Time to pick sides on the new Churchill deal

Work in Progress

By Ivan Morgan

It’s hard writing a column with your parents looking over your shoulder, but here we are.

Since the new Churchill Falls MOU flap began in August, I have been haunted by my mother and father (both gone).  I could write about anything this week, but I was raised a certain way, and I was taught there are times when issues are just too important to not discuss them. There comes a point where you have to pick sides. Especially if ghosts from the past are staring at you with furrowed brows and arms folded. So, I confess I am against what people are calling the MOU2.

The Shoreline’s production schedule means this was written last week – and a week can be an eternity in politics (remember I had John Hogan and the Liberals winning the last election – whoops. So, take all this in context.

I went to a rally on the steps of the Confederation Building this morning not really expecting much but came away enthused. As a journalist I see my role as reporting what’s happening, not picking sides. As a columnist I write what I see, and I can and do pick sides. Like the people at the rally today, I think this new MOU2 deal with Quebec is not good enough.

I have been to many protests on the steps of the Confederation Building over the decades, and as protests go this one was predictable. Great signs, lots of speeches, some chanting.

I was encouraged by the number of souls who showed up on a Monday lunchtime, although they were mostly old timers like me. There were young people there and that was encouraging. A person recognized me as a Shoreline columnist and pointed out that – just like so many times before – there were no women speakers. She was angry about that.

That interested me because this column was originally going to feature my father, who was always angry about the original Churchill Falls deal. I changed that to featuring my parents. My mother and father had a partnership. They fought Joe Smallwood together. They both fired me up about politics. They were both horrified by the 1969 Churchill Falls contract. It was not a good deal back then, that was hammered into my 10-year-old brain.

And frankly, neither is this MOU2. Hence the protest. I would not be their son if I didn’t say something. On some level the Wakeham government also knows this is a bad deal as they have gone back on their promised referendum and are trying to fast-track it and hope they get away with it. They hope people will have short memories. It’s up to all of us, men and women, to speak out against this deal as one voice and try and get a better one.

We cannot be divided by anything, whether gender, race, or political beliefs. We must stay united. This deal will be in effect until my grandchildren, if they stay here, and that’s a big if, retire.

I spoke to the organizers about the lack of women speakers, and they said they really tried to find a woman speaker but had no luck.

Like so many rallies of the past, we started with the Ode to Newfoundland; everyone singing loud and proud. We got to “As loved our fathers, so we love. Where once they stood, we stand.”  That needs to be changed. It ticks off many women. It should say parents. I think we mostly agree on that. But this is not the fight. Proponents of the MOU2 will do whatever they can to divide us, ignore us, mock us, dismiss us. We cannot let these other issues divide us.

Maybe I am a romantic old fool whose time has passed, but I believe in this place, and I believe we have the right to be the principal beneficiary of our resources, including Churchill River power. My parents instilled this in me. MOU2 does not grant us that.

We need to stand up and exert our rights. We need to make ourselves heard. We need to stand our ground. We need to be a single united voice on this one. We need to stop this deal.

If we don’t maybe Hilroy was right.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com