Rex Murphy - 2 saviors - Williams and Alberta

Everybody needs to make a buck right? I guess we all decide at one point or another if the activity of making that buck just goes too far for our stomachs.

I am sick of Rex Murphy - the native "Newfoundlander" (as you all know he constantly leaves off Labrador in the name of our province) pontificating his views so vigorously so as to leave one believing it's fact.

As you likely know Rex Murphy and other CBC resplendent mouths have caused a bit of a stir lately regarding their speech junkets. Murphy has been called out for appearances in front of the oil and gas elite. 

Two things Rex wants you to know.

1. Alberta saved us, and
2. Danny corrected the wrongs of the Upper Churchill

Rex would have other Canadians believe that when our fish crisis hit in the early 1990's - it was Alberta that kept us from hundreds of divorces, thousands of bankruptcies, and a population headed for complete annihilation. He thanked Alberta on our behalf.

First of all Rex - you should concentrate on the Newfoundland and Labrador shaft - wherein the entity responsible for fisheries management failed and our people took a direct hit from that mismanagement. Ottawa - Rex - was the bankrupt, Ottawa - owes this province billions of dollars, and Ottawa - Rex should be raked over your coals for this colossal failure. Yes Rex - tens of thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians lost their livelihoods and dozens of communities failed outright. Yes Rex - it is comparable to Ontario losing 600,000 jobs overnight - however the federal response was so different.

Ontario was in peril - about to lose their bread and butter automotive sector - through no fault of the federal government and through great fault of the private sector - but Ottawa responded and continues to respond to any fart going sideways in Toronto.

The fishery - Rex was a direct responsibility of the federal government - and they failed. The consequence of that has been catastrophic to our province - yet Ottawa continues to deny its responsibility - a constitutional responsibility - and watch our province struggle to survive another confederate mess.

So - Rex - in speaking to the oil magnates of Alberta - first describes that the wonderful and professional conference environment is hardly what he found when he did his first speech in the Lion's Club of Joe Batt's Arm. Then he gets to the heartfelt - intellectually drooling - thanks to Alberta on behalf of all of us. Rex can't stop his adoration of Alberta for saving Newfoundland and Labrador, thousands of our people and thousand of our families. My God - Rex thinks divorces would have been so frequent as to shatter the idea of marriage if we were not saved from by Alberta.

The solution to our fisheries crisis should have been found in our province. The billions should have kept coming from Ottawa until the stocks recovered. Our fishermen/women and plant workers should never have had to leave home to seek gainful employment. The billions we lose every year - as a result of Ottawa's mismanagement should be replaced by Ottawa. Our fishermen/women and plant workers could have been employed using the compensation money that should still be flowing from the feds.

Rex - many of our families have been destroyed BECAUSE they had to leave this province to find work. Families were torn apart, communities devastated, and seniors left without a relative to enjoy.

Alberta certainly gained from our loss. They had access to thousands of skilled tradespeople and workers - that they needed at the time for their booming industry. They got our population - not our seniors - but young men and women and families to build their energy sector. They gained - we lost and continue to lose. Yes many of our people travel back and forth - but many others and their children (now adults) have stayed and increase the population of that province. They have now made Alberta home - generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians gone.

On another occasion - actually it was when Danny Williams resigned as Premier - Rex joined the CBC's national panel to give his two cents worth on the departure. He agreed with Mansbridge that Danny was a fighter. Rex went on to say - that Williams came in - "in the wake of the closure of the fisheries" and with the Emera term sheet "corrected a 50 year grievance that's gnawed at the hearts of Newfoundlanders since the day that Smallwood signed the Upper Churchill" and further described the Williams agenda as limited but large "the offshore - the revenues - fix all the bad deals".

This verbal nonsense leaves Canada with an impression that is not real. The 50 year grievance has not been resolved - and further the deal Williams cut makes Newfoundlanders and Labradorians pay billions of dollars to go around Quebec and this time benefit Nova Scotia. Meanwhile of course - discussions are always on with Quebec and Williams did not eliminate them from the equation. There is Gull Island.

And this question Rex - what did the great "fighter" Danny Williams do to right the wrongs of the fishery?

If Murphy wants to impress the oil elite in Calgary or share a studio with Mansbridge - he should do it talking about something he knows something about - like Toronto. All Murphy has done here is perpetuate the myth that Newfoundland and Labrador is a welfare state relegated to thanking others for survival. 

