Questions about the Manitoba government’s investigations into Manitoba Hydro projects continue to remain unanswered. The lack of transparency is hard to justify, considering that the government has already put considerable taxpayer money into multiple reviews of Hydro, which have not yet been released.
The reviews include an internal assessment of Manitoba Hydro’s strategic direction and operations, as well as a government-initiated review chaired by Mr. Brad Wall of Hydro’s major capital projects, Bipole III and the Keeyask Commission.
There are many stakeholders affected by the outcomes of these reports, and as such we should expect transparency from a crown corporation about their business operations and projects. Another reason to be concerned, according to a recent report by Lynne Fernandez, is that the Pallister government’s lack of transparency predicts interest in privatizing Hydro and its assets.
Adding to these suspicions, the government now seems intent on changing Public Utilities Board legislation through Bill 35, first introduced as Bill 44, now tabled for the spring legislative session. The PUB is meant to serve the public interest in a manner that is fair to ratepayers and utilities alike. It is also in place to act as an open and transparent body and to encourage public participation by facilitating processes that allow multiple stakeholders to present details about our utilities that can be examined and evaluated by an impartial and knowledgeable tribunal.
We are concerned that the proposed legislation might allow cabinet to make decisions about our publicly-held utilities without the oversight of an independent board reviewing financial and mitigating circumstances through an open and transparent evidenced-based process. Along with several other community organizations, the Winnipeg chapter of the Council of Canadians strongly feels that the tabling of the proposed legislation is premature given that Manitoba utilities operations remain under review. The recommendations arising from these reviews need to be publicly examined and public reviews of the information should be undertaken before the changes outlined in Bill 35 are entrenched in legislation.
A letter has been written, circulated, and submitted to our legislative representatives by the social justice community requesting further information and discussion before entrenching legislation that would have a permanent effect on the way utilities are regulated in our province. So far, the government has failed to provide this information.
We do not know what information our elected representatives are using to implement the changes to the PUB legislation. Bill 35 needs to be withdrawn until the outstanding reviews have been released to the public for comment and feedback. Write to your representative today, demanding more transparency from our government about Bill 35 and the Manitoba Hydro reports.
Contributors: Stephanie Grout and Jana Millar Usiskin–Council of Canadian Winnipeg Chapter members