July 29, 2020
François Legault
Premier
Édifice Honoré-Mercier, 3e étage
835, boul. René-Lévesque Est
Québec (Québec) G1A 1B4
Sophie Brochu
President and Chief Executive Officer
Hydro-Quebec
75, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest
Montréal (Québec) H2Z 1A4
Dear Premier Legault and Ms Brochu:
As current and former elected representatives of the Maine State Legislature, we are writing to express
our extreme concerns about Hydro-Quebec’s political campaign aimed at influencing the outcome of a
citizen-initiated ballot measure this November. Hydro-Quebec’s political committee, the Hydro-Quebec
Maine Partnership, is on track to spend more than $10 million in an effort to defeat a ballot measure
against construction of the Central Maine Power (CMP) corridor – a 145-mile transmission line that
would deliver electricity from Quebec to Massachusetts ratepayers through western Maine forestland.
We respectfully request that Hydro-Quebec cease all further campaign activities in Maine and let the
people of Maine vote without further meddling in our elections.
As you know, unlike in many other states, Maine ethics law currently does not explicitly prohibit
government-owned corporations like Hydro-Quebec from engaging in our elections. This oversight in
our laws has never been a concern because Maine voters have never previously been the target of a
multi-million-dollar campaign by a foreign government-owned corporation like Hydro-Quebec. However,
due to Hydro-Quebec’s unprecedented and aggressive lobby campaign, Maine lawmakers, including
several of the signatories to this letter, were in the process of considering legislation to close this
loophole before the pandemic required the Legislature to abruptly adjourn.
Because Hydro-Quebec is a Crown Corporation, wholly owned by the Province of Quebec, the
government and residents of Quebec have a direct financial interest in Hydro-Quebec’s profit-making
enterprises. This stands in marked contrast with any private company based in Maine that may have
foreign owners. In such cases, the residents of those foreign countries have no financial interest in the
outcome of a Maine election.
Hydro-Quebec provides billions of dollars annually to its sole shareholder, the Province of Quebec,
which means that the residents of Quebec have a direct financial stake in the outcome of the CMP
corridor referendum. Hydro-Quebec reportedly stands to receive $12.4 billion in profits from the CMP
corridor project over 20 years. However, the residents of Quebec are distant from Maine and unlikely to
understand the impacts this project would have on the western Maine forestlands. We believe the
residents of Quebec are likely also unaware of the extent to which Hydro-Quebec is exploiting the

 loophole in Maine’s ethics laws to advance this project, and the inaccuracies and deceptions pursued by
Hydro-Quebec in its political advertising campaign.
One of the central issues for Maine regulators and policymakers in evaluating the merits of the CMP
corridor has been whether the project would provide verifiable, additional reductions in global
greenhouse gas emissions. No representative of Hydro-Quebec ever appeared in Maine under oath to
answer questions about this central issue. Hydro-Quebec similarly evaded testimony on this subject
during consideration of the Northern Pass Project in New Hampshire. Hydro-Quebec did, however, hire
a lobbying firm that helped defeat legislation in Maine that would have required an independent study
of the climate impacts of the project.
The only time that Hydro-Quebec has sent a representative to speak before a legislative committee in
Maine was when Hydro-Quebec General Counsel, Francois Ramsay, appeared in March 2020, to testify
against a bill (LD 2136) to close the loophole in Maine ethics law that allows Hydro-Quebec to create a
campaign committee aimed at affecting the opinion of Maine voters on a citizen-initiated referendum.
During that testimony, Monsieur Ramsay claimed that prohibiting foreign government-owned
corporations from engaging in referendum campaigns in Maine would be “a serious disservice to
Mainers because it would prohibit the very information that is needed by the public to make an
informed decision.”
In fact, we believe that the real disservice and the affront to Maine voters is the specious campaign
being waged by Hydro-Quebec.


To deceive Maine voters into thinking that Hydro-Quebec’s influence campaign is run by a U.S.based company, Hydro-Quebec earlier this year changed the Montreal, Quebec, address listed
on its campaign materials to Hartford, Connecticut.



To manipulate Maine voters, Hydro-Quebec’s advertising campaign has used images of Baxter
State Park and Acadia National Park to intentionally exploit the emotional attachment that
Mainers have for these locations and imply that the managers of these areas are in partnership
with Hydro-Quebec or somehow support the CMP corridor – which is not accurate.



To misinform Maine voters, Hydro-Quebec has used an image in its ads of belching smokestacks
unlike any that exist in the northeastern United States, let alone New England, suggesting that
the CMP corridor will terminate such not-actually-in-New-England sources of air pollution.



In violation of Maine’s ethics laws, Hydro-Quebec was fined $35,000 for failing to register with
the Maine Ethics Commission before spending $100,000 on its campaign aimed at Maine voters.
This was the second-largest campaign violation fine in Maine history. Hydro-Quebec issued a
news release promising to no longer make reporting mistakes, yet mistakes keep happening.
Hydro-Quebec’s campaign filings repeatedly list a Maine-based consultant, Blaze Partners, as
being in Charleston, South Carolina.

But the real affront to Maine voters is the massive $6.5 million that Hydro-Quebec has already spent on
this campaign, and the escalation of spending now underway, as demonstrated by the hiring of one of

 the nation’s priciest campaign consulting firms, Forbes-Tate, to serve as an agent, registered with the
U.S. Justice Department, of a foreign government-owned corporation, Hydro-Quebec.
If the shoe were on the other foot and Maine voters were directly connected with a campaign to
overturn public opinion on a construction project in Quebec, we would hear protests from the people of
Quebec. But the shoe is on our foot, and we are not comfortable with it.
In 2018, Canada amended its own election laws to prohibit foreign entities from spending money to
influence elections. As a result, it is illegal for foreign entities to attempt to influence elections in
Quebec even as Quebec is attempting to influence an election in Maine.
As current and former representatives of the people of Maine, we feel compelled to request that HydroQuebec cease its campaign operations in Maine aimed at trying to manipulate Maine people into
accepting a project that all public opinion surveys show they don’t want.
We request that you honor the intelligence and rights of Maine voters to decide the fate of the CMP
corridor project without foreign government influence from Hydro-Quebec, a Crown Corporation.
Sincerely,
Rep. Kent Ackley of Monmouth
Rep. Donna Bailey of Saco
Rep. Pinny Beebe-Center of Rockland
Rep. Seth Berry of Bowdoinham
Rep. Jan Dodge of Belfast
Rep. Victoria Doudera of Camden
Rep. Jeff Evangelos of Friendship
Rep. Richard Farnsworth of Portland
Rep. Lori Gramlich of Old Orchard Beach
Rep. Nicole Grohoski of Ellsworth
Rep. Allison Hepler of Woolwich
Rep. Christopher Kessler of South Portland
Rep. Chloe Maxmin of Nobleboro
Rep. Joyce “Jay” McCreight of Harpswell
Rep. Sarah Pebworth of Blue Hill
Rep. Denise Tepler of Topsham
Rep. Ryan Tipping of Orono
Rep. Stan Zeigler of Montville
Sen. Shenna Bellows of Kennebec County
Sen. Brownie Carson of Cumberland County
Sen. Justin Chenette of York County
Sen. David Miramant of Knox County
Sen. Linda Sanborn of Cumberland County
Former Republican Senate President Rick Bennett of Oxford County
Former Republican Senator Tom Saviello of Franklin County