Please take the time and listen to Rex:

Talk about Alberta saving Newfoundland and Labrador - PRESS HERE
Talk about Danny Williams saving Newfoundland and Labrador - PRESS HERE

News keeps getting Worse! Muskrat Exports?

Below please find an excerpt from a recent Globe and Mail article: Should we continue to ignore this?

This “over my dead body” attitude from a former engineer and environmentalist made Natural Resource Minister is emblematic of what former Parti Québécois premier Bouchard refers to as the “new religion” of Quebec. In a province where the gas industry’s first and often tactless developments have divided the population, gas wells – and even hydroelectric dams – have come to symbolize man’s self-destructive appetite for energy, at the expense of land, water and air.

It is a fine debate. Yet for all its sociological, environmental and economic considerations, it is somewhat vain. The valve on Quebec’s gas industry is shut for a foreseeable future that extends well beyond the current ban on gas exploration – which will last until environmental studies are completed, by 2014. Blame it on the shale gas boom in the United States. Blame it on the low gas prices that have ensued.

And the consequences of these depressed prices are felt not only by the province’s nascent gas industry, which had already drilled before the ban some 30 wells in Quebec in the hopes of creating a 5,000- to 19,000-job industry.

They also hurt the venerable Hydro-Québec, the state-owned electricity producer that has seen its export revenues since 2008 melt even as it is pumping more electricity into the northeastern U.S., its main export market. Gas-powered thermal electricity plants are heating up Hydro-Québec’s competition.

The price of natural gas has rebounded in recent months after it cratered in April under $2 (U.S.) per million British thermal units (BTU). As gas prices rise while the mercury falls on the eve of the winter heating season, it now trades close to $3.50 per million BTU in New York. However, Quebec’s gas industry estimated in earlier public hearings that the price of gas needs to trade between $5 and $6 for it to cover its production and delivery costs.

Even if gas-powered plants replace coal plants, even if diesel trucks are converted to gas, it will likely take a decade before the increased demand allows the price of natural gas to rebound significantly – it spiked at close to $9 in 2008. Quebec’s main gas distributor, Gaz Métro, expects prices to hover around $5 for the next 10 years. Jean-Thomas Bernard, guest lecturer at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of economics and an energy expert, thinks the depressed prices could even last 15 years.
This presents a headache for Hydro-Québec, which is already swarming with electricity surpluses as the recession weighs on industrial demand, especially from the pulp and paper mills that are in the midst of a structural downturn. And the problem will only be made worse as the state-owned electricity producer brings new capacity into service.

The complex project Eastmain-1-A-Sarcelle-Rupert, which includes the construction of two plants, four dams and the diversion of the Rupert River in the James Bay region, will add 8.7 terawatt-hours of electricity production. The Romaine hydroelectric complex in the Côte-Nord region will add another eight TWh on average a year.

Hydro-Québec‘s electricity exports have steadily gone up since 2007 to 26.8 TWh from 19.6 TWh. Yet as electricity prices have fallen while the Canadian dollar has shot up, the revenues the state producer collects from these out-of-province sales have gone down – although they slightly rebounded in 2011. The trend has continued in the first quarter of 2012: The year-over-year exports shortfall accounts for Hydro-Québec’s 28 per cent drop in revenue and 18 per cent reduction in profit.
And with any fall in Hydro-Québec’s profits comes a reduction to the dividend it pays the government, as 75 per cent of its profit are funnelled to Quebec.

To paraphrase the title of an acclaimed Louis Bélanger film, Quebec is suffering a severe case of “Gaz Bar Blues.”

So as Western Canadian energy producers are lamenting the surge in U.S. shale gas and oil production, which are threatening their exports south of the border, this time around, they will find a sympathetic ear in Quebec.

Harper Enemy of the State? Premiers must take Action

I always begin my posts on the Prime Minister by reminding the reader that Stephen Harper is a liar. No doubt that causes problems in our nation - not the least of which is setting a very bad example for young Canadians.

Now our "leader" is threatening our country. How? Well this man who sits atop the Canadian political heap is shovelling sh-t (figuratively speaking) and tossing it on the masses below.

Once again this ne'er-do-well is saying no to yet another First Ministers meeting.

Canada consists of provinces and territories and under confederation agree to a federal presence in areas of joint service delivery, national security, and to a certain degree matters of law. Under such terms provinces and territories agree to a federal taxation base provided by personal and corporate interests. Considering the monies raised to allow a country to exist are garnered from these sources - it is necessary and only reasonable that these parties are directly involved in the allocation of those funds.

