Please try to use your imagination. Try to think what could be if we had politicians who were knowledgeable, engaged, visionaries, or even just competent.
Try to imagine a Newfoundland and Labrador where unemployment levels throughout the province were in the single digits.
Try to imagine a Newfoundland and Labrador where natural resources were used in a way which primarily benefitted our people and our communities.
Try to imagine a Newfoundland and Labrador where secondary processing of those natural resources was done here and not in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, China, Korea, and the USA.
Try to imagine a Newfoundland and Labrador where once a construction phase was complete there were thousands of permanent and high paying jobs available.
Now read the story below by the Montreal Gazette and ask yourself what you would do with 500 MW’s of hydropower. Would you be shipping it to Nova Scotia?
Alouette aluminum smelter gets power boost from Quebec
Additional block of up to 500MW
The $2-billion Phase III expansion of the Alouette aluminum smelter at Sept Îles moved nearer Monday when Quebec assured the company of enough electric power to boost annual production capacity to 930,000 tonnes from 575,000 tonnes now.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest went to Sept Îles to announce an agreement with Alouette whereby Hydro-Québec will provide the 19-year-old smelter with an additional block of up to 500MW for Phase III.
Alouette is already North America's largest smelter; Phase III would make it one of the world's 10 largest and most modern smelters.
Alouette CEO André Martel said engineering for Phase III has begun and the project can now move forward step-by-step toward approval by shareholders Rio Tinto Alcan (40 per cent), Austria Metall (20 per cent), Hydro Aluminium of Norway (20 per cent), Investissement Québec (13.33 per cent) and Marubeni of Japan (6.67 per cent) in 2013-2014.
The total investment includes $1.5 billion for the third production line (electrolysis cells). The balance of $500 million will go for new equipment, development of new AP30 low-energy technology and environmental improvements."That technology is already the most efficient available and it will be refined further," Martel said.
"The new AP60 technology Rio Alcan is developing at its Saguenay pilot plant would not be suitable. Phase III will use Brazilian alumina, the intermediate material in the smelting process."
Besides the construction workforce, Phase III would create about 300 new permanent jobs to bring Alouette's workforce to 1,300.
"We're working on the engineering with a joint-venture of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Hatch Ltd., which also handled the Phase II expansion," Martel said.
"We have a network of 700 suppliers in Quebec, including 240 on the North Shore, spreading the economic benefits widely."
The 2016-2017 startup date for Alouette Phase III will depend on global economic recovery and continuing growth in world aluminum demand, he added.
4 comments:
Sue, it appears we are forever doomed to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water" as long as the governing elite allows our resources to flow out to the benefit of others beyond our shores. Whatever happened to Danny's "no more giveaways" cry in the early years? It sure makes one wonder when we see how cheaply Nova Scotia is getting this power at our expense.
Cyril, the question is calling out to be asked by the electorate, what are the governing elite getting out of the development our natural resources?
A group of us were calculating a couple of days ago what one particular ex-PREMIER has gotten out of being a politiian representing NL, both Federally and Provincially, we concluded at a figure of $40 MILLION DOLLARS, we did not take into consideration the salary received over the years as representative of the Provincial and Federal Government.
Blogger Woman, he is but one example of the reason our resources go to the selected and chosen ones. My take on it is that "governing elite" consists of both the elected and non-elected though highly influential people that the politicans consort with. It is not confined to this province, of course, but we seem to, as a people, allow them more freedom to benefit from our resources.
Truly, the only real difference between the NL parties is that one group is in and the others are out. I am personally Liberal in my leanings but don't like the direction the Liberal Party is going in and a lot of it is because of the "saviour" mentality we have in this province. I also want a party that will rise above the cronyism and corruption of the past and a party that engages the ordinary person.
It may be time for the rebirth of a nationalist party!
anybody out there have any suggestions on where we could find legal representation to help uncover the dastardly plot and prosecute a case with all the accumulated circumstantial evidence (circumstantial and otherwise) scattered around? i can think of a few retirees with good memories and a penchant for turning up missing files...but seriously now, isn't enough enough? the other guy with the $40 million is gonna look like an amateur compared to the last guy if all the current deals hold.
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