Atlantic leaders look to share electricity

Last Updated: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | 9:42 AM AT

CBC News

Northeastern North America needs more capacity for electricity transmission, a meeting of eastern premiers and New England governors concluded Tuesday.

'It's very important to us to have access to energy to back up our wind generation.'— P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz

The annual meeting, which wrapped up Tuesday in eastern Prince Edward Island, did not reach any specific agreements, but set New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham the task of preparing a report for presentation to next year's meeting.

The more populous New England states are hungry for power generated in eastern Canada, but P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz, co-chair of the conference, noted this power sharing is also important for his province, which is hoping to export wind power and import power when the wind isn't blowing.

"We don't have the opportunity on P.E.I. to back up our wind power," said Ghiz.

"It's very important to us to have access to energy to back up our wind generation on Prince Edward Island…. What happened today is we saw more regional co-operation when it comes to energy, and that can only benefit Prince Edward Island."

More passport offices needed

The leaders also announced in their closing news conference if people are going to need a passport to cross the Canada-U.S. border, there will need to be more passport offices.

Premier Robert Ghiz says he thinks there should be a passport office on Prince Edward Island.
(CBC)

Rules for crossing the border are changing, and if current plans go ahead, a passport will be needed for land crossings starting in the summer of 2008. The leaders said if that's the case, every province and state should have a passport office.

"I'm not sure if Rhode Island is affected by it or not in the U.S., but we're definitely affected by it here," said Ghiz. P.E.I. is the only province without a passport office.

"We are going to at some point have to have a passport, and I think that we should have a passport office here."

The resolution regarding passport offices will be sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Lobbying off the agenda

Away from the official agenda, Ghiz spent time talking to Graham and Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald about the Atlantic Beef Products plant in P.E.I. It is the only beef processing plant in the Maritimes and is struggling.

P.E.I. loaned the plant $1.5 million last week, enough to cover it for another three months, but insisted the other Maritime provinces must step up with more help before P.E.I. did any more.

"We can't sustain what we're currently doing," said Ghiz.

"We'd like to see the plant work and if we can get New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to come in and help out with some working capital, perhaps we'll be able to see this succeed."

Ghiz said both premiers agreed to take his request back to their respective cabinets for consideration.