Company slams Coon’s comments about U.S. ‘business boys’ in N.B.

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The Greens are accusing Premier Susan Holt of having her “eyes down” instead of “elbows up” by pursuing energy deals with American companies while the trade war rages on, and that she should send them “packing” because they’re executing U.S. President Donald Trump’s will.

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The accusation is untrue, says one of the outfits involved.

In the legislature on Tuesday, Coon rose to ask a question about whether the Liberals will send the companies, whom he described as Trump’s “business boys,” “packing.”

The companies he named are ProEnergy, which hopes to build a $1-billion natural gas and diesel-fired plant in Tantramar, VoltaGrid, which wants to construct a 190-megawatt natural gas-fired power generator in the small community of Lorneville, about 15 minutes southwest of Saint John, and Northcliff Resources, which owns the Sisson tungsten and molybdenum mine north of Fredericton.

Tungsten has many uses; one is to produce armour-piercing ammunition and other military equipment. Molybdenum also has several uses, including strengthening steel. Earlier this year, Northcliff was given a C$20-million grant by the U.S. Department of Defense to move the Sisson project forward. 

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“Madam Speaker, when Trump launched his trade war against Canada, the premier made a great show of taking American booze out of the liquor stores and of musing about shutting off electricity exports to the United States,” Coon said.

“However, now (Holt is) welcoming two American energy companies, Missouri-based ProEnergy to Tantramar and Texas-based VoltaGrid to Lorneville, to burn fracked gas, and welcoming the U.S. Department of War’s money for the Sisson mine. This is a threat to our very security, as they will funnel money out of New Brunswick and into the pockets of Trump’s drill-baby-drill crowd and shovel tungsten into the American war machine.

“These projects will bind our economy to the U.S. even more tightly while Trump batters our softwood lumber sector in the ongoing effort to make Canada the 51st state. Will the premier send Trump’s business boys and his Department of War packing?”

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Holt said Coon’s question “illustrates a real challenge that New Brunswick is facing right now.”

“Our economy has been tied to the American economy for a very long time,” Holt said. “New Brunswick is the most export-intensive province, with 92 per cent of its exports going to the United States. Our supply chains are inextricably linked. We have businesses that are tied directly, whether up in Madawaska or down in St. Stephen, to our neighbours in Maine, in the forestry sector, the energy sector, and beyond.”

After Coon asked a second question, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs JC D’Amours rose to say in French that when “things get a little more challenging, we have to seize the opportunities” to ensure the province keeps progressing. 

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Outside the legislature, Coon said Holt seems to be more focused on keeping her “eyes down,” not her “elbows up.” But when Brunswick News asked the companies Coon slammed what they thought of his comments, he was quickly hit with a verbal uppercut.

Company responds

While ProEnergy declined to comment and Northcliff didn’t respond, VoltaGrid president and CEO Nathan Ough didn’t hold back. 

“I think it’s extremely important to correct the facts here to what is true about this incredible opportunity we have for Saint John and New Brunswick,” Ough said in an email, before listing seven points about him and his company, including that he was born and raised in Saint John.

He noted that VoltaGrid is 51 per cent Canadian-owned and that more than half of the company’s executives are Canadians, and that the company’s finances are “banked in large part out of Canada.” He also said that “VoltaGrid manufactures a significant amount of our capital assets in Canada,” and that he’s “personally committed to this project because I want to bring capital investment to New Brunswick to help build a long-term resilient economy to benefit all New Brunswickers.”

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Told of Ough’s comments on Thursday, Coon said it doesn’t change his mind.

“Yes, I knew that, but I know more than you know. Two of his board members, two of his directors, are some of the most senior executives from the Halliburton company – massive, massive energy company – including their chief financial officer and their treasurer … he didn’t share that,” Coon said.

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“According to The Wall Street Journal, he made a $110,000 donation to the Republican National Committee, and invited the chair of the … committee over for supper to join some major oil executives and technical executives to dine with him. So I’d say he’s in the middle of it.”

The two Halliburton executives Coon was referring to are Eric Carre, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Tim McKeon, the senior vice president and treasurer.

The Journal published a profile of Ough in late April, describing him in the headline as “the Canadian fossil-fuels CEO who wants to power Trump’s America.”

– With files from Barbara Simpson

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