Cree fortunes hitched to Hydro wagon

What about aboriginal partners?

Winnipeg Free Press, March 20, 2017

By Will Braun

Nearly 20 years ago, Manitoba Hydro began working toward the two largest aboriginal business ventures in the history of the province. Ultimately, five First Nations became partners in supposedly lucrative multi-billio- dollar dams. Chiefs spoke about prosperous futures. Hydro spoke proudly about the partnerships.  Continue reading “Cree fortunes hitched to Hydro wagon”

Export doors close for Hydro

xcel-image

Manitoba Hydro needs to ignore the past and become an innovator 

Winnipeg Free Press, Oct 26, 2016    By Will Braun

Manitoba Hydro’s largest customer has written Hydro out of its future, and that could spell problems for Manitobans down the line. Xcel Energy’s 15-year plan states the Minneapolis-based utility intends to drop 850 megawatts’ worth of hydro import contracts when they expire in 2025, filling the gap with other resources. Continue reading “Export doors close for Hydro”

Death of a fishery

By Steve Ducharme, President, South Indian Lake Fishermen’s Association

Winnipeg Free Press, posted April 15, 2016

The commercial whitefish fishery at South Indian Lake was once the second largest in Manitoba, and the lifeblood of our proud, self-reliant community. Now it is mostly gone. Most of this collapse has happened since 1999, when the NDP took power, and under the oversight and management of the province. Continue reading “Death of a fishery”

Free Press opinion piece

From Jan 6, 2016 Winnipeg Free Press   Hydro’s outlook still unsettled By Will Braun Winnipeg Free Press, Jan 6, 2016 The provincial government has weathered the major storms of scrutiny created by its Manitoba Hydro-related decisions in recent years, but it still faces three awkward dilemmas in 2016. First, a survey of the current situation. Despite sustained opposition to the $4.6-billion Bipole III transmission project, the government wavered not. And by the time the April election is done, Hydro will have spent about $2 billion on the project, so even if there is a change in government, a change … Continue reading Free Press opinion piece