SAINT JOHN - A month after it was formed, it's full steam ahead for a task force with a mandate to define and chart the course of the energy sector in New Brunswick.
Dale Knox, the chairman of the interim task force - which will be replaced by a permanent board at the end of this month - told the Telegraph-Journal the team had its third full meeting Friday morning. Some of the now-12-member task force called in by phone, while others attended in person at the offices of Ernst and Young, the consulting group that hosted a summit on the energy hub, along with the Department of Energy, back in July.
Knox, the president and chief executive of Tabufile Records Management, is one of a handful of community representatives on the interim task force, which also includes industry, government and academia. One of the principal jobs of the task force has been mapping out the province's existing and potential energy activities in Atlantic Canada and the U.S. Northeast. Knox says they assigned this to David Campbell, an economic development consultant, who returned to the group with a 47-page "high level" document Friday.
Identifying the existing assets is part of the task force's goal of nailing down exactly what the energy hub is.
However, says Knox, "Sometimes you don't want to put things in a box, because part of the opportunity is that when people talk about the energy hub in New Brunswick, it starts a conversation."
Knox says he's been impressed by the support of non-industry players such as Eddy Campbell, the president of the University of New Brunswick, who told the task force at its first meeting the university was open to tailoring its programs to train young people for future jobs in the energy sector.
Opportunities for young people, and jobs in general, are a driving force behind Gerry Pond's participation on the task force. In May, Pond, who is the chairman of Mariner Partners Inc., a Saint John IT company, was named as a vice-chairman of the Economic and Social Inclusion Corp., the body set up to oversee poverty reduction. He is participating in the task force as a community representative.
"Energy is like oxygen," he says. "Just about everyone needs it in some form... this is a really important sector of the economy to be co-ordinated or synchronized with the community."
He says his group has concerns related to the cost of energy and lack of energy efficiency in some apartments and dwellings and how that affects low-income citizens. But the energy hub also represents opportunities for the community around economic development.
"That could translate into jobs for individuals who are not currently employed - especially younger people," Pond says.
For her part, Claire LePage says the energy hub is really an investment attraction project.
"It's an economic agenda - it's about attracting capital to New Brunswick," she says.
The deputy minister of energy is representing the department on the task force, and she says government's role will be to ensure the right policy and regulatory framework exists to facilitate this economic development.
Knox says the task force is in the process of putting out nominations for people to fill the roles on a permanent board. He says they hope to have the board members selected and in place by the end of the month. In early September, the group plans to release a report form the energy hub summit held in July.
Author: Christine Dobby
