Friday December 20, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
NDP roots run deep. Long ago, Adrian Dix was leader of the BC NDP; he led the provincial party into the 2013 provincial election.
All these years later Dix is the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions (after having served during 2017 to 2024 as the Minister of Health).
Today Dix responds to the appointment of new directors to the BC Hydro board of directors, with former BC Premier Glen Clark at the top of the heap as the new board chair. The current chair finishes on December 31, 2024.
Glen Clark was premier of BC from 1996 to 1999 and served as an executive within the Jim Pattison Group from 2001 to 2022. In recent months he popped up in BC Election news coverage analysis, interviewed by various mainstream media about his thoughts on the BC 2024 Provincial Election.
Other new appointees to the board are Merran Smith (president of New Economy Canada), Brynn Bourke (executive director of BC Building Trades), and Don Kayne (president & CEO of Canfor Corporation).
Tasks ahead in 2025:
BC Hydro needs to increase the electrical power supply for a growing population and increasingly technologically-dependent society and economy.
In recent week BC Hydro President and CEO Chris O’Riley announced nine new solar power projects (one of those on Vancouver Island) to help contribute electricity to the grid. Another major call for power will come within the next two years, said O’Riley.
And just today, BC Hydro has added a new solar-energy project to the clean-energy projects selected to advance from its call for power. The newly added project is the ShTSaQU Solar Project in the southern Interior near Logan Lake.
Collectively, these 10 clean and renewable projects will generate approximately 5,000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power half a million new homes, and will increase BC Hydro’s current supply by 8%.
This holiday season BC Hydro is also running a ‘holiday countdown’ contest that doubles as a daily survey, in a countdown to Christmas.
Statement by Energy & Climate Minister Adrian Dix about BC Hydro Board Appointments
“Premier David Eby has tasked me with moving our Province’s clean-energy agenda forward and achieving our CleanBC climate goals. In doing so, it’s critical that we keep BC Hydro rates affordable for British Columbians and that people and businesses have access to the power they need, when they need it. That’s why I am taking action to ensure we have the knowledge, experience and skill set on BC Hydro’s board of directors to make sure this happens.
“I wish to extend a warm welcome to Glen Clark as the new chair of the board at BC Hydro, and Merran Smith, Brynn Bourke and Don Kayne as new directors. Collectively, you bring an exceptional depth of leadership, corporate and energy experience that will be a tremendous asset as we continue to advance our clean energy mandate in future.
“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to outgoing chair Lori Wanamaker, who has demonstrated exemplary leadership through a challenging time at BC Hydro as we have faced the unprecedented impacts of climate change.
“To the outgoing BC Hydro board directors, Daryl Fields, Irene Lanzinger, Amanda Hobson and Victoria McMillan, each of you has contributed your time, energy and passion to incredibly important affairs at BC Hydro and you have served responsibly and with integrity. I wish you all the best.”
===== RELATED:
- BC Hydro awards nine wind-power projects (December 12, 2024)
- Eby’s cabinet: tight at the top along with cross-ministry combos (November 19, 2024)
- BC Premier holds town hall on clean energy (November 23, 2023)
- NEWS SECTIONS: BUSINESS & ECONOMY | SUSTAINABILITY | BC NDP