The independent agency responsible for regulating British Columbia's oil and gas industry has no restrictions on its staff being seconded to the firms they're responsible for watchdogging.
The agency confirmed that position after Public Eye learned one of its senior employees was temporarily assigned to work for Encana Corp., the Calgary-based company whose sour gas wells and pipelines have recently become a concern for some northeastern British Columbians.
Leading British Columbia environmentalist Will Horter has said that secondment "raises a lot of issues around bias" at the commission. But a spokesperson for the regulatory agency has said measures were taken to ensure the employee wasn't in a perceived or potential conflicts while at Encana.
According to records obtained via a freedom of information request, Ben Mitchell-Banks - who was then the commission's compliance and enforcement director - was seconded to Encana on May 10, 2004.
Mitchell-Banks worked for the company as a surface land regulatory affairs coordinator. That secondment was supposed to end on May 1, 2005. But, on April 15, 2005, the agreement was extended for a year - up to April 30, 2006.
In an email, commission communications manager Lee Shanks stated Mitchell-Banks was seconded so he could gain an "understanding of the industry position on application quality (to reduce the number of administrative declines) and handing of public complaints."
Shanks also stressed Mitchell-Banks wasn't in a decision-making position at Encana, having signed a confidentiality agreement prior to being assigned to the firm.
But Horter, the executive director of the Dogwood Initiative, alleged the secondment is another example of the "fox watching the hen house" at the commission.
"The OCG has already been accused by many community members who have had to engage with them as the epitome of what's called regulatory capture - where they align their interest with the regulated as opposed to the larger public interest," he further alleged.
Shanks declined to directly respond to Horter's accusations.
However, only one employee other than Mitchell-Banks has been seconded since 2005 and that was to the Doig River First Nation.
Shanks also stated such agreements have to "in some way" benefit the commission.
Mitchell-Banks is presently an executive director at the commission responsible for implementing the Oil and Gas Activities Act, which is introduced in 2008 to modernize the regulation of the industry. Encana is Canada's largest natural gas producer.
Not a moment too soon
By law, former provincial ministers can't lobby the government for 24 months after leaving cabinet.
And that's exactly how long it was before Rick Thorpe began lobbying the Campbell administration on behalf of a subsidiary of Canada's largest investor-owned gas and electric utility company.
Three months ago, while visiting the legislature, the ex-small business and revenue minister - who didn't seek re-election in 2009 - told us, "I made a choice when I left politics to leave politics and I'm enjoying myself in Arizona."
This, when asked if he had been doing any political organizing relating to the harmonized sales tax
But, as we later found out, he did suggest his friend, British Columbia Restaurant Association president and chief executive officer Ian Tostenson, should moderate the industry's opposition to the HST.
And now we've learned Thorpe - who left cabinet on June 23, 2008 - registered as a lobbyist for electric utility FortisBC Inc. on June 23, 2010. It's a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., which also owns Terasen Inc.
Thorpe, who didn't respond to phone and email messages requesting comment, has a number of connections to the company.
Harry McWatters, his former constituency association president, serves on the board of directors for Fortis, FortisBC and Terasen.
Last year, FortisBC was also the gold sponsor for a charitable fundraiser celebrating Thorpe's "many years of service and generosity to our province." Proceeds went toward the Rick and Yasmin Thorpe and Friends Scholarship fund.
According to Thorpe's lobbyist registration filing, he's contacting staff in the finance minister and energy, mines and petroleum ministers' offices to arrange meetings "between an individual and a public office holder."
He's also arranging a similar "possible" meeting with Partnerships British Columbia chief executive officer Larry Blain.
Last month, the government quietly appointed Blain to BC Hydro Corp.'s board of directors.
Thorpe's designated contact at FortisBC - assistant corporate secretary Debra Nelson - also did not respond to a request for comment.
Sean Holman is editor of the online provincial political news journal Public Eye (publiceyeonline.com). He can be reached at [email protected].
