Beware Gull Island and Dwight Ball and 40 cent power

I read with interest the latest post on Uncle Gnarley's Blog 

MUSKRAT WILL DESTROY UTILITY SYSTEM IN 2020

This guest feature by PlanetNL certainly has no problem getting our power rates to 30 cents - even while using conservative estimates. 

As Sue's blog has pointed out many times - population - is and has been a real problem since the Fisheries Moratorium.  That one disaster cost our province at least 100,000 people  between the 1992 and now. It was the destruction of a resource fundamental to us being solvent and growing. 

The PlanetNL feature has not yet accounted for that part of the problem. 

30-35 cent power does not yet include the out-migration - that will absolutely grow exponentially as power becomes unaffordable.It does not yet include the significant numbers of those who will move to fixed income status as our population ages abnormally - without offsetting numbers of babies and youth. 

None of the soon-to-be pensioners have a plan that accommodates 4 or 5 times increase in power rates. None of the government administered programs such as CPP or the OAS were designed to deal with this runaway price on an essential such as power. 

Any attempt by government to subsidize those on low fixed incomes means that those taxpayers/ratepayers left will be subject to even more expense. 

Small to Medium size businesses - not in the industrial sector - will be unable to pay the electric bill without passing it to a consumer who cannot afford to pay it. 

I expect the next installment from PlanetNL to contain pretty catastrophic projections for cost of power as the author includes some of these other factors into the equation. 

I won't say I look forward to reading it - but I look forward to seeing real data and realistic projections finally coming to the fore. We as a people are closing our collective eyes - holding our breath - as we await the boom about to fall directly on top of us. It is likely to suck all the goodwill, hope, and trust out of us as we try and find a way to save this place from complete devastation. 

How do we fix this?

Well as a province that has the 4th largest utility in the country and the second largest underground power station in the world - and possessing first class natural renewable and non-renewable natural resources - we also - unarguably - have had the worst management of those resources.

To fix this - we must stop Muskrat Falls now. We must show the fortitude necessary to withstand corporate leeches who will be up-in-arms that their undeserving gravy train will end. We must conduct a forensic audit and use all the legal tools necessary to rid ourselves of the Emera deal. 

Finishing Muskrat and continuing on with this fiasco means we will have to give away our remaining resources - rightfully belonging to our future generations - to simply stay afloat. Pushing this out is not an alternative. 

This is going to need read leadership, guts, and tenacity. This is going to require a wholesale change in our thinking and if the current politicians will not do it -They must be told to get out of the way.  

Stan Marshall - who has some qualifications for success in the sector (primarily in regulated utilities with reasonable guarantees of profitability) has been of little value here as:

1) he failed to replace some executive in Nalcor,

2) he remains in an otherwise (government exempted) conflict of interest situation with his personal interests in competing entities. 

3) he failed to report existing reports in a timely manner

4) he has not demonstrated the extreme due diligence needed right now (does not know enough about independent contractors) 

5) he has failed to call for a forensic audit despite the red flags

6) he is not engaged enough to make Nalcor his only and first priority

The entire executive of Nalcor must be replaced and we must name a new Board of Directors. The government must stop Muskrat Falls immediately and bring in forensic auditors. When that is completed - government must review all options and lay them on the table for the people and then utilize a referendum on those choices. 

In the coming months we should expect to see government trying to bail itself out with a new potential regarding Gull Island. Do not let them explore touching this asset until we have decided a complete course of action for Muskrat. They will GIVE AWAY another resource if we let them. 

This is a time when we need all our people to pull on the same oar and use our brightest minds to seek a solution - not based on 4 year elections and inadequate solutions. 

Right now Dwight Ball is not engaging with all such people. He is playing a political game with lots of spin to save his political hide and whatever else he may be engaged in. 

The Corporate Muskrat world  is working hard to find a suitable replacement for Ball - should he not be able to continue to deliver for them while maintaining the ability to be reelected. 

The MHA's in the House of Assembly had better buckle down and demand answers and become at least somewhat educated on hydro-power and our history. As it sits now they are woefully ignorant of the situation we are in and possess no ability to fix it.

Do you want a future for your kids and grand-kids in Newfoundland and Labrador? If so speak now. 