Harper's insistence on running a one-man state and his determination to design Canada in his vision continues to jeopardize both the national economy and sovereignty. Make no mistake the international corporate giants do have his ear - while the electorate does not. This is a recipe for disaster. Harper's obvious desire to be a CEO should be achieved in private not public service.

The Premier's for their part are starting to wear some of the blame here. It is unacceptable to be ignored by the federal government and therefore the provinces and territories must take action to correct this problem. The whining of these individuals to the media has not and will not achieve regular meetings with Harper.

As Quebeckers go to the polls my instinct tells me that this is a real problem for Charest and will become a bigger problem as the dog days of summer continue to the fall. This in turn may cause additional and constitutional problems as we head into the winter of our discontent.

The people of Canada elect their respective provincial governments and they fully expect these politicians to represent their interests in the federation. If they fail in doing so - the people look to the media for proper questioning of the situation. I cannot think of anything more important in Canada right now than the state of communication, collaboration, and cooperation between the PMO and the Premier's. This means a first Ministers meeting must occur at least on an annual basis.

Currently the aloof Harper is winning the battle without having to raise a sword. This is not acceptable.

The Premiers, media, and federal MPs have the responsibility to deal with this situation or run the risk that Harper's spoiled honey will stick to them.

RIM - Time for Stock Innovation

Okay - I do like my Blackberry and PlayBook. I like the fact that this is a Canadian Company.

You have fallen on hard times - time for some more innovation.

How about you offer shares with the sale of your products.

Buy a Playbook for $200 get 20 shares. Let us in - let average Canadians in on the action.

People buying your products now are afraid - it's risky - are you going to be there in a month.

For the risk - offer shares.

Market your innovation, your history, and your maple leaf.

Surely the shareholders that remain would go for something that has a real chance of recovering value.

You want a chance to show your stuff again - you need time - you need shareholders.

Come on Research in Motion - get mobile - and share a Cinderella story with fellow Canadians. Go from Province to Province and meet with people. Do the BBQ circuit. Time for the Nerds to let loose and seek support from those of us who use your technology and support it.

Rex Murphy Blows It in the National Post

Rex Murphy - Newfoundland and Labrador's Mano'Words stings critics of the Oil Sands while ignoring the elephant in the room. From there - Rex proceeds to demonstrate why he needs to come home more often and talk to the impacted people, their families, and their communities.

Below is an excerpt from Rex's Column in the National Post. Oil sands are a triumph for the human 'environment'.

In my view, this is the first and deepest justification for Fort Mac and the oil industry. Jobs are essential for the human environment — for a woman’s or a man’s sense of self-reliance and independence. By this, I mean the right to be able to obtain what you need for yourself and your family from what you have honestly earned. Being able, because you are employed, to stay off welfare, to turn aside from handouts — this is good for the environment of human dignity.

It mightn’t have the smug appeal of a panda face, and you will not see it on the vivid posters of the Sierra Club or Greenpeace, but having a job and earning a living is a great thing. Those who have been out of work know what a cruel “environment” that is — an emotional and psychological assault of frightful power. So we should celebrate some of the contributions that the oil sands have already made to the fundamental human environments of so many Canadians.

I have thought, and thought again, of my own province of Newfoundland, caught in the great calamity of the fisheries’ close-down in the 1990s, and how providential it was that “out West,” an oil economy was booming at the same time. Many Newfoundlanders (and Maritimers) migrated there in a time of real need.

Great social misery was averted because of the oil boom and Newfoundland’s related offshore developments: Thousands of divorces never happened, thousands of families didn’t break up, thousands of men and women didn’t fall into the trap of depression and worse, which so often attends long-term unemployment — because there was a great oil industry that allowed them the wherewithal to feed their families. It is a great story of modern Confederation: How Alberta, in particular, modified and mitigated the misery of Newfoundland — and other places.
__________________________________________________________________

Let's start this way Rex - jobs at all costs is one of the main reasons your homeland has suffered. It is the reason we delivered raw resources to other provinces in Canada - while no secondary processing occurred.

Next Rex - your idea that human 'environment' consists primarily of the ability to get a job - be self-reliant - and stay off welfare is ignorance at its finest. Bring on the asbestos right Rex? There are concerns of the human 'environment' - Rex - that include our children's right to clean water, air, and a safe food supply. When our parents are gluttonous of resources regardless of how they are extracted, developed, or utilized so we as the children can guarantee that our family has income - does come at a price. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who were 'employed' during the development of the Upper Churchill were happily employed, self-reliant and off welfare - yet left 100 years of misery in its wake. If developed, utilized, and contracted properly - your homies would be enjoying an additional $Billion a year - but hey it was great that we employed a few while it was being built.

