A Chair is a Chair is a Chair - How does Nalcor's Compare?

How do we compare?

We are the shareholders of Nalcor - we deserve the best people available on our Board of Directors. 

Do we have that? 

Chair of the Board, Hydro Quebec

Michael L. Turcotte obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Montréal (Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf) and a Master’s degree from the School of Business of Laval University. He enjoyed a lengthy career with the Royal Bank of Canada and became Senior Vice-President, Québec, in l984.

Since his retirement from the Royal Bank in l998, Mr. Turcotte has served as a Corporate Director. Until 2004, he was Chair of the Board of Management of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Chairman of the IRCM Foundation and Québec Chair of the Canadian Forces Liaison Council.

In November 2005, he became Chairman of the Board of Hydro-Québec. He continues to serve as a Director of various private corporations and institutions of the public sector.

Mr. Turcotte is Governor Emeritus of the Arthritis Society, of which he is also a past Québec President. Over the years, he has been a Director and Chairman of the Board of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

Mr. Turcotte is Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 6th Field Artillery Regiment. He is a recipient of the Hermès prize from the School of Business of Laval University and has been honoured by the Scouts Association of Canada. Mr. Turcotte has been a member of the IRCM Board of Directors since 2002. He chairs the Governance Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee. 

Chair of the Board, BC Hydro

Dan Doyle started his career with the Province of British Columbia as an engineer-in-training; 36 years later, he retired from the Public Service as the Deputy Minister of Transportation.

Throughout his career with the Ministry, Mr. Doyle built a legacy of B.C.-wide transportation infrastructure. In 2006, Mr. Doyle was appointed Executive Vice-President responsible for the development and building of venues and supporting infrastructure for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games by the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

A strong believer in having the right team in place to do the job, Mr. Doyle is widely known for his ability to deliver major projects on time and on budget. 

In recognition of his highly respected public service and professional expertise, Mr. Doyle was awarded the Order of B.C. in 2010. He was also awarded B.C.'s premier distinction for professional engineering, the R.A. McLachlan Award, by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. in 2006.

Chair of the Board, NB Power

Mr. Barrett is co- CEO of Barrett Corporation, a North American investment and management company.

He is CEO of Barrett Diversified Inc., which operates wholesale distribution companies in Canada and the US, and is co-founder, significant shareholder, and serves on the Board of Xplornet Communications, a leading broadband and communications company in Canada

In addition to NB Power, Mr Barrett serves on the Board of Wajax Industries, a public company traded on the TSX which is a leading mobile equipment and industrial supplies company in Canada, two private companies based out of New Brunswick, Atlantic Industries and Apex industries, and is Past Chair and Board member of Crandall University.

Chair of the Board, Manitoba Hydro

Mr. William C. Fraser, FCA served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. from 1994 to 2006 and served as its Vice President of Finance from 1986 to 1994. Mr. Fraser served as the Chief Executive Officer of MTS Media Inc., Qunara Inc., AAA Alarm Systems Ltd., MTS Allstream Inc., MTS Communications Inc., MTS Advanced Inc. In this capacity, he provided overall leadership and direction to MTS and its 7000 employees. Having joined MTS in 1986 as Vice-President of Finance and risen to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer in 1994. 

Mr. Fraser has ably steered Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. through a generation of dramatic and unprecedented change in the telecommunications industry. From 1972 to 1981, he held various senior positions in the federal government, including Director General Finance for the Department of Agriculture.

In 1981 he was appointed to the position of Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance with Manitoba government, the youngest person ever appointed to that position. He served until 1986, when then-Minister of Telephones Gary Doer, who is now Premier of Manitoba, appointed him to his first post with MTS. He is also a member of the St. Boniface Hospital and Research Foundation. Mr. Fraser is widely respected in both the telecommunications and chartered accounting industries.

He has served as a strategic and visionary leader at Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. for almost 20 years. Mr. Fraser served as Chairman and Director of MTS Media Inc., Qunara Inc., MTS Advanced Inc. and AAA Alarm Systems Ltd. He serves as a Director of Mts Communications Inc. He has been Director of IMRIS, Inc. since August 2007. He serves as Director of Bell West Inc. and Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board. Mr. Fraser is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Conference Board of Canada. He served as Director of MTS Allstream Inc.

He served as Director of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. from January 1997 to December 7, 2005. He serves as Vice Chair of St. Boniface Hospital Foundation. In 2002, in recognition of his leadership and his high ethical standards, he was named a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Mr. Fraser received his BBA in 1970 from St. Francis Xavier University, where he was honored as the university's top graduate among the entire 1970 class. He became a Chartered Accountant in 1972.

