Stop Bob Hawkesworth

To All 2010 Calgary Municipal Election Voters:

       As dedicated ENMAX employees of CUPE Local 38 we are again concerned about the privatization of ENMAX with the choice of Calgary mayoral candidates in the upcoming municipal election.   Over the recent months, we have seen private communication between ENMAX Executives and Alderman Bob Hawkesworth re-exploring this option.   In his 2010 election campaign for mayor, Mr. Hawkesworth mentions about the right and wrong priorities for the next City Council; here are some reasons why we think he should not be part of the next City Council:

       This is not the first time Mr. Hawkesworth (who is also an ENMAX Board member) has pursued the idea of selling the city’s largest municipal asset.  Back in 2001, Mr. Hawkesworth was leading the “background” efforts at City Council to sell ENMAX without any public consultation.  In late July 2001, City Council voted 9-5 in support of selling ENMAX at a closed-door meeting.  It hoped to rush the deal through by mid-September about 1 month before civic election.    Why the rush back then, Mr. Hawkesworth?  Why did Mr. Hawkesworth have private meetings with potential ENMAX buyers even before and later after he was elected as Ward 4 Alderman in 2001?  We thank citizens of Calgary then who strongly voiced their concerns to City Council forcing all aldermen to unanimously reverse their position.

       In 2003, Mr. Hawkesworth as Alderman and ENMAX Board member attempted to broker a multi-million dollar sustainable environmental project between ENMAX and the University of Calgary.  The intended project involved using land property from Mr. Hawkesworth, funding from ENMAX and research expertise by U of C.  Mr. Hawkesworth directed senior managers at ENMAX to waive millions of dollars owed by the U of C to ENMAX for distribution costs to encourage the university to proceed with the ENMAX proposal.   Not only was this a violation of code-of-conduct regulations (governing the retail and distribution companies within ENMAX), but also this precedent forced ENMAX to waive millions of dollars owed by large consumers for similar distribution costs.   In early 2004, due to conflict-of-interest concerns raised by the U of C and some ENMAX senior managers, the project did not proceed, but ENMAX had already lost millions of dollars in uncollected distribution costs from these large consumers.   Till today, we believe this matter prompted the sudden departure of senior managers like Bob Nicolay, Sean Durfy, Jay Manoharan and others.

       We are appealing to all Calgarians to consider these facts in their voting decision for Mayor in 2010.   If you have any information that you would like to share to support our concerns, please contact us at cupe38enmax@gmail.com.   We will do our best to circulate your information to the appropriate media and stakeholders and appropriate action is taken by the new City Council to ensure our elected officials no longer use ENMAX to support any political or business agendas.

Yours truly,
Concerned ENMAX Employees – CUPE Local 38
September 2010