When listening to the radio, watching television or reading the newspapers about events in this province, there seems to be a missing link. One that bridges all that information together and provides a way for people to contribute, express or lobby their concerns in their own time. After-all, this is our home and everyone cannot fit in Lukie's boat and paddle their way to Upper Canada, nor should we!
The pathetic answer to any questions posed by the Opposition during Question Period.
If we can assume that what the Tories did while in office is what got them booted from office, then surely we can assume doing the same thing will bring the same result for the sitting Liberals.
Here is how it goes.
The PC's are in office. They make a patronage appointment. The Liberals and NDP call them out on it and say that it's not acceptable.
As part of the Party Platform the Liberals say they will get rid of patronage appointments.
The Liberals form government and commence patronage appointments.
When challenged in the House by a PC member - the answer is "you did it too".
When you remove all the glitter and bring it back to the basics - this is Newfoundland and Labrador politics.
The story behind the Appointments Commission is a good one. Perhaps Dwight would like to share that and many more stories.
While we are at it lets talk about the continuation of the boondoggle called Muskrat. Another "you did it too" situation?
Since 2006 Sue's Blog has been warning through posts about the disastrous Muskrat Falls project.
Bits and pieces of the Inquiry refer to critics of the project - not being experts.
Let's take that at face value and reflect upon the experts.
Clearly the highly paid experts were wrong in many areas of assessment. Clearly they failed initially to project and overcome engineering and design difficulties regarding the site. Clearly the project is a failure on every measurable level.
Miraculously the non-experts were right in many areas of assessment. Miraculously the non-experts did not miss the peculiarities of the site engineering. Miraculously they were successful in assessing the Muskrat Falls deal was horrific.
Now the other non-experts (politicians) were clearly incapable of understanding what the experts were concluding. They were clearly unable to see the massive flaws in the deal and the engineering. They were clearly non-experts listening to paid experts -most of whom will not likely suffer from this boondoggle.
For what use is an expert - if the person acting on an "experts" advice would not be independently be able to see the potential flaws? What's worse - the politicians refused to listen to critics - ignored or worse subjected the non-experts to terms such as partisans, naysayers, and conspiracy theorists.
There were opportunities to engage the citizenry but they were not afforded.
Citizen groups should have been provided funding throughout the processes from conception to sanction. This funding could have provided the non-expert politicians with real concerns, real hazards, and real findings from the non-expert citizenry.
Further this size of a deal should have gone through a referendum process where - the citizen non-experts were given the opportunity to promote and educate regarding their points of view and real concerns.
You see if the non-expert politicians felt expert enough to make the legislative commitment - they should have allowed the non-expert citizenry a real opportunity to be heard.
None of the politicians did this. No political party did this.
Declining population, increasing efficiencies in housing and appliances, closure of two mills, numerous fish plants, schools, clinics etc are examples of reasonable considerations to determine future power supply requirements.
Muskrat Falls versus the entire Lower Churchill or even Gull Island begged the question why choose Muskrat.
Emera owning ANY part of our domestic distribution system is illogical and not to our benefit. It will increase prices.
Dealing with Emera - a company that could be the subject of a hostile or welcome takeover - particularly when Hydro-Quebec is the touted enemy - and could easily consume Emera minus Nova Scotia Power - was a poor choice.
The critical removal of alternate energy sources into the future was naive at best and corrupt at worst.
The engineering challenges - poorly thought out, considered, or even dealt with was another red flag for a layman.
The power needs of Labrador - routinely and as is usual dismissed including but not limited to plugging an industry of substance into the new supply - another red flag.
The continued interference with the Public Utilities Board - when they are the stop gap for consumers - yet another red flag.
Budgets that were routinely over - became the norm - raising another red flag.
The lack of knowledge of many MHA's regarding the history of the hydro-potentials in Labrador was and continues to be a very disturbing situation.
The obvious angst of indigenous peoples despite the approval by some of their leaders should have been addressed.
This is but a short list of how a citizen could have been and some citizens were very concerned about this failed project.
The decision by Dwight Ball and the Liberal government to push through the remainder of the project without thorough analysis and public input into other options - just continued the madness that is Muskrat.
The Inquiry is a political decision to thwart anger of consumers and taxpayers away from the current government and will do nothing to demonstrate the mess that occurred after they took office.
The EXperts they say? Funny how the naysayers, conspiracy theorists, partisan hacks, and all other names given to critics of the project - were miraculously right.
As I write today the folly continues and we are made to look more the fools than we already are.
James McLeod presented a news story on October 7th in the Telegram.
It was headlined "Nalcor audit won’t be done before retirement: AG"
As usual - pose a question - get an answer - print answer. No follow-up, no definitions of terms used, and no independent thought respecting the answer.
I'll get into Auditor General in another post - but for now - let's watch this "journalistic" masterpiece unfold.
The conversation between the two must have wandered into the need for a forensic audit. McLeod reports as follows on that question:
Paddon
was cautious when talking about a potential forensic audit for Muskrat
Falls. He said he knows it wouldn’t be cheap though.
“I’m not quite sure that the word ‘forensic audit’ is
appropriate. I mean, I think really what people are looking for is for
somebody to go in and look at, perhaps, the decision-making process and
the execution process, and those sorts of things,” he said.
“It would take a lot of time and a lot of resources. The outcome? I have no idea what the outcome would be.”
IN MY OPINION HERE IS WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ASKED AND ANSWERED:
1. Paddon was cautious but did say it wouldn't be cheap though. Question: what's cheap? why are you cautious?
2. Paddon was not quite sure that the word 'forensic audit' is appropriate.
Question: why is it not appropriate? what part of a forensic audit would be inappropriate?
