Eye on Labrador -
Is the Lower Churchill project dead in the water?
That's the question many are asking in the wake of last week's stunning developments between NB Power and Hydro Quebec.
In case you missed it, here's a quick recap: last Thursday NB Premier Shawn Graham and his Quebec counterpart, Jean Charest, announced a memorandum of understanding that will see key NB Power assets sold off to Hydro Quebec. The most important part of that agreement for Newfoundland and Labrador is that Hydro Quebec will, if the deal goes through, control the transmission lines that send power from Quebec and Atlantic Canada to the electricity-hungry United States.
Given that Premier Danny Williams and Hydro Quebec don't exactly get along, this deal appears designed to accomplish one thing: freeze Newfoundland and Labrador out of getting Lower Churchill energy to the States without Quebec getting a cut of the action.
Williams spent last week licking his by-election wounds and ranting at New Brunswick not to make a deal with Quebec. He threatened court action, issued dire warnings about Hydro Quebec but ultimately realized that he can't really tell New Brunswick what to do.
So the $64-billion question now becomes, how will any Lower Churchill power get to the U.S. without Quebec? Will Williams realize that he might have to cut a deal with his arch enemies, and abandon the undersea cable idea altogether? Will he come up with another undersea cable proposal, this one running from southern Nova Scotia to somewhere in the States? Will he launch a rival bid to buy NB Power?
It's hard to say. But it's easy to see that Hydro Quebec wasn't happy that Williams had planned to leave them out of the deal, so they came up with another way to head their feisty nemesis off at the proverbial pass.
Speaking of people heading others off at the pass, it appears Minister of Labrador Affairs John Hickey has been trying to cut me off at the pass and get me booted out of a job. You see, John was none too happy with my opinion about the government's creative math in regards to its spending in the Big Land and the observation that John seems to have lots of time to write letters criticizing anyone who dares to criticize him.
My piece was published in The Aurora and Labradorian a couple of weeks ago.
Last week, John turned his prolific letter-writing guns on Yours Truly. Apparently John's biggest beef is that that I no longer live in Labrador but still offer my perspectives via this column. He pointed it out like he was revealing a classified piece of information (just so you know, John, that fact has been at the end of every column or editorial I've written in The Aurora and Labradorian since I left Labrador, so you didn't really reveal any state secrets.)
It seems John didn't have too many other arguments - apart from repeating his tired line about government spending in Labrador - so he resorted to getting personal and questioning whether an outsider should even be allowed to take "coveted editorial space" in these fine publications.
So, John, if it's OK with you, I'd like to use some of my "coveted editorial space" to ask you a question: As Minister of Labrador Affairs, why haven't you fought harder to get a transmission line from the Lower Churchill to Labrador's north coast, to end that region's reliance on diesel, into the deal?
Before you start typing furiously, John, don't fire back with your tried-and-true "it will cost too much money" argument, because you and I both know how much money the Lower Churchill will generate if it goes ahead (and you're all about spending money in Labrador - right?). The cost of putting in that transmission line, and serving your constituents properly, would be a pittance compared to the overall revenue the Lower Churchill will generate.
It seems clear that your boss is prepared to do just about anything to make the Lower Churchill happen. It's what he wants to be remembered for. But apparently taking care of Labradorians isn't high on his priority list.
It should, however, be high on yours. What a legacy that would be, John. You would be forever known as the man who put his political career on the line to properly serve the people he represented. You could be Labrador's answer to Fabian Manning or Bill Casey.
It's a pity that something like that appears to be nothing more than a fantasy.
Andrew Waugh, is a former resident of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, who writes from Nova Scotia.