Either Newfoundland and Labrador will return to being a wonderful place for all of us to live and raise families in or it will remain a playground for the super-rich to extract more personal wealth from. 

Time is not on our side. 

When I see the media focus on the Dobbin/Williams racket or the where's Costco game - I acknowledge we are have a tough road ahead and the odds of us surviving are pretty minuscule. 

Onward we go.

Perversion of Democracy! Media complicit?

With the latest news regarding the futures of Charlene Johnson - Minister of Finance and Terry French - Minister of Justice - the electorate must demand the call of an election.

Where to start - that's the problem here. The ignorance of or deliberate avoidance of the intent of the House of Assembly Act - passed by the Tories. A very significant part of this law deals with the early departure of a Premier.

When one reads the House of Assembly debate regarding this law - one can only conclude that the latest an election call would be is February/March of 2015. The intent was clear. If the governing party - responsible for the introduction, tabling, then supporting the passage of the law were planning to abuse the Act - why make the change? Why indeed. The Act does not provide for the bungling of or deliberate manipulation of the provisions of 3.1 and it certainly does not say anything about bad polls.

Kathy Dunderdale resigned in January of this year - and the party should have immediately called nominations for leader and settled in on a 2 month process to (s)elect a new leader. Instead they have been prolonging the process in a manner that achieves a full unentitled term.

The media has been irresponsible in their ignorance or avoidance of this situation - and as a result this so-called pillar of democracy has been absent. It is their job - their profession - to report, review, research, and present these real issues to the public.

Adding to the perversion of our "democracy" is the continued spending of taxpayer dollars by a caretaker Premier/s. Tom Marshall - is spending like the leader of a newly elected and wildly popular governing party. None of this is real. His view on power and democracy is nothing short of arrogant. He is spending and committing billions of dollars for generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. In my opinion - I think it's safe to say that the Tories under Marshall/Dunderdale/Williams will continue to govern for at least the next decade whether re-elected or not.

The spending on pensions, pay and benefits packages, infrastructure, education, health, and resource developments are commitments that will go on in some cases for years and in others for decades - long after their government is gone.

It can be argued that all governments must make some multi-year commitments - usually however it is under a legitimate term and legitimate leadership. This has been over since the New Year.

They will double our debt obligations in a province where they have not grown population and private sector industry. They will double our debt obligations in a province that is aging faster than any other.

Ironically as another 2 Ministers remove themselves from office - the biggest headline is Danny is going to give us an extra year of the Ice-Caps. Yay...

Note to "Journalists" - Get off your arses and provide the public with real information instead of the leaning drivel of another fellow in a bow-tie who appears thankful that the Tories will provide him with a delegated convention - so as to ward off the boredom of an open leadership process.

MP Cleary not Happy with Politics Seeking Way Out?

Am I reading right? Is Ryan looking for a pension increase? A PENSION? AN INCREASE?

Alright - I am going to guess he does not like politics and wants to get out. Why? Well I am assuming that his constituents are not going to be real happy at Mr. Cleary's request.

CBC reported that Cleary said the following in defense of his absurd request:

“I work my butt off,” Cleary said. “Would I deserve a pension of $28,000 after six years? Probably not. It should be more than that.”

Then he says:

“The MP pension plan has been criticized as being out of whack, as being gold plated, as being too rich. Is it? I don’t know. I have different thoughts on that ... Being an MP, from my perspective, this is not a job. This is a life. This is all-consuming.”

First of all your claim to any pension other than gathering some RSP's during the 6 years as an MP is disgusting. Then claiming that you should get more than $28,000 a year for that 6 year service is robbing the public treasury.

24-7 365 days a year is something that many people can claim. 50 per cent of them will get a pension after 30 years and will likely be based on self-contributed investments. Another 49 per cent will probably not get a pension.

Many public service volunteers also work full-time, overtime, and then take on more work to assist people and organizations who do not have the money to hire somebody.

Many health care professionals are putting in 80 hours a week and then spend time caring for a family member.

Many Municipal leaders work voluntarily 24-7 365 days a year - and that's on top of a paying job. 

Ryan - a simple question - what have you produced in the 10 MONTHS you have served your constituents - in order that you may retire in 6 years with almost $30,000 in pension every year?