3. Paddon believes he knows what critics are calling for - decision making and execution process Question: how does that fall out of the purview of a forensic audit? Why do you believe "people" are only looking at those components?
4. Paddon believes it would take a lot of time and a lot of resources. Questions: How much time would this forensic audit need? How much would it cost. Cost relative to what? What might be the cost of NOT doing it?
5. Paddon has no idea what the outcome would be. Question: is that perhaps why people want one done? Is the reason you can't speculate on the outcome because you do not know what perimeters would be set?
and of course: Based on the doubling of the costs, hidden documents, continued extension on time-table for completion, independent contractors information hidden from shareholder. Don't these things present a red-flag to an accountant?
AFTER THIS MCLEOD SHOULD HAVE SOUGHT ANOTHER ACCOUNTING SOURCE AND ASKED THE SAME QUESTIONS.
Now let's do a bit of research ourselves and see if a forensic audit is exactly what we are asking for and know that we need.
Forensic auditing is a specialization within the field of accounting, and forensic auditors often provide expert testimony during trial proceedings. Most large accounting firms have a forensic auditing department.
The audit covers a wide range of investigative activities performed by accountants. The process may also include serving as an expert witness in a fraud trial.
The investigation process follows a similar path as a regular audit of financial statements. The steps can include planning, review and a report. If the investigation was undertaken to discover the presence of fraud, evidence is presented to uncover or disprove the fraud and determine the amount of the damages suffered. The findings are presented to the client — and possibly the court should the case go that far.
During the planning stage, the forensic auditing team establishes
objectives, such as identifying if fraud has been committed, how long it
has been going on, the parties involved, quantifying the financial loss
and providing fraud prevention measures. While gathering evidence, the
team collects evidence in the proper manner in order for it to be used
in a court case. There are various techniques used to gather evidence. A
report is produced for the client with the findings. Lastly, those
involved in the forensic audit may be asked to present their findings to
the court.
Forensic audits uncover several types of fraud. The most common involves
theft, including cash, inventory and fraudulent payments. Another type
of fraud is corruption, such as a conflict of interest, bribery and
extortion. The last major category is financial statement fraud. This
relates to misstatements of the financials of a company.
There are many other sites - but this should suffice to ensure that what we are asking for is exactly what we want and need.
This blog has already posted the RED FLAGS post on the need for a forensic audit.
McLeod should have put to a few known critics - the responses of the Auditor General and get another take on it.
This - let me find a source who has a title and a designation - and I can write a news piece is flawed and can lead to the readership relying too much value on the information presented.
This is the spin of spin and is yet another artificial deterrent to completing a forensic audit and attempting to curtail increased calls for a forensic audit.
It seems to me there are many people who just want this whole sordid mess to disappear. Unfortunately for them - social media is alive and growing.
Telegram employee James McLeod has come out with a challenge - wait no - more than a challenge - an ultimatum "..put up, or shut up".
Yes the "reporter" who appears to have a similar love-hate relationship with Tweeters to that of one Mr. Trump - has determined what our real problem is.
All "serious, credible.." people need to step up and run for political office. They need to give up their "...paycheque, your own reputation, your own comfortable lifestyle" and throw their hat in the ring. If they do not - McLeod demands they be honest and go away out of it.
First of all the "people" James talks about as credible - are as determined by him. They are people who have a paycheck apparently a comfortable one and a "reputation" - supposedly good. There are many of them according to our newspaper sleuth - he's talked to dozens.
Then there is this jewel: "There are other reasons to stay on the sidelines, too: the demands of an
unsympathetic press corps, ..."
1. the demands of an unsympathetic press corps
There was a break in my writing here - my belly was hurting from laughter.
Which definition of unsympathetic is James using?
a) not feeling, showing, or expressing sympathy
Can't be that one. I would suggest that rightly most express sympathy when a politician has a family or life event of tragedy.
b) not showing approval or favor toward an idea or action
Maybe that one - in which case I would say the majority of media have been very sympathetic both of Muskrat Falls and the current fiasco of a Public Inquiry - as the project continues to motor on.
c) not friendly or cooperative; unlikable
Maybe this one - but again the opposite is true. Many of our "reporters" "journalists" "columnists" and "announcers" are very cooperative and friendly to politicians. They have actually fawned over many of them - like Danny, Tom, Danny, the other Brian, Danny.
The "unsympathetic press corps" he speaks of does not exist in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Well no - that's not true - they are a very unsympathetic press corps to critics of the government - critics of Muskrat Falls. Many of them have tried in every way to marginalize such critics and have used words such as partisans, naysayers, and conspiracy theorists. How nasty....
I can assure Mr. McLeod - that many good private citizens - who have given freely of their time, effort, and intelligence to try and persuade a fawning media and public to beware of things like our current Muskrat boondoggle have risked their reputations, their paycheques, their "comfortable" lives and that of their families. The political parties, their trolls, their indoctrinated, their minions have on many occasions joined with or used the media to disparage "good" people.
He concludes this meandering thought by saying "politics is hard". Hard? Hard how? Hard to go to BBQ's in the rain? Hard to pound your hands in the House of Assembly? Hard to vote ignorantly on legislation? Hard to file for your allowances? Hard to keep up with Twitter or to block people from their Twitter accounts? Hard? Hard to make changes to your own pension plans? Hard to walk the streets once every 4 years? Really James - is that what you call hard? Hard is - an announcement like: I have ordered the shutdown of Muskrat Falls until a forensic audit and a review of project engineering is complete. It is really really easy to say - got to finish it now - cause it's almost done.
If you want to do a journalistic piece - I can recommend several.
