Former AG John Noseworthy - Special Assignment?

My vote to lead an independent review of the proposed deal to develop Muskrat Falls is John Noseworthy.

First - he has spent a portion of his professional career being "independent", second his audit abilities are fine tuned, and third he has proven his worth to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador as a watchdog.

Now the deal would be that Mr. Noseworthy has unfettered access to ALL the information - including the ability to test ALL assumptions and look at ALL alternatives.

As people who are being asked to spend 6 billion dollars of our money - our children's and our grandchildren's money - we want to do our due diligence.

Noseworthy may not be an energy expert - but he can employ that expertise.

Let Mr. Noseworthy hold public meetings and conduct individual interviews to establish what the outstanding issues and concerns are. Let Mr. Noseworthy review the processes used by Nalcor and Government to achieve this proposed deal with Emera. Let Mr. Noseworthy employ the experts  he feels necessary to review energy potentials and the costs and benefits of each.

Let Mr. Noseworthy examine costs and benefits or pitfalls of a deal with Emera and let him examine whether other potential partnerships or contracts for supply of power could bring the people who own the resource - us - a better rate of return.

Let Mr. Noseworthy examine the Island's "real" need for power - not based on Hydro's assumptions but based on thorough research of the situation and the installed assets we currently own.

Let him do an audit of our installed capacity and look at efficiency potentials and review whether all capacity is being used.

Let Mr. Noseworthy examine industrial potentials for the power in Labrador and compare the price of power delivered to a customer in Labrador versus doubling the cost from lengthy and complicated transmission routes.

Let Mr. Noseworthy examine tenders already awarded and determine whether the process used was fair and provided the best value for our money.

Let. Mr. Noseworthy determine if it is necessary for Newfoundland and Labrador ratepayers to subsidize costs for power delivery to other provinces.

Let Mr. Noseworthy determine what the costs of the Muskrat development would be - as part of a complete development of the Lower Churchill - including Gull Island and then compare that to the current proposal.

Let. him determine if developing Gull Island first would bring a better return.

Let Mr. Noseworthy review the proposed deal under Premier Grimes and compare it to the proposed deal of Premier Williams - to determine which of the two provided the best return to us - the owners - and best deal to us - the ratepayers.

Then as the kicker let Mr. Noseworthy and his team review the past 5 years of Nalcor operations - all books - all contracts - and all assumptions.

Let him determine what the cost-overruns might be. 

Then he can provide the people of Newfoundland and Labrador the information we need to ensure we never repeat past mistakes and to ensure we are using our natural resources for the maximum benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For Premier Dunderdale's peace of mind - he just ran as a PC candidate - so she can be assured he would not be a Liberal or NDP naysayer.

I vote for John Noseworthy - on Special Assignment.