My guess is your constituents will find it cheaper to fly you home after this term and elect some new blood. If you believe you deserve more than $28,000 a year after 6 years of service - you have already been around Ottawa too long.

Our politicians are Lying - Lying - and Lying again!

Everybody loves to see ex-pats return home to Newfoundland and Labrador.

It's the one excitement we get - compared to the pain and anguish of outmigration and the family consequences it brings.

Follow this:

A 35 year old leaves home - the fishery is no longer viable in his/her community. The person moves to Ontario or Alberta for work. At first the family stays behind - they can't sell their home - it's not worth anything anymore. As the months drag on with no prospects of the fishery recovering -those months become years and the family is suffering from the continued absence of a parent or spouse.

That 35 year old is now 38 and is either going through a divorce or is in the process of moving the family to Alberta or Ontario in an effort to save the relationship.

If divorce happens - the family is split - one spouse is trying to keep the homestead going in Newfoundland and Labrador within a community that can not hang on without the fishery. The children will be shuffled across the country - while both spouses seek a new relationship and perhaps a new family.

If the family moves - other family members are left behind. Grandpa and Grandma who planned to live with their children in older years now move into a government subsidized home. Aunts, uncles, and cousins lose touch and lose the all important sense of family that's felt in a rural community.

So far we have the taxpayer and the future generation gone - left behind are retirees that will require more government assistance in order to replace what would have been provided by the family.

Worse the children who have moved away with the parents are no longer going to grow into Newfoundland and Labrador taxpayers and their grandparents needs; medical, transport, and care will be paid for by children of those who have stayed.

So the 35 year old who moved to Alberta and Ontario is lost to our tax base - as they spend productive tax years in another province. They pay for seniors care in Alberta or Ontario and nothing to the care of seniors in this province.

Eventually the 35 year old retires having spent 20 years of productivity somewhere else. Driving the economy of Alberta or Ontario. Driving the population and tax growth. Driving more seats in the House of Commons.

At 65 the person repatriates to Newfoundland and Labrador. They are on retirement income and in a very different tax bracket. As that person gains chronic and then debilitating illnesses - the taxpayer of Newfoundland and Labrador take on the health and drug costs. The taxpayer of Newfoundland and Labrador take on the cost of homecare or residency in a personal care home. The person who left at 35 did not contribute to the tax base for these essential services. That is left to the young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who remain home to work.

As the oil goes and continued resource giveaways come home to roost - young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians cannot afford the tax necessary to maintain essential health, transport, and education services. Off they go - to upper or western Canada while Newfoundland and Labrador slips into economic distress - the Greece of 2041.

Upper Churchill will save us? No it won't and that's why politicians won't and can't deal with the truth.

Canada is like a starving vampire - and the only blood it thirsts is the life-blood of Newfoundland and Labrador - and so far we are keeping it satisfied.

“When truth is replaced by silence,the silence is a lie.”
Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Social Fabric being removed from Canadian Clothing

A Stephen Harper majority meant we were going to lose Canada - as we know it.

Here we go - corporate and market guzzlers, and elite - have Harper's only ear.

OAS - Health Tinkering - Dictatorial policies of the Federal Government, downloading to Provinces, and other important social programs under attack.

Harper is a liar - and he will lie to get where he needs to get - then he will place Canadians second and Corporations first.

Although politicians are supposed to work for us - Harper's view is if he works for Corporations then Canadians will get the benefits.

Also it is amazing to watch Helicopter MacKay present as a lifelong agent of the Reform Party.

Corporations do not require the undivided attention of the politicians we elect - but hey if they can get it - they will take it.

Last night on the CBC they played a clip of Harper in earlier years talking about OAS and how he would not do - exactly what the media and Opposition parties are saying he's planning to do now.

Human rights? Torture during interrogation? Will Harper oppose?

No - human rights fall behind the importance of Harper trade deals - and Torture is acceptable if if if - that's up to Harper.

Pitting one province against another - pitting one region against another - Harper's specialty.

The social fabric is being removed from Canadian Clothing - question is what will we do about it?

The other question is for all parents of children. If Stephen Harper can rise to the top job in our society - in large part by lying - what does that teach your children?