Pallister promised meeting with PM to discuss power line delays

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This article was published 22/05/2019 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister says he will get his emergency meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss federal delays in approving a hydro transmission line to Minnesota.

“I’m confirmed for next week,” he told reporters Wednesday at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Pallister refused to provide a date for the meeting, which will be held in Ottawa.

“I’ll tell you when I get there,” he said.

Manitoba Hydro is anxious to begin construction of a $453-million power transmission line that will boost the corporation’s export capacity to the United States. The new line will also double the amount of power Manitoba can import from the U.S. in an emergency.

Hydro has agreed to have its portion of the transmission line — to the U.S. border — completed by June 2020. It faces penalties and lost revenues totalling $200 million if the line’s completion is delayed by a year.

On Tuesday, Pallister suggested Ottawa was expecting Manitoba to “pony up a certain amount of money” to remove roadblocks to having the line built.

However, a federal source told the Free Press Ottawa was not asking the province to spend more money, noting the delays stemmed from the need to spend more time consulting some two dozen First Nation communities and the Manitoba Metis Federation.

The MMF was on-side with the project until the Pallister government refused to endorse a tentative agreement the organization once had with Manitoba Hydro not to oppose such developments.

The Free Press recently reported Ottawa is worried about claims from First Nations that the province didn’t adequately consult them.

Pallister has rejected that argument, saying the province has been “using a gold standard in our consultations.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office did not confirm or deny late Wednesday a meeting had been arranged with the Manitoba premier for next week.

“We’ll keep you posted,” she said in an email.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca