Politics is an art of staging. An art that the Prime Minister of Manitoba perfectly masters, who made three striking announcements in two days without supporting his words.
Wab Kinew launched his media campaign of the week by announcing the repatriation of 500 megawatts of electricity hitherto sold in the United States, to redistribute them to Nunavut and western Canada.
With the theatricality of a Donald Trump, he signed, in front of the cameras at a press conference, the decrees ending two contracts.
By doing so, Wab Kinew gives himself the beautiful role: that of a Prime Minister who places the interest of the province-and the country-above economic considerations.
Except that in reality, the end of these contracts-which were expired at the end of the month-had been announced more than two years ago already, by Hydro-Manitoba.
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Manitoba has an electric line that supplies Minnesota.
Photo: Canadian press
In its request for an increase in electricity prices (new window) Subject to the Public Services of Manitoba on November 15, 2022-for the years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025-Hydro-Manitoba provided that the capacity of the system would be necessary to support the growth of domestic demand in the next twenty years
.
She also anticipated a reduction in the offer available to renew reliable export contracts arriving at expiration, or to conclude new
.
Wab Kinew wants 50 of the 500 megawatts recovered by Manitoba to be used to power the Nunavut with electricity, through the Kivalliq Hydro-Fiber energy corridor. A very symbolic agreement was also signed between Manitoba and Nunavut on Wednesday on this subject.
But this corridor, which we have been talking about since 2018, consists of a 1,200 kilometers line, and it is still far from being a reality: the work should start in 2028 and end in 2032.
A provincial park out of nowhere
During the same press conference, the Prime Minister made a real dramatic blow by announcing his intention to create a new provincial park on the field of the Lemay forest.
This wooded area, located in the south of Winnipeg, is at the heart of a conflict that has opposed a real estate developer to residents determined to preserve this natural space for years.
No one expected this announcement – not even the promoter, Tochal Development Groupyet directly concerned.
John Wintrup, urban planner working for the promoter, told Radio-Canada: No government representative contacted us on this subject.
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The property developer has already started to shoot down trees in the land of land known like the Lemay forest, in the south of Winnipeg.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Catherine Moreau
Again, the announcement has had its effect – but it is sorely lacking in details. Creating a provincial park is not done overnight, and an expropriation is a long and expensive process, especially since John Wintrup does not Do not believe that the land owner will simply abandon his land
.
Several steps must be followed, and according to Antoine Hacault – lawyer and specialist in the law of expropriation – just the first two could not be done in less than two months
he explained earlier this week in Radio-Canada.
Furthermore, there is still no idea what it could cost the Manitoban taxpayers.
I think the first offers were very generous. People opposite in these negotiations were offered much more than they had paid for this plot of land
simply said Wab Kinew.
These offers included a proposal of $ 5.25 million, made in January by Manitoba Habitat Conservancy – an offer rejected by Tochal Development Group, which estimates that its land is worth $ 8 million.
If the two parties could not get along, the compensation that the province could be led to pay could be much higher.
Compensation is not only for land, but also for all expenses wasted by the promoter due to the fact that he can no longer go ahead with his design
underlines Antoine Hacault.
A second port in Hudson’s bay, what to do?
To close its theatrical week, Wab Kinew took advantage of the visit of an even more unexpected delegation of the European Union: to revive the idea of creating a second deep water port in Hudson bay, in order to strengthen trade with Europe.
The idea in itself is nothing new: it has come up regularly on the table for decades. The last attempt dates back to 2023, when the previous progressive-conservative government had promised $ 6.7 million to study its feasibility.
But once in power, the neo-democratic government has canceled this initiative.
To date, there is no quantified estimate of the cost of such a project, but there is little doubt that it would be in billions – for a profitability still very uncertain.
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The port of Churchill only works a few months a year due to the ice that traps Hudson’s bay in winter.
Photo: Mike Spence graceful
If you have one ship per week for six months, it’s 24 or 25 ships. Can we justify a deep water port for 25 ships?
wonders Claude Comtois, professor emeritus of geography and maritime transport at the University of Montreal.
Build another port when we already have that of Churchill, which is underused, I can hardly see how we could justify the millions of dollars necessary
continues the analyst.
The only Canadian port in deep water in the Arctic, Churchill only exported 10,000 tonnes of zinc to Europe last August.
In addition, the federal government and the province have recently announced several million dollars in investments to improve the storage and export capacities of the port.
Wab Kinew perfectly masters the art of communication. But for many of his projects, he will need the support of the federal government.
It remains to be seen if Ottawa will follow it – or if these announcements will only remain simple demonstrations of dramatic art.
