Ever since the NDP government announced that it was going to force Manitoba Hydro to build a new hydro transmission line down from northern Manitoba on the longest route imaginable down the west side of the province, it has been a boondoggle.
The NDP have struggled, every step of the way, to justify why putting the line down the much longer and much more expensive west side route as opposed to the shorter east side route that Manitoba Hydro preferred, was necessary.
They started off by saying that it was because they didn’t want to risk delays and lawsuits from United States environmental lobbyists. But it soon became clear that there was just as much opposition to a west side route as to an east side route.
Then the NDP said going on the east side of Lake Winnipeg would result in too many trees being cut down. It was later discovered that more trees would be lost on the west side route. It was also argued by NDP Leader Greg Selinger that they wanted to leave the east side forest untouched. But of course shortly after they announced they were putting a road through it so that excuse was gone as well.
The NDP also tried to tell Manitobans that the residents on the east side of Lake Winnipeg didn’t want the Hydro line. But shortly after, many of the First Nations on the east side indicated they would be interested in negotiating with the government to have the transmission line go down the east side.
So, after all those excuses failed, the NDP indicated the reason that they wouldn’t put Bi-Pole III down the east side of Lake Winnipeg is because they wanted the boreal forest to be proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage site. Of course, those involved with UNESCO indicated a hydro line wouldn’t impact the bid but that didn’t stop the NDP from using this as their new reason for costing Manitobans hundreds of millions of dollars more for the west side route.
In fact, they dedicated $14 million for the UNESCO World Heritage site application. And now, just this past week, it was learned that the UNESCO application was being delayed for at least a year because there are concerns about the UNESCO application forms and questions.
One would have thought that before over-ruling Hydro on the route of the line and spending $14 million on the application, the NDP government might have bothered to look at the UNESCO application process ahead of time. Instead, yet another excuse by the NDP government on the Bi-Pole III decision is falling away and it is Manitoba taxpayers who are once again left to pick up the tab for this NDP boondoggle.
