NDP environment critic Rob Fleming calls it “a pay-as-you-go system”.

The Victoria-Swan Lake MLA is talking about more than $250,000 in donations to the B.C. Liberals made by individuals—or their companies—whom B.C. energy minister Blair Lekstrom selected to sit on four green energy advisory task forces.

These advisory task forces, which compose the larger Green Energy Advisory Task Force announced by Premier Gordon Campbell on November 2, have until January 2010 to report back to the provincial government with recommendations on energy policy.

They are accepting submissions from the public until December 31.

Of the 29 individuals listed as members of the four task forces, 12 can be linked to campaign contributions recorded by Elections B.C.

Cheryl Slusarchuk, chair of the advisory task force on carbon pricing, trading and export market development, made personal donations to B.C. Liberal coffers totalling $9,350 between 2005 and 2009. In addition, $5,000 is listed as a single 2009 donation from Cheryl Slusarchuk Law Corp. Slusarchuk is a partner with the law firm McCarthy Tetrault, which donated $27,970 between 2005 and 2009.

Duncan McCallum, a partner with the public sector and infrastructure group at RBC Capital Markets, is a member of the advisory task force on procurement and regulatory reform. The Royal Bank of Canada and its subsidiaries gave $93,200 in total through 24 separate payments between 2005 and 2009.

Campbell’s press secretary, Bridgitte Anderson, said the premier was in Quebec City partaking in the Olympic torch relay. She referred the Straight to Lekstrom’s office, which did not make the minister available by deadline.

Wilderness Committee national campaign director Joe Foy told the Straight he thought that the level of money involved meant B.C.’s auditor general “absolutely” needs to investigate.

“I think that the auditor general needs to look at the whole thing: the task force, the B.C. Energy Plan, the amount of money,” Foy said by phone.

He earlier stated, “People should be outraged, for instance, that at the same time these campaign donations are made, this government has set it up so that the contracts that B.C. Hydro is forced to sign with these [private power] companies are secret. People aren’t allowed to see them. That frankly should be against the law. It’s a ton of ratepayers’ money.”

This past summer, the B.C. Utilities Commission ruled that B.C. Hydro’s 2008 Long Term Acquisition Plan was “not in the public interest”, only to have its decision overturned by the government. The plan had relied heavily on long-term power-purchase agreements with independent power producers.

“I mean, the B.C. Utilities Commission jumped in and said, ”˜Hold it, put on the brakes,’ and they were whacked to the side,” Foy said. “I think the auditor-general needs to step up.”

Other members on the task forces who donated or whose companies donated to the B.C. Liberals include James Hoggan (Hoggan and Associates), Jeff Christian (Lawson Lundell), Warren Brazier (Clark Wilson), David Andrews (Cloudworks Energy), Craig Lodge (Pinnacle Pellet), Craig Aspinall (Western GeoPower Corporation), Paul Hemsley (Hemmera), Jonathan Rhone (Nexterra), John Keating (Canadian Hydro Developers), and John Walker (FortisBC).