, the Premier and I sitting down with (Finance) Minister (François-Philippe) Champagne and having a very detailed discussion around transmission infrastructure.”
Harrison said this “speaks to the unique position that Saskatchewan is in, in Western Canada, in actually having allocatable baseload power here in the province. And what that means, outside of kind of the technical jargon, is we have power to actually put towards significant investments in Saskatchewan, whether that be uranium mines, whether that be potash mines, whether that be other announcements that I’m really looking forward to in the next couple of weeks as well, that are going to have a profound and positive impact for the people of this province, and really uniquely positions us in having that power to allocate for these sort of investments, which are going to create jobs and create opportunities for people right here at home, which really is what the overall objective is.”
Harrison also spoke to reporters about how this will go together with the province’s transmission strategy, which was announced last week.
He said this will be significant for the province in “actually tying together our northern and southern grids here in Saskatchewan.”
Harrison said that for “most people it’s probably a surprise that we actually have two separate grids.” He noted there is a completely separate northern power system and there is a southern power system.
Harrison noted that part of the overall transmission plan is how to “tie those grids together so we can actually move power around the province, which has significant impacts for northern investment and mine sites and communities as well as we build the infrastructure into the northwest.”
Harrison noted that they have to move power through interties with Manitoba into the northern system to get power up there, which he said not ideal because during the summer, interties tripped off during the fires in northern Saskatchewan and Sask Power.
Harrison said their grid operators at SaskPower had to basically create a “power island” out of Island Falls to keep the grid stable in northern Saskatchewan. “Otherwise we would have had a complete blackout. They did a great job on that.
But it really underlines some of the vulnerabilities that we have as a part of our national grid in even that context of having to move power through Manitoba.”
When asked about the National Energy Corridor announcement NDP SaskPower critic Aleana Young said “that’s good, that’s progress, that’s huge from where we’ve been.”
“Having those bilateral negotiations province to province to province
is important, that’s a first step, and yet if the goal… is looking at a national grid which I believe is what the minister called for, that’s not what this announcement was. These are provinces working together — as would be us working together with Manitoba, working together with Alberta — but if the goal is a national grid then there needs to be a national conversation.”
Young said her party will “continue to call for significant and sustained federal investment into interprovincial interties, and to Saskatchewan’s electricity sector. The federal government has historically made major investments in the generation of grids of provinces like Ontario. And if we’re serious in Canada about growing the economy, about reducing emissions, about ensuring a high quality of life for people here in Saskatchewan and across the country going forward then the best place to invest the money in Saskatchewan’s electricity factor.”
