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Hydro class action suit could be largest in Canadian History
September 3, 2002
BC Citizens for Public Power files class action lawsuit in BC Supreme Court
VANCOUVER - BC Citizens for Public Power, a grassroots organization fighting the privatization, deregulation and break-up of BC Hydro, today filed what could be the largest class action suit in Canadian history in seeking an injunction to prevent the provincial government and BC Hydro from selling or transferring the crown corporation's assets.
"If the BC Supreme Court certifies this lawsuit as a class action, then every BC Hydro customer - residential, institutional or commercial - may be included - more than 1.5 million customers," said BC Citizens for Public Power legal counsel Leo McGrady, Q.C.
McGrady said the lawsuit is a claim against both the province and BC Hydro for breach of fiduciary duty and for unjust enrichment and also against BC Hydro for breach of contract and breach of the Hydro and Power Authority Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 212.
"British Columbians created BC Hydro to gain control over future electricity development, access to funds for this development, security of supply, control over price and support for economic development," said McGrady. "This suit charges that the government is breaking a trust with the people of BC - many of whom have invested in this corporation for more than a generation - by breaking it up and privatizing key functions."
BC Citizens for Public Power spokesperson Marjorie Griffin Cohen says the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between BC Hydro and Bermuda-based multinational Accenture to privatize one-third of Hydro's operations and employees has made the lawsuit critical.
"We believe this lawsuit is one of the best ways we can use to express the overwhelming demand of British Columbians that the privatization and dismantling of BC Hydro stop immediately," Cohen said. "Taking the government to court is perhaps the most serious step citizens can take when elected representatives refuse to listen to the people."
Griffin Cohen says two representative plaintiffs are initiating the lawsuit but that the BC Citizens for Public Power is launching a province-wide campaign asking all British Columbians concerned about the future of BC Hydro to sign a Letter of Intent supporting its request to the Supreme Court to certify the lawsuit as a class action.
The representative plaintiffs are retiree Jack Nichol, a former leader of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union (UFAWU) and youth activist Lyndsay Poaps
British Columbians can log on to www.citizensforpublicpower.ca to sign the Letter of Intent or find out more about the campaign.
Members of Citizens for Public Power signed Letters of Intent to support the lawsuit today, including SFU Professor Marjorie Griffin Cohen; Council of Senior Citizens' Organization President Rudy Lawrence; BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair; OPEIU Local 378 President Jerri New; IBEW 258 representative John McGraw; and Council of Canadians Vancouver Chapter Chairperson Murray Dobbin, as well as other concerned citizens. [Organizations listed for identification only.]
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For more information, contact Mark Veerkamp, Coordinator, BC Citizens for Public Power at 604-790-3352.
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