I CHOOSE NEWFOUNDLAND 

Canadians have recently been told that to keep the country together we must decide whether we would rather have Newfoundland stay or Quebec. I choose Newfoundland. Not for the sentimental reasons upon which most Canadians decide their fate but on economic grounds. Quebec has been supported by the rest of Canada, during the last decade alone, to the tune of $100 billion dollars. Newfoundland has also been supported but to a much lesser extent. However, in the future Newfoundland might become the richest province. I like the odds.

On October 13, 1966, Newfoundland signed a 65-year agreement (containing extension options) with Quebec to sell them almost all the hydro power generated by Newfoundland at their Labrador Falls generating plant. The amounts were gargantuan. The price was miniscule, just three mills per KWH in 1977.

At the time of signing Newfoundland didn't have any choice. First, they needed the money. Second, the technology of the day forced them to sell to Quebec because there was no known way to export that power elsewhere without going through Quebec and Quebec wouldn't allow that. In the intervening years the retail price of electricity has multiplied a dozen times. Quebec still buys Newfoundland electricity at a price that decreases not increases as time goes by! Quebec sells it at the current market rates, which increase as the years fly by. Quebec refuses to renegotiate the deal. The agreement (with acquired options) ends in the year 2081.

Quebec realizes that when the contract runs out, they will have to pay a little bit more for Newfoundland power but not anywhere near market rates. What choice does Newfoundland have? Sell to Quebec or let it go to waste. Technology threatens to change not only the rules, but the game itself. It soon may pay Newfoundland to leave Canada. As an independent country, Newfoundland could disown previous agreements signed as a Canadian province and do what they want with their power. Cut Quebec off, in effect.

A recent proposal in Iceland calls for the transmission of electrical power from that water-power-rich country to Scotland via a new underwater cable with a carrying capacity never known before. Iceland would sell to power-short Britain at current market rates, with a substantial discount for volume. The price would still be considerably cheaper than if Britain itself produced the power via gas, oil, coal or nuclear-powered sources.

A similar cable could offer Newfoundland the same opportunity. Undersea cable transmission across Cabot Straight to Nova Scotia, then through the provincial power grid to Yarmouth with another short undersea link to brown-out prone New England, would allow the power to be sold at top U.S. dollar. The power-transmission route could even have a backup route via New Brunswick to Bangor, Maine. Naturally, Newfoundland would pay a routing fee for the transmission lines but that would be small compared to the selling price. The cable would also contribute to the economy of these Maritime provinces.

The story does not end here. A test program in aviation has transmitted electricity in the form of micro-waves from the ground to an airplane in flight. An airplane carrying no fuel. An airplane with an electric motor! Electricity that can be directed upwards can also be directed horizontally.

If you can zap power to turn on the TV from a remote hand-held channel selector why can't Newfoundland send power in that fashion across the barren northern straits between Labrador and Newfoundland? Routed through Newfoundland such power could be beamed to Nova Scotia. Newfoundland could offer cheap power to that province and to New Brunswick as payment for using their transmission lines carrying Newfie power to the United States. The Maritimes may want to join Newfoundland?

Today technology sets the rules -- and breaks the rules. It also can have devastating political effects.

Yes, I choose Newfoundland. I like the opportunity and the odds.

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