‘This whole corporation is in chaos’

Photo by Whitehorse Star

The truthfulness of Premier Dennis Fentie and his plans for the future of Yukon Energy is being called into question - again.

Employees with the publicly owned utility met Thursday evening with the former directors of the board who announced their resignations last week over what they described as intolerable political interference into the corporation’s affairs.

Employee Janet Patterson told the Star this morning she is convinced the premier is not being forthright with either the staff or Yukoners when he claims he’s not negotiating some form of privatizing public assets.

There is, she added, genuine concern among employees about their future with Yukon Energy, and about what they fear is a move to turn over Yukon assets to ATCO, the Alberta-based parent company of Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd.

“I do not believe what the premier is saying publicly is really what is going on,” said Patterson, who works as a communications officer with Yukon Energy. She emphasized she was speaking on behalf of herself as an employee.

“I think there are details that have not yet come out, and I am not in a position to talk about those details,” she said. “But I think when they do come out, heads will be reeling when the public finds out what the premier has been doing with regard to the future of Yukon Energy.”

Patterson said her staff position has not made her privy to any inside information, but from what she’s heard from the resigning board members, and recent public comments, she believes there’s much more to the story.

“We are convinced that Premier Fentie is not being honest with what is going on.”

There are are ample examples showing that when public utilities are privatized, the ratepayers pay the price with higher rates, she said.

Patterson and a number of other employees have written a letter to the editor demanding a meeting with the premier.

The letter, published in today’s Star, suggests the premier is not interested in what’s best for Yukoners.

Patterson insisted these feelings are not conjured up by groundless hysteria, but from real emotions arising out of what employees understand to be true.

Four veteran members of the board of directors - four respected and longtime Yukoners - did not resign over nothing, she insisted.

Willard Phelps, who resigned as chair of the board, today continued his call on Fentie to explain exactly what he has been negotiating with ATCO.

“I am saying it is time for some straight talk,” he said. “The people have a right to know.”

Phelps said Paul Hunter, the Whitehorse businessman and real estate agent who resigned as a member of the board, was with him when he met with Yukon Energy staff yesterday.

Greg Hakonson, a Dawson City miner and businessman who also resigned, was linked by telephone.

Martin Allen, the Marsh Lake resident who also quit the board, was out of town, or he would have been there to meet with the employees, Phelps insisted.

“We stand by them,” he said. “They work hard, and they are worried, and they should be about what is going on.”

Phelps said the Yukon is a democracy where government serves the wishes of the voters. It is not a banana republic where a dictator rules, he said.

Long before Fentie even heard of the Yukon, said Phelps, he and his family were promoting the development of reliable and affordable electrical service in the territory, for the benefit of Yukoners.

What Fentie has been up to for the last seven months is not for the benefit of Yukoners, he insisted.

Phelps and the other ex-board members have indicated their oath of confidentiality regarding internal board matters prevents them from revealing some information.

They have invited the premier to remove the confidentiality by discussing details of his talks with ATCO, which they then could respond to.

Fentie has declined. But he has on a couple of occasions since the resignation of the board members flaty rejected any suggestion he has been negotiating some form of privatization with ATCO.

The premier said his government is in discussions to rationalize the delivery of electricity in the territory.

Phelps, however, said Fentie has gone far beyond what everybody has come to understand as rationalization.

Rationalization, he said, has been on the table for years. It revolves around finding some way to rearrange assets so that Yukon Energy is solely responsible for generating electricity and moving it through the major transmission lines, while Yukon Electrical would be solely responsible for delivering it to customers.

In Whitehorse, for instance, Yukon Energy generates the power, and Yukon Electrical brings it to everyone’s home.

In Dawson City, Mayo and Faro, however, Yukon Energy generates and distributes the electricity, and maintains its own service staff for distribution lines, just like Yukon Electrical does in Whitehorse.

On the other hand, in Beaver Creek, Destruction Bay and Burwash Landing, Yukon Electrical generates the power with its own diesels, and distributes it, while maintaining its own service staff for generators, just like Yukon Energy does in Whitehorse.

Phelps said discussions have been ongoing for years to find some acceptable way to swap assets to make Yukon Energy the generator, and Yukon Electrical the distributor.

Rationalization in that form, he said, is only logical to maximize efficiency, and it’s been no secret those discussions have been ongoing.

But the premier’s definition of rationalization, he said, is not the same as everybody else’s.

“It is totally different,” he said. “I think it is starting to look like a situation where ATCO takes over management, takes over who appoints the presidents,” Phelps said.

“It think it is a situation where ATCO gets an opportunity to earn more ownership of assets in the future, however it is done.”

“I think it is a deal, in essence, that takes away control from the people in the Yukon.”

This government, said Phelps, does not understand what is involved in the electrical business, and how things are supposed to work with the regulatory authority, the Yukon Utilities Board.

“I get the impression that their decision to control and do stuff on their own has not only alienated myself and the other board members, I think they are stumbling into something that is bad for Yukon, and I say stumbling.”

Phelps said what Fentie is doing needs to be stopped.

He suspects the public attention now may force the premier to call off negotiations in the backroom and pretend they never happened. The Yukon public, he insisted, would still deserve an explanation.

“I am not happy,” the former chair insisted. “This whole corporation is in chaos because of what he has been doing.”

And like Patterson, Phelps suspects more information will be forthcoming to shed more light on what’s been happening.

When Patterson and Phelps were asked why the premier would negotiate some sort of deal they both feel is very bad for the Yukon, both said they had no idea.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” Patterson said.

All four board members who resigned were nominated and appointed by Fentie’s government. Pat Irvin, the former co-chair who has taken over as chair, was also nominated and appointed by the Fentie government. The remaining three board members, Paul Birckel, Barb Joe and Luke Johnson, were all nominated by the Council of Yukon First Nations.

NDP leader Todd Hardy has called a public meeting to discuss the Fentie government’s plans for Yukon Energy.

“The public has a right to know what is happening at the Yukon Development and Energy corporations,” Hardy said Thursday. “If the plan is to change the structure, management or ownership of these publicly owned corporations, Yukoners need to be fully informed and fully involved.”

The meeting will take place at LePage Park, starting at 7 p.m. Monday. It is open to everyone, but Hardy is extenings a special invitation to Fentie, David Morrison, the president of the YDC/YEC, Jim Kenyon, the minister responsible for the YDC/YEC, the staff and any of the former or current directors of these bodies.

“I urge everyone who cares about the future of these corporations to attend and express their views,” Hardy said.

“I want to hear what Yukoners think about the scheme that will almost certainly result in less local control over our energy resources. I also expect to see the premier there to defend his actions.

“He is moving in the direction of privatization, no matter what word he wants to use. And I have a big problem with that.”