Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 28, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A7 O VER a year ago the province agreed to a surprising recommendation of the Public Utilities Board ( PUB) that Manitoba Hydro be divested of its demand- side management program ( DSM or Power Smart). The PUB had compelling reasons some change was needed, but divestment threatens to destroy current Power Smart assets that are widely integrated into Hydro's operations. The delay in implementing the recommendation has also been costly to staff morale and their readiness to undertake new measures - such as conservation rate incentives - that could yield higher energy savings. Unfortunately no expert evidence addressed the prospect of DSM divestment and so the PUB proposal went unexamined at the " need for and alternatives to" or NFAT hearing on Hydro development. Efficiency consultant Philippe Dunsky and others noted Manitoba Hydro has a strong, award- winning history of delivering DSM, which covers the entire province, integrates conservation programs for all fuels, provides on- bill financing, has established relationships with customers, suppliers and tradespeople to promote DSM, and has experienced and capable staff. Yet despite all these advantages, Manitoba Hydro's DSM performance has been slipping relative to other leading jurisdictions. Why? The PUB's reasoning is " there is an inherent conflict of interest when a utility acts as both a seller of electricity and a purveyor of energy efficiency measures." This generalization, however, is not true. Many DSM leaders, such as California, B. C., Minnesota, and Massachusetts, have programs administered by utilities selling electricity. Electricity sellers can be efficiency leaders for several reasons. For starters, efficiency is usually the leastcostly option when new resources are needed. Regulators can impose efficiency targets and find creative ways to reward utilities for energy savings that meet or exceed targets. For Manitoba Hydro, dependable saved energy can still be sold by rolling it into firm export contracts that yield more than double what Manitoba's industrial users pay for power. But even if the PUB's generalization doesn't hold, there have been conflicts between DSM and other corporate priorities. For example, in December 2012, Hydro CEO Scott Thomson indicated the provincial crown corporation was reluctant to undertake DSM expenditures that would drive up rates while they were investing heavily in new dams and transmission. However the PUB found DSM measures could free up to 85 per cent of the dependable energy to be produced by the Conawapa dam at only eight per cent of the cost. What, then, is needed to promote a sustained high level of DSM in Manitoba? A number of factors emerged in the NFAT hearing. The DSM entity ( whether Manitoba Hydro, an external agency or something in between) needs to be committed to a clear mission with ambitious targets set by the PUB and externally monitored. The PUB recommended an energy savings target equal to 1.5 per cent of domestic sales a year. The entity should be innovative and entrepreneurial, and adequately resourced and rewarded for achieving or exceeding its targets. Other supporting factors are rate increases when consumption goes up and higher efficiency codes and standards for appliances and buildings. How can these favourable conditions for high- level DSM be achieved without destroying Manitoba's current DSM assets housed at Manitoba Hydro? Here are several possibilities. First, have Hydro's Power Smart program regulated separately, with a well- defined mandate and accountability to the PUB. The PUB would prescribe DSM targets and adequate resources to be included within Manitoba Hydro's revenue requirement, in addition to conservation- rate designs. This structure would retain Hydro assets of people, rate design, customer service, financing, networks, database, and participation in integrated resource planning. A variation would add an independent advisory board of conservation experts for strategic advice on meeting ambitious targets. Another possibility is to make more use of independent contractors like BUILD and Aki Energy, each with its own segment of the market. Aki Energy is targeting hundreds of geothermal conversions on First Nations. This more distributed organization would not put all the DSM eggs in one organizational basket. If a completely separate DSM agency is created, links with Manitoba Hydro will need to be established to fulfill functions most- economically embedded within ( for example, customer service, conservation rate design). One way to facilitate the links and retain expertise of existing staff would be to have some of them work on secondment to the new agency. Finally, the call for an independent DSM agency has sparked calls for an agency with a broader mandate that includes: energy policy and planning for the province, promoting conservation and efficiency measures and the substitution of renewables in all domains, including, for example, acceleration of the electrification of transportation This last proposal, modeled on the California Energy Commission, would complement, not destroy, Hydro's capacity to carry out its mandate to ensure efficient end- use of power. It could draw staff from Manitoba's climate and clean energy branches, Manitoba Hydro and elsewhere