Libs and NDP make critical mistake - Martin is right on Adams

Watch me do - what many of you thought I could not - defend Nalcor, Ed Martin, and Jerome Kennedy.

Yesterday the place was rocking over a blog entry by one Thomas (Tom) Adams - "energy guru".

The media grabbed on to this blogger like no other. Be damned with bloggers and critics from Newfoundland and Labrador - we have an Upper Canadian attacking the Muskrat Falls deal.

Ed Martin was quick off the block defending the position of Nalcor and the Emera deal by saying of Adams, “He’s either ignored some very, very important facts, or he’s not aware of them,”

In the 90's people were looking at breaking up crown owned New Brunswick Power - Tom Adams was all over that - pushing for it. Then Chair of the NB Power Dr. Frank Wilson made comments amazingly similar to Martin's comments yesterday. Dr. Wilson said of Adams and Energy Probe where Tom worked,  the Energy Probe report is not factual and inaccurate, saying the utility is in better shape than its critics like Adams suggest. Wilson said it still has the lowest power rates in the region and is relatively well-positioned for its future."This is a typical Energy Probe analysis. There's nothing in this that we haven't seen from them before."

For all the media or people with a short memory Tom Adams and I did battle in the 90's when he weighed in on the proposed privatization of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. His advice was not accurate then and it does not provide any assistance now.

This energy expert would have seen Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro ripped apart and privatized.

So in this case Ed and Jerome are right - IGNORE him. The quicker the better.

Opposition members like Dale Kirby should not be so quick to hold up Adams as a go to person on energy - they should instead seek the advice from Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are experts in our hydro resources. The choice to hyper-tweet Adams was wrong and demonstrates the weakness in his parties own position.

Meanwhile the Liberals put out a News Release yesterday where they use Tom Adams comments as another reason for concern. Yvonne Jones as Energy Critic made a tremendous mistake by barking up Adam's tree. Once again stay closer to home and look to people who have protected the resources in the past - not one who weighs in every now and then - for unknown reasons.

There are many reasons to oppose the Muskrat Falls deal and many reasons for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to seek new policy direction. Tom Adams is not one of them. 

If one were a conspiracy theorist - you would think Nalcor asked him to weigh in - so we could focus on something other than the awful Emera deal. In other words find a common enemy.

Hopefully Adams will keep his opinions to himself so that the people who own the resources and will pay to develop it can get on with our discussion. If Adams wants to carry on - please try to keep his genius and agenda in perspective.

From where I sit - regardless of what the man says - even accurately - I cannot trust his agenda. Perhaps this time it's a desire to see the export of hydro flow to Ontario - anywhere but use the tremendous resource in Labrador for industry.

My recommendation to fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians is to stop the Emera deal - but stay away from Tom and don't use him in your fight against this deal.

Minister Skinner does not know what he's talking about!!

Minister Skinner was unable to answer the question I asked him today on Open Line - as such I can conclude is not capable of touching the Lower Churchill deal.

I asked the Minister about nationalizing Newfoundland Power in order to reduce rates to our people.

He said it would have to be studied. I advised him the report was already in his Departmental office.

After I hung up - the Minister speculated that the report must have been from the Clyde Wells era when privatization was discussed.

In fact the financial review of the potential takeover was completed in 2003 and released by then PC Minister Ed Byrne in 2004.

The fact that the Minister did not know that demonstrates his knowledge is not sufficient to do the Muskrat deal.

I will scan and paste the report on thIs site next week as it demonstrates that the takeover is not only a real option but would save money for the ratepayers. 

Further over time those savIngs would continue to mount - thereby controlling rates for the consumer.

Further - when hydro privatization was discussed the only valid argument was the elimination of duplication. The problem was the corporates not the people would reap the benefits.

Minister Skinner had no problem relating assets for debt on Muskrat yet did not use the same logic regarding the takeover of Newfoundland Power assets. The cost to purchase Newfoundland Power is only relative to the costs we are paying now and would net itself off.

The savings to the consumer would be achieved through the reduction of tax that a crown corporation would not pay, the rate of return required to us as shareholders is less than the rate of return required by private shareholders, and the elimination of duplication at the management and infrastructure levels.

If the government is really interested in delivering the lowest cost power - this would have been their first move. There is a reason that Manitoba Hydro, BC Hydro, Hydro-Quebec, and NB Power all Crown Corporations - own generation, transmission, and distribution. That reason is because it's cheaper.

I can only conclude the ultimate desire of the Dunderdale government is to deliver to private interests the wealth of these resources - you and I own.

This deal must be stopped! Sign the Petition Press Here