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Once in a while there's a happening in the world at large that gets me going and the softwood lumber thing is one of them. I've managed to keep my thoughts to myself for the most part but after reading this morning's news story, I was more than a little surprised.
This is of particular interest to me because I worked at Terasen for over 5 years and was quite familiar with the "goings on". My best friend still works there and so, I still feel close to the happenings there.
It was announced a few weeks ago that a Texas based company called Kinder Morgan (which, from the little I've read, has some ties to Enron somewhere along the lines), bought up Terasen which is the gas utility in BC and which was, up until 1989, a Crown Corporation. The sale, of course, is pending a vote from shareholders at the next AGM ($$$ why would they say no?) and an ok from the governing body which, supposedly, looks out for consumer interests, the BC Utilities Commission (aka BCUC).
What does the sale of a gas company have to do with wood? Here comes the doozy. The US is refusing to pay the $5B in moneys which NAFTA has declared were unfairly charged to BC lumber producers and collected by the US. In retaliation, the Canadians have suggested that they will start imposing levys on US products (the big item everyone is talking about is California wine). Though this has been discussed and considered an option this new suggestion is even better. Some politicians ar4e calling for the government to put a stop to the BCUC hearings, effectively stopping (actually only postponing) the sale of Terasen to Kinder Morgar. Wouldn't that be something? It's believe that this suggestion could work by applying pressure on energy friendly Bush by Kinder Morgan, a company which has ties to the Bush family.
Could this work? I know that Terasen has been priming for this sale for years, particularly weeding out the fat for a sale. It has caused a bit of concern with employees but not yet enough to force anyone to leave. I will admit that I'm very, very glad that I got out of there when I did. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes next...
On another alltogether different note, it's been more than a bit crazy. I'm going to attempt to catch up on my reading this afternoon if not, this evening!
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