Finally Rex - the fisheries example you use on our collective back - is the one that takes your entire argument and destroys it. You say the Oil Sands have been a savior to Newfoundland and Labrador after the shut-down of the fisheries in the 1990's. You use the worst man-made environmental disaster on our planet (the loss of the ground stocks) to show how great it is that we have yet another environment to potentially destroy. Perfect Rex - that is very sound judgement.

On this issue of the Oil Sands preventing thousands of divorces, thousands of family break-ups, thousands of people suffering from depression, and worse outcomes - here you are most ignorant.

There have been too many divorces - thousands of family break-ups, significant cases of depression and worse because they had to move away from Newfoundland and Labrador. Rex - people had to leave their homes - now worthless - as the community essentially died - people left their aging parents to the life of a private or public care home as they were not here to care for them (as is the rural way), children had one parent as many could not afford to move the family, and yes oh yes there was and is depression abound. That's not to mention how many of our people have lost their young lives tragically either on the job or on the great Canadian highway on their way to the job. These children who have left with their parents are lost to us as is their employable futures and the tax base.

As we enter into an aging demographic and retiring Newfoundlanders and Labradorians migrate home to live out their lives - they leave all their productive tax in Alberta.

Maybe it's time to move home Rex - get assimilated - and then rewrite this column.

Now that you have found the oil sands - keep looking to find the tar sands.

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

The Wild Rose of Private Health Care - Dunderdale's Choice

As more information flows out of Ottawa's plan for health care - Canadians who believe in universal health care should be very concerned.

It should come as no surprise that Harper's funding plan will benefit Alberta the most with an almost 1 billion dollar windfall for that province.

If you ask yourself - which province is most willing to have a private health care system - what would your answer be? Mine is Alberta - hands down.

For those who read my last post - Harper's plan to use Premiers to push his fundamentalist agenda of private health care seems even more likely.

So the province with the attitude that private is better - is going to get the most while other provinces will be suffering through what amounts to decreased funding.

The whole idea of per-capita funding for health is antiquated and incomplete.

If you take a province such as Newfoundland and Labrador with a huge geographic footprint and minimal population - the idea of per-capita finding is scary. Our people need equal access to quality and timely health care but in order to achieve that - dialysis units, MRI's, Cat-Scans, and surgical units would have to be placed geographically in many regions. If our health care transfers are based on per-capita alone - without the ability to factor in regional needs leaves us behind the eight-ball.

Throw on top of that - the Quebec factor - where there health care funding is different than all other provinces and you have a mess.

How many readers can tell me how the Quebec system works?

Do you know that Quebeckers have a different federal tax system than all other provinces?

Do you know that Quebeckers have more direct control of federal taxation relative to health care?

Do you know that all other provinces had the option to do the same thing but rejected it?

How can we place Charest into the equation and come up with a national plan?

The question is - what is Kathy Dunderdale going to do about it?

The question is - will Kathy Dunderdale fight hard for us?

The question is - will Kathy Dunderdale push to have the unique circumstances of our province recognized and funded?

The question is - will we remain the province that relies on the templates of places like Alberta and Ontario instead of designing what's best for us?

Premier Dunderdale has the opportunity to come up with a made in Newfoundland and Labrador solution which has the potential to protect the essential health care needs of our people. The Premier has the opportunity right now to deal with the demographics that have the potential to financially cripple our province in 10 years time. If the Premier looks outside the "officials" and her "colleagues in the "big" provinces she may well find the solution. As long as we are slaves to the templates of Ontario and Alberta - our children are doomed to the debt and pressure that will be ours in a decade if we do not stand on our own two feet.

Danny's heart in the USA Newfoundland's Diaspora gather in Fort Mac

The USA is still touting Danny Williams as the poster boy for private health care while questioning the Canadian system. 

When a candidate for the Alberta PC leadership needs help - Danny is called in to rally the population - our people. 

Two of these points make clear that the Dunderdale/Williams teams were less than successful in reversing outmigration and bettering our health care system. 

Headline in USA TODAY

Opposing view: Despite flaws, U.S. health care the best...

Similarly, when Canadian Human Resources Minister Belinda Stronach needed treatment for breast cancer, she had it done at a California hospital. And, when then-Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams needed to have a leaky heart valve repaired, he had it done at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Florida. 

These high-profile patients were following in the footsteps of tens of thousands of patients from around the world who come to the United States for treatment every year.

