Indigenous financial stake not essential for Tantramar gas plant: NB Power executive

NB Power Vice President Brad Coady says that a 500 megawatt gas and diesel plant near Centre Village could go ahead without an Indigenous financial or equity partnership.

“Yes, I believe it could,” he told reporters Tuesday night at Tantramar Town Hall. “It [Indigenous participation] is not a part of the EUB regulatory process or the EIA regulatory process.”

Coady said that Indigenous participation would be “a highly desired outcome,” and he added that projects with wide support “are a lot easier than when we see a lot of opposition.”

He was responding to a reporter’s questions about a report from Auditor General Paul Martin that said NB Power’s agreement with ProEnergy requires the American company to establish “a partnership and consultation with Indigenous communities.”

The Auditor General’s report added that an amendment to the agreement last December “allows ProEnergy to withdraw from the project and recover pre-development costs if an Indigenous partnership is not finalized by mid-2026.”

Martin told the legislature’s public accounts committee last month that the apparent lack of such a partnership raised doubts about whether the project could go ahead.

“I’d say we’re darn close to mid-2026 so I’m expecting we should know by this summer what’s going to happen there. Are they finding a partner or is this a dead duck?” the Auditor General asked.

But on Tuesday night, Coady suggested that it would be enough to give First Nations an opportunity to participate in the project.

“We’re hopeful or mindful that if the First Nations want or tell us that they would like to have an opportunity to economically participate in a project, that the opportunity is provided for them,” he said before mentioning ongoing Indigenous partnerships in renewable wind and solar projects.

“In this case, it’s a little bit of a different project because it does have fossil fuel or an emissions component to it, but that opportunity still exists for First Nations participation,” he said.

Earlier claims

Coady was speaking one year to the day after NB Power announced the gas plant project in a news release that contained quotes from Jim Ward, General Manager of the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council suggesting that an Indigenous partnership had been formed with ProEnergy.

Later, the U.S. company displayed slides during community information sessions in Sackville claiming such a partnership existed and that the gas plant project would be owned by ProEnergy and the Tribal Council.

However, during a community question and answer session last August in Sackville, a representative of an Indigenous sovereign wealth fund admitted that although the Tribal Council had options to invest in the project, its seven chiefs had not yet decided to form a partnership with ProEnergy.

The president and CEO of NB power acknowledged that there were still no Indigenous partners in the project during her testimony before the legislature’s public accounts committee last month.

“They are working hard on it right now,” Lori Clark said.

“I can’t give you a timeline,” she added “and we’ve had several conversations in terms of the timeline, but as you know, as First Nations would tell us, it will take the time it takes to get an agreement.”

To read Erica Butler’s CBC report, click here.

Bruce Wark worked in broadcasting and journalism education for more than 35 years. He was at CBC Radio for nearly 20 years as senior editor of network programs such as The World at Six and World Report. He currently writes for The New Wark Times, where this story first appeared on July 9, 2026.