MMF threatens to block Hydro deal

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This article was published 04/04/2019 (2050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand said he’ll try to halt the Manitoba-Minnesota power line if the federal Liberals issue an approval, putting the multimillion-dollar Hydro project in jeopardy.

“I will do everything in my power to protect the Métis nation and that includes using injunctions,” Chartrand told the Free Press.

He’s asking the federal cabinet to reject the project next month. Last year, the Manitoba government reneged on a 2014 deal that would have given the federation $67.5-million in exchange for not contesting the project during its assessment process.

The National Energy Board approved the project last November, but had used the federation’s testimony from before Premier Brian Pallister changed tack last March, which Chartrand said means the project is proceeding without proper consent.

“We have already put Canada on notice, if they are, in any way, to issue a licence without this matter being cleared,” he said. “We will take the federal government to court the next day, if they ever do that.”

On Thursday, the Pallister government announced it had approved an environmental licence for the Hydro line to Minnesota, which now only needs approval of the federal cabinet. Ottawa has promised to issue that decision by May 16.

The 500-kilovolt power has been in the works for five years, and is expected to displace carbon emissions while bringing in millions to provincial coffers.

Hydro has crafted an “accelerated construction schedule” in the hope of bringing the line into service by June 2020.

Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said the province has had “extensive conversations” with the federation about the transmission project, as well as 15 other First Nations groups in Manitoba and Ontario.

Chartrand said he’s willing to put a halt to that process, claiming Pallister “backstabbed” the Métis. The premier has said it was inappropriate for the federation to suspend the rights of future generations of Métis in exchange for “persuasion money,” an argument Chartrand rejects.

“The Métis nation will continue to live in Manitoba for another thousand years and this premier will be gone, to Costa Rica or somewhere else, and leaving a mess behind for all of us to clean up,” he said.

In February, Ottawa extended its consultations with Indigenous people surrounding the project. Chartrand said those talks should wrap up in April and have been much more attentive than reviews led by provincial bodies, “like night and day.”

The transmission line follows the traditional homeland of the Red River Colony. A 2016 Supreme Court case ruled that Métis can file land claims. If the federation launches the first of such claims, it would likely delay the transmission project for years.

“I think Canada has an obligation to protect the constitution and protect Métis citizens,” Chartrand said.

He also believes Manitoba ministers are in a conflict of interest over whether to approve the project, given that it’s unclear why the provincial cabinet cancelled the agreement with the MMF

The province awaits final approval from the federal Liberals, who have slammed the Pallister government over its spat with the federation, suggesting it had affected federal consultations.

“Unfortunately, Manitoba has consistently put this process in jeopardy,” wrote Vanessa Adams, a spokeswoman for Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi.

She accused Manitoba of “flip-flopping on climate action and threatening reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.”

Pallister has said Ottawa has unfairly imposed its carbon tax on Manitoba.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca