The British Columbia New Democratic Party's energy and mines critic John Horgan is questioning the recent appointment of Brad Bennett to the board of the B.C. Hydro and Power Authority.

"I was initially concerned that Mr. Bennett was appointed I think for his pedigree rather than for any expertise he may have in electricity issues," said Horgan. Bennett's father is former premier Bill Bennett and his grandfather was long-time premier W.A.C. Bennett.

"What really concerns me however is that he's co-chair of the BC Liberal election planning committee," said Horgan. "He's a partisan Liberal who's been appointed for partisan services."

Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman acknowledged Bennett's involvement in the BC Liberal Party, but said that's not why he was appointed. "He's actually been involved with lots of things to do with us over the years, of course they would say it's partisan, they're the NDP. They don't like our appointments because they're not their appointments."

BC Hydro had a vacancy on its board and it was important to fill it in a timely way, said Coleman. "I've worked with Brad in other files over the years and when his name came up as one of the names that was proposed I was quite pleased that he would put his name forward to do something like that," he said. "He's got a good business history which he brings to the table."

BC Hydro is a provincial Crown corporation that provides electricity to some 1.5 million customers.

Also noteworthy in Bennett's biography is that he's a vice-chair of the libertarian Fraser Institute and the chair of Quails' Gate Winery, the family business of former cabinet minister and Westside-Kelowna Liberal MLA Ben Stewart.

The Jan. 26 appointment was briefly noted in a column by Les Leyne in the Victoria Times Colonist.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.