The Selling of NB Power – Part 2 – Your Neighbour (See Part 1 Below)

Generating Sites

Not all of NB Power’s assets are of interest to Hydro Quebec. This means the NB Government gets to keep a few power Generating sites, eh? Three of sites HQ didn’t want or even consider useful. Two of the generating sites – Belledune and Coleson Cove – HQ wanted to keep around, sort of, for emergencies or something I guess. Anyway, they didn’t want to take direct responsibility for them, so we’re stuck with ‘em.

“Well, that’s a source of income for the Government, what’s the matter with that”, you reply with the last bit of optimism you’re able muster. Unfortunately, you will recall we offered to sell our entire Power Grid, and thus the words “Tolling Agreement” head a section of the Memorandum of Understanding. If the NB Government chooses to continue operating either of the above two sites -- wait, sorry – they don’t get to choose. The NB Government must operate the sites when the HQ overlord demands it, and both sites must pay a “toll” to use the power grid.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the “tolling agreements” can be as long as 20 years. One can almost hear Danny Williams screaming “I told you so!”

And then there’s this gem of a quote: “the regulatory framework governing the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in New Brunswick will be altered to conform to the framework currently in effect in Quebec” (except the rates, of course). I think that’s fairly clear: the Quebec government circumvents New Brunswick’s authority and regulates all aspects of electricity in New Brunswick.

But don’t fret, the MOU also has a section claiming that nothing in the memo is meant to infringe upon the sovereignty of New Brunswick. We can trust Quebec Hydro, right?

Employees

A lot of New Brunswickers rely on NB Power for employment. The government must have their interests and livelihoods in mind, right? Well, not really. Actually, not at all – those people are on the table as bargaining chips.

The MOU states: “Hydro Quebec will offer employment to all employees of NB Power and its subsidiaries at the time of [the sale’s] Closing”. Perfect….right? Well, I’m sure you understand the style of this piece by now – all is not as it seems.

HQ agrees to respect all collective bargaining agreements. Essentially, they will respect current employment contracts. Once those expire, they may offer renewed employment on the same or better terms or, much more likely, they may poison the milk with a poor contract to entice employees to leave. Heck, when the contracts expire, Hydro Quebec might just clean house, and why not? It’s not like they’re accountable to the people of New Brunswick!

Moving right along we find: “The Definitive Agreement will include provisions to be agreed by the Parties to give effect to this section in connection with the Retained Facilities and the Surplus Facilities.”

Now isn’t that nice of them, they’ve even considered retaining employees of the facilities they don’t want, or only want to exploit for their benefit and at our expense. Notice the underlined section. That means these folks' livelihoods are to be bargained for later, so cross your fingers.

What are those “Surplus Facilities” mentioned above? The NB Government gets to keep them (Dalhousie, Courtenay Bay and Grand Lake). Will they keep them open? Right now, it looks like any employee of the “Surplus” sites is on the chopping block.

Oh, yeah, and the “Retained Facilities”? Hydro Quebec can shut down either Belledune or Coleson Cove on one-year’s notice, and that notice can be given at any time. For example: shortly after the ink dries on the NB Power sale agreement. The employees would have no recourse, and the NB government would be unable help.

Speaking of bargaining - or should I say gambling – there’s nothing like gambling with someone’s future. While the NB Government will retain the previous Pension plans for NB Power employees, our benevolent HQ overlord has been kind enough to offer to institute a pension plan for new employees it hires (assuming it bothers to hire anyone from New Brunswick – there’s no provision for that).

But remember dear reader, HQ is a Quebec Crown corporation. How much say will New Brunswickers, or even the New Brunswick government, have in the management and governance of this new pension plan? Not even the intrepid EUB can intervene! Well, just like with the jobs above, it’s all on the bargaining table!

Let’s look closer at what this means for the pension plan the NB Government will remain responsible for. Current Employees of NB Power will continue to pay into the pension plan, assuming they keep their job. However, as we just went over, a lot of them likely WON’T.

Essentially what this means is that while previous and current employees of NB Power will retain their pension, not as many people will be paying into it, nor will any new employee of NB Power (by that I mean Hydro Quebec) be paying into it either – they have a new plan. Further, the NB Government won't be getting any revenue from the sale of energy to offset these costs; it's going right over the border into Quebec's pocket.

So, while New Brunswick gets to ditch NB Power for a quick payout, it still has the enormous overhead cost of pensions for its former employees, coupled with consistently dwindling revenue being paid into the pension fund year-over-year. Do you think the 21-year-old Line Worker who just got hired last year is going to be guaranteed a full pension at 60? The government is gambling with his future and YOUR future.