‘That is nuts’ – Nenshi slams NDP on possible power contract maneuvers

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is once again slamming the Alberta government in the ongoing power contracts controversy, this time for the NDP potentially looking at retroactively changing power contracts.

“I am absolutely shocked that the government would be considering legislation to invalidate contracts that were entered into in good faith 16 years ago,” he said Tuesday. “They would be sending a very strong signal that they’re not interested in private investment and that this province is in fact, closed for business.”

The Financial Post reports ENMAX is concerned the NDP may introduce legislation that would try to nullify previous clauses in the contracts, which allow companies to opt-out if changes in law make business unprofitable and when asked on Monday about the possibility, Premier Rachel Notley said they’re keeping options open.

This comes after the NDP filed a lawsuit in the summer against multiple companies, including ENMAX, ATCO, TransCanada and Capital Power Corp., for using the clause in the first place based on the government’s carbon pricing plans.

“If I were giving them advice on this, I would say holy cannoli, are you really thinking about doing this in order to avoid the consequences of the lawsuit that you yourself filed?” Nenshi said. “I suppose they have the power to invalidate these agreements, but man oh man, that is a dangerous precedent, the most dangerous precedent I can imagine any government setting.”

Nenshi said he’s raised the issue with the government many times and even if the legal action passed, it would result in higher costs and emissions, along with making it more difficult to partner with companies in restructuring Alberta’s energy grid.

“I mean I can’t even imagine this,” Nenshi said, who also criticized the NDP when the lawsuit first came up. “Certainly when people take investments, they certainly take into account political risk.”

“But to think that you’d have to take into account that kind of political risk as though you were investing in a place without the rule of law in Alberta, in Canada, that is nuts, it’s absolutely nuts. ”

When the NDP launched the lawsuit, the government said the regulation was secretly made at the last minute by the Progressive Conservatives in 2000, calling the move not only unfair, but unlawful as the province was deregulating the electricity market.

Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman said American-based Enron, which later declared bankruptcy following a massive fraud scandal, lobbied the PCs for the move.

She said in July the clause leaves consumers bearing all the risk and now the government estimates Albertans could be on the hook for up to $2 billion by 2020.

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