What is it with the Liberals? They describe themselves as left of center on their web-page (at least it did until they updated it today)- while going right of Williams and the Tories on energy policy.
The answer is Rex Gibbons - if the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador continue to follow the strategy of this man on energy - the Liberals will fail - politically.
Yesterday Gerry Reid was telling university students that equity in oil projects would not happen under a Liberal government. In defense of this position - Reid said that Alberta does not do it - so if that energy powerhouse does not do it - why should we?
Two answers to that Mr. Reid - and you would see them if Gibbons would stop advising for a little while.
1. Alberta owns it oil and gas resources. We do not. When Alberta develops it can say - you may develop this parcel if we receive this amount in royalties and we get a refinery or other petro-chemical industry in Alberta to process the resource. We are not allowed to refine our own oil until the refineries in Eastern Canada are fully satisfied. Do you understand this? Have you read the Atlantic Accord recently? Rex has - and Rex knows. Rex was the Minister of Energy - he made the deals on oil and he attempted to privatize Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. His policies failed and he has not been re-elected since.
2. Who cares if Alberta or other Canadian provinces do not take equity? I don't - I do not need Alberta to guide us on what we as our own jurisdiction should or should not do. We can have independent policy choices. Further - Reid should know that many other jurisdictions in the world do seek and achieve equity positions - such as Norsk Hydro.
Then there is the Liberal policy on wind development. Once again Rex (Clyde) rares his head and Gerry spews a suggestion regarding private wind generation.
Here is the situation Gerry - if Hydro guarantees to buy the output of such generation then you and me Gerry will pay for it via our electric bill. When that is paid - who do you prefer a portion be returned to - our provinces treasury or let's say the Government of Italy. This creeping in of private sector energy developments is back-door privatization of a resource we own outright. Further Gerry - you should ask Rex what happens when you have multiple players in the generation sector inputting into an electricity grid. You should ask him why Ontario had the big blackout when Quebec did not. You should ask him how we guarantee maintenance with a group of private generators and the cost of not having that control. You should ask him what happened with the joint use of utility poles - and what happens when one group maintains the poles a little more or less than another.
Until the Gerry Reid's "New Liberalism" stops depending on failed "Old Liberalism" policies - the party will continue to enjoy falling polls. It's time to let new thinking take over from Rex Gibbons - Clyde Wells - and past Minister Walter Noel. There is no perfume they can buy to make these policies smell good.
And as for Labrador energy policy - both the Liberals and the Conservatives fail - and they will get a sense of that as they crawl and slither around Labrador looking for a vote (the right to exploit Labrador to benefit the Avalon).
As I write this - back comes John Efford - dipping his toes in the political ocean - John - even if we can get past all the spending scandal and you were as pure as the driven snow in the administration of your constituency allowance - you are the one who told us to take or leave a lesser deal on equalization.
I close with this observation. If Williams does not win 3 of 4 seats in Labrador - he will not have a real mandate to develop the Lower Churchill under less than "best" terms for the Big Land. This is something I hope Labradorians will consider.
3 comments:
I agree that if he can't win those seats based on the Energy Plan alone, he does not have a mandate to proceed with the project. In reality, even without the Energy Plan, but based solely on their other actions and policies in Labrador I don't think they deserve to win any seats. However, there's no understanding some things, I suppose. During the lengthy process in which they were supposedly drawing up this Plan however, they had ONE seat which was won by just under 40% of the vote - that being Hickey in Melville. Soooo, 60% of the people who voted did not support Dan Williams 4 years ago...
How could any Labradorian support this plan?
Well, you know Sue, it is supposedly a fact that no one can learn from their mistakes.
Why do the Liberals push the Federal Government Agenda? If the Liberals got in power, it would be the status quo, that being do everything the Federal Government wants.
We all know that the Federal Government wants to see a strong central Canada, by that I mean any resource that comes up for development here in Newfoundland and Labrador has to be exported westward, we have to remain "have not". The Liberals bow down to the Federal Government and big industry and they give everything away.
Gerry Reid has been saying all along that Premier Williams was going to frighten Big Oil away. We see that he didn't. Big Oil knows that a reserve of Oil is what keeps their industry going. There is less and less of it out there in the mainstream and what is known out there is mostly in territories that are governed by War Lords or Dictators. They know in those areas they have to pay higher prices than here, and then there are the risks that come from investments in such area. They could be in one of the Stans of Central Asia today pumping to their hearts content and tomorrow there could be a 'coup de etat' and bingo their investment has disappeared. Kidnapping of the Oil employees in Africa is another problem, and the dirty tar sands of Alberta brings with it the dreaded 'over-pollution problem' that they have been targeted to ratchet down a few notches. There are problems all around for the Oil industry, but here in the off-shore of Newfoundland and Labrador they only have to watch out for the pollution problem, that being not to spill into the ocean. Of course, pollution is a very big problem, but it is no different than anywhere.
I do not understand, Sue, when politicians get their hands into politics in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, they, then think they have their own little Kingdom or Fiefdom, and they think they can do as they damn well please. Two of the people you mentioned in your blog today are prime examples; I would not trust them with any of our resources, because I know if they get into power, everything again will be given away. One of them has told us, the other I am sure is an exact carbon copy. Even though, Sue I am not 100 per cent sure about any leader, no matter whether he or she is Liberal or Conservative. Almost everyone who has gotten power in politics in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador seems to treat our resources the same, they feel it is their personal assets. Premier Williams will have to prove to me that he is different, I am waiting to give an evaluation, and I guess I will only be able to do that really after his next term. I am reserving my public thoughts, since I am very leery of all politicians’ dealings since sometimes they throw up smoke screens to cloudy the situation and what you see is really not what is happening at the time. There is an adage that says “Once burned twice shy”. I have been burnt so many times by politicians I am not sure that I will ever be able to expunge my shyness.
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