1. Research and compare the various proposals to develop the Lower Churchill or any part thereof.
2. Research and compare the various hydro projects completed in Newfoundland and Labrador - their costs, engineering, contracts, the generation and associated transmission.
3. How did Danny Williams and Ed Martin pull the wool over media eyes regarding the many excuses for Muskrat Falls.
4. Do a complete expose of political parties in Newfoundland and Labrador and how they control the pool of MHA's and keep good people out.
5. Investigate and report on the Federal - Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act and how Quebec has used/uses Hydro to their advantage while our province watches on the sidelines.
I can ascertain from your articles that you know very little about the real history of Hydro and are therefore unable to ask the questions necessary to get information the public needs. This is true of the majority of your colleagues in the "press corps".
I challenge you and your colleagues to research your topic or stop writing.
I believe having a robust, knowledgeable, and fearless media would go a long way to improving the lot of our province. It might help "good" people feel more comfortable about running.
As for "good" people running. The media of Newfoundland and Labrador chased Danny Williams year after year until he ran. He was promoted without test, he was glorified by the media before "past the overpass" had ever laid eyes on him. He was touted by the media - he was put on a pedestal by the media - before he ever ran. I get the feeling you're gearing up to promote another messiah as perhaps leaked to you by the Liberal Party. The media in Newfoundland and Labrador are famous for creating messiahs and the childlike rumour mills for one millionaire after another.
The media has virtually controlled the sound bites,
the desired quotes, and the forum in which "good" people could
communicate. The good news is that Twitter, Blogs, and Facebook make
communication among citizens much more accessible.
The combined collection of material from those opposed to Muskrat Falls is starting to become a file that ends up on a shelf to collect dust.
There are enough reasons to demand the immediate shut down of the project and the immediate start-up of a forensic audit.
This will not be accomplished through this blog, any other blogs, tweets of discontent, letters to the editor, or calls to a radio program.
The only way to accomplish this is to provide new leadership - now. The coming together of people for a common goal - regardless of their past political stripes or non-stripes.
Being right is not a happy place right now. Many of us were right in our past assessments of Muskrat Falls. It is actually miserable to be right and will remain so until some real change occurs.
Dwight Ball - Danny Williams and the elite making a killing off this project and have thick skin with respect to keeping this "boondoggle" going.
They do not fear repercussion - Danny's already out of politics and Dwight will soon be. The Corporate elite just want to keep taking our money and the money of our kids and grand-kids and great grand kids The debt, the burden, and the mess will remain long after they are deceased from old age - unless we stop it now.
A - alliance of like minded people
C - coordination of action required
T - target the politicians who want to be re-elected
I - imminent understanding that they will be thrown from office at next election
O - onslaught of activities designed to raise awareness and participation
N - network with people from all around Newfoundland and Labrador
I like George Murphy - always have. Right now he is encouraging all of us to write the PUB to protest the Hydro proposed increase. It is an action and it will be felt - however this will not rid us of the burden - it will simply shift the debt from the ratepayer to the taxpayer. We need action to rid us of Muskrat Falls and do what we can to mitigate losses.
So the day of action is here. Who is going to stand up and join with others to provide leadership and a future for Newfoundland and Labrador?
The taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador cannot afford the burden of a 30 billion dollar debt. This is what successive governments have done to us - and we are allowing it.
Demand the immediate cessation of Muskrat Falls until a complete forensic audit and financial investigation is complete on the project to date. Then we can look at what alternatives and choices we have. Anything short of that is philosophical discussion that nets us nothing more than an historical record of misery - just like the Upper Churchill.
So much is known now about the Muskrat Falls fiasco - that even with the information we do not have - we know we've been had.
The perplexing question is how do we stop it?
Dwight Ball, Danny Williams, and those making fortunes on our bankrupt backs are counting on 2 things.
The first is apathy and the second is disorganization.
Let's talk about apathy. In the last CRA Poll of "decided" voters the Liberals held 40%, the PC's held 33%, the NDP held 24%, the Labrador Party 2% and the Greens (not a provincial party) held 1%.
Now the reality is that the undecided/refused was 43%, therefore the Liberals have support of 22.8% the PC's have support of 18.8%, the NDP have support of 13.6%, the Labrador Party have support of 1.1% and the Greens have support of .57%.
Part of this can be attributed to apathy and that suits the politicians just fine. Despite their protestations that voter participation should be higher - they are doing nothing really to entice those who either are sick of politicians or those who could care less.
Next we get to disorganization - a large chunk of that 43% undecided/refused are people who want to participate - but are so fed up with the big three choices that they can't commit to anything. They are also discouraged by the improbability that any new or marginal party would stand a chance.
There are twitter and blog trolls whose job it is to discourage active democratic movement - by simply saying things like "that won't work" "can't be done" "extremists and naysayers" etc.
Politicians are currently comfortable that this is all it will take to keep a real democratic movement from going forward. Why are they comfortable? Because the opposition to them is disorganized.
We have talented bloggers, intelligent tweeters, backroom experts, and call show gurus. They come from varied backgrounds and have personalities that are as diverse as you can get. They certainly have enough wherewithal to begin a new political movement. They could form a Cabinet that would make the current crew and the PC's before them look like rank amateurs.
For the most part - these people - many of whom have had political affiliations in the past - do not put Party in front of Province. They will take aim at the real issues and let rip.
The government (regardless of which one) will attempt to take some of them out with political appointments or engage them in another way to diminish the pool of articulate opposition.
In Quebec and other provinces - political movements are seen as advantageous and are encouraged. In Newfoundland and Labrador we have oodles of political minions who will take great pleasure in knocking them down. They don't have the capability to take them down on wits - so they get involved in name calling like "naysayer", "partisan", and/or "conspiracy theorists".
