There is a real attack on our Border!

Quebec's continued progress to develop the Romaine River despite its potential affects on future development in Labrador - seems to have escaped our Premier - the Minister of Natural Resources - Kathy Dunderdale - and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs - John Ottenheimer.

The billions of dollars which will be spent by Hydro-Quebec for the Romaine development is a real attack on the border and - no doubt if it remains unchallenged until the installation is finished - will place Newfoundland and Labrador in a very serious position.

Hydro-Quebec has filed the necessary environmental documents with the Government of Canada - and my review of the listed documents - indicates we have not filed an objection. At the very least the environmental process should include Newfoundland and Labrador - and reasonably should receive the approval of our province.

This is a copy of a story written by Jamie Baker in the Telegram September of 2007 and also carried by the Labradorian. This story is important in that it outlines concerns expressed by other respected professionals.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Energy/Politics
'Dead in the water'
Quebec plan will pull rug on Lower Churchill, experts warn

Baker, Jamie

Experts say they are shocked at the complacency of the Williams government in the face of a move by Quebec that could not only compromise the environment in this province, but also has the potential to stagger Lower Churchill development.

As part of Premier Jean Charest's massive energy plan, Quebec is pushing forward with hydroelectric projects in an area known as the five rivers in the Lower North Shore region, just south of Labrador.

Quebec is doing so without any agreements with Newfoundland and Labrador on headwaters and possible flooding of areas directly inside Labrador's boundary.

In fact, The Telegram has learned that no entity within Quebec has filed any kind of environmental assessment application with this province.

Adding further concern is the fact the area of Labrador land in question is the same area Quebec lays claim to on its provincial government maps. Premier Danny Williams, who deflected interview requests, has said in the past the boundary matter is "not an issue" and that he "wouldn't even raise it."

Experts warn that attitude could prove costly on several levels.

"I'm surprised in a sense that our present premier hasn't taken up the ball here - if you allow Hydro-Quebec to go ahead and use our water and have their power development downstream, what are we going to get out of it?" said Eric Jerrett, a retired Bay Roberts engineer who is the former president of the provincial land surveyors and engineering associations, former president of the Canadian Council of Land Surveyors and a member of the Order of Canada.

Jerrett warns that ignoring Quebec's development of hydro projects - which will produce equal or greater power than the Lower Churchill - in that area will likely flow to the same markets this province is eyeing for the power that will eventually be produced by the Lower Churchill.

"They'll take that power, sell it to the United States and our market and transportation corridor will be gone," he said. "They will negate the value of building the Lower Churchill and take away the market - the Lower Churchill would be dead in the water."

The Labrador boundary was determined by the 1927 Judicial Committee of His Majesty's Privy Council, and it was the boundary officially accepted by Canada when the province joined Confederation in 1949.

Despite that legal stranglehold, Jerrett insists the Quebec-Labrador boundary is cause for concern.

He notes it is the only provincial boundary in the country that has not been surveyed, even though a memorandum of understanding was signed to that effect between the surveyor associations in both Quebec and this province in the late 1970s.

"(Quebec) wants to continue the image that they own it, that there's no boundary. Surveying it would lessen that argument," he said. "Even pursuing any agreements with Newfoundland, it would be a tacit admittal that they don't own the area. They are instead asserting the case that they own it."

The headwater and flooding issue was included in the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening our Place in Canada as part of a Cleo Research Associates report, entitled Power Politics and Questions of Political Will: A History of Hydroelectric Development in Labrador's Churchill River Basin, 1949-2002.

The report, completed in March 2003, states that Quebec has been keen on developing the five interprovincial rivers for some time, but that "they are unable to do so without an agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador related to the headwaters and flooding."

The rivers include the St. Paul, St. Augustine, Natashquan, Little Mecatina and the Romaine.

The Romaine project is in the most advanced stages with the Quebec government having announced as recently as June 25 that the project is moving forward. According to the Hydro-Quebec website, the draft design for the 1,500-megawatt project began in 2004 and will finish this fall.

Hydro-Quebec documents suggest plans for the Romaine will have no environmental impact inside Labrador.

If the project is deemed acceptable and feasible, construction could begin as early as next year with generating stations commissioned by 2013-2015.

As for the map issue, then-intergovernmental affairs minister Tom Marshall actually wrote to his counterpart in Quebec last summer to ask it be fixed.

Benoit Pelletier responded with his own letter, stating "Quebec's position regarding these borders is well-known and has not changed in many years. As for our common border in Labrador the Quebec governments of the past and present have never formally endorsed the decision regarding the boundary made by ... the Privy Council in 1927."

The map remains on the Quebec provincial government website.

Retired engineer Tom Kierans, whose Lower Churchill development plan was among the top 10 delivered in response to the province's request for proposals, joined Jerrett in calling for the government to be more wary of development activities by Quebec that could affect this province.

"In the so-called Canadian democracy, Quebec and Ontario are the heart of Canada - what Quebec and Ontario want to have done, gets done," Kierans said. "If they want to endorse Quebec's takeover of those rivers, it will be done.

"They'll find a way to do it."
____________________________________________________________________________________

I have highlighted statements that should raise questions for all of us. Further Sue's Blog has demonstrated that the border has been submitted to the Federal Government for their process of environmental assessment of the proposed Romaine River development - and they have accepted them. What does it take? When will we take action? As for Dunderdale's statements yesterday that the government will not raise or debate the issue - Minister Tom Marshall did just that last year - now square that circle Premier.