but report to independent commissioners who would insure transparency and progress in meeting ambitious conservation, clean energy and climate mitigation goals for Manitoba. The premier promised to announce new climate targets shortly in preparation for the United Nations climate meeting in Paris later this year. Will he also announce an agency to drive the change? Peter Miller chairs the policy committee of Green Action Centre. IDEAS �o ISSUES �o INSIGHTS THINK- TANK A 7 Winnipeg Free Press Tuesday, July 28, 2015 W HICH is the greater cause of astonishment today? That the Conservative prime minister would want to abolish a distinguished institution once viewed as a safeguard against the radical ideas of the majority? Or that attention is being spent on this issue rather than on the economy, the environment, numerous societal dysfunctions, or international terrorism, for example? I am also astonished at how little anyone seems to appreciate the importance of the second chamber. Granted, well- informed observers see the wisdom of the sober second thought from which almost all important decisions benefit. Our national history has often benefitted from the Senate's independent scrutiny of legislation, though these benefits would have been greater and more frequent from a Senate constituted differently from the one in Canada. The most important point is to recognize that the role of an upper house is definitely NOT to duplicate democratic processes. Instead, that is the goal and function of the lower house. Indeed, the Senate's other raisons d'�tre have nothing to do with democracy. The first and most important is to prevent a federal state from becoming a unitary state. A country composed of provinces and regions with special interests to defend and local jurisdictions to protect cannot, in any way, depend on a single, nationally, democratically elected legislature. Such a legislature will pursue national interests, which has always meant, primarily, the interests of the predominant region. The purpose of the Senate is to give some protection, but preferably not a veto, to the Prairie and Atlantic provinces against the democratic authority of Central Canada. And that is one reason why their representation in the Senate is proportionately greater than their representation in the House of Commons. Other reasons for a second chamber depend more particularly on the composition and history of any given country. In Canada ( and, initially, in the cases of Quebec and Manitoba) that meant the protection of French- Canadian ( and/ or M�tis) minorities against the virtually fused majority of Canada's early British, German and Dutch populations. This protection has rarely been well- stated in Canada, so that the French language and the Roman Catholic religion have appeared separately in our first four constitutions, and only together in our fifth. Despite the historical significance of these ethnic interests in Manitoba and New Brunswick, their protection has essentially devolved upon Quebec's constitutional status in both the Senate and the Supreme Court. Finally, social orders and classes usually seek security in an upper chamber weighted in favour of ancient lineage, substantial wealth, a privileged church, and so on. Canada thus imposed a $ 4,000 minimum personal worth on its Senators in 1867. Here, of course, is the initial basis of the NDP desire to abolish the Senate. But with the evolution of modern parliamentary democracies during the 19th century and since, it is obvious democracy both exists and functions as well as it does because of the capacity of wealth and privilege to influence its activities virtually all the time. There are at least a dozen traditions, methods or institutions that simultaneously guard the interests of both elites and democracies. An upper house is only one of them ( appointed judges, another). Wealth and privilege certainly do need to be curbed, perhaps today more than at any time since the early 19th century. The NDP needs to become more knowledgeable about the Senate's role and importance. Donald A. Bailey, now retired, was a European historian at the University of Winnipeg. By Donald A. Bailey The importance of Canada's Senate A TTRACTING and retaining aboriginal workers has been the focus of much attention in recent years. For some, the continued social and economic exclusion of aboriginal people is of primary concern. Others are driven by the fact Manitoba's aboriginal population is growing far faster than the non- aboriginal population, making this group an important source of labour in Manitoba's future. Regardless of the motivation, employment issues such as the high turnover of aboriginal workers at Keeyask ( Hard to keep labourers at Keeyask , July 23) are very real. The case of Keeyask presents an opportunity to move beyond finger pointing to better understand not only why attracting and retaining aboriginal workers is a challenge, but also what we might do about it. Beyond Keeyask, employers continue to struggle to attract and maintain aboriginal workers. So much so that a 2012 report by the Conference Board of Canada made this a focus of a nation- wide survey of employers. In the report Understanding the Value, Challenges, and Opportunities of Engaging Metis, Inuit and First Nations Workers , employers surveyed identified two central challenges: attracting and hiring aboriginal