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Indeed, the sky seems to be the limit when it comes to the price tag for Site C, started by the B.C. Liberals and recommitted to by the NDP on the grounds that that project was past “the point of no return.”

But when it comes to the public interest we are far from the point of no return. There’s still time to reverse direction, something other Canadian provinces facing hefty cost overruns on large dam projects dearly wish they’d done.

Site C’s price tag, initially pegged at $6.6 billion when it was announced in 2010, soared by yet another $2 billion last fall to $10.7 billion, with six years of construction left to go and still no sign that bedrock — necessary to anchor the dam structure — has been found.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, a national inquiry is underway to examine why construction of the boondoggle Muskrat Falls dam proceeded. Each household in that province will now pay an average of $1,800 more in annual hydro bills for a dam whose costs have more than doubled to $12.7 billion.

And Manitoba Hydro recently asked permission to impose annual eight-per-cent hydro rate increases, compounding each year for six years, to help pay for the significantly over-budget Keeyask dam project under construction on the Nelson River. That full request was denied. But it’s only a matter of time before ratepayers face the inevitable day of reckoning.

As with Site C, Keeyask’s energy isn’t needed domestically and export contracts haven’t been secured. So power will be sold on spot markets at a loss, leaving hapless hydro customers to make up the difference.