Power deal props not worth the paper they’re printed on

Dear Editor:
We now have a new provincial government, as far as “new” means anything in politics.
The current rhetoric coming out of the West Wing of the White House in the U.S. talks casually of Canada becoming their 51st State.
Maybe Alberta might try to establish more politically intimate trade deals with the U.S., but the challenge for Americans would not be any 51st state but the 52nd.
Quebec has been occupied by an Act of War since 1752. They no longer use the term “French-Canadian,” but Quebecois. They are no longer “separatists,” but now Sovereigntists.
They own the passageway to the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
This Seaway project was almost abandoned in the 1950’s. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and President Dwight Eisenhower disagreed. But the massive high quality iron ore that could be cheaply mined from open pits in northern Quebec and Labrador was the deciding factor. The iron ore sources on the Great Lakes were depleted and some of the reserves were lower quality.
The People of the French Colony of Quebec never agreed to the Louisiana purchase by the United States in the early 1800’s which bought the territory from France for almost nothing.
The watershed for the Mississippi River is massive and lucrative for trade. Would Quebec want compensation for their share in 2025 US dollars before becoming a State?
So, yet, for some reason Newfoundland has always thought it could outsmart Quebec governments, coming out on top of an industrial deal.
Fifteen years ago, the former provincial Minister of Energy ran around the signing table for the Muskrat Falls contract waving a paper prop saying it was “some deal.” Shortly after, her premier resigned.
The doomed 450 MW (half the power capacity of Muskrat Falls) thermal power plant in Holyrood was rescued when reliability of long hydro lines was uncertain.
Then a more recent former premier had another paper prop he tore up in front of a news conference.
Seriously, no one will deal with any party that boasts about “tearing up” any contract. Shortly afterwards he too resigned.
Whatever the current government plans are for dealing with Quebec Hydro, please make sure the premier stays around long enough to take some responsibility and please – no paper prop theatrics. It does no good except humour our neighbouring province for lack of a better word.
Peter Shapter,
CBS