Let’s keep an open mind
By Craig Westcott
In a previous role, I was in a position that afforded the time and privilege of going through every detail I could find regarding the Muskrat Falls agreement. I read thousands of pages of research and reports, empaneled local experts on law and hydropower, and called upon the resources of a skilled research team in the Opposition Office led by Joy Buckle who had assembled perhaps the smartest group of Opposition staffers the province had seen in decades. And their talents were badly needed, because the Opposition at that time had only four members, two of whom were often on sick leave and a third who wasn’t available for other reasons. Burgeo – LaPoile In their absence, MHA Kelvin Parsons carried the Opposition Office on his back and made a good job of it.
From the get-go, it was obvious the Muskrat Falls scheme was just that — a scheme. Only an idiot, a cynic, or someone who hadn’t done the research could support it. Turns out there were many such people around. Very few had done the research, including the ministers and MHAs on the government side who promoted it, or the leading lights in the media.
It was a terrible deal and a shameful decision by Premier Kathy Dunderdale to ram it through the legislature.
Muskrat Falls was worse than the Churchill Falls deal because our government hatched it and entered into it willingly. It wasn’t forced to go along with a bad deal as Joey had to when the Province of Quebec and Hydro Quebec had us over a barrel in the 1960s.
Twice burnt, it turns out, has finally made for the third time shy.
I don’t know if this new Churchill Falls deal is good or not. I haven’t had the time to go through it like I did Muskrat Falls. I do know we have given up a lot over the intervening years since the first one was signed, such as when Premier Brian Tobin gave Hydro Quebec veto power on the board of CFL(Co) which controls Churchill Falls.
We have been given such a screwing by Quebec since 1969, and by Nova Scotia since Muskrat Falls was implemented, that Newfoundlanders are finally tired of taking it and looking for someone to blame. That’s the tone of the voices of people who called Open Line and demonstrated at Confederation Building ahead of the vote in the legislature – suspicion and rage.
But we shouldn’t let anger cloud our judgement. Opposing this deal for the sake of opposing it is as wrongheaded as those ‘Millionaires for Muskrat’ who bought television ads blindly supporting that $16.5 billion boondoggle.
When the Liberals proposed the first version of this deal before last fall’s election, one of their selling points was that Quebec was going to pay for it and we were going to benefit from it. The adage that, ‘He who pays the piper, calls the tune’ immediately came to mind. Were we giving up control of our resource for a few more shekels from power sales? I don’t know.
Version two of this deal appears to have been pressed upon us by Prime Minister Mark Carney who is desperate for some kind of economic good news in the face of Trump’s tariffs, and a provincial election in Quebec which may bring the resurgence of separatists. It was under that weight that Carney pressured Premier Tony Wakeham into cancelling the promised referendum on this deal. It’s hard to say no to a prime minister when the country’s back is against the wall.
And while the vote has been taken in the legislature to approve the memorandum of understanding with Quebec, this is not a done deal. We have until spring to officially sign it. Quebec’s election may change some things before that. It leaves a few more months to try to understand this deal so that we can say with confidence whether it is good, or bad.
Either way, we must accept that the only way we are ever going to amend the original Churchill Falls deal or sign a new one that gives us a better return, is by working in partnership with Quebec. We may own the river, but they control the geography between Labrador and the North American market. So, let’s keep an open mind, open ears, and see if we can figure out if it’s win-win this time, and not win-lose. Let’s not condemn it out of the gate because we’re mad. If we’re going to condemn it, we owe it to ourselves to understand why.
editor@theshoreline.ca