Muskrat Falls is a boondoggle.
This is not from Captain Obvious Marshall - this is from those who predicted the problems with the contemplation of the deal and development going back to 2006.
Stan Marshall was hired to act as a CEO - his shareholders are the people. While Stan is used to dealing with very wealthy shareholders - right now he's been charged to deal with all of us as shareholders. As such we should be treated like shareholders of a publicly traded company and he should be seeking to maximize our investments and stop boondoggles with our money.
As we learn from Uncle Gnarley's post this morning - the latest executive choice to gamble or hedge $1.82 billion of public (us being the shareholders) money - did not fare well.
I wonder if we spent let's say 65 million (equivalent to what we lost) on the USA Powerball, currently standing at 650 million, would we fare much better.
We are losing our province and our youth to this mess and yet we carry on. We hope sometime in the future to have a public inquiry of the failure? Really? Are we completely mad?
We have not been privy to much truth on Muskrat Falls and Nalcor/Government continues to keep us in the dark on this complete and total failure of a "project".
We have transmission towers here there and everywhere - little signs on the highway sprinkled like salt in our wounds - telling workers where to turn off on the Muskrat Highway for the latest erection of metal.
A forensic audit needs to happen today, not tomorrow, not next week but today.
The findings of that audit need to be publicly reviewed.
Then we need to look at all our economic and legal options as it relates to this province.
These options must be vetted in full - transparently to shareholders.
Then we need a referendum.
Will we stop and use the asset another way?
Will we stop completely?
Will we proceed with re-opening contracts and renegotiating our position?
What are the potential legal obligations of any of these actions?
What are the potential legal obligations if a forensic audit finds corruption, malfeasance, lies, deceptions, and or fancy accounting?
Now that we've started to play lotto 649 with our money on hedge-bets - why not take a chance on gambling to find the truth?
Sitting here and saying let's have a public inquiry when this mess is completed is insanity. Let's foreshadow this choice.
100,000 seniors sitting in the dark - if they want to eat that is - trying to follow an Inquiry via snail mail? Seniors and low income families unable to afford the internet, power, telephone, or television - will be shouting out to their neighbours to see if they heard from one of their kids or grand-kids on the mainland watching our public inquiry?
Wake up and shake yourself off.
We cannot now or ever afford this project and that's notwithstanding the real possibility that the structure may fail.
If the dam does not fail - will the transmission system?
Who are we finishing the project for?
1. Not for the ratepayers of Newfoundland
2. Not for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador
3. Not for required power
4. Not to eliminate Holyrood
5. Not for industry in Labrador
Then who?
1. Galway?
2. Nova Scotians?
3. The corporate elite making billions?
4. Emera?
5. Hydro-Quebec?
So Dwight Ball and Stan Marshall - do your job for the people and the shareholders respectively. Stop this project until it is thoroughly reviewed by a forensic audit and a public inquiry - NOW.
As for this latest finance disaster on the hedge bet - we don't need a forensic audit or inquiry. Fire the executive of Nalcor and put Ball on notice.
Our only choice may be greater than Liberal PC or NDP in 2019.
As for Nalcor gambling in the "futures" market. That is what they have failed at consistently since 2006. Our future.
Meanwhile we are charging grandmothers and journalists for trying to have a peek?
Showing posts with label uncle gnarley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uncle gnarley. Show all posts
Monday, August 21, 2017
Monday, June 27, 2016
Referendum needed - not another overlord
We all know by now the Muskrat Falls project is another epic failure - added to the annals of Newfoundland and Labrador's resource development.
This morning it's worth your time and effort to read Uncle Gnarley and educate yourself a little more on this millstone around our societal neck.
For years all of us who questioned, cautioned, and criticized the project were labelled in a very unflattering way.
The media relied on Ed Martin, the unsatiable corporate elite and their all-party political flock.
For years Martin was supposed to be an electrical power guru (which he was not). His real credentials and accomplishments never once questioned or best I can tell even researched.
A few weeks ago Ed rode off into his "retirement" to spend more time with grandchildren while our grandchildren were left to pay for this horrific mess.
Martin's grandchildren - if they remain here - may well have more of a cushion to rely on when attempting to cover the cost of living.
Now we are going to roll out the new overlord - Stan Marshall.
CBC headline - It's official: Muskrat Falls a boondoggle, says Marshall.
Just a year ago - anything that came out of Ed Martin's mouth would have been given the same esteem.
We have also been told - it is too late to stop.
As I have said already Stan Marshall's credentials are far superior to Martin's regarding regulated utilities and development of hydro projects. But he is not God - and he too is fallible and has baggage.
For once in our lives and on the 100th anniversary of Beaumont Hamel - let's show the courage our men showed in 1916.
We must demand a referendum on the Muskrat Falls project. We must demand to be shown all the options and the numbers attached to each. We must demand to be heard and that government give interested citizens and groups funding to do the research leading up to a referendum. We must demand that this be stopped until that time.
