Even today, the NDP loudly doubles (triples?) down. Crazy. I can't believe we are talking about investment having to deal with Sovereign risk in Canada let alone our own goddamn province.
http://calgaryherald.com/business/en...y-battle-royal
“Remember that the government triggered this situation themselves,” Nenshi continued.
“Who would ever invest in this province if they thought the government would just simply invalidate their contract decades later.”
Who, indeed?
While governments may have the ability to alter historical contracts through law, the province would do so at its peril.
If investors believe the sovereign risk within the province has suddenly jumped, Alberta won’t easily attract investment for its billion-dollar plans to build new renewable facilities and natural gas plants, or will pay a premium.
One can’t escape the lingering feeling if the province admitted it made a mistake by inadvertently tripping the opt-out provision in the PPAs, and allowed the Balancing Pool to terminate the returned agreements, bigger losses would be mitigated down the road.
But each new move — launching the lawsuit, blaming Enron, possibly overwriting 16-year-old contracts through legislation — piles one bad decision upon another.
Curiously, the premier said the province isn’t considering breaking any other contracts that it deems unfair to taxpayers. EDIT:
Yet
“It’s not just a question of unfair. The question is whether the matter was duly entered into under the rules that people believed to be in play at the time,” she said.
“Maybe they were, maybe there weren’t.”
