Wind company owed $28M by federal government asks court to force payment
TORONTO — A wind power company is going to court to try to get $28 million it is owed by the federal government over an Ontario offshore wind moratorium.
Windstream Energy had a 300-megawatt project planned for an offshore wind project in eastern Ontario when the provincial government abruptly enacted the moratorium in February 2011.
The company took its complaint to a NAFTA tribunal, which partially ruled in Windstream’s favour, awarding it $25 million in damages for unfair and inequitable treatment as well as $3 million in legal fees.
But because obligations are Canada’s, and not the provinces’, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Windstream is looking to the federal government for payment — and says it hasn’t yet received any.