[Resolute 14]

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...ctrical-system

But it’s even worse for Calgarians if Enmax loses the case launched by the province.

That would force the utility to hang on to a liability running to hundreds of millions. Enmax would then have to approach city council for a major capital injection.

Council could only do that by borrowing, and repaying through higher taxes or reduced services, or both.

The annual Enmax dividend to the city treasury — $56 million last year — could also vanish. That benefit knocks nearly two percentage points off property tax bills.

In total, the whole mess could easily raise property taxes five per cent or more.

And to top all this, it’s almost certain that Enmax would countersue the province for misrepresenting the power purchase deals in the first place.

The lawsuit is only the start.

The government’s goals go far beyond blocking the termination of power purchase agreements. The NDP intends to gain much more control over prices, and perhaps over ownership of assets as wel

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How far the NDP would tilt toward a more public system, like those in the other provinces, isn’t yet clear.

Our system has always been essentially private, or city-owned, with varying degrees of provincial regulation. A shift even to partial provincial ownership would be massively expensive.

The late Premier Ralph Klein’s policy change in 2000 — the one behind today’s bizarre legal case — was essentially a loosening of regulation to bring in more competitors.

The NDP always hated this, and makes its distaste clear now by taking to court virtually every player in that system.