The successful refurbishment of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is of great importance to New Brunswickers. As this facility provides about 30 per cent of our province's electricity when fully operational, it's a vital part of our energy infrastructure. So, the delays in its refurbishment to date are of tremendous concern to Premier Shawn Graham and I.

Although we do recognize the magnitude and complexity of this project, these delays and their potential impact on ratepayers are unacceptable. In our view, the government of Canada - which has responsibility over the project's general contractor, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) - must come to the table and address the issue of the significant cost resulting from this situation.

The federal government's responsibility in this matter is apparent in light of the history of this project. It was launched in July 2005, when the former Conservative government of Bernard Lord decided to proceed with the refurbishment of Point Lepreau. The task was contracted to AECL.

The refurbishment has three phases: the first and third phases are the responsibility of NB Power; the responsibility for the second rests solely with AECL. The station was safely shut down by NB Power, enabling the project to begin on March 28, 2008. The first phase was completed by NB Power two days ahead of schedule, whereas the second phase now lags considerably behind schedule.

The original completion date of the entire refurbishment was this month. However, just last week, AECL informed our government that the project is now 16 months behind schedule, bringing the estimated completion date to February 2011. In fact, in a meeting with Premier Graham and me, AECL president and CEO Hugh MacDiarmid confirmed that the federal Crown corporation, AECL, had "overly optimistic scheduling assumptions and there was inadequate planning and preparation, perhaps overly optimistic with respect to our ability to meet a 13-month outage schedule."

This further delay of the completion of the refurbishment project is very disappointing for many reasons, not the least of which is the potential cost to New Brunswick ratepayers. With current estimates that this delay will contribute to replacement power costs reaching as much as $800 million, it's obvious that the potential impact of this delay could be huge for ratepayers in our province.

To deal with this situation, the premier and I recently met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and federal Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty regarding the situation. As well, I've met with my federal counterpart, Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt, to discuss the refurbishment challenges. We have asked the prime minister and the government of Canada to respond in the next couple of weeks to our request for financial compensation.

One person who has been noticeably silent about this situation is Saint John MP Rodney Weston. While I can understand his reticence and reluctance to get involved in this matter, I do believe that he should be greatly concerned since this billion-dollar project, including the cost overruns of several hundred millions of dollars, is happening in his own backyard of Saint John. In fact, he should be doubly concerned, seeing as he was chief of staff to former premier Lord when AECL was engaged to do the work, and Lord said at the time: "I would like to remind the federal government that AECL is their corporation and we will hold the federal government accountable for AECL's performance as we move forward with this project."

Our government maintains that the government of Canada, as AECL's shareholder, has a clear responsibility to help New Brunswick cover the cost overruns of the refurbishment of Point Lepreau. By the same token, we believe very strongly that New Brunswick MPs Rodney Weston and Greg Thompson and all federal Conservative caucus members from New Brunswick have a duty to fight for our province's fair compensation in this issue.

I have requested a meeting with Mr. Weston to discuss how the government of Canada can work with our government to ensure the people of New Brunswick are properly compensated for the significant delay and cost overruns at Point Lepreau. I remain hopeful the federal government will respond quickly to this pressing issue that affects all New Brunswickers.

I want to emphasize that the delays at Point Lepreau do not reflect poorly on the talented and hardworking individuals who are working on the refurbishment day and night on site. The delays are solely due to initial miscalculations in the schedule and technology malfunctions. Those have nothing to do with the work being done by NB Power staff and our province's tradespeople, who are all doing their best to complete this project safely.

The Hon. Jack Keir represents the riding of Fundy-River Valley.