workers, and work performance and retention issues. Employers raised a number of issues and concerns within each of these areas but few concrete solutions were provided in the report. This is likely because it isn't simple. The challenges raised by employers and workers will require significant changes in both government policy and employer engagement to give aboriginal job- seekers the skills and support they need to access and maintain good jobs. The current policy for job seekers with low education and weak labour market attachment is to move them as quickly as possible through basic skills training and into a job - any job. This approach is clearly not working. Research shows aboriginal inclusion in the labour market is most effective when comprehensive approaches are used. Those approaches include job creation, education and training aligned with interest and aptitude, on- the- job training and long- term financial and other supports for trainees as well as employers. Research also shows smaller programs that provide trainees access to cultural reclamation opportunities and integrate anti- oppressive approaches with an understanding of Canada's colonial history have the greatest impact. What can employers do? Attracting and retaining aboriginal employees also includes connecting trainees with good jobs in workplaces, where employers see they too have an active role in engaging in the reconciliation process. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada ( TRC) released its long- awaited executive summary, describing the pervasive and damaging legacy of residential school policy in Canada. The summary is both damning and hopeful, concluding with 94 recommendations for action. While it emphasizes policy action to be taken by governments, it also calls on all Canadians to participate in a process of reconciliation. Among the recommendations is a call on the business community. The summary notes employers have an important role to play in forging new relationships with aboriginal people. Among its recommendations to the corporate sector, the TRC calls upon employers to " ensure that aboriginal peoples have equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities in the corporate sector, and that aboriginal communities gain long- term sustainable benefits from economic development projects." The TRC calls upon employers to " provide education for management and staff on the history of aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, treaties and aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and aboriginal- Crown relations." The report goes on to note " this will require skills- based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti- racism." The TRC's call to the business community is particularly important given the fact aboriginal people continue to be over- represented among the unemployed and those with low- levels of education and training. Including a role for business as part of the solution is important if we are to carve out a new way forward that leads to improved social and economic outcomes for aboriginal people. Moving forward begins with understanding not only the challenges specific to employment issues, but how these issues relate to the damaging legacy of residential schools and other colonial policies. Aboriginal workers like Mike Hawkins, the worker quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press article, provide important insight into why aboriginal workers have been leaving their jobs at Keeyask. He notes, for example, the Keeyask employer could " be more accommodating toward indigenous people, such a helping them get the proper training and certification they need to operate equipment or perform more specialized jobs such as drilling." In the context of the current policy environment, however, aboriginal people with minimal training and little job experience are not provided with the long- term, comprehensive support they need to access jobs that offer opportunity for advancement. Further, the continued lack of " intercultural competency" noted by the TRC leads to continued racism in many workplaces, as well as resistance among some employers to hire aboriginal people. The good news is there are many very good employers keen to hire aboriginal workers, and open to the idea of creating inclusive work environments, who could use more support. Openly discussing the challenges at Keeyask and across Canada is an important step toward improving social and economic outcomes. But policy makers and employers genuinely interested in seeking to hire and retain aboriginal workers will need to be open to a new approach. Shauna MacKinnon is assistant professor in urban and inner city studies at the University of Winnipeg. She is the author of Decolonizing Employment: Aboriginal Inclusion in Canada's Labour Market, to be published by University of Manitoba Press, in October. SHAUNA MACKINNON PETER MILLER Challenges of power smart SUPPLIED PHOTO Work is continuing at Keeyask, despite the fact that it's difficult to retain labourers, particularly aboriginal workers. Working for aboriginal employees For Manitoba Hydro, dependable saved energy can still be sold by rolling it into firm export contracts that yield more than double what Manitoba's industrial users pay for power. A_ 07_ Jul- 28- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A7 7/ 27/ 15 6: 30: 32 PM ;