Murray Wood: Like ghosts on the prairie
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WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government and officials at Crown-owned Manitoba Hydro would not reveal the potential impact of tariffs threatened by incoming U.S. president Donald Trump at a legislature committee hearing Friday.
Trump, who is to be sworn in Monday, has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods if the country doesn’t curb the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.
NDP government and hydro officials were asked by members of the Opposition Progressive Conservatives what the economic impact could be and whether Manitoba might retaliate by curbing hydro exports.
“We’re not going to engage in hypotheticals today about what might happen or what we’re preparing for,” Finance Minister Adrien Sala, who is responsible for Manitoba Hydro, told the committee.
“At this time, without any specific details on the tariff, it’s too soon to say how a potential policy change might affect Manitoba Hydro in any way,” said Allan Danroth, the utility’s president and chief executive officer.
Hydroelectric power is one of Manitoba’s biggest exports to the United States. The value can swing widely from year to year, because of water levels and other factors, but government statistics show it has placed in the top five goods in recent years along with items such as medication and canola.
Kelvin Goertzen, a legislature member with the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, said Manitoba should follow other provinces and spell out whether retaliatory measures such as curbing exports might be taken if tariffs are imposed.
“Premiers such as … Quebec Premier François Legault indicated that a response using the leverage of Quebec Hydro was not off the table,” Goertzen said.
Manitoba Hydro has in some years pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the government’s coffers. But an expected profit in the last fiscal year turned into a $157-million loss, due in large part to low water levels.
The government forecast a profit at Hydro this fiscal year, but that also took a downturn and the latest estimate is a $164-million loss.
The back-to-back losses come at a time when the government has promised to freeze consumer rates for all of 2025.
A consumers coalition has said the freeze might just lead to a big rate hike next year in order to get the utility’s finances back on track.
Tory hydro critic Lauren Stone asked officials at the committee what kind of rate increase might come for 2026.
“Does a rate freeze today mean a rate shock for Manitobans tomorrow?” she said.
Hydro officials said details will come in an application to the Public Utilities Board, the provincial regulator, sometime in the coming months.
Danroth and Hydro board chair Ben Graham refused to talk to reporters as they left the hearing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2025.
Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
