NDP government replaces Manitoba Hydro board weeks after deficit disclosure

Premier Wab Kinew's NDP government has replaced most of Manitoba Hydro's board of directors, marking the second time in six weeks the new party in power has shaken up the leadership of a provincial Crown corporation.

All but one member of the last Progressive Conservative-appointed Hydro board have been dismissed in an echo of the NDP government's near-wholesale replacement of Manitoba Public Insurance's board on Oct. 20.

The replacement of the MPI board was the Kinew government's first formal act of business. The decision to replace the Hydro board follows the disclosure of an expected $161-million deficit for the Crown corporation this fiscal year — a financial shortfall that has complicated Kinew's election promise to freeze Hydro rates.

Adrien Sala, the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, said the new board will focus on keeping rates low for families, advancing Indigenous reconciliation and moving Manitoba into a clean energy future.

"We've brought in a lot of very talented people to help support this change of direction at Hydro," Sala told reporters at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

At least half the appointees on the new 10-member Hydro board are Indigenous, including former PC government administrator Jamie Wilson, who quit an appointment with the PC government following former premier Brian Pallister's widely publicized comments in 2021 about the legacy of colonialism in Canada.

Wilson, a former provincial deputy minister and Manitoba treaty commissioner who now serves a River River College Polytechnic vice-president, joins the Hydro board as the organization's new vice-chair.

The new chair is Ben Graham, a former Manitoba Public Insurance CEO who serves as the current head of Manitoba Blue Cross.

Graham replaces Edward Kennedy, who unveiled the former PC government's energy "roadmap" in July. That  framework envisioned Hydro continuing to burn natural gas at its Brandon generating station well into the coming decades — a policy position contrary to the new NDP government's commitment to wean Hydro off fossil fuels entirely.

Also joining the Hydro board is Tom Akerstream, a former Power Smart manager and sustainability adviser for Manitoba Hydro.

Former Manitoba deputy minister Joy Cramer, who serves as CEO at the Southern Chiefs' Organization, also joins the board, along with Churchill Mayor Mike Spence, Thompson MLA Eric Redhead, western Manitoba entrepreneur Vernon Kalmakoff, former Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries vice-chair Leslie Turnbull and Paul Moist, the former national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Spence said he is pleased to see more northern representation on the Hydro board.

"As northern Manitobans, we have roles to play in terms of recommendations so that a Crown corporation is effective in serving all of Manitoba," the Churchill mayor said in a telephone interview.

The sole returning member of the Manitoba Hydro board is Nicole Chabot, the immediate past-chair of Manitoba Heavy Construction Association.

The appointment of five Indigenous members to the board — Wilson, Cramer, Spence, Redhead and Kalmakoff — marks a significant change in the board from the PC government's, which developed a fractious relationship with a number of First Nations and the Manitoba Métis Federation.

Within the first month of becoming premier in October, Kinew's cabinet rescinded a Progressive Conservative order that prevented Hydro from engaging in talks directly with First Nations, Métis and Inuit governments.

Former premier Brian Pallister put the order in place after his government nixed a financial settlement between Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba Métis Federation in 2018. 

"This is a significant message to the corporation that they need to dramatically improve the way they engage with Indigenous nations across Manitoba," Kinew said on Oct. 31.

At that time, Kinew called it "a first step among many" his government would take to improve Manitoba Hydro.

In his statement, Sala called Hydro the "crown jewel of the province" and cited the Crown corporation as the driver of a low-carbon economy.

The ability for Hydro to drive the economy is also in question, as Hydro warned Heather Stefanson's outgoing government the corporation lacks the generating capacity to connect any new energy-intensive electricity users to Manitoba's grid.

Hydro also faces the challenge of needing to double or even triple its electricity-generating capacity over the next two decades in order to meet the growing demand for clean energy.

Among the new board members, only Akerstream has experience in the clean energy field.

Sala said there is plenty of talent on the new board.

PC Hydro critic Grant Jackson (Spruce Woods) said he is concerned by the appointments of Akerstream, Turnbull and Moist, all of whom advised the NDP government prior to 2016.

"By reappointing these members to the board, it appears the NDP is ready to repeat history, which could have significant negative impacts on ratepayers," Jackson said, referring to cost overruns at Manitoba Hydro's Bipole III and Keeyask hydro-electric dam projects during the previous decade.

Jackson nonetheless wished the new Hydro board members well.

"We're going to watch it very closely because we have significant concerns, but we hope they succeed," he said.