Open your Mind and look at what the Premier is saying!
The Premier continued again last night - while talking on nightline - to brand the Voisey's Bay Development deal "weak". As usual he provided no evidence for that statement - but what he says or thinks is dutifully reported anyway - despite his admission of naivete and failure in the past.
The purchase of INCO by CVRD gives the Premier an out desperately needed to save his credibility - and the rhetoric has already started.
In a CBC Radio story Danny says:
"the terms of the Voisey's Bay Nickel development agreement are "weak" and that he suspects Inco may have wanted to get out of a written commitment to process nickel within Newfoundland and Labrador."
This statement is safe now because INCO is gone they are no longer the owners of the Voisey's Bay project. Now one cannot prove that INCO would or would not have broken the contract. Enter CVRD - that company has already announced it wants to speed up the project schedule.
In the same CBC story Williams says:
"We certainly hope to get more concessions from them as the new owners of that company, with regard to possibly accelerating the underground mining in Labrador, which has been a big issue for me."
Voisey's Bay Nickel currently is using an open-pit method for mining nickel at the site. It had not been planning to launch underground mining for another decade.
"I'd like to see that start sooner. I'd like to see that facility built sooner," Williams said.
The Premier picked up on a point made by the company and made it his own. That is exactly what will take place. Because INCO has changed to CVRD - Danny will claim he has changed the fortunes of Voisey's Bay and made the "weak" deal better. Not a word will have to change in the contract - but he will have made it better.
The time lines on the underground exploration are not as Williams has described - in fact the time lines are very reasonable considering the research and development undertaking and the actual physical size of the assets to be built under the contract.
On Power for Economic Development
Last night on nightline he compared IOC rates of power to consumer rates for Newfoundland and Labrador. Williams claimed we pay 12 cents per kWh - when my bill shows 8.92 cents per kWh. This is a 34.5% overstatement of island rates - which is what the Premier was referencing as he was referring to Linda's bill. This is the man who will negotiate the Lower Churchill deal? Who looks at his light bill?
Further on that - Williams goes on to show his true colours - and Labrador had better take notice. On nightline he said, "If we continue to subsidize big companies I mean we will have all kinds of big companies in here - but we'll be subsidizing them - we'll be taking money out of the coffers of government - we'll be giving away valuable power that could be sold for a lot more - and as a result we won't have the same revenues coming into the public treasury."
A couple of weeks ago Kathy Dunderdale announced that they would be subsidizing industrial customers by turning over 10 million dollars to hydro - to keep industrial rates stable - as a result of the loss of Abitibi.
For some reason this businessman cannot see a deal on Lower Churchill power that would see industry coming to Labrador without taking money out of provincial coffers or giving away the power. Further - he thinks that if we sell the power through Quebec to Ontario for a price which includes the costs of maintenance, transmission, and marketing - which Ontario will then tag on a profit and still attract industry - yet this man cannot sell directly to industry in Labrador and have the same net gain and thousands of jobs. He is either dangerously ignorant or in it up to his arm-pits.
On Bill Rowe's show earlier in the week Danny made this statement about the Lower Churchill development, "We are going to go it alone - we're gonna own it - we're gonna operate it, we're gonna market it, we're gonna finance it, we're gonna do everything that's necessary - but in order to get power to Ontario he just has to look at a map - you gotta go through Quebec. So there has to be an arrangement on the way through with Quebec but that doesn't mean we're partnering the whole deal with em - so he (Gerry Reid) doesn't understand it or otherwise there's an attempt there to try an cloud it for the people of the province."
Last week the man said we were still looking at the Atlantic Route - now he has changed the map - his mind - or he is getting tangled in his own lies. Why must we go through anybody? If we use the power in Labrador - then if he looks at a map we don't have to go through any province. This obsession to build the Ontario industrial economy is mind boggling. Is that all he sees when he looks at a map? Ontario?
Labrador watch your back - the knives in the future of your region are plentiful and can be deadly accurate.
For god's sake somebody make this man accountable - before we pay the ultimate price the next 50 years of our future!
No comments:
Post a Comment