Then there is this one:

Former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams traveled to Fort McMurray this week to support Alberta PC leadership candidate Gary Mar and to give the candidate a boost in support from Newfoundland’s diaspora in the northern Alberta community.

The retired Newfoundland Premier’s support may be one of the former Calgary MLAs most significant endorsement in northern Alberta…

Don’t you love the word diaspora?

Historically: the dispersion of the Jews after the Babylonian and Roman conquests of Palestine.

Currently: Newfoundlanders and Labradorians fleeing their homeland for work. Or the scattering of our people after the Canadian conquest with the help of our useless politicians. 

New Energy

Rural Newfoundland and the Big Land - Sick of Tory Times

Tory Times are Hard Times is a thought resonating throughout rural Newfoundland and Labrador this election. The true blue - taking from you - is all that most rural communities are seeing in this province.

There is a change in the air and it's a little like Confederation - if my Dad's memories serve me well. The Townies versus the Baymen is what is going on. Tens of thousands of people sick of the Oil wealth that evades them. Tens of thousands of people understanding that the Dunderdale administration is not interested in their future - they are interested in the game of politics. Baymen sick of being treated like second class citizens in their resource rich communities.

The Townies are huddled in St. John's metro dictating the direction - and dishing out some scraps to the rural towns during the election period. Typical, merchant mentality hiding in the back allies of the Capital's downtown counting money from construction and engineering - I think there was over $170,000 donated from like firms to the Tories last year. No wonder!

Public Relations morphing into "independent" polling gurus - predicting the end is near for anything not PC. Yes the media - talk shows - any place they can spin.

The pulse however is beating a little differently than the power brokers like to see. The blood is back in the veins of the fishermen, the loggers, and miners. The spine is there and starting to show it's true strength - the pullers of the oars in this vast land. The Labradorians rich in minerals/ores and hydro potential - polluted by the greed of the townies who absolutely refuse to allow benefit for the people.

The entire townie entourage condemning the fishery from whence they came and salivating at every drop of oil stripped from the future. The poor townies - they do not understand that without the bay there is no town and their children have no future. The poor townies - they do not understand the Big Land and their frustration if not downright anger at the energy "experts" telling them that yet another hydro development is necessary for the Island and now Nova Scotia.

No I think they really get it - and thank God they do. Who wins government - is controlled outside the overpass and the Baymen and Labradorians can control the outcome.

When the oil is gone - and it's coming fast - where do the townies turn? They can turn to the bay where their fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians watched their communities collapse, their houses devalued, their jobs disappear, their children flee to Alberta, and their voices go unheard and ask them for their help - they are going to need it; that is unless this government is defeated and policies are developed and implemented that will secure not eliminate our future.

The Tory mentality of fighting with pensioners, front-line health care workers, small business owners, and people without financial prowess - is very obvious. Just look at what they had money for and then tell the 22,000 public service pensioners to beg somewhere else. 

Yes Tory Times are Hard Times even when we are "have" and oil is being exploited.

Danny to save Canada....

...because Ontario and Alberta are looking after themselves.


While our Premier (Joe Generous) is finding ways to save Canada from its energy woes - his idol - Alberta - is not so infatuated with security of supply.

While attending the Premiers meet - greet - and heat - Danny Williams was very magnanimous with our potential power from the Lower Churchill. He was gushing over Newfoundland and Labrador's ability to supply superior energy to "Canada".

A Montreal Gazette story on Saturday was commenting on the Security and Prosperity conference being held in Quebec between Canada - United States - and Mexico. The piece points out that while Harper says Canada is an energy superpower - Gordon Laxer, director of the Parkland Institute, a research network at the University of Alberta says "It's an energy satellite."

While Danny worries about Alberta's economy taking a hit with proposed emission targets - Alberta cares little about Newfoundland and Labrador.

Consider this:

We import close to one million barrels of oil a day to supply 90 per cent of market demand in Quebec and Atlantic Canada and about 35 per cent in Ontario.

Canada exports more than 1.6 million barrels of oil a day to the United States, close to two-thirds of our production. Guess where most of that comes from.

The story goes on to say:

When it comes to natural gas, Canada meets domestic needs with minimal - though growing - recourse to imports. But we continue to sell more natural gas to the United States than we consume ourselves, even though Canada has less than nine years of proven reserves at current levels of production.

Laxer continues:

Canada's current approach puts our long-term energy security at risk, Laxer said. "If Canadian governments don't look after Canadians, then who will? You can be sure the Americans are going to look after themselves."

