Appeal No.

: _______________

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF ALBERTA IN THE MATTER OF THE ALBERTA UTILITIES COMMISSION ACT, RSA 2000, A-37.2 AND IN THE MATTER OF DECISION NO. 2011-436 OF THE ALBERTA UTILITIES COMMISSION DATED NOVEMBER 1, 2011

BETWEEN: STUART AND KAREN SHAW Applicants - and -

ALBERTA UTILITIES COMMISSION AND ALTALINK MANAGEMENT LTD. AND EPCOR DISTRIBUTION & TRANSMISSION INC. Respondents

Affidavit of Karen Shaw

I, Karen Shaw, farmer and business person of Sturgeon County, in the Province of Alberta, do hereby make oath and say:

1.

I personally have knowledge of the matters deposed to herein save where stated to be based on information and belief, in which case I verily believe them to be true.

2.

My husband, Stuart Shaw, and I own and operate a mixed farming operation on SW27-56-22-W4. This is also the location of our residence.

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3.

The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) granted me intervener status and I participated in the AUC hearing on the Heartland Transmission Project.

4.

Components of the Heartland Transmission Project have been approved for construction by the AUC on lands within 800 meters of our farm.

5.

The AUC public hearing concluded on May 18, 2011 and the parties concluded final written argument on July 18, 2011.

6.

On July 19, 2011, legal counsel for the AUC wrote to the parties and advised that the Commission anticipated releasing its decision on the Heartland Transmission Project on October 24, 2011. Exhibit A July 19, 2011 Letter from AUC Legal Counsel to Parties re Decision Release Date

7.

Prior to the release of its decision, on Friday, October 21, 2011 at 10:00 am, the Commission sent an email to the parties involved in the Heartland hearing attaching two letters:

a)

the first letter was a letter dated October 19, 2011 from the Honourable Minister of Energy, Ted Morton, to the Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Willie Grieve, wherein the Minister requested that the Commission suspend or adjourn its consideration of three transmission projects (the Heartland Transmission Project, the Western Alberta Transmission Line, and the Eastern Alberta Transmission Line); and Exhibit B October 19, 2011 Letter from Minister of Energy to Chairman of the AUC

b)

the second letter was a letter dated October 21, 2011 from Commissions legal counsel to the parties involved in the Heartland hearing and advised that the

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Honourable Minister of Energy has requested that the Commission adjourn or suspend its consideration of the Heartland Transmission Project and that the Commission was complying with the Ministers request. Exhibit C October 21, 2011 Letter from AUC Legal Counsel to Parties 8. On Friday, October 21, 2011 at 10:17 am, the Alberta Government issued a press release wherein the government announced that the AUC was suspending its consideration of the Heartland Transmission Project in response to the governments request. Exhibit D October 21, 2011 Government of Alberta Press Release 9. The AUC released a similar press release at the same time as the Alberta Government. Exhibit E October 21, 2011 AUC Press Release 10. On Friday, October 21, 2011 at approximately 10:30 am the AUCs spokesperson, Director of External Affairs, Mr. Jim Law, appeared on the Dave Rutherford radio program on the Calgary QR 770 radio station. The transcript of the interview is

attached as Exhibit F. The AUCs spokesperson made a number of statements during the interview:

MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD:

Jim, surprise, surprise.

MR. JIM LAW:

Well, maybe not.

MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD:

Okay.

Why not?

MR. JIM LAW: anybody has

I I think I think that if been following the leadership

-4-

campaign, premier,

any as

statements well,

made is

and

by

the

new not

this

probably

unexpected.

And wed it certainly wasnt that And what weve done is

unanticipated, I think.

to respond to the government request to, in the positive, to suspend our review and the hearings that we have for three (3) of the critical that are

transmission

infrastructure

projects

before us right now. Exhibit F -- Page 5 line 21

MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD:

Lets talk about that one.

The Heartland one, as you said, the hearings in the summer. You had a decision ready for Monday?

MR. JIM LAW: Monday.

We were working on a decision for

MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD:

And that decision is now

suspended or will you still issue it?

MR. JIM LAW:

No, the decision will be suspended.

MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD: Monday --

Okay.

So we wont know

MR. JIM LAW:

No. Exhibit F -- Page 7 line 24

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MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD:

So it it reads like a

request but the net effect is, its an order?

MR. JIM LAW:

No, it its a request and its a

re a request thats made with the key word respectfully. They respectfully request and to

us that thats not unanticipated and it made sense.

MR.

DAVE

RUTHERFORD:

Okay.

