March 2, 2005

Company continues court battle over power contract

SAINT JOHN, N.B.

A Nova Scotia company is going to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal in its ongoing fight with NB Power over the awarding of a contract for a power plant.

In 2003, Cherubini Metalworks filed a lawsuit against the power corporation alleging an irregularity in an $18-million contract that was awarded to Ocean Steel in Saint John to supply metal to the Coleson Cove project.

In an interview in 2002, Cherubini general manager Steve Ross said his company’s bid was $300,000 lower, but NB Power gave the contract to Ocean Steel.

At the time, NB Power said price was only one factor in its evaluation.

Last October, Justice George Rideout of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Moncton, N.B., was asked to rule on whether the contract had to be awarded under the Public Purchasing Act of New Brunswick. He ruled that the act did not apply.

Cherubini will go before the Court of Appeal in Fredericton on March 9 to argue that Rideout’s decision should be overturned.

The original case remains on hold, awaiting the Appeal Court’s decision.

The Nova Scotia company has suggested NB Power may have violated inter-provincial trade agreements by favouring a local company, but NB Power has denied that.

The Canadian Press

Print | Email | Comment