Alberta is not likely to slow down its extreme production levels despite what that may mean for Canada in the short-term (environmental treaties) or the long-term (security of supply). Despite this obvious self-serving policy in Alberta - our Premier is going to be a gentleman - save Canada (Ontario Nova Scotia New Brunswick and Alberta) from itself.

Williams is determined to fuel the economy of Ontario by exporting our superior energy from the Lower Churchill. As Ontario's Minister of Energy - Dwight Duncan said earlier this year:

"...the planned Lower Churchill project fits perfectly with Ontario's future energy demands."This is clean, green, renewable power that we'd like to get into the southern Ontario market..." "We have an air quality problem. We have a need for new power.

If Ontario has an air quality problem and shortage of supply - our policy should be to remove some of the industry from them - not to give them more power to crush our own economic potential and the subsequent loss of our people.

All the Premiers except one would go along with reduction in tail-pipe emissions - Ontario of course - because they will protect their 325 thousand jobs in the auto-sector. What a joke Danny - what a joke.

How would Quebec do it?

Is it necessary to drool over the economic prosperity of Alberta - in order to get a few contracts for companies here in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Is it necessary to play Alberta's potential up more than our own in order to get the frontier's attention?

Is it necessary to tell the world that Newfoundland and Labrador cannot support it's own population - especially our young graduates?

Is it necessary to showcase Newfoundland and Labrador's talent and expertise in construction and manufacturing in Alberta?


NOT IF YOU ARE QUEBEC!

On the heels of a trip to the World Economic Forum - selling Quebec to the world - Charest is hosting a Trade Junket in Quebec - yes in Quebec!

The 6th annual Export Alliance Construction: A unique event exclusive to companies in Quebec's construction industry.

The idea is that foreign international companies travel to Quebec from all over and this year also from Alberta to tour Quebec companies and make deals with them to supply manufacturing and construction. The exhibitors of course are exclusively Quebec companies.

Here's what makes the whole affair even more interesting:
When Quebec wants to attract contract work from Alberta - the Government of Canada helps foot the bill.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada,
the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,
and Export Development Canada are all listed as supporters of the event.

During the Export Alliance Trade Fair - the companies will be treated to the flavours of Quebec and tour facilities in that Province. The theme here is that:

"Quebec manufacturers in the housing sector have achieved international
standards in terms of quality, innovation, energy efficiency, sustainable
development, and competitiveness. Many have already achieved success beyond
our borders, and others are preparing to follow in their footsteps. The
Société d'habitation du Québec therefore encourages industry members to
explore new and expanding markets."

What else? Well Hydro-Quebec of course - they are a partner for the event.

Here's a Challenge Premier - try this out with Flaherty

Our skilled tradespeople are migrating to Alberta for work - and they are making good money in that province.

Many of these people have families at home - students and spouses - who must avail of our healthcare - education - and transportation infrastructure systems. That is only right - they are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Here's the problem - because the outmigration of our skilled tradespeople is fairly significant and for Revenue Canada purposes - the taxpayer reports - based on "ordinary residence" as at December 31st of any year. For many of our people - that will be Alberta and Ontario and in some cases Nova Scotia and PEI.

These workers may be employed for 6 months in Alberta and return home for 6 months or any combination - unfortunately Revenue Canada that cuts the checks back to the provinces (provincial tax) they do not break down how many months people live in what province.

We invest in training so people can gain professional skills - they have to move away for work so they pay their taxes elsewhere - they return home and utilize infrastructure in Newfoundland and Labrador while not paying personal income tax here.

Why not be really creative Danny - why not ask Minister Flaherty to consider tax splitting based on numbers of months in various Canadian provinces. This would help economies which are "developing" to receive much needed provincial tax needed to maintain and build infrastructure. It would also reflect more accurately the realities of migrating workers.

Great for Alberta and Ontario - they get our skilled people for a portion of the year - they collect their personal income tax - and our people only use their health - education - and transportation infrastructure so many months of the year.
Only in Canada eh?

So what was the message to Alberta?

Another one from the Edmonton Sun yesterday...

The column begins by talking about Alberta's success - that's backed-up by the Williams quote - "When we grow up, we want to be just like Alberta," kidded Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams - only half joking.

Next the column talks about the industrial park the Premiers from Atlantic Canada visited - The place hums with the vitality and optimism of a new boom. Don't visit the Nisku park for a couple of months and you may get lost trying to navigate your way through new construction. Stand around too long and somebody's going to offer you a job.

