The view of Newfoundland and Labrador from there!

There is Central Canada!
One of the most telling reports I have ever read on how we and our economy is viewed was this 2005 Report by TD Economics (Toronto Dominion Financial Group)

The view is Newfoundland and Labrador's time has come - especially as it relates to the Lower Churchill development. Now that comment seems nice on the outside - but when you get into the guts of what they are saying, the real attitude comes forth. This time it's probably our fault.

The report looks at the need for Lower Churchill power in Canada. It talks of how many provinces could use the reliable and cheap (relative to fossil fuels) energy. Now the TD is on the ball enough to know that energy attracts industry - especially hydro power. Look at this quote from the report.

"Even in Newfoundland & Labrador, which has enough electricity to supply its domestic needs, there is the potential to displace power generated by the less-environmentally-friendly oil-fired generation at Holyrood, not to mention facilitating the operations of large industrial projects."
(emphasis added)

That's the point: not to mention the facilitating of industry!
Typically we don't think that way and continue to look for ways to export the power. (no secondary processing) This is not acceptable. If we have enough power after years of no new generation - it means our economy is failing.

For the most part TD sees the opportunity as everybody else needing our power - and in that they are not wrong. The economies of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and even the New England States predict growth - more people and more industry. Newfoundland and Labrador predicts no growth in people and industry - just GDP (gross domestic product) or in my words "all the stuff we give away".

You will hear people say that we have extra power on the Upper Churchill and we have not needed that for decades! That speaks to our past and present politicans and their collective failure to attract and retain industry through energy resources. Trust me - if we owned the bulk of the 5000 MW's of the Upper Churchill today - at the generation cost enjoyed by Quebec, Labrador's population would be doubled and a real sustainable economy would be in place - including vibrant rural populations.

There is a lesson to be learned here and if we fail to learn it Newfoundland and Labrador is on it's way to being destroyed again by the same corruption and incompetance we have suffered in our past.

Be careful as well to note that TD suggests export power revenues would help to ease our debt and financial mess. True! But we could lower it even more and increase our real economic indicators (jobs, population, business growth) exponentially if we received revenue from our power through industrial sales inside our borders.