We have been told it's too late to stop because we cannot afford to do so and we've essentially been told we can't afford it when it's finished.
I do not want to rely on the financial imagination and business acumen of one man. I want all of our people to have a shot at coming up with solutions.
If the project is safe - and that's a big if - we need to see if another deal can be made for the power running through the Quebec system. In this way the power can be sold and help pay for the project. We need to see if an appetite is there to develop Gull Island through CFLco and sell that power at market price.
This is but one suggestion there are many more and potential for industrial end-use in Labrador in the future.
We accepted the "trust us" now for a decade and look where it has gotten us. Now we are supposed to just "trust us" again? If we accept this - we accept our inevitable financial and societal demise.
I will knock my head off the concrete wall again and ask the obvious question: Where is Stan Marshall's Executive Contract? Are there any potential conflicts? A few weeks ago local media was salivating all over the Martin contract - yet nothing on Marshall's contract.
Stan Marshall does not have all the answers and the politicians have proven they don't have a clue.
Stan Marshall should look at nationalizing Newfoundland Power for the same reasons he once wanted to privatize Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. The efficiencies can save us money. The consumers will benefit. Can Marshall look at that possibility? Is he constrained by conflict of interests?
I am not willing to accept that this particular Muskrat deal can't be stopped. I am not willing to accept that Stan Marshall is the only one with answers to our mess. I am not willing to treat Marshall any differently than I treated Ed Martin. I want more information - I want all of it. Then I as one citizen want the right to vote on another 6 billion dollars before it is spent.
Ref-er-en-dum - A general vote by the electorate on a single question that has been referred to them for a direct decision.
We have the right at 12 Billion Dollars to have that direct say.
This morning it's worth your time and effort to read Uncle Gnarley and educate yourself a little more on this millstone around our societal neck.
For years all of us who questioned, cautioned, and criticized the project were labelled in a very unflattering way.
The media relied on Ed Martin, the unsatiable corporate elite and their all-party political flock.
For years Martin was supposed to be an electrical power guru (which he was not). His real credentials and accomplishments never once questioned or best I can tell even researched.
A few weeks ago Ed rode off into his "retirement" to spend more time with grandchildren while our grandchildren were left to pay for this horrific mess.
Martin's grandchildren - if they remain here - may well have more of a cushion to rely on when attempting to cover the cost of living.
Now we are going to roll out the new overlord - Stan Marshall.
CBC headline - It's official: Muskrat Falls a boondoggle, says Marshall.
Just a year ago - anything that came out of Ed Martin's mouth would have been given the same esteem.
We have also been told - it is too late to stop.
As I have said already Stan Marshall's credentials are far superior to Martin's regarding regulated utilities and development of hydro projects. But he is not God - and he too is fallible and has baggage.
For once in our lives and on the 100th anniversary of Beaumont Hamel - let's show the courage our men showed in 1916.
We must demand a referendum on the Muskrat Falls project. We must demand to be shown all the options and the numbers attached to each. We must demand to be heard and that government give interested citizens and groups funding to do the research leading up to a referendum. We must demand that this be stopped until that time.
We have been told it's too late to stop because we cannot afford to do so and we've essentially been told we can't afford it when it's finished.
I do not want to rely on the financial imagination and business acumen of one man. I want all of our people to have a shot at coming up with solutions.
If the project is safe - and that's a big if - we need to see if another deal can be made for the power running through the Quebec system. In this way the power can be sold and help pay for the project. We need to see if an appetite is there to develop Gull Island through CFLco and sell that power at market price.
This is but one suggestion there are many more and potential for industrial end-use in Labrador in the future.
We accepted the "trust us" now for a decade and look where it has gotten us. Now we are supposed to just "trust us" again? If we accept this - we accept our inevitable financial and societal demise.
I will knock my head off the concrete wall again and ask the obvious question: Where is Stan Marshall's Executive Contract? Are there any potential conflicts? A few weeks ago local media was salivating all over the Martin contract - yet nothing on Marshall's contract.
Stan Marshall does not have all the answers and the politicians have proven they don't have a clue.
Stan Marshall should look at nationalizing Newfoundland Power for the same reasons he once wanted to privatize Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. The efficiencies can save us money. The consumers will benefit. Can Marshall look at that possibility? Is he constrained by conflict of interests?
I am not willing to accept that this particular Muskrat deal can't be stopped. I am not willing to accept that Stan Marshall is the only one with answers to our mess. I am not willing to treat Marshall any differently than I treated Ed Martin. I want more information - I want all of it. Then I as one citizen want the right to vote on another 6 billion dollars before it is spent.
Ref-er-en-dum - A general vote by the electorate on a single question that has been referred to them for a direct decision.
We have the right at 12 Billion Dollars to have that direct say.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)