Renewable Energy is the only future left - they have taken the rest

Oil is here - Oil is gone

To be competitive in today's world you must have an advantage.

Newfoundland and Labrador is rich in natural resources - unfortunately either by giveaways or mismanagement we have lost the industrial edge we were geographically gifted with.

Our non-renewable ores were shipped out without processing fuelling the economies of Ontario, Quebec, and even Manitoba. The rich iron ore from Bell Island was shipped out to Nova Scotia for processing and do you believe Labrador has gained properly from its iron ore?

The Upper Churchill was developed by an astute Quebec and is a major reason Hydro Quebec is an "energy giant" today. The fishery (best in the world) was taken over by Ottawa a few years after confederation and was destroyed by Ottawa in a few short decades. The forestry resources were given away and advanced industrial development on the paper mill side was non-existent.

The boom in metro is at the cost of rural communities and is only as a result of oil. Where are the real oil jobs? What of our oil do we refine or process into goods?

Politicians of all stripes have contributed to the mess we have today - short-term prosperity for Newfoundland and Labrador - long-term prosperity for others who process what we own.

We lost at least 40,000 people to the fisheries moratorium and numbers of plants while decimating rural communities. Who owns what is left of our fishery now? Is it still being plundered (shellfish) and when will that collapse?

We are down to one paper mill when we should have kept at least two. Politicians made fine work of that planning - there was grest opportunity in Stephenville but it was squandered by politicians who did not have foresight and certainly no vision. What we do now in Grand Falls-Windsor and Stephenville is manage the loss. Can we bring in a Costco or Walmart a Canadian Tire or Sobeys or Kent - that is the mantra. Maybe haul a few government agencies or divisions to (decentralize). Where is the new money in this - it is simply hauling the same money around and in this case giving to mainland companies so that reinvestment happens outside Newfoundland and Labrador instead of local companies reinvesting here. What happened to our airports?

About the only thing we have managed to hang on to is renewable hydro - and only because the people waged a three year battle against the policy. Now we are set to start giving it away again. We need this energy to attract industry. Industry goes where the power is and we are making sure that it is everywhere but our province.

We will give it to Nova Scotia to either use themselves or transport to other provinces or states to use there. Nothing in Labrador! Labrador who relies on Quebec and thermal generation for power. What a joke.

We must stop this Emera deal and start again - go back to an energy plan which uses that raw resource to generate industrial growth right here. If we go ahead with the Emera deal we will have escalating costs for our own domestic power and have nothing to offer industry which will follow our power out of the province.

We continue to have excessively high unemployment, our rural communities continue to be decimated and Labrador continues to be raped of its tremendous resources without any real return. This must stop.

Where is the vision of government - does it rest with senior faceless bureaucrats who quite often move on to the same private industrial sectors they help through policy? Is it politicians too lazy to read - to understand - or are they incapable of real vision. Do we ever really know who stands to gain personally from decisions they have played a part in?

Then there is Ottawa - Danny gains 2 billion (gets hit with the stock crisis) net??? and then loses 10 billion in the change-up of equalization while Quebec the (have-not) province continues to receive the most equalization.

When you take on the establishment the banks, brokers, investors,  basically private sector greed there is a price to pay. Personally and professionally they attack you until you starve. They run political parties like they are their own assets. They move saviors in and out and ensure that their policies continue to move forward.

When they go after the last of our hopes for the future - we must take a stand - and that we will do. Premier Dunderdale and her Cabinet take note - this will not happen without thorough  discussion and consultation and it will be done to benefit us not to ruin our future.

I ask the backbenchers of the Tory government - do you want to be responsible for a giveaway as great as the Upper Churchill?


And while we are at it why does the a crown corporation of Saskatchewan deliver tv service to hospital rooms in Newfoundland and Labrador