The other favourite pastime in Newfoundland and Labrador is to turn one of these people who oppose government against another who opposes government. This is done subtly - someone who knows someone says this about someone. You know - I'm sure you've all heard it. Then there is the politicians go-to, try and negatively impact the life of one of their antagonists. Yes - they do this - all the time.
The not-so-subtle approach is to just have a number of minions go beyond the normal types of insults and question a person's sanity - publicly. They also bring out "experts" to try and downplay the findings of a blogger - regardless of the validity. This public approach is also designed to deter others from becoming involved.
This is what we are dealing with. This is real.
Until the bloggers, the Tweeters, the backroom experts, and the call-show gurus (unofficial opposition) get together and plan some real action under real leadership - Muskrat and every other fiasco will continue.
We won't have a province left - but thanks to social media we'll have an historical account of the opposition.
You know the old saying If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.
We are the proverbial people spoken about.
Lie 1
We need the power
Lie 2
This is the cheapest alternative
Lie 3
We need to get around Quebec
Lie 4
Holyrood will be eliminated
Lie 5
It will cost 7-8 billion dollars
Lie 6
We need it for industry
Lie 7
We will own the transmission line to the Island
Lie 8
Ed Martin quit/retired
and now the biggest whopper of them all
Lie 9
We can't stop Muskrat now
For each and every lie above we had head-bobbing from ignorant MHA's and Ministers, we had a media in report but not research mode, and we had and have leaders who lead us down a garden path.
Each and every one of these lies was repeated, reported, repeated, reported, and repeated and reported.
Each and every one without a modicum of real and unfettered independent investigation.
The first big whopper - "we need the power" was one leader and the last big whopper "we can't stop Muskrat now" from our current leader.
Both of them have tried to back up the statements with "input" from experts. The current expert Stan Marshall - riddled with government exempt conflict - has proclaimed "this is a boondoggle" but "we can't stop it now".
The first part of his statement "this is a boondoggle" is something that should be used in the Captain Obvious Hotels.com commercials. The second part "we can't stop it now" is coming without real proof or true independent review - that should be demanded by the people.
We suspect there has been/is some form of corruption going on. We know for certain incompetence has been abound and continues. We know we were lied to. Any reasonably minded person would say - it is time to stop the boondoggle, forensically audit the boondoggle, review the results publicly, and then look at all options.
Not here though. Lie repeat. Lie repeat. Lie report repeat.
It is unfathomable.
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
Vladimir Lenin Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/vladimirle132031.html
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
Vladimir Lenin Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/vladimirle132031.html
The title includes both Danny Williams and Dwight Ball - as Williams started the Muskrat mess and Ball seems determined to finish it.
The domino affect for Newfoundland and Labrador of this disastrous, ill-conceived, potentially corrupt project is astounding.
1. the astronomical debt burden on taxpayers and ratepayers
2. the questionable engineering to date on the project
3. the unquestionable loss of population that will occur
4. the unquestionable decimation of disposable income for a significant percentage of people
5. the unquestionable destruction of small/medium sized businesses relying on disposable income
6. the unquestionable increase in unemployment (already at third world levels)
7. the unquestionable reduction in essential services - as government seeks to find savings
8. the unquestionable increase in poverty - particularly seniors on fixed income and children
9. the unquestionable rise in taxation that will have to be introduced should energy subsidies occur
10. the unquestionable giveaway of more resources to try an offset 1-9 above
This project will be successful as the driving factor for out-migration and those remaining will have to shop at Costco or Walmart to survive - thereby eliminating and NL or even Canadian company existence.
Many of our abnormally high aging population will be left here as their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren move to more economically stable province, States or countries.
Rural Newfoundland and Labrador will be decimated at a greater pace.
Health care, education, and social safety nets will not be maintainable at today's level - let alone advance.
Crime, drug addictions, and suicides will - in my opinion - be on the rise.
Meanwhile the fat-cats will be enjoying the wealth attained through the destruction of our province.
The fat-cats don't care - for the most part that's why they're fat-cats.
More seniors homes and long-term care will be needed as they cannot live at home with assistance from their children (who are gone) - yet there is no money to do this.
As younger taxpayers/ratepayers leave Newfoundland and Labrador the taxation and revenue needed to fulfill debt obligations will be shared among fewer people.
This is the catastrophic position we are in.
Ball - for his part - will not stop Muskrat and conduct a forensic audit and truly examine all options. Muskrat has consumed him and many of his colleagues. Ball - instead - will hold out on making a decision - any decision - as is his norm. This will cost us - our province.
Williams is running around complaining about infrastructure St. John's is "unfairly" imposing on him - and taking potshots at Dobbin - another "leader" of the business community.
Ball's biggest concern about seeking leadership, winning leadership, seeking elected office as the Premier - is whether or not the Townie big corporate community would accept him and take him seriously. He is working extremely hard to win their approval.
In my opinion - Williams for his part is unwilling to accept criticism - of any type and will parade around like a litigation happy snapping turtle.
The current crop of MHA's and. Ministers are primarily incompetent as it relates to policy areas such as energy, education, and health - to name but a few.
The government backbenchers are as probing as our media was during the Muskrat cheer-leading days.
The Official Opposition is in free-fall having promoted and backed the Muskrat fiasco - including Kent who opportunistically found another source of grand public servant pay - as leadership hopes or return to Ministerial prominence was fading like the caplin stock. Leadership potential is about as good as chicken left on the counter for 2 days.
The NDP is nowhere in sight - as it finishes its dismantling to start anew. Now that the union workers have completed a fair chunk of the Muskrat fiasco - it might be okay now to throw out a few jabs.
The Danny dominoes were lined up when the Liberals took power - and the dominoes are now falling quickly after Dwight pushed the first one.
