Tracey's Disgraces - The Roads to Aquaculture and Energy

Somebody is going to be killed on these roads.

The routes to Harbour Breton and Hermitage are framed with majestic hills, mountains, and fjords but they are also wrought with danger.

This is equally true of the Bay d'Espoir Highway in general.

The path to aquaculture "riches" and hydro "gold" are a disgrace for MHA Tracey Perry and a tell tale of what happens to those communities adjacent to resources. Labrador is living proof that St. John's Metro (the heart of government) continues to refuse fair and equal benefits to those living in rural communities and the Big Land.

So Ms. Perry I have decided to show the rest of the province exactly what livyers on the South Coast are subject to and the blatant disregard for safety your government shows to people living in these communities.

Heading out of Hermitage (Route 364) toward Route the Bay d'Espoir Highway (Route 360) we give witness to some of the absolute perils for heavy equipment; fish trucks, construction equipment, and tractor trailers.

Here we see a massive stone and gravel truck heading down a steep hill - on the wrong side of the road - to avoid a shoulder which is deteriorated. Picture this with a car coming the other way in the icy winter months.

Next I will show you shots of the Route to Harbour Breton (Route 360)  and Hermitage (Route 364) - the first few of which will show you the beautiful scenery and the massive inclines and declines one must drive - followed by photos of highway conditions.

This goes on and on - up and down the mountain passes - trucks and cars trying not to get knocked over a cliff. Unacceptable. Tourism - I don`t think so - yet anywhere else in the world this would be a haven for those interested in natural beauty.

Tourism - yah right! Premier cuts another ribbon while VOCM misses the Mark

According to VOCM this morning - there was an ATV accident in Harbour Breton yesterday. That is not real. No such accident occurred in Harbour Breton. Wrong community - some 60 km's away and on a different finger on the peninsula.

The remote road is not out of Harbour Breton rather Seal Cove - just beyond Hermitage. That remote road is a reminder of our past - it ends where one would have taken a boat to Pass Island - a resettled fishing community.

While we are on the subject. When Kathy Dunderdale shows up to "open" a new aquaculture wharf on Friday July 15th at 9:30 a.m. - in Hermitage - will it be by air or road?

I truly hope the Premier takes the breathtaking Bay D'Espoir highway route - because then poor Tracy Perry might be able to convince her boss that the ROAD is GONE.

You see the Coast of Bays as this area is known by - is a lesson in beauty, a demonstration of nature's perfection, and remote enough to be untouched in its splendour. Bay D'Espoir, Hermitage - Sandyville, St. Alban's Seal Cove, Harbour Breton, Pool's Cove, English Harbour West, Boxey, Belloram, St. Jacques, Mose Ambrose, and by ferry Galtois, Rencontre East, and McCallum are all communities that should be on your "must visit" list.

The South Coast is like a few Gros Mornes but without the political attention. I must say that former MHA Oliver Langdon did a great job in infrastructure for the area but sadly Ms. Perry you are going to have to work harder. Your district should be a tourism mecca - that should include sightseers, adventure tourists, photo tourists, and families. I can't imagine why Europeans, Asians, and Americans are not flocking to this idyllic place. With all money Newfoundlanders and Labradorians dump in Florida as "snowbirds" - I can't imagine why Floridians are not sunbirds coming north to enjoy a comfortable summer in this pulchritudinous land.

Here's the problem - Prince Edward Island can attract a million tourists a year with "Anne" and french fries - while Newfoundland and Labrador attracts half that amount - something is not working! Look at the tourism infrastructure on the tiny French IslandsSaint-Pierre and Miquelon and look look across the water at the South Coast.

We have the Northern Lights, Fjords, Whales, Icebergs, a coastline almost the length of the eastern USA, untouched nature, tremendous flora, fauna, and geology. You will note that Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia gets more national media attention than the thousands of coves in our province. We all know that transportation is not acceptable.

Perpetual Ferry Problems
No Train
Reducing Airport infrastructure everywhere but St. John's
Roads and Highways rutting, deteriorating, and disappearing.

Do we get it yet? We are to be avoided - and Canada will help that thought in anyway it can.

Tourism - yah right! Our "Voice of the Common Man" can't even get our communities and places right.

While you are at the ribbon cutting Premier - please see if you can find a reason to let's say get a National Park for the south-coast. See you there.

While we are at it - what is "Snook's" opinion on the cost of travel between Newfoundland and Labrador - I know Upper Canada has always liked to push a divide between our people. It's cheaper for any Newfoundlander or Labradorian to travel half way around the world than visit each other. "RRight On".

Eliminate Low-Margin Products

I'm left to wonder - how I should take a message from an FPI News Release this week. If I'm a shareholder - and I'm not - I would be delighted. But if I'm involved in the fishery - the words would spell gloom and doom. I would be angry.

Beverly Evans - Chief Financial Officer - of FPI said this of the company's over 6 MILLION DOLLAR QUARTERLY PROFIT:

"Profitability has improved through the execution of our strategy to eliminate low-margin products from our portfolio"

FPI's profits are up 3 1/2 MILLION DOLLARS from the same quarter last year.

Understand - that this news - while great for shareholders - is a reflection of human suffering in Newfoundland and Labrador. Communities in peril - fighting for their existence - people packing up and moving away before they lose everything.

When Beverly talks about eliminating low margin products - to you and me those products - in reality are people and communities. And all that to ensure that when Ches Penney - Nova Scotia and Iceland Corporates take over the company - they will not be the villains.

How do they all sleep at night? It's takes a special breed to fill your own arse pockets while you watch families and communities suffer. That is the mark of a "successful" business person - not necessarily a "good" one.

This is where the government of Newfoundland and Labrador had some control - had the ability to operate with a 2 million dollar profit instead of a 6 million dollar one. The shareholders should have been and should be the people of the Province - until some corporate entity would have accepted a couple of million a quarter - and communities and people (society) could have carried on.

You see this is not a swipe at the corporate elite - it is their swipe at us. The government neither has the vision nor the guts to do what's right. This will be another Williams' legacy.