New BrunswickInternal government records show senior N.B.Power officials were given a say in selecting the three-person committee set up to advise the New Brunswick government on what to do about the utility.Utility president and board chair played role in the ‘identification and selection’ of candidatesRobert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Oct 06, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoN.B. Power was given a role in choosing the three people now conducting a ‘comprehensive’ review of the utility. The selected group includes, from left, Michael Bernstein, Duncan Hawthorne and Anne Bertrand. (Michael Heenan/CBC)Internal government records show senior N.B. Power officials were given a say in selecting the three-person committee set up to advise the New Brunswick government on what to do about the utility. The selection process resulted in at least two reviewers with strong connections to N.B. Power being chosen, but New Brunswick Finance and Energy Minister René Legacy says the utility has not been unduly influencing the review exercise by its sometimes behind-the-scenes involvement.”N.B. Power representatives provide valuable perspective but do not have veto power over any decision regarding the review.” Legacy said in a statement issued to CBC News. A request to interview the minister about the review and N.B. Power’s role in choosing those conducting it was not granted.WATCH | N.B. Power maintains review board is working independently: N.B. Power had hand in picking who would independently review its operationsGovernment documents show that of seven members on a committee tasked with choosing three people to conduct an independent review of N.B. Power’s operations, two were officials from the utility. One of those two was its president. N.B. Power’s involvement in the selection process surfaced in documents sent to New Brunswick’s opposition Progressive Conservative Party following a freedom of information request. The documents have been reviewed by CBC News.PC Kris Austin, the opposition energy critic, said allowing the utility a say in who was picked to evaluate the utility undermines the credibility of the exercise.N.B. Power president Lori Clark was one of two senior officials from the utility allowed a say in who would run an in-depth review of the Crown corporation. (Frédéric Cammarano/Radio-Canada)”It absolutely torpedoes the thought of an independent outside committee,” Austin said in an interview. “I think that kind of blows all that out of the water.” In mid-April, Legacy and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt jointly announced what they called a “comprehensive review” of N.B. Power that would be at arms length from the company.Holt said major changes were needed at the utility because of rapidly rising power rates and bulging debt levels and she wanted a fresh look by outside experts who could evaluate what is wrong and propose solutions.”Transformative change is required,” Holt said. “Everything is on the table because the status quo is no longer an option.”Holt also made the point that the review process needed to be “independent and transparent” to earn public trust.A news release issued at the time said, “three people independent from N.B. Power” would be picked to lead the review but didn’t detail how they would be chosen.Documents since released by the province show that selecting the three people was delegated to a “steering committee” that was empowered to provide “strategic direction” to the projectNew Brunswick Finance and Energy Minister René Legacy says nothing about the selection process for the review group will affect its independence. (Ed Hunter/CBC)Five of the seven members of the steering committee represent the province, including Legacy, deputy energy minister Jeff Hoyt, the clerk of the executive council, Judy Wagner, and two senior officials from Susan Holt’s office — chief of staff Katie Davey and director of communications Brit Mockler. The remaining two members are N.B. Power president Lori Clark and N.B. Power chair Andrew MacGillivray.In the days after the review was announced the steering committee assembled to choose the three people who would run it.From a number of candidates whose names are redacted in the documents, the committee settled on former N.B. Power board member Anne Bertrand, utility financial expert Michael Bernstein and former Ontario utility and nuclear executive Duncan Hawthorne.Bertrand, a former New Brunswick Information and Privacy Commissioner, was a member of N.B. Power’s board of directors between 2018 and 2024, serving alongside MacGillivray. According to various N.B. Power annual reports, Bertrand sat on a number of board committees with the now chair and was a member of the board in 2023 when it named Lori Clark to become N.B. Power president Bernstein was also a familiar figure to the utility. Opposition energy critic Kris Austin says allowing N.B. Power a say in choosing who would review it ‘torpedoes’ the effort’s credibility. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)Although not detailed in the online biography the province initially released about him, Bernstein was involved as a consultant in the effort to sell N.B. Power to Hydro Quebec in 2009. More recently, he had been on a financial retainer to N.B. Power to advise it on what might be done with the troubled Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and the structurally challenged Mactaquac hydroelectric dam. In an interview, Bernstein said he terminated his financial relationship with N.B. Power in the spring before he formally signed on to help conduct the review of N.B. Power.”Once it was in early May, saying, ‘Look, we’d like to move forward with you,’ then I had the conversation with the company about terminating my agreement,” Bernstein said. In his statement to CBC News, Legacy acknowledged both Lori Clark and Andrew MacGillivray were involved in “the identification and selection” of Bertrand, Bernstein and Hawthorne to lead the review but insisted nothing the steering committee has done or will do affects the group’s ability to evaluate N.B. Power “independently and objectively.” He also said Bernstein’s biography on the N.B. Power review website is being updated to include information about his past involvement with the utility “to ensure full transparency.”ABOUT THE AUTHORRobert Jones has been a reporter and producer with CBC New Brunswick since 1990. His investigative reports on petroleum pricing in New Brunswick won several regional and national awards and led to the adoption of price regulation in 2006.
Holt government defends N.B. Power involvement in selecting group to review N.B. Power
