Opposition continues to mount against Premier Gary Doer’s proposed west-side route for Manitoba’s third major hydro transmission line, BiPole III, says Progressive Conservative hydro critic Cliff Cullen.

At its general council meeting in Brandon yesterday, Keystone Agricultural Producers delegates passed a resolution opposing Doer’s daffy detour – a longer, more costly c-shaped route that would run from northeastern Manitoba, to almost the Saskatchewan border before cutting back to Winnipeg. KAP instead will join the growing lobby in favour the shorter, more direct, less costly and more environmentally friendly PC endorsed east side route, which would run from the northeast in a straight line down the east side of Lake Winnipeg to the city.

“We commend KAP for taking a stand against the west-side BiPole route because it would waste over $1 billion, 40MW of clean energy and would be far less reliable in emergency circumstances,” Cullen said.

The lobby against  the NDP’s west side route includes former NDP premier Ed Schreyer, former NDP MLA Elijah Harper, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, environmentalist Robert Sopuck, 15 out of 16 east side First Nations chiefs, constitutional expert Bryan Schwartz, the Manitoba Business Council, several prominent engineers and Jim Collinson, a former head of UNESCO.

“It looks Gary Doer and his NDP cabinet stand alone in support of a west-side route,’ Cullen said. “At some point the premier needs to set aside his arrogance, admit he’s wrong and flip-flop on the issue.”