New board members could help reinvent Northwest Territories Power Corporation, experts say

A shake-up to the board of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) could be just what's needed to modernize energy policy in the territory and bring more expertise, according to some watchers.

The territorial government will soon be calling for new members to replace the Crown corporation's current board of directors, which is made up entirely of deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers from the territorial government. 

The minister responsible for NTPC, Caroline Wawzonek, said in the Legislature on Friday that the government is recruiting four to eight new members to replace current directors, and also plans to keep at least two government officials on the board.

Shauna Morgan, MLA for Yellowknife North, hopes new governance will bring about some needed change. The deputy ministers currently on the board, she says, are not experts in energy policy or implementation.  

"They all have, obviously, much bigger jobs and many other things they're worried about, running their departments. So the concern is that by having the board be deputy ministers, it would just be a vehicle of sort of maintaining status quo," she said. 

"The problem is that the status quo is sending us on a downward spiral."

NTPC recently applied for an 18 per cent rate hike across the territory, citing things such as inflation, low water levels, and a $97-million project to overhaul the Taltson hydroelectric dam as reasons for the increase. 

Morgan said she wants to see policies that encourage renewable power, rather than the current policies which discourage it with a cap on production.

"Instead of resisting that change, the power corporation needs to be part of it and embrace it in its business model," she said. 

'It'll make a tremendous difference': governance expert

Richard Leblanc, a professor of governance law and ethics at York University, said a new NTPC board could represent the shift Morgan is calling for. 

A board of directors approves the organization's strategic plan and Leblanc says that fresh eyes, especially independent ones, could better represent the public and bring change.  

"It'll make a tremendous difference," he said.

Leblanc says having independent directors on the board could help bring some industry expertise, while the government officials on the board would bring an understanding of government workings. 

"A hybrid model has the best of both worlds," he said. 

David Brown, a professional adviser on corporate governance and board effectiveness, disagrees.

He says any government official on a board is going to be in a potential conflict of interest, or at least a perceived conflict of interest. 

"Does that board member act in the interests of government, because that's their day job, that's who pays them? Or do they act in the interests of the corporation, because that's what the corporate law requires them to?" Brown said.   

Brown said there are better ways to ensure a good relationship between the government and the corporation. For example, he said, the chair of the board can act as a liaison, or the government could establish a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to outline expectations and accountability.

NTPC used to have an independent board of directors. That changed in 2016 when Louis Sebert, the minister then responsible for the NTPC, announced he would be replacing those members with deputy ministers.

Sebert said at the time that would amount to $1 million in savings in travel and honouraria, though in 2023 then-minister Diane Archie said the actual savings were between $415,000 and $500,000 per year.

Wawzonek, the current minister responsible for NTPC, said Friday that the government is in the process of outlining what it's looking for in board members. That includes ensuring representation from different regions of the territory and maintaining expertise in energy policy.

Wawzonek said she expects the government to call for expressions of interest early in 2025.