The statement below made by Premier Dunderdale in the Telegram yesterday demonstrates with absolute certainty that she is unable to achieve the best deal for our hydro resources.
“Mr. Peckford — I don’t know how close Mr. Peckford ever was to the
energy files here in the province in terms of a new development. I know a
great deal of work went into (Upper Churchill) redress”...
This demonstrates the Premier's ignorance with respect to the history of these resources.
First - when Peckford attended and participated in the Constitutional Conference of 1981 - he was dealing head on with the issue of wheeling power through Quebec. Not on the issue of the Upper Churchill rather the ability to develop the Lower Churchill and build a transmission line through Quebec.
It got real nasty as Trudeau articulated that this issue was in fact a federal matter and in a round-about way alluded to his ability as the Prime Minister to make that happen. At that point Trudeau's Energy Minister Marc Lalonde dismissed the need for federal interference in what he called a province to province matter.
In either case that should have been the first clue to Dunderdale that Peckford was actively pursuing a Lower Churchill deal - and therefore would be very familiar with the energy files and "new development".
But hey - let's not stop here with the education program for our Premier.
At this point I beg the CBC to take from its television archives the On Camera 2 part series on the potential development of the Lower Churchill - when Peckford was Premier.
Please let Dunderdale know and the people of this province see what exactly was at stake in Peckford's era regarding the development of the Lower Churchill.
Demonstrate that Premier Dunderdale is ignorant to the history of this great resource in Labrador and is not competent enough to proceed with this proposed Emera deal.
Maybe our Premier could witness what a real vision looks like. Perhaps she would understand that the Power Authority for the State of New York (PASNE) was looking to build the maritime route then - and we were not on the hook for it. Look at what we would have received for the energy we produced.
Please CBC - do not let the people of Newfoundland and Labrador down - show them this archived series and give people real information.
The only thing our Premier could have taken Peckford to task on - she did not even know; Peckford gave up a tremendous deal on the Lower Churchill for the same reasons Dunderdale and Williams claim to be the reason they are doing the Emera deal. To spite Quebec!
That does not cut it when we are the ones paying for the spite and who knows what else.
Our Premier should leave this resource alone before it is lost forever. The road Dunderdale is on will most surely make us dependent on Quebec forever.
1 comment:
Sue, it seems that our media, by and large, have caved in to the power brokers in St. John's and are either afraid to do any real investigative journalism or are blind to the lessons of history.
They seem to be caught up in the Twitter revolution and everything longer than 140 characters is too much for them to produce.
It is, sadly, another symptom of the erosion of a free press and any semblance od real democracy.
We, as a people, have abdicated our rights and allowed petty despots to usurp power, with hardly a whimper and with our consent.
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