Summary#
Bill 18, the Mactaquac Life Achievement Project Act, is a proposed new Act for construction work to rehabilitate the Mactaquac Generating Station. Its apparent goal is to set special rules for that project; the bill does not state a separate goal. The supplied text is the first-reading version, so it is not law, and the materials do not establish whether any amendments were proposed or adopted.
- For project contracts, it would remove the usual requirement for labour and material payment bonds and performance bonds only if NB Power’s board approves alternate security, including its form and amount. It would set the required holdback percentage at 5%.
- It would exempt project-related purchases of goods and services, and construction services, from the Procurement Act and its regulations.
- It would let the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board approve exemptions from annual fees on certain government advances and guarantees for the project. The advance exemption applies only to loans from the federal government or a federal Crown corporation, including the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
- It would designate specified project work in the area described in Schedule A as a “major project” under the Industrial Relations Act. Unrelated work and work done by NB Power would be excluded.
- The Lieutenant-Governor in Council could revoke that designation in whole or in part. The bill sets out how certain labour-relations rights and duties would revert after a revocation.
What it means for you#
- Contractors: If NB Power’s board approves alternate security, contractors would not have to provide the two specified bonds. The board would decide the form and amount of the replacement security. The 5% holdback rule would apply to project contracts.
- Businesses seeking project work: The project’s procurement would be exempt from the Procurement Act and its regulations. The bill does not set out what process would replace them.
- NB Power and the provincial government: The bill could remove annual fees on specified advances or guarantees, but only with the required ministerial approval and, for advances, a qualifying federal loan.
- Employers and unions working on covered project work: The designation would bring that work under the major-project provisions of the Industrial Relations Act, subject to the bill’s exclusions. The parent Act was not supplied, so the specific effects of those provisions cannot be verified here.
- Other workers, residents and property owners: The bill does not directly change general employment rules, benefits, property ownership or public services in the text provided.
Money#
No publicly available information on the bill’s total cost is included in the supplied material.
- The bill does not set an appropriation or give a project spending amount.
- NB Power’s board would have to approve alternate security for the bond exemption, but the bill does not give its cost or amount.
- Fee exemptions could reduce government revenue if approved; the bill gives no fee amounts.
- The bill does not itself provide a federal loan or guarantee. It sets conditions for waiving fees on certain loans or guarantees.
What is unclear#
- The Construction Remedies Act, Procurement Act, Electricity Act and Industrial Relations Act were not supplied. Their current rules and the full effect of the proposed exceptions and designation could not be checked against the bill.
- The bill does not explain what alternate security must cover, how the board would assess it, or how the 5% holdback would work in practice.
- The bill does not say what procurement process, if any, would replace the exempted Act and regulations.
- The designation would take effect on a day set by proclamation. The bill does not give that date.
- Only first-reading text was supplied. No amendment text or record showing whether an amendment was adopted was provided.
Case for#
- The bill appears intended to give the Mactaquac rehabilitation project tailored rules for contracting, procurement, financing fees and labour relations.
- Allowing board-approved alternate security could give NB Power and contractors another way to secure project contracts, rather than requiring the specified bonds.
- Exempting project procurement from the Procurement Act could allow a different approach to project purchasing, though the bill does not say what that approach would be.
- The bill confines the major-project designation to a described area and excludes unrelated work and NB Power’s own work.
Case against#
- The procurement exemption removes the project from the Procurement Act and its regulations, but the bill does not explain what rules or safeguards would take their place.
- The board would set the form and amount of alternate security, while the bill provides no criteria for that decision.
- The fee exemptions could reduce government revenue, but neither the amounts nor how often exemptions might be approved are stated.
- The major-project designation invokes rules in another Act whose effects are not explained in the supplied material. The bill also lets the Lieutenant-Governor in Council revoke the designation, with the revocation order not subject to the Regulations Act.