As I said in my last post - time is NOT on our side.
A forensic audit is the process of reviewing a person's or company's
financial statements to determine if they are accurate and lawful.
Forensic audits are used wherever an entity's finances or operations present a legal concern.
Forensic audits are performed by a class of professionals with skill-sets in both criminology and accounting who specialize in following a money
trail, keeping track of fraudulent and actual balance sheets and
checking for inaccuracies in overall and detailed reports of income or
expenditures. If they find discrepancies, it may be the auditor's job to
investigate and determine the reason for it, or it may be the job of a
separate financial investigator.
Red Flags for fraudulent or questionable activity.
Unexplained variances between budgets and actual balances.
Significant internal control issues.
Unusual write-offs or unordinary transactions.
Infrequent or late financial reports and reviews.
(Scapegoating) Where people are given a title but without actual responsibility, it can
effectively cover up what is going on with those who do have
responsibility or power in a situation.
The weakening or elimination of a watchdog (such as PUB) for the Corporation.
Staff whispers and rumors “that all is not right".
Budget for a project escalates on a recurring basis.
Contracting an outside accounting firm to validate specific things but not all things.
A major indicator can be the act of deletion or pressure on staff to
delete, remove or otherwise dump past records or conceal past reports following a senior management change.
Falsified estimates, reports, or projections.
There are any significant conflicts of interest present with senior executive and/or outside contracts/tors. In the case of a Crown Corporation - if any potential conflict of interest is or may be present with an elected official in Government.
Employing any external consultants or contracting firms who have been found guilty of fraud, bribery, or embezzlement in the past.
Any corporation that deliberately withholds information from its shareholders.
Questionable payouts or bonuses to Senior Executive where performance does not match results. (happened with Enron)
Be particularly concerned by any corporation that refuses to do an immediate forensic audit - when several warning signs are present.
In conclusion - I add to all MHA's - ignorance is no excuse when it comes to the law.
Whistle-blowers needed for Muskrat Falls. Send me a message.
No doubt for some of us - from the inception of the Muskrat fiasco deal - politicians have not been doing that.
Now the majority of us do not want Muskrat Falls.
The majority of us want a forensic audit now.
The majority of us want a public inquiry now.
The majority of us want Muskrat stopped until we can examine all of our options.
So why are politicians - most of whom want to be re-elected - continuing to ignore the wishes of the majority of people - without any substantiated reasoning?
The majority of politicians who want to be re-elected are wannabe career politicians. It's the best gig they can get. They are gutless and either deliberately ignorant or unable or unwilling to learn.
Some politicians do not want or expect to be elected again and their masters for whatever reason are not the people of the province.
Some politicians make decisions in their own best interests and that many times conflicts with what's in the best interests of the people.
The vast majority of politicians are me first, party second, and people third.
Now we need to figure out what classification each of our politicians fall into.
Let's start with the Muskrat leaders: Dwight Ball, Paul Davis, Tom Marshall, Kathy Dunderdale, and Danny Williams.
There is no cost greater than a human life. This blog does not attempt to trivialize any loss of life resulting from the terrible hurricanes that have hit countries and are about to hit others.
Regarding the financial losses of a Hurricane such as Harvey and Irma currently and like Katrina in 2005 - we can make comparisons to our ongoing Harvey called Muskrat. Although it is man-made - the financial devastation will be similar.
Let's look at it this way. The cost to Texas from Harvey is the same as the cost of Hurricane Muskrat. The difference is we will experience this type of financial disaster year over year for the next 25 years.
Now the big question - who's going to help us?
Let me put this in perspective. There are 29 million people living in Texas and the government has said the disaster could cost $150 billion. That works out to equal $5200 per person.
There are 529,000 people in Newfoundland and Labrador - let's say Muskrat costs $13 billion - this works out to $25,000 per person. When this amount is attributed to ratepayers then the amount could be $68,000 per person.
That's 13 Harvey like equivalencies already.
Now envision this comparable:
The economy of Texas is the second largest in the United States. It has a gross state product of $1.616 trillion (2016),[10] the second largest in the U.S. As of 2015, Texas is home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list and 51 overall (third most after New York and California).[11] In 2012, Texas grossed more than $264.7 billion a year in exports—more than exports of California ($161.9 billion) and New York ($81.4 billion) combined.[12][13][14]
As a sovereign country (2016), Texas would be the 10th largest economy in the world by GDP (ahead of South Korea and Canada).[15] Texas's household income
was $48,259 in 2010 ranking 25th in the nation. The state debt in 2012
was calculated to be $121.7 billion, or $7,400 per taxpayer.[16] Texas has the second largest population in the country after California.
Newfoundland and Labrador has a GDP of $25 Billion and is falling. We are the home of 0 Fortune 500 companies. The economy of Texas is larger than that of Canada - so where would we sit? The unemployment rate in Texas moves between 4-5% while in Newfoundland and Labrador it sits between 14-16%. Texas tops the USA in population growth regularly while Newfoundland and Labrador continues to lose people with projections of losing another 40,000 over the Muskrat decades. On top of the Muskrat billions on the ratepayers backs - we have a provincial debt of about $23,000 per person while Texas shows up at $7400 per person. If we lose another 40,000 people and while increasing the percentage of an aging population - the remaining ratepayers could be up to $82,000 per person and the taxpayers remaining could increase each persons share of provincial debt by another $5000.
Now back to the "big" question - who is going to help us?
In the case of wealthy Texas - who by the way is the leader in medically uninsured people and whose leaders want to eliminate the affordable care act. A state which glorifies the "dog eat dog" far right economic system - is seeking funds and assistance from all over - particularly from socially democratic Canada and all kind and caring people. This might be a donation to the Red Cross or it could be the assistance from disaster relief personal. Insurance will cover another fair chunk of the $180 billion in losses and another chunk will be covered by the federal government.
