The Mactaquac Life Achievement Project Act creates a bespoke legal regime for the rehabilitation of the Mactaquac Generating Station. The Act exempts project contracts from routine Construction Remedies Act bonding and performance-bond requirements (subject to NB Power Board approval of alternate security), lowers statutory holdbacks to 5%, removes the project from the Procurement Act’s competitive rules, and exempts certain Electricity Act fees when federal financing and ministerial approval are in place.
It also designates the project as a "major project" under the Industrial Relations Act with a mapped geographic area in Schedule A and preserves a power to revoke that designation by order of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.
This is a highly targeted statute: it establishes financial and labour-law exceptions that speed contracting and enable specific financing structures for a single, large public utility rehab. For compliance teams, contractors and unions, the Act rewrites key risk-allocation and oversight touchpoints — from who guarantees payment to how the project’s labour relations and procurement unfold — and concentrates discretionary approvals (NB Power’s board; the Minister of Finance; and the Lieutenant-Governor in Council) that will shape implementation.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Act exempts Mactaquac project contracts from the Construction Remedies Act bonding requirements if NB Power’s board approves alternate security, sets statutory holdbacks applicable to the project at 5%, and removes the project from the Procurement Act’s rules. It also permits exemptions from Electricity Act fees where federal loans or guarantees (including CIB) are used and the Minister of Finance approves.
Who It Affects
Directly affects New Brunswick Power Corporation, construction contractors and subcontractors on the Mactaquac rehabilitation, provincial procurement officials, and trade unions operating in the project area described in Schedule A. Federal lenders and the Minister of Finance also acquire conditional approval roles.
Why It Matters
The Act replaces baseline provincial procurement, bonding and labour frameworks with project-specific rules — shifting financial risk, changing subcontractor protections, and centralizing discretion for approvals and revocations. That changes how risk, oversight and bargaining are managed on a major public infrastructure rehab.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Act applies only to the Mactaquac Life Achievement Project, defined as the construction work to rehabilitate the Mactaquac Generating Station, and then customizes a handful of legal regimes around that project. It removes the default requirement that contractors provide labour-and-material payment bonds and performance bonds under the Construction Remedies Act, but only if NB Power’s board approves an alternate form and amount of security; the statute also reads the statutory holdback rules so that the percentage for holdbacks is 5% for project contracts.
Separate from construction security, the legislature declares the project a non-routine capital project and takes it out of the Procurement Act’s normal competitive and transparency rules. That creates room for alternative procurement approaches — including negotiated or direct awards — under whatever internal or board-approved rules NB Power adopts, because the statutory procurement framework no longer applies to goods, services and construction tied to the project.On financing, the Act prevents NB Power from having to pay certain annual fees to the Minister of Finance that the Electricity Act would normally require, but only where the sums are federal loans or federal Crown corporation financing (explicitly including the Canada Infrastructure Bank) and the Minister of Finance approves.
The Act also conditions fee waivers for guarantees under the Electricity Act on ministerial approval. Those provisions are designed to accommodate federal financing while preserving ministerial oversight over fee relief.Finally, the Act designates the project as a "major project" under the Industrial Relations Act and fixes the project’s geographic footprint in Schedule A.
The designation is qualified: work unrelated to the Mactaquac project and work performed by NB Power itself are excluded. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may revoke the designation by order, and the statute exempts such orders from the Regulations Act, giving the executive a direct and administratively light route to change the project’s labour-law status.
The Act specifies commencement: the bonding changes are retroactive to October 1, 2025, while the major-project designation comes into force by proclamation.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Act removes the Construction Remedies Act requirement for labour-and-material payment bonds and performance bonds for Mactaquac project contracts, but only if NB Power’s Board approves alternate security (form and amount).
For project contracts, the statutory holdback percentage in the Construction Remedies Act is read as 5%, overriding the Act’s usual percentage calculations.
The legislature declares the Mactaquac Life Achievement Project a non-routine capital project and exempts its procurement of goods, services and construction from the Procurement Act and associated regulations.
The Act exempts NB Power from certain Electricity Act fees tied to loans or guarantees for the project, but only when funds come from the Government of Canada or a federal Crown corporation (including the CIB) and the Minister of Finance approves the exemption.
The Act designates the work as a "major project" under the Industrial Relations Act with a mapped geographic area in Schedule A, excludes NB Power’s own work and unrelated work, and allows the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to revoke the designation by order.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Definitions and scope
Defines the Mactaquac Life Achievement Project as the rehabilitation construction work for the generating station and imports the Industrial Relations Act definition of “major project.” This section confines the Act’s reach to a specified program of work rather than to NB Power generally, which matters when reading the targeted exemptions and the Schedule A geographic description.
Bonding exemption and holdback rule
Creates a statutory carve-out from the Construction Remedies Act’s bond requirements for project contracts, conditional on NB Power’s Board approving alternate security. Practically, that allows NB Power to accept letters of credit, parent-company guarantees or other instruments instead of the statutory bonds, but only at the Board’s discretion. The section also overrides Construction Remedies Act holdback calculations so that those statutory subsections operate as if the holdback percentage were 5% for project contracts, reducing the size of funds withheld for lien protection.
