Ontario Electricity Regulation Crisis Report Part 94: Disinfect Toronto Hydro

Upcoming agenda item EX34.9 at the October 8th meeting of Toronto City Council provides council with another opportunity to face the music and clean up Toronto Hydro. The utility has been disgraced by CEO Anthony Haines falsifying his credentials and swearing false oaths. Deepening this disgrace are the actions of chair of the utility’s board, David Williams, responsible for maintaining Mr. Haines in the chief executive position.

Background

During May 2013, the press picked up on Toronto Hydro’s CEO Anthony Haines falsely testimony about his credentials. At its June meeting, Council deferred a routine Toronto Hydro item (EX32.9), instead requesting that the City Manager work with Toronto Hydro’s chair to investigate “recent media reports related to personnel matters.”

Starting at Part 68 of this series, I documented many instances of false CVs produced by Mr. Haines in Ontario Energy Board filings. The evidence also included official transcripts of Mr. Haines swearing false oaths and a statement from the Registrar of Lethbridge University indicating that Mr. Haines never earned the degree he claimed.

At the July Council meeting, several decisions were taken on Toronto Hydro, including passing a confidential motion on personnel matters requiring a response from Toronto Hydro by the October meeting and also a motion requesting Toronto Hydro “to consider adopting ‘Whistle Blower Protection Policies'”. Toronto Hydro chair, David Williams has provided council with a confidential letter dated August 23, 2013 regarding personnel matters and also a report dated August 15, 2013 claiming the utility’s existing Code of Conduct satisfies all Whistle Blower Protection needs.

Toronto Hydro Chair Williams Defends Haines’ Disgraces

Mr. Williams has defended Mr. Haines every step of the way as the evidence has piled up proving that Mr. Haines has been lying under oath for decades.

My initial investigations identified perjury by Mr. Haines in testimony to the OEB. When the mainstream media started reporting on the evidence, the first statement Mr. Williams issued was to radio station CFRB1010 on May 14, 2013:

“The Company has complete confidence in Mr. Haines and is confident that he has not misrepresented his credentials to the company, the Ontario Energy Board or anyone else. Toronto Hydro and Mr. Haines are considering all available legal avenues.”

Mr. Williams claimed to have personally conducted a comprehensive investigation of the Haines CVs. On May 15, Mr. Williams stated live on CFRB1010 during an interview with John Tory:

“When it came to our attention, it was my responsibility to take up with our own Human Resource department to make sure of the facts in this case.”

Mr. Williams has attempted to minimize the evidence against Mr. Haines by calling it a “formatting problem”. Mr. Williams attempted to further minimize the disgrace by claiming it only occurred in one filing. In his letter of May 16, 2013 to Toronto Hydro employees, Mr. Williams dismissed evidence of Mr. Haines alleged perjury by suggesting:

“The subject of the media attention is a formatting problem with regards to a regulatory filing.”

On September 13, 2013, presented with new evidence confirming previous evidence about Mr. Haines, Mr. Williams issued a statement to the Toronto Star claiming a “rigorous review” had been conducted:

“I regret that this continues to be an issue despite a rigorous review by the Board and the fact that Mr. Haines has apologized to the Board and City Council for any concerns that this matter has caused.”

Which individual directors support this statement?

Cooked Credentials: New Evidence

The key passage of the evidence I published in September in Part 89 of this series shows Mr. Haines unambiguously cooking his credentials in evidence before the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) in 1992.

“I graduated from the University of Lethbridge in 1984 from the Bachelor of Commerce program with an accounting major.”

A highlighted excerpt of the 1992 document, obtained from the BCUC archives, is here.

Haines perjury at BCUC 1992 (1)

In 2007, Mr. Haines began repeating this same false statement each time he testified before the Ontario Energy Board.

All of the defenses offered by Mr. Haines and Mr. Williams are overcome by evidence showing that Mr. Haines has been relying on the same fraudulent credentials for over 20 years.

Toronto Council Must Clean Up Toronto Hydro

Toronto Hydro has both a chair of the board of directors in Mr. Williams and a CEO in Mr. Haines who are both actively contemptuous of the utility’s Code of Conduct and Toronto City Council. In May, the evidence I documented showed Mr. Haines to be a liar under oath. The response of Mr. Williams to this evidence was to white wash the record of Mr. Haines. Mr. Williams has responded to my new expanded evidence, presented in September, with another coating of white wash.

The utility cannot conduct orderly business while these two individuals occupy the key positions of responsibility.

All business arrangements that the utility is engaged in at present are tainted.

Toronto’s city councillors, as representatives of the owners of Toronto Hydro, must act now to clean up the utility by putting in place a management team committed to ethical standards of business.

Mr. Haines is as untruthful about the operational reality of the utility as he is about his cooked credentials. With consumers dependent on Toronto Hydro’s essential service, council must act.

5 Comments

  1. Ice Energy, Sept.22, 2010
    “Toronto Hydro Selects Ice Energy Storage to Reduce Peak Electricity Demand”
    Pilot project funded by a grant from the Ontario Power Authority under the Conservation Fund program.
    http://www.ice-energy.com/toronto-hydro

    greentech grid, June 20,2012
    “Ice Energy Finds Profits in Thermal Energy Storage”
    Cost about $2,200 per kilowatt of installed capacity
    http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ice-energy-finds-profits-in-thermal-energy-storage

  2. Pingback: Toronto Hydro's Smart Grid failed customers hit by ice storm | Tom Adams Energy - ideas for a smarter grid

  3. Many financially challenged people in Scarborough were left without lights, and more importantly, heat. Mr. Haines should be demoted, if not fired, on the basis of this alone. Instead, he sheds a tear and comes off as the proud leader of the troops who did all the front line work to get the lines restored.
    Thanks to all those who worked long and hard to get the power back on. And thanks, Tom Adams, for this forum.

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