Reforming British Columbia S Electricity Market

Since the 1990s, there has been an upsurge in renewable electricity co-operatives across Canada as hundreds of community organizations have turned to the sun, wind, and rivers as sources of local power generation. Empowering Electricity offers an illuminating analysis of these co-operatives within the context of larger debates over climate change, renewable electricity policy, sustainable community development, and provincial power-sector ownership. It looks at the conditions that led to this new wave of co-operative development, examines their form and location, and shines a light on the promises and challenges accompanying their development.

How are we to assess Gordon Campbell’s decade-long premiership of British Columbia? While to many he was an ideologue set on revolutionizing provincial politics, he was a far more complex figure – polarizing and unpopular, but also a shrewd party manager and successful political operator. Beginning with a detailed account of Gordon Campbell’s pre–Liberal Party political activities, The Campbell Revolution? then takes a broad look at the policy options open to him in the context of the neoliberal revolution that swept across Canada and elsewhere in the 1980s and 1990s. Contributors discuss the Campbell administration's reforms in social, environmental, and economic policies, focusing on tax system reform, the arts and culture sector, healthcare, and urban development in the context of the 2010 Winter Olympics. More than just a narrative of the career of an enigmatic public official, this book looks at specific public policy examples and asks whether Campbell led a revolution or simply rode a wave of change that had begun years before he came to power. A comprehensive examination of Gordon Campbell’s leadership and governance style and the ideological underpinnings of BC’s Liberal Party, The Campbell Revolution? examines how the Campbell administration attempted to transform politics in British Columbia in the twenty-first century.

Secure, reliable, and affordable electricity has been one of British Columbia's most important competitive advantages and a key contributor to the province's prosperity. Historically, BC Hydro's prices have been based on the actual cost of producing publicly owned energy rather than the volatile international electricity market. But under recent government policy changes, BC Hydro will no longer produce its own energy: instead it must purchase it from private power developers through expensive long-term energy contracts. Yet despite paying very high prices, B.C. customers get no assets, no price protection, and no guarantee of future security of supply. The government's policies are also triggering an environmental nightmare, as dozens of private power plants are being built on pristine rivers, regardless of their impacts on fish, wildlife, First Nations, and local communities. John Calvert shows how the government is supplanting B.C.'s successful public system with a deregulated private sector model that will enrich private power developers and undermine B.C.'s ability to control future energy development. In giving away B.C.'s renewable energy future, the government is needlessly exposing ratepayers to the risks of the volatile U.S. energy market. Over time, Calvert argues, the new policies will result in the destruction of BC Hydro, the province's most valuable Crown corporation. Book jacket.

During the past fifty years, Canadians have seen many of their white-water rivers dammed or diverted to generate electricity primarily for industry and export. The rush to build dams increased utility debts, produced adverse consequences for the environment and local communities, and ultimately resulted in the layoff of 25,000 employees. White Gold looks at what went wrong with hydro development, with the predicted industrial transformation, with the timing and magnitude of projects, and with national and regional initiatives to link these major projects to a trans-Canada power grid.