Procurement Act exemption
Declares the rehabilitation a non-routine capital project and removes procurement of associated goods, services and construction from the Procurement Act. The effect is to take statutory competitive procurement requirements and their regulatory oversight out of play; procurement processes will therefore depend on NB Power and government policy rather than the Procurement Act’s default rules.
Electricity Act fee exemptions tied to federal financing
Exempts NB Power from annual fees otherwise payable under section 46 of the Electricity Act in relation to sums advanced or guarantees made under section 44 for this project, but only when the financing is a loan from the federal government or federal Crown corporation (including CIB) and the Minister of Finance approves. The ministerial approval requirement creates a gatekeeper role for the province’s finance ministry while explicitly facilitating federal financing structures.
Major project designation and geographic limits
Designates the project as a major project for Industrial Relations Act purposes and fixes the project’s geographic area to the parcel described in Schedule A. It clarifies that work unrelated to the project and work performed by NB Power are excluded from the designation, so the special labour regime applies only to private-contractor work within the mapped footprint.
Revocation power for the Lieutenant-Governor in Council
Grants the Lieutenant-Governor in Council authority to revoke the major-project designation in whole or in part and requires the parties (employers and unions) to revert to pre-designation rights and obligations to the extent of any revocation. Notably, the Regulations Act does not apply to such orders, which reduces formal regulatory requirements for revocation but also limits procedural visibility.
Commencement
Makes section 2 (bonding and holdback changes) retroactive to October 1, 2025, and places the major-project designation in section 5 on a proclamation-by-order timetable. The retroactivity for financial-security rules may affect contracts and disputes entered after Oct 1, 2025 but before proclamation.
Mapped project footprint
Provides a metes-and-bounds description of the geographic area to which the major-project designation applies and references an NB Power drawing number. That precise mapping matters for union organizing, contractor scope, and which works are excluded because they fall outside the parcel.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- New Brunswick Power Corporation — gains contracting flexibility (can accept alternate security instead of statutory bonds), procurement freedom for the rehab, and potential relief from Electricity Act fees when federal financing is used and the minister approves, all of which lower financing and administrative constraints on the project.
- Provincial government / Treasury Board — acquires a mechanism to accommodate federal financing and manage a single large infrastructure program without adhering to standard procurement and fee regimes, enabling negotiated funding and project control.
- Large contractors and integrated firms — can negotiate contract security requirements and procurement terms directly with NB Power, potentially reducing upfront bonding costs and enabling tailored contract structures for a complex, long-duration rehabilitation.
- Federal lenders (including the Canada Infrastructure Bank) — receive legislative clarity that federal loans or guarantees can be used without triggering provincial fee obligations, which facilitates federal participation in project financing.
- Trade unions operating regionally — receive a defined project footprint and major-project status that can support project-wide organizing and collective bargaining structures within the mapped area (subject to exclusions).
Who Bears the Cost
- Subcontractors and suppliers — face higher payment risk because statutory bonding and larger holdbacks are displaced unless alternate security arrangements explicitly protect subcontractor claims; the law shifts protection from statutory defaults to contractual terms.
- Small and local contractors — may lose negotiation leverage on bond and payment protections and could be disadvantaged if NB Power favors larger firms able to provide alternate security or accept lower holdbacks.
- Provincial treasury (potentially) — forgoes certain Electricity Act fees when ministerial approval is granted and may carry contingent liabilities if alternate security proves insufficient and the Crown steps in for guarantees tied to project financing.
- Provincial procurement oversight bodies — lose enforcement and visibility as the Procurement Act’s transparency and competitive safeguards are removed for this project, increasing administrative and reputational risk for the government if procurements are contested.
- Communities and stakeholders in the Schedule A area — face concentrated construction activity and a project-specific labour regime to which local contractors or workers may need to adapt, while consultation and oversight mechanisms remain those that pre-existed rather than being strengthened by the Act.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between accelerating and financing a single, complex public-infrastructure rehabilitation by stripping conventional statutory procurement, bonding and fee rules — thereby granting flexibility and lowering upfront costs — versus maintaining statutory protections, competition and transparency that safeguard subcontractors, public funds and public oversight; the Act privileges speed and negotiability at the price of concentrated discretion and potential erosion of default protections.
The Act trades standardized statutory protections for project-specific discretion. Removing mandatory bonds and lowering holdbacks shifts payment security from a public, statutory floor to whatever NB Power’s board negotiates as “alternate security.” That approach can reduce financing costs but creates a gap: subcontractors and suppliers historically protected by statutory bonds and holdbacks may find themselves relying on contractual remedies that are harder to enforce, especially if NB Power accepts non-traditional instruments (letters of credit with expiry dates, contractual set-offs, or parent guarantees).
Exempting the project from the Procurement Act and giving executive orders (revocation) an escape from the Regulations Act compress transparency and institutional checks. The combination of ministerial approvals, board discretion and L-G-in-C revocation authority concentrates decision-making but also raises the likelihood of legal challenges on administrative-law grounds or disputes over whether alternate security is adequate.
The retroactive commencement of the security provisions to October 1, 2025, further complicates contract risk-management and could produce litigation over contracts entered in the interim. Finally, the Act’s carve-outs for NB Power’s own work and for unrelated work within the mapped area create boundary questions that will require careful operational rules and potentially arbitration to determine which activities are governed by the special regime.
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