The president of NB Power is defending his salary and bonus package, which came under fire last month in the legislative assembly, as just a part of his contract.

The Opposition Conservatives grilled the Liberal government in December over a bonus the board of directors paid to David Hay at a time when other bonuses are being postponed.

'I didn't ask for it. That's what I was provided. I didn't negotiate it. That's what was provided. And I'm an old lawyer by training and a contract is a contract.'— David Hay, president of NB Power

Hay said when Bernard Lord's Conservative government hired him early in 2004, he was offered a five-year contract with annual bonuses.

"I didn't ask for it. That's what I was provided. I didn't negotiate it. That's what was provided. And I'm an old lawyer by training, and a contract is a contract," Hay told a legislative committee on Wednesday.

Hay said 2007-08 was a spectacular year for NB Power when the company won a $338 million legal settlement with Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the country's state-owned oil company, over the failed Orimulsion fuel deal.

He said the Point Lepreau nuclear station ran well and the company was named a top employer. So the company's board decided to pay bonuses to him and several top executives.

Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup said New Brunswickers wanted to know the amounts.

"They would like to know what these bonuses were, as far as the exact dollar and everything, I think they have the right to know as New Brunswickers," Northrup said.

Hay said privacy rules prevented him from naming the other bonuses but he offered to reveal his own.

Northrup didn't ask for it. Hay told reporters after the committee that it was $96,000 on top of his $375,000 salary.