How about sharing the luck?

Published on December 12, 2011

Dear Editor,
Natural Resources Minister Jerome Kennedy is surprised by the value of mineral shipments out of the province. Indeed, if Labrador were a country, just from the iron and nickel ore production alone it would have a per capita Gross Domestic Product more than three times higher than the rest of Canada

Premier Dunderdale said earlier this year that Labradorians are lucky to be connected politically to the island because of the revenues from offshore oil.

Labrador will be able to return the favour when the value of iron ore production surpasses the present value of offshore oil production sometime in the next decade (if even moderate projections are correct). They will once again be able to return the favour when Muskrat Falls goes into production. In a recent opinion piece written in The Telegram , Ed Martin (President and CEO of Nalcor) stated that Muskrat Falls was being constructed to meet the future energy needs of the island (Labrador was not mentioned).

While everybody is so lucky, let us not forget the communities on the coast who will be left off the grid, Nor let us forget the northern coast communities who, with help from the government, are struggling to put affordable food on store shelves – or the people in those communities who face prohibitive air travel costs to travel outside; a problem shared by all people living in Labrador.

Let’s share the luck, starting with those who deserve it most.

Robin Hill

Sheshatshui