Texas is able to afford it's own provision of essentials - including state assistance for income, housing, and food. They will however seek to do this through contributions from the private sector, caring individuals, and other states and countries. They will seek to minimize the costs to their own taxpayers. They don't like tax in Texas so they will try to mitigate their own human responsibility.
Meanwhile in Newfoundland and Labrador - we have nobody to help with Muskrat - its all on us. It is a man-made hurricane with no relief in sight - lest we sell off something else cheap - like Gull Island. That then ruins another 2 generations.
I hope that by comparing hurricanes to Muskrat - and by saying we will experience - per-capita - the costs of Hurricane Harvey over and over again like Muskrat (groundhog) Day for the next 25 years - that perhaps a few more people will get the seriousness of our mess.
At the start of the this post - I removed the element of human loss - as experienced by Texas and other hurricanes in the past - I must add that our human loss could be far greater - IF - the North Spur fails.
I bet many good people of Newfoundland and Labrador have already contributed to help people in Texas.
Unfortunately - the path we are on - there will be no people left in our place. Unfortunately our children and grandchildren will be lost to another province or country.
The very first thing that must happen is Muskrat must stop. A forensic audit must be completed immediately to properly assess what options we may have on this fiasco of a project. We must recognize our debt crisis and unsustainable spending habits. We need to listen to people who have great ideas on how to spend less but deliver better services. We must virtually eliminate waste in our public institutions and eliminate rewarding incompetence - through bonuses or packages.
Our politicians who rely on continued electoral success as a career - should be unceremoniously fired at the ballot box and we must try to attract those truly interested in advancing our society as a contribution.
In May of 2012 Tom Marshall (Minister of Finance) called Open Line - on that day hosted by Pete Soucy.
During the course of that discussion - which was about prescription drug costs - he waded into Muskrat Falls and their reasoning for it.
For a couple of reasons - I purchased a text copy of that call - and now it will serve as good reminder for us all.
TOM MARSHALL: So we're putting money in to ensure that our seniors,
the people on the 65 plus program are protected and of course the big
one of all is going to be Muskrat where we're trying to regulate
electricity costs. So, and we'll continue with you know, with things
like that to ensure that people on fixed incomes and lower income people are protected.
In this response to a drug program related question - he began to wander into Muskrat Falls. You can see he is addressing seniors and protecting them from higher cost electricity? TOM
MARSHALL: Well you go to remember that Muskrat Falls is for us. It's
for the people of the province. Muskrat Falls does not exist primarily.
The reason for Muskrat Falls is not to export power, that's why Churchill Falls, the Upper Churchill
came into existence. You know, it was done by a profit seeking
corporation and their objective was to make money. Muskrat Falls is for
the people of the province, it's being done by Nalcor which is owned by
the people and it's being done to provide electricity - to meet the
electricity needs of the people of the province primarily. We're going
to need power here on the island, we also want to shut down Holyrood
because that's the most expensive power we have that goes into the grid.
And you know, at peak production they're burning 18,000 barrels a day.
When they started, I think a barrel of oil was $3. Now it is $103.
So - and our experts tells that the price of oil is going to continue to
rise and Holyrood produces electricity by burning thousands of barrels
of oil. So that's what's been driving up peoples electricity costs.
That's why Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro has gone looking for rate
increases, it's all because of - or mainly because of the increases in
the price of oil. So we need more power and we need to get off
Holyrood. In addition, Labrador is going to need a lot of power.
There's all these mining companies that want to open up mines in
Labrador you know, in the iron ore.
I hope you read each and every word of his next response. Try and get your head around this fiction from just 5 years ago.
Then he adds:
TOM MARSHALL: And uranium -they're going to need a lot of power. So
when we first talked about doing Muskrat, the idea is that the extra
power we'd say, well rather than let the water flow down to the sea, we
can at least take that extra power, that surplus to our needs and
through this maritime link that Nova Scotia is going to build, at least
we can sell that extra power, that surplus power to the US market or NB
or NS or PEI. But now what we think is that won't happen for very long
because ultimately the power is going to be needed in Labrador.
I truly hope the people of Labrador are reviewing this.
There is no doubt I had an interest in this and could not believe the words I was hearing.
I was not the only one who wanted a copy of this that day. You'll probably be surprised when you find out - given the current day affairs.
Let's review why we end up with governments we end up despising. Unfortunately by the time that occurs the damage has been done.
The first of this series looks at the "lifelong" party faithful.
1. Liberal Tory DNA
About 25% of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are genetically linked to one party or another. You can diagnose this condition without sending away for a test,
a) yours is a house that 1 party can rely on for life to place political signs on the lawn, in the windows, or across your garage door,
b) you have been card carrying member of "your" party for life,
c) the zealot syndrome - if you do not openly embrace even the most ludicrous ideas - without critique, question, or second thought you don't have it,
d) you find yourself plotting to undermine a person who is not with "your" party without logical reason for doing so,
e) you will disown a family member before you disown "your" party,
f) your ancestry is defined by a political party,
g) you willingly donate to "your" party regardless of what they are offering or not offering,
h) if an MHA from "your" party leaves for reasons of ideological choice on an issue - particularly in the proper representation of their constituents, the MHA - not "your" party - is guilty of treason,
i) you plan a political coming out party for your child or grandchild,
j) you believe that political parties in NL are ideologically different,
k) you believe it's a "your turn" kind of system where you wait it out knowing that "your turn" is coming,
l) you are willing to present your body at a party demonstration or event to up the headcount,
m) if you don't like "your" party's leader - you will choose not to vote - instead of looking at somebody else,
m) you don't mind if "your" party MHA does not read legislation before voting on it,
n) you phone talk-shows with speaking notes - provided by a paid staffer,
o) you treat politics like the World Wrestling Federation,
p) you assume critics of your party's position are from another party - naysayers - conspiracy theorists,
q) you believe question period in the House of Assembly is for name calling and ridicule,
r) you believe in political messiahs
s) you try to stand next to a politician from "your" party to take a much desired selfie,
t) you hang a photo of "your" party's leader/s on your wall,
u) you look for online "question of the day" and press the answer as many times as you can,
v) you plan your summer vacation around a politicians visit to your communities garden party,
w) you believe "your" party is never wrong just always fixing another party's mess,
x) you block opponents to "your" party on Twitter,
y) you attempt to get "your" party MHA's to friend you on Facebook,
z) you think this list has been established by the "other" party.
