Evidence of meeting #29 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Answer yes or no. It's simple.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Clarke, ON
It's simple: Yes or no?
He directed it towards me....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
It's one at a time, colleagues.
Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval has the floor.
Don't pay attention to any other members, please.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
I'll repeat my question. Did the private sector refuse to fund your project, yes or no?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
We undertook a canvassing of the market. Financing—
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
You've been saying the same thing from the start, but you're not giving me a yes or no answer. I am asking you a question and you are repeating your talking points. Unless you're telling us that Mr. Cory lied to us, the information he gave us was that the private sector refused to fund your project and that it was thanks to the Infrastructure Bank, which was your last resort, that the project happened.
Are you refusing to admit that without the Liberal government's Infrastructure Bank, you would never have been able to carry out your project because it is basically an institution that is supported by the Liberal Party, in which your group has contacts?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
Mr. Chair, in terms of the financing of the project, I can confirm that the Canada Infrastructure Bank is not the only financing provider to the Mersey River wind project. The innovative nature of delivery of energy for the first time in Nova Scotia—
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Without the financial support of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, would your project have been able to go ahead?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
That really depends at what stage other private capital providers would have shown interest in a product of this nature. As I previously stated, they were not the only capital partner as part of this financial closing.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
That's not the question I asked you. You seem unable to answer my questions. However, you were able to answer the questions of the members who spoke before me. I didn't trick you, I asked you a simple yes-or-no question and I'm not getting an answer from you. I find that really peculiar.
I'm going to move on to you, Mr. Roscoe.
Mr. Roscoe, is it true that your group has held a lot of lobbying meetings with government members and Liberal MPs?
Chief Executive Officer, Roswall Development Inc.
Yes, members from Roswall have met with a number of members of Parliament and other government representatives as part of our engagement for the development of both the Mersey River wind farm and the renewable-to-retail program that we're developing.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you, Mr. Roscoe.
Thank you, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.
Next we'll go to Mr. Muys.
Mr. Muys, you have the floor for five minutes, please.
Conservative
Dan Muys Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses in the room and to those participating virtually.
Are there other wind projects in Nova Scotia that are being financed by the private sector?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
Are there other wind projects in Nova Scotia that are being financed by the...? There are other wind projects that we're aware of in Nova Scotia that have both private capital as well as Canada Infrastructure Bank financing.
Conservative
Dan Muys Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, ON
Are there no other projects that are being financed solely by the private sector?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
I'm not aware of any in the past couple of years that have been 100% financed. I think the last couple that reached financial close included Canada Infrastructure Bank financing, if I'm not mistaken.
Conservative
Dan Muys Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, ON
What percentage would have been private finance versus CIB?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
I can't answer that question. I don't have proprietary data from those projects or a list of all wind projects in Nova Scotia.
Conservative
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
For this project? Do you mean in terms of—
Conservative
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
The short answer is that there's substantial private capital as part of the financial close of this project, the details of which are commercially confidential.
Conservative
Dan Muys Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, ON
We're talking about approaching a quarter of a billion dollars with CIB loan and other federal subsidies. The question that my colleague Monsieur Barsalou-Duval kept asking and not getting really an answer to is, would this project have been viable without the CIB?
Managing Director, Slate Asset Management
I think the CIB financing provided some benefits to the innovative nature of the delivery model and, in particular, the renewables-to-retail program, which is the first of its kind. Not to get too far in the weeds, but project-based financing's novelty and structuring tends to be complicated, so their involvement was a benefit for the project overall in moving forward.