$8K tab for documents on coal power refurbishment is 'a cover charge on accountability': Sask. NDP

$8K tab for documents on coal power refurbishment is 'a cover charge on accountability': Sask. NDP

Government says NDP should appeal to information commissioner over fee concerns

The NDP says the Saskatchewan government should waive the more than $8,000 in fees it expects the Official Opposition to pay to obtain two engineering reports on the province's $26 billion coal refurbishment plan.

The government says the NDP should take the matter up with Saskatchewan's information and privacy commissioner.

The NDP asked for the reports, which were prepared for SaskPower by Rockford Engineering and Hatch Engineering, under the province's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

That legislation can be used by media, businesses, lawyers, political parties and provincial residents to obtain documents held by the Government of Saskatchewan that have not been made public.

The $8,011.50 figure quoted by SaskPower in response to the Official Opposition's request is the government putting "a cover charge on accountability," NDP Leader Carla Beck said.

"What is it that Scott Moe is so afraid the Saskatchewan people are going to see?" Beck said during a news conference on Monday.

Leaked SaskPower documents show 'extreme' risk in $26B coal refurbishment plan

Beck and Aleana Young, the NDP's critic for SaskPower, said the two reports were commissioned to evaluate and cost the plan to refurbish the province's fleet of coal-fired power plants.

Young said the reports would help the NDP and the public understand the condition of Saskatchewan's coal plants, the work required to keep them operating and the potential risks involved.

Internal SaskPower documents obtained by the NDP showed the costs for the refit would reach $26 billion over a 25-year period. Other leaked documents obtained by the NDP suggested that the plan carried an "extreme" risk.

The letters sent by SaskPower in response to the NDP's request say the fee estimates largely reflect the staff time necessary to redact and sever the reports, which are thousands of pages long.

The Rockford Engineering report is 1,503 pages and would take an estimated 50.1 hours to redact while the Hatch Engineering report is 4,791 pages and is estimated to take 159.7 hours to prepare, according to the fee estimate.

New documents show 'extreme' risk of Sask.'s $26B coal power plan

Severing and document preparation is calculated at a cost of $15 per half-hour, meaning the processing of the reports is pegged at $1,503 and $4,791, respectively.

Provincial and local governments are allowed to charge for processing documents under the Freedom of Information Act. An applicant must put down a 50 per cent deposit on the fee estimate before work begins.

Beck said the fee request means the public is effectively paying for the report twice because it was commissioned by a Crown corporation and the $8,011.5 fee will be paid by the Official Opposition, which is funded by the public.

"This is expert work done and paid for by the Crown corporation owned by the people of this province," Beck said on Monday.

"It will be the people of this province who are asked to pay for for this power plan into the future and simply, they have the right to see it."

Price estimate for Sask.'s refit of coal-fired power plants climbs to $26B

In a statement, the province did not directly respond to the issues raised by the NDP.

Instead, it described the requirement under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to provide applicants with a fee estimate.

"If the applicant believes the estimated fee is unreasonable or calculated incorrectly, they can request a review by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Saskatchewan," the statement read.

Alexander Quon is the provincial affairs reporter for CBC Saskatchewan. He has been a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan since 2021 and is happy to be working in his hometown of Regina after half a decade in Atlantic Canada. He has previously worked with the CBC News investigative unit in Nova Scotia and Global News in Halifax. Alexander specializes in freedom of information requests and data reporting. He can be reached at: alexander.quon@cbc.ca.