If you can relate to 50% or more of these traits - you need to rethink before our province is extinct.
In December of 2011 the following is an excerpt from a story in the Chronicle Herald
Emera spokesperson "Huskilson said there’s more to the Muskrat Falls deal for Nova Scotia
customers than simply getting a reliable source of renewable power. The
development of the entire Lower Churchill Project, of which Muskrat
Falls is just the first phase, should result in even lower energy rates
for Nova Scotia consumers, he says."
and
"Emera, and its Nova Scotia regulated utility Nova Scotia Power, will
also benefit from the revenue earned from the transmission of the power
generated in Labrador to markets in New England and elsewhere. How much
that will be hasn’t been determined yet."
add this to Sue's Blog reference yesterday from an Emera proposal to Massachusetts:
The economic mess of Newfoundland and Labrador should be compared to the Great Depression - and we should soon realize that a bailout will become necessary.
The bailout required will not be restricted to financial but administrative as well.
The causes of the Great Depression are well established but the Muskrat Depression is something else again. It is representative of governments bereft of ideas, talent, capabilities, sound judgement while possibly being full of malfeasance.
We have now successfully repeated monumental mistakes of the past. By majority we do not know our history - for reasons of disinterest, ignorance, the lack of educational direction, and ineffective journalism.
Can we ever return to the modern version of "responsible government"? What will our options be to come out of Commission of Government 2.0 - after it occurs?
In 2017 descriptive words such as "Commission of Government" will not be used. More diplomacy will be required as the Canadian Government steps in as the British did in 1934.
In the 1940's the choices were continued and reformed Commission, return to Responsible Government or to become a Canadian province.
In the Commission of Government 2.0 the choices to exit may be a provincially run system within Canada, join in an Atlantic Union, (the Island with Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick and Labrador with Quebec) or if we say so a choice to leave Canada.
This sounds harsh - and no doubt the words I use above will be avoided and top level spin will put the situation in a different light. Ball has already started with the word "mitigate" and we should expect the word cooperate with other provinces - particularly Quebec and Nova Scotia to soon follow.
As with the Great Depression - the Muskrat Depression will question our ability ro govern ourselves and also highlight the massive economic woes that will leave us no other choice but to cooperate. We will be made to feel less than capable, less than who we are, and unable to be left on our own to survive.
Our Terms of Union with Canada were and are weak - they are reflective of a population that was coerced into giving up our sovereignty for pennies on the dollar (for our resources) in return for things such as the baby bonus. We will be made to feel inept and question our own selves and our abilities.
There's no doubt the fish merchants of the 40's and the Muskrat merchants of 2017 are very much alike and for their own direct gain they will sell out their fellow citizens in a heartbeat.
By placing Tom Osborne in the finance portfolio - we have basically committed to a bureaucracy run government. Maintaining Siobhan Coady in the resources portfolio we have committed to the Muskrat elite continuing the unstoppable but yet destructive Muskrat fiasco. Aboriginal issues that Lisa Dempster looks forward to dealing with comes with the caveat that the Premier has always found her "whiny". Perhaps the Premier feels the actions of the Land Protectors are "whiny" and therefore whiners should stick together,
Perhaps Gerry Byrne has shown interest in the inevitable leadership race and therefore placed in the guaranteed to lose Fisheries portfolio.
Being a little more wily - Canada will not transparently step on our turf - it will do so in the nicest possible way - saving us from ourselves - while sticking it to our independence.
Wherever the 3 amigos exist (Williams, MacDonald, and Tobin) Williams overtly PC - Tobin overtly Liberal - MacDonald swinging as is necessary) we are getting the shaft.
As in the original Commission of Government there are untouchable issues. For the original it was denominational education - the Commission felt it should change - become efficient and economically sustainable - however the churches (the all powerful in NL at the time) would not have it. In the modern Commission of Government 2.0 - where it's obvious Muskrat should be halted - it will be the one thing that will keep going as the Muskrat elite hold a power similar to the churches in the 1940's.
When I tweeted the other day that the only potential NL had left was that the "undecided" voters hold a lead in the polls at 33% - I meant it. If it was sustained and a new party emerged supporting the fundamental belief in responsible government - we could remove ourselves from the clutches of the Canadian wolf. That does not mean separation necessarily but does mean we will right our track and allow NL to survive for generations to come.
The bouncing back and forth between PC and Liberal will destroy us and the NDP that is disinterested in truly expanding and having ideas outside the historical position of Tommy Douglas - has left us in a place where taking a completely different chance on a new entity is not only palpable but desirable.
We do have people among us who are capable and truly understand the meaning of public service. People who are intelligent, creative, caring and dependable.
I can see right now that we are for all intents and purposes in the Commission of Government 2.0 - and if you watch the Federal government and the local Liberals closely you can see that too.