Discussion on that success is backed up by Danny's quote - "Alberta is going to lead this country, and we need to embrace that," explained Williams. "I really, honestly think that Canada should be looking and realizing that Alberta is going to be the province that's going to lead us into the future - and we should wrap our arms around this opportunity."

Then as if to drive the point home while downplaying Newfoundland and Labrador's investment community the columnist adds this - Two decades ago Williams couldn't get financing at home or in Toronto to expand his own company, so he came to Alberta and persuaded entrepreneur J.R. Shaw to bankroll his vision. Williams later sold that company for $230 million.

Then Danny makes a positive statement - "It's all part of our strategy," quipped the premier. "We're taking over the country by stealth." to which the columnist added - Cute, but reality for the once independent nation of Newfoundland is a little different.

Then to drive that home the columnist adds this quote by Williams - "I'd love to have them all home," Williams confessed, "but the projects and the jobs aren't there yet. We're building our economy."

Now in that column you will not find the message - come to Newfoundland and Labrador to do business - or Newfoundland and Labrador might have a role to play by manufacturing for Alberta...Nothing

Bottom Line - the message was received and transmitted as: Alberta is Great and Premier Williams says so - and it will be a while before Newfoundland and Labrador has jobs - thanks for helping our people in our time of need.

Premier's message to Newfoundland and Labrador

different than the message in Alberta.

The News Release from the Premier today fails to mention significant messages he delivered in Alberta.

It does not mention this quote from Danny: "I personally see Alberta as the land of opportunity, ... I really honestly think that Canada should be looking and realizing that Alberta is going to be the province that's going to lead us into the future and we should wrap our arms around this opportunity."

There is a reason to visit Alberta on a trade junket province to province - after all they trade in our people resource at local hotels regularly - but if that was the reason for the tour - the mainland media did not focus on it.

Of course we would have to ask if there is a reason our big companies like the Penney Group needs the Premier to "open doors".

The second message delivered to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians up along was not to come home yet - the economy is not rebuilt. I see - did you bring a couple of union reps with you on the "u-haul constituency tour"?

Emigration and Immigration and for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians integration anywhere else but home. I don't see that in the Premier's Release to our media. So will they ask the tough questions? Will the media ask the Premier where he is going to be in 10 years when people can start coming home?

Now he's back on the fishery - another one of his afterthoughts when freeing his mind of oil and gas. There's going to be another meeting! Oh I can't wait - he hinted this morning that small boat fishers are targets for reductions - then threw in the word harvesters. To that he suggests that the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will have to contribute to some sort of buy-out buoy-off of these people. Excuse me Williams but the collapse of the fishery is due to the mismanagement of the stocks by the feds. Where is all the "who will fight for you" branding you pushed for your law firm?

In this day of technology - one which your government is going to invest 15 million in - do you think those fibres can reach the computers of Newfoundland and Labrador to tell us in reality - what you are doing while away?

I ask all reasonably minded people if they think Jean Charest would promote Alberta as something Quebec wants to be when it grows up - or would promote Alberta as opposed to Quebec as the place that will lead Canada's growth?

Go West young Women and Men - the East has nothing to offer you...

There's something about an "appearance" - you know like the "appearance" of conflict in the fibre optic deal. These appearances can very quickly turn into reality - well some of them are reality - but those that are not should never be presented as if they are.

The Premier is batting a thousand this week with his "u-haul constituency tour" to Alberta. The first thing he'd like to point out is:

“I personally see Alberta as the land of opportunity,” said Williams. “I really, honestly think that Canada should be looking and realizing that Alberta is going to be the province that’s going to lead us into the future and we should wrap our arms around this opportunity.”

There is a place for you Premier - and Newfoundland and Labrador clearly is not it. A businessman like yourself - held back by a weak economy that cannot support jobs for its young graduates. May I offer a suggestion - move to Fort McMurray and start a Cable Alberta - take your sidekick Dean MacDonald with you and then you can become real oilmen - right on the frontier. You can wrap your arms around it - and perhaps Albertans can pay for your "branding" and "marketing" of that province - because the people of Newfoundland and Labrador should not pay for it. When I say the man has no vision - I mean just that - Alberta is going to lead us into the future? I don't know what does the future hold? Green - renewable power - renewable resources like the fishery, forestry, fresh water etc. Funny I thought Newfoundland and Labrador was going to lead the way in the future.

Just stop and think for a minute people - can you envision Jean Charest over in Davos at the World Economic Forum explaining to corporate and political leaders of the world - that they need to embrace Alberta because they will lead Canada into the future?