So

everythings

suspended.

We will not know --

MR. JIM LAW:

Yes.

MR. DAVE RUTHERFORD:

-- about the Heartland as

we anticipated Monday, and the other ones are all sort of in suspended animation.

MR. JIM LAW:

Right. Exhibit F -- Page 10, line 24 Exhibit F QR 770, Dave Rutherford Show, Transcript of Interview with AUC Spokesperson, Mr. Jim Law October 21, 2011

11.

On the same day, Friday, October 21, 2011 at approximately 2:30 pm, the Honourable Premier of Alberta, Alison Redford, held a press conference in Calgary. The transcript of Premier Redfords press conference is attached as Exhibit G. Exhibit G Transcript of Premier Alison Redfords Afternoon Press Conference, October 21, 2011

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12.

During that press conference, Premier Redford stated that the government . . . will be reversing our request to the AUC to delay the releasing of the decision with respect to the Heartland. Exhibit G Page 2, line 22

13.

She also stated the government wants the AUC to release its decision . . . and we will be ensuring that they understand that that is the position of the Government of Alberta. Exhibit G Page 3, line 2

14.

During the Friday afternoon press conference the following exchange occurred between a news reporter and Premier Redford:

REPORTER:

So just so were clear, youre saying

Heartland will be going ahead?

PREMIER REDFORD:

Yes, I will well, this is for What I am

the AUC to render their decision.

saying is that I want the AUC to release their decision; that is appropriate in terms of their And I do not want the

responsibilities.

Government to have interfered with that in any way.

REPORTER: project?

Because

youre

in

favour

of

that

PREMIER REDFORD: it is a critical to the

Ive said that I believe that transmission economic important project. of Its the of

important Province.

development in terms

Its

of

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economic

impact

and

and

thats

been

my

consistent message for eight (8) months. Exhibit G Page 3, line 17 15. On the afternoon of Monday, October 24, 2011, the AUC issued a brief press release where the AUC announced that:

The Alberta government has withdrawn its request to the Alberta Utilities Commission to suspend consideration of the Heartland Transmission Project application. The AUC will release its decision on this application on Tuesday, November 1 . . . . Exhibit H October 24, 2011 AUC Press Release 16. I was surprised to hear the Commission say on the Monday, October 24th that it was needing 8 additional days to release its decision because the AUCs had stated on the prior Friday that it was ready to release it decision on Monday, October 24th.

17.

The Commission changed the timing of the release of its decision after Premier Redford made her public statements about her expectations with respect to the outcome of the Heartland application.

18.

On October 31, 2011, the day before the Commission released its decision approving the Heartland Transmission Project, Premier Redford appeared on the CBC radio program, Alberta at Noon, and made the following statements:

MS. DONNA MCELLIGOTT: from the AUC tomorrow?

What do you hope to hear

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PREMIER

REDFORD:

have

said

that

believe that that is a critical line and and we do need to proceed with that. It means that we

will be able to start to work on the economic development initiatives that need to be part of the Heartland . . . . Exhibit I CBC Radio, Alberta At Noon Program, Transcript of Interview with Premier Alison Redford re Heartland Transmission Project 19. On November 1, 2011, the Commission released a decision approving the Heartland Transmission Project.

20.

I make this affidavit in support of the Applicants application for Leave to Appeal the decision of the AUC.

SWORN BEFORE ME at the City of St.Albert, in the Province of Alberta this 29th day of November, 2011.

_______________________________ A Commissioner for Oaths in and for the Province of Alberta Keith Wilson Barrister and Solicitor

) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

____________________________ KAREN SHAW

Appeal No.: ___________________

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF ALBERTA IN THE MATTER OF THE ALBERTA UTILITIES COMMISSION ACT, RSA 2000, A-37.2 AND IN THE MATTER OF DECISION NO. 2011-436 OF THE ALBERTA UTILITIES COMMISSION DATED NOVEMBER 1, 2011

BETWEEN: STUART and KAREN SHAW Applicants - and -

ALBERTA UTILITIES COMMISSION AND ALTALINK MANAGEMENT LTD. AND EPCOR DISTRIBUTION & TRANSMISSION INC. Respondents

AFFIDAVIT OF KAREN SHAW

I. KEITH WILSON WILSON LAW OFFICE Barristers & Solicitors Suite 195, 3-11 Bellerose Drive St. Albert, Alberta T8N 5C9 Phone: Fax: Email: File: (780) 418-7226 (780) 401-3178 kwilson@wilsonlawoffices.ca 98-1621IKW