The only question that remains is how will we come out of it and what choices will we have?
We must act quickly or the Muskrat elite will remove all but one choice from our future.
Ball is the perfect candidate to move us through to Commission of Government 2.0 as he is the text book case of a "leader" needing somebody - anybody - to tell him what to do. Right now he is vulnerable to the worst of political scoundrels unless he himself is one also.
There is NO doubt Muskrat should be stopped now and we should use our place in Canada to recoup monies wasted via the failure of successive Canadian governments to pay us for the loss of our fishery.
There is no doubt a forensic audit should be done immediately on Muskrat Falls - to determine if there are people to be fired, investigated, and possibly charged. This cannot wait until the "completion" that is lunacy.
There is no doubt that Muskrat must be stopped to allow further investigation into the engineering of the project and potentially life threatening circumstances at the spur.
Our government is weak, the Opposition parties are weak, the Cabinet is weak, and we now must be strong.
As we muddle along into Danny's vision of a legacy - we should be
reminded what happens when we as people do not ask questions regardless
of media and opposition disinterest.
The Upper Churchill goes down in the history of western world
developments as one of the worst deals ever to be perpetrated on a
people.
Today as we see Hydro-Quebec lower its rate for Quebec consumers - we
are pondering an astronomical raise in rates to accomplish what Nalcor
says is a need to get rid of Holyrood.
Imagine our children having to deal with Holyrood and Labrador oil
generated facilities while Hydro-Quebec and the people of our
neighbouring province enjoy virtually complete hydro generated power -
including the fabulous 5000 MW's from the Upper Churchill. That is a
cost of that mistake. Our children should be enjoying complete clean
renewable hydro energy but for the mistakes of Joey Smallwood, John
Crosbie, Bill Rowe and others. We can thank a silent opposition of the
day as well.
Imagine our children leaving Newfoundland and Labrador to work in
processing facilities powered by our energy and value adding from our
resources. That is the cost of such a mistake.
Imagine a place full of renewable hydro losing industries and not
gaining them at a time when energy hungry smelters and refining
facilities seek such energy in today's marketplace. That is the cost of
that mistake.
Imagine our children's shoulders burdening billions in debt as we
continue to lose billions we could have enjoyed - if a mistake was not
made on the Upper Churchill contract.
Imagine - for years - we accepted a significant reduction in
equalization payments because we produced the energy from the Upper
Churchill - even though we were not the beneficiaries of the tremendous
profits. Ottawa looked and said - even though the deal was bad - you
could be collecting more - so we will reduce your payments as if you
were. Billions more in lost revenues - a cost of doing a bad deal.
Imagine - had we simply waited - we would have attracted industry and
developed the power for the benefit of Labradorians. Imagine what could
have been in the 70's and 80's as oil prices rose from 60's prices of
$3($18 adjusted for inflation) a barrel to $38($90 adjusted for
inflation)dollars a barrel and now even greater again. That attractive
hydro power that uses water not oil for fuelling generation. That water
that is not impacted by an oil embargo from the Middle East in the 70's
or the civil unrest in Libya today.
Imagine we would be debt free like Alberta - we would be utilizing a
significant portion of our oil revenues for a heritage fund so that our
grandchildren benefit from the non-renewable resources we are extracting
now. Instead it is keeping us artificially afloat - keeping our growing
budget in health care intact - until that is - when the oil is gone.
That too will be a cost of that mistake.
Imagine the pride and not anger we could feel if we had just questioned a
little more and waited for the right opportunity for us. Labrador's
population could have exploded and industry could have flourished. We
would not blame Quebec for our own mistake and their intelligence in
choosing risks.
Here we are again - Danny says the Emera deal will right the wrongs of
the Upper Churchill. What a joke. Does he take us all for fools?
Apparently and that continues on with his successor Premier Dunderdale.
We are mad at Quebec so we will go around them - be damned the cost - we
will punish them.
Danny's idea of punishment clearly is skewed. Stephen Harper's lie robs
us of 10 billion dollars - he punishes him by electing all Liberals (who
cares) and by sending Fabian Manning to the Senate (oh the pain).
Currently he wants us to punish Quebec by ramming through a hydro
project which ships even more power out - to another company (publicly
traded) which is vulnerable therefore for takeover. Punish Quebec by
driving our power rates through the roof while making competitive
jurisdictions cheaper.
Danny did not right the wrongs of the Upper Churchill as he promised -
if there was a deal to be done on the Lower Churchill. I believe if it's
even possible he's made matters worse.
First the unearned arrogance of the PC government continues to assume
that the best possibility for power development is for export. Prove
this to me and the rest of our people. Prove how exporting even more of
this industrially attractive resource helps Newfoundland and Labrador
more than if we used the power here. Show us the numbers - the normal
economic studies that would be completed to reach such a conclusion. The
government will have studies on everything but the economics of
shipping out hydro power versus utilizing it through industry in
Labrador.
The Upper Churchill will continue to punish generations of our people
for decades to come - we hardly need to couple that misery with the
untested policy of yet another Churchill development.
Why would industry ever consider coming here if we so willingly ship it
to more convenient jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that already enjoy an
advantage through the use of our raw resources?
We lose our fishery - and we sit and take it.
We lose our forestry - and we sit and take it.
We lose billions of dollars from a Harper lie - we sit and take it.
We are now on the verge of losing yet another tremendous resource - will we sit and take it?
What will it take for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to stop taking it and stand up for their children and grandchildren?
Why are we not in the streets and demand action?
Danny bluffed and bluffed and bluffed. We lost and lost and lost - on
his way out he has asked us to giveaway yet another resource. This time
say no. Just say no.
