The death of Rural Newfoundland and Labrador - understated, avoided, shrugged off as pessimism.
The talk show hosts always say - it is happening all over - everywhere in Canada.
Randy Simms has gone through great pains as he contorted this reality.
How about this Newfoundland and Labrador:
Rural Ontario has grown in numbers since our confederation and year over year; rural Ontario has grown in number equal to our population.
In 1951 Rural Ontario = 1,300,000
In 2006 Rural Ontario = 1,800,000
Between 1991 and 2001 - the fishery collapse
Rural population of Newfoundland and Labrador declined by 18%.
The rest of Canada during the same period - average loss of .5%
Did that 18% and subsequent losses all move to St. John's and surrounds? NO.
Population of Newfoundland and Labrador 1991 = 579644
Population of Newfoundland and Labrador 2001 = 522033
Population of Newfoundland and Labrador 2003 = 518520
Population of Newfoundland and Labrador 2010 = 509739
During the seventies and eighties as we developed our power assets for electricity - our population was hovering around 580000 people.
Couple that with the massive loss of industry over that period to now and you will conclude that power requirements are not going to go up in the manner that Minister Marshall suggests. Add the fact that most things are more energy efficient now than in the seventies.
This is a farce.
The Muskrat Falls deal is for the Tories to say we are creating jobs. Temporary - unsustainable jobs. Jobs that will cost our grandchildren billions of dollars.
One big LIE!
Are you willing to have your grandchildren suffer the same fate as you and I did under the first big LIE - the Upper Churchill?
Say NO!
1 comment:
Why did Premier Dunderdale take our province out of the loop for the $32 Billion dollars of Federal Shipbuilding Contracts, was it to get the approval for the Loan Guarantee on the Muskrat Falls? Was that one of the things she agreed with Harper on when he asked for her support over the next 4 years of tumultuous economic times for Canada and the World? I suspect that the energy that will come from the Muskrat Falls will be plugged into the shipyard in Halifax which, no doubt, will be one of the winners of the Billions of dollars of shipbuilding contracts to be let by Ottawa.
Was the critical state of the fishing industry in our province another matter she was asked to hold back on by Harper, because it would cause so much upheaval in Ottawa's Foreign Affairs Department regarding the International Contracts that have been built on the back of the fish resource our province passed over to Ottawa for maintenance?
Yes, were we shafted once again by our politicians on critical matters because certain politicians want the risky Muskrat Falls deal to become a reality and they are willing to give up lucrative contracts for our province for that very reason?
It is time for us Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to sit down with our potential politicians and ask them many questions on how they will behave if they become elected in our province. We are much too slack in selecting our politicians, we have to become more aware and accountable ourselves, and far less complacent when dealing with our politicians. Whether they know it or not when they are elected, they essentially have been hired by the people of our province to look after all of our affairs in an honest and diligent manner, and the natural resources of our province don't belong to them, they belong to the people.
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