Dunerdale's Empty Chair on Muskrat Falls

Sometimes it is very helpful to look outside our little world and listen to what others are saying - what others are experiencing - what others are frustrated by - and by what others think.

You can only take so much of the drone from Steve Kent or Paul Lane without feeling totally underrepresented or pessimistic about our future.

You can only watch so much pocket filling and conflicts of interest before you really and truly believe we no longer live in an active, healthy, and vibrant democracy.

I listened to Bill Clinton's address to the Democratic National Convention last night and was just a little uplifted by the performance.

There is no doubt Clinton is a tremendous speaker and that bodes well when the one listening (me) has been suffering through the incompetence of our leaders here at home.

I really recommend that anybody who has the time - take that time and have a listen.

Very beneficially for the Democrats in the USA - Clinton was their response to the fiasco of a performance by Clint Eastwood at the Republican Convention just days earlier.

Unfortunately for us Eastwood's dialogue with an empty chair was like watching Dunderdale and company on a perpetual loop.

One of the biggest challenges we face in this province was articulated by Clinton last night during his speech.  Clinton said of the President, "President Obama's whole record on national security is a tribute to his preference for inclusion and partnership over partisanship". 

What Clinton orated is what we are desperately missing. The Dunderdale administration and the William's one before it was built on partisanship to the point of tribalism versus inclusion and partnership.

There is only one way on Muskrat Falls - and everybody else will be marginalized - not included in the public debate or policy choices. This WILL be the worst project in our history if permitted to proceed. Right now - like it or not - the Liberals and the NDP coupled with a "fact checking" media must find a way to include the voices of our people.

The Liberals MUST take a position on Muskrat Falls and fight for the voices of our people - not try to jump hoops so that Dean MacDonald can hijack or stifle the parties policy directives and debate - in order that they might hold MacDonald's "interest" in leadership. Right now the future of our children and grandchildren must trump the Official Opposition's desire to take power back.

The New Democrats must likewise take a position and not be usurped by their federal colleagues and in one case an ex-associate of Danny Williams.

Now is the time to look outside ourselves and self-interest and take a stand for democracy and for our future.

Once again I call on the government to release all polling that has been done on the Muskrat Falls proposed development between Nalcor and Emera.