NDP’s $100K ad spend comes under fire

The NDP government is spending $100,000 on an advertising campaign promoting its controversial legal action aimed at stopping power companies from offloading money-losing power contracts back to the public.

The province announced Monday that it would go to court to void a clause in power purchase (PPA) regulations that allows companies to terminate the contracts if any change in law makes the deals “more unprofitable.”

The government argues the clause was unlawfully enacted under the previous Progressive Conservative government at the behest of the defunct and discredited Enron Corp.

It says Albertans will be on the hook for $2 billion if the PPAs are successfully returned to the Balancing Pool, an arms-length government body.

The province has now launched ads in seven daily newspapers and 100 weeklies, as well as an online campaign, laying out its case.

“We have a responsibility to share information with Albertans about why we are going to court to protect them from being forced to pay up to $2 billion to cover the business losses of power companies,” said Matthew Williamson, a spokesperson for Premier Rachel Notley, in an email Thursday.

The legal action has attracted fierce criticism, however, from the companies that have recently terminated their PPAs, including city-owned Enmax, Mayor Naheed Nenshi, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and Alberta’s opposition parties.

In a statement Thursday, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said “the NDP government is now doubling down on misuse of taxpayer dollars by promoting their frivolous lawsuit through ad buys.”