And then the man - while on the trip we are paying for - says:

Williams said he’s not in Alberta to persuade people to return to Newfoundland.
“I’d love to have them all home,” he said. “However, the projects and the jobs are not there yet. We’re building our economy.”

What exactly are you telling the business community you are trying to attract? Our skilled people can stay in Alberta because we can't afford to have them in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are building our economy?????
Listen up Danny:
1. The person you have hired to build that economy is Dr. Doug House. He has been rebuilding our economy since Brian Peckford. Its been over 25 years of economic recovery plans with this individual. When do you expect we will recover?
2. While on a "business" junket - you do not say that we cannot afford our own graduates and talent - especially to the audience you wish to attract.
3. Your fascination with Alberta is unhealthy - and while there are some similarities we have a broader base of resources and more renewables than they do.
4. "I'd love to have them all home", I'll tell you what - you leave and let them come home. Why do we have you hired? Remind me! Oh I get it - this is the "I'm gonna be brutally honest witcha" - game. When you are unable to develop an economy you bail out and say "wait and see". Smallwood said it before you - Moores said it before you - Peckford said it before you - Wells said it before you - Tobin said it before you. We have been "economically recovering" now for over 50 years.

Then if all this garbage was not enough - what positive news did Williams offer?

Williams added he’s very happy to see that Fort McMurray now has a direct flight to Newfoundland, allowing some workers from his province to return home more often to spend time with their families.

Oh yes that's great - our people have convenient holiday opportunities to visit their families. And then there's the "we need immigrants for our fishery" bit. Have you checked out the cost of flying to Labrador from the Island or vice-verse. You think you might be able to get around Alberta cheaply?

You are a failure and your presentation is embarrassing. Yes go west young Women and Men of Newfoundland and Labrador - until this Premier is gone. While he's here he would like you to embrace Alberta.

For the Story from Global National Press Here

Premier Williams - you need to chat with Dr. John

Premier downplaying our historic and economic past...

Outside of the usual "homing pigeon" comments - in other words we want to be crapped on - Danny is making us the laughing stock of Canada.

While on his u-haul constituent tour in Alberta the Premier apparently said the following:

"We joined Confederation in 1949 and so are Canada's youngest and coolest province," said Williams. "And when we grow up, we want to be just like Alberta. We just want to wrap our arms around this province and fully embrace it."

We may have joined Confederation in 1949 - but we should have been bloody grown up by then. We are Juniors in Canada but Seniors as a country. Danny we existed before confederation and hopefully we can exist after it. When we grow up we want to be like Alberta???? When our veterans were fighting in the wars - were we grown up then? When we sent salt fish to Alberta to a starving population - were we grown up then? When we built one of the best engineering structures in the world (the Upper Churchill) - were we grown up then? When the miners on Bell Island were hauling ore to supply the war effort - were we grown up then? When we fed Europe with our fish from the treacherous North Atlantic in an open dory or wooden schooner - were we grown up then? When we fed our iron ore to Quebec and Ontario to build their economies - were we grown up then?
Please spend some time with Dr. John Fitzgerald and really listen to him - don't lock him up in a Central Canadian Tower - and you might learn that we grew up along time ago. We do not need a politician that acts like a child looking for a cotton candy. Or one that uses aviary terms to describe our people - or hockey analogies every time we are discussing or debating a serious issue.

Wrap your arms around Alberta all you like - but if you understood the fishery and the size of the losses we have suffered under the federal mismanagement fiasco - if you truly understood the value of hydropower and oil gas - wind - tidal and wave power - if you understood the size of our iron ore deposits and copper and nickel and uranium and gold and ...then you understood the value of our fresh water - you should know that Alberta - if as naturally blessed would have twice the money and people it has now. We don't need a Premier to look at Alberta with worshipful eyes - we need a Premier that has a vision and promotes the Province as the cultural - historic - rich place that it is.

We need to see Alberta as our competitor and you need to be sure that you position us to win - anything else is beneath us Premier. In case you have not noticed they are attracting our people because they are successfully developing their resources. Do you know the amount of industry their oil and gas supports? Have you had a look at their petro-chemical sector? What do you think Danny they would do with 2800 MW's of hydropower.

This is what a reporter said of the Premier:

Where Graham is positioning New Brunswick as Atlantic Canada's energy distributor, Newfoundland aims to be the region's "energy warehouse," said Williams, so the province looks on Alberta with worshipful eyes.

We have always been the warehouse for every resource - we store it up and sell it wholesale - no value added - for somebody else to build an economy on. If you had followed Charest to Davos instead - and then you could have learned a real lesson.