EDMONTON, AB: Alberta’s Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) disaster reached new lows this week as Parkland County announced it is facing a potential $40 million budget shortfall as a result of the NDP incompetence that led to the termination of TransAlta’s Sundance A, B and C PPAs.
UCP Electricity and Renewables Critic Don MacIntyre said Alberta’s coal communities are carrying the burden of the NDP government’s incompetence on the power file.
“It’s obvious that the NDP either failed to consider the monumental impact its energy and electricity policies would have on municipalities across the province, or knew and simply didn’t care,” MacIntyre said. “Either way, residents of these communities are ultimately going to be the ones to pick up the tab at a time when they can least afford it. Municipalities, businesses and families in coal communities are facing a devastating future.”
UCP Energy Critic Rick Fraser said that despite promising to support Alberta’s coal communities through a rushed transition away from coal, the NDP government has refused to engage with residents and local officials whose lives have been turned upside down by these reckless and poorly thought out policies.
“Alberta’s coal communities were already struggling under the weight of this government’s short-sighted plans to transition away from coal. Now they’re getting a glimpse of the financial upheaval still in store,” Fraser said. “Despite promising otherwise, the NDP does not have the backs of Alberta coal communities.”