“Foreign” power<\/h3>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/files\/2018\/03\/Cedars-Interior-300x215.jpg\")
<\/a>An early photo of the interior of the Cedars Rapids power station near Montreal. The station was an early supplier of power to aluminum smelters in Massena. Library and Archives Canada, Department of Interior . PA-044123<\/p><\/div>\n
The big question though is; Is anything in trade really \u201cforeign\u201d?\u00a0 The economies of Canada and the United States have become so integrated over many decades, including decades before free trade agreements were signed.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\nIn the early 20th<\/sup> Century, commercially-produced and distributed electricity emerged as an essential product for the function of industries and households. Two out of the first three companies to generate large amounts of electricity on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls were American companies. Almost all of the power followed lines from Canada to Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. In the North Country, for decades, most of the power that kept aluminum smelters in Massena operating came from Cedars Rapids further down the St. Lawrence near Montreal. Oppositely, and on a smaller but amusing scale, there were plans to build a large dam on what was called the Little River between Ogden Island and Waddington to generate electricity that would be carried over a line to Morrisburg and send power towards Toronto.<\/p>\nThese early exchanges or plans to exchange electricity across the Canada-U.S. border show that the linkages, both economic and physical, have been strong for a long time. The governments in both countries could not keep up with the pace of the cross-border electricity trade, either. Regulation of\u00a0power exports in Canada, and power imports in the U.S., wasn\u2019t implemented until generating stations and transmission lines were already in service.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, Quebec began selling electricity to New York State and Vermont. Those arrangements pre-dated the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. In Canada, the only regulatory approval the deals needed was from the National Energy Board. It needed proof in 1973 that the power being sent from Beauharnois near Montreal over the controversial 765,000-volt line through the North Country was surplus to power needs in Canada. The same proof was needed six years later when the first major power agreement was reached between Hydro-Quebec and Vermont.<\/p>\n
Today, the free-trade of electricity is protected under NAFTA, and there\u2019s no sign of that changing, even if the rest of the agreement were to disappear. In fact, U.S. energy policies state that Canadian utilities must be structured the same way as American utilities if they want to sell electricity south of the border. So, the result is Canadian utilities are generating large blocks of electricity, in Canada, but for the United States, and within the requirements of American law. With an arrangement like that, the \u201cforeign\u201d power that is keeping the billboards shining bright on Times Square doesn\u2019t seem so foreign after all.<\/p>\n
Coffee, donuts, cars, and paper<\/h3>\n
<\/a>An early photo of the interior of the Cedars Rapids power station near Montreal. The station was an early supplier of power to aluminum smelters in Massena. Library and Archives Canada, Department of Interior . PA-044123<\/p><\/div>\n
The big question though is; Is anything in trade really \u201cforeign\u201d?\u00a0 The economies of Canada and the United States have become so integrated over many decades, including decades before free trade agreements were signed.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n In the early 20th<\/sup> Century, commercially-produced and distributed electricity emerged as an essential product for the function of industries and households. Two out of the first three companies to generate large amounts of electricity on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls were American companies. Almost all of the power followed lines from Canada to Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. In the North Country, for decades, most of the power that kept aluminum smelters in Massena operating came from Cedars Rapids further down the St. Lawrence near Montreal. Oppositely, and on a smaller but amusing scale, there were plans to build a large dam on what was called the Little River between Ogden Island and Waddington to generate electricity that would be carried over a line to Morrisburg and send power towards Toronto.<\/p>\n These early exchanges or plans to exchange electricity across the Canada-U.S. border show that the linkages, both economic and physical, have been strong for a long time. The governments in both countries could not keep up with the pace of the cross-border electricity trade, either. Regulation of\u00a0power exports in Canada, and power imports in the U.S., wasn\u2019t implemented until generating stations and transmission lines were already in service.<\/p>\n In the 1970s, Quebec began selling electricity to New York State and Vermont. Those arrangements pre-dated the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. In Canada, the only regulatory approval the deals needed was from the National Energy Board. It needed proof in 1973 that the power being sent from Beauharnois near Montreal over the controversial 765,000-volt line through the North Country was surplus to power needs in Canada. The same proof was needed six years later when the first major power agreement was reached between Hydro-Quebec and Vermont.<\/p>\n Today, the free-trade of electricity is protected under NAFTA, and there\u2019s no sign of that changing, even if the rest of the agreement were to disappear. In fact, U.S. energy policies state that Canadian utilities must be structured the same way as American utilities if they want to sell electricity south of the border. So, the result is Canadian utilities are generating large blocks of electricity, in Canada, but for the United States, and within the requirements of American law. With an arrangement like that, the \u201cforeign\u201d power that is keeping the billboards shining bright on Times Square doesn\u2019t seem so foreign after all.<\/p>\nCoffee, donuts, cars, and paper<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/files\/2018\/03\/GM-Oshawa-1959-772x768.jpg\")
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