Swan revisits east-side hydro debate

Whoa... didn't see this coming:

A controversial plan to build a $2-billion hydro transmission line down the west side of the province might not be totally carved in stone thanks to political jockeying in the race to replace Premier Gary Doer.

NDP leadership hopeful Andrew Swan said Friday he would visit the 16 First Nations communities on the east side of the province in his first year as premier to hear what they think of the new power line -- a line many say if built down the east side of Lake Winnipeg will open up a largely forgotten part of the province.

From the Winnipeg Free Press. To be fair, Swan is far from committed to changing the existing plan; he acknowledges that most of the east side communities don't want the Bipole. And given that Newfoundland has backed down on their plans to put a power line through Gros Morne National Park owing to the effect this might have on its World Heritage Site status, I suspect that nothing will come of this. The main effect here is to bring the controversy back into the public sphere, and give Hugh McFadyen the opportunity to talk about it again.

Dan Lett discusses some of the issues involved here. First Nations communities are far from unanimous on the Bipole, and Evans and Whitehead seem to want the east side route to be reconsidered. Hmm.