The Israel and Palestine of the North

An opinion piece by L. Ian Macdonald in the June 13th edtion of the Montreal Gazette caught my eye today, as I'm sure it did every other Newfoundlander or Labradorian who read the headline, "Let it go Newfoundland".

The article, at least for me, was quite perplexing and, if it weren’t so clearly oxymoronic, might even have spurred some anger on my part.

In his column Macdonald offered up some less than sage advice to Newfoundland and Labrador about moving forward, not looking back, when it comes to dealing with Hydro Quebec and the Quebec government on the Lower Churchill development.

Apparently Mr. Macdonald has taken offense with Premier Williams’ latest words of war against, what Williams referred to as Quebec’s “…sense of greed, arrogance and entitlement…” and decided to use the pages of the Montreal Gazette to air his feelings.

After reading (and re-reading) the article I decided to remain calm, I mean how can anyone be angry with a writer who somehow managed, in a mere 800 words, to prove Newfoundland and Labrador’s case while supposedly claiming that the province (and its leader Danny Williams) are wrong?

In the article Macdonald essentially told Newfoundland to forget the past and move on with a deal on the Lower Churchill project. He claimed that the anger surrounding past transgressions by Quebec is what’s standing in the way of a deal.

Let’s look at his arguments then shall we.

Macdonald began by noting that the Upper Churchill contract, which sees Quebec reap outrageous profits from Newfoundland and Labrador’s resources, happened in the 1960’s and that the lopsided contract was really Joey Smallwood’s fault, not Quebec’s, because as Ian put it, “…the deal on the Upper Churchill was approved by Joey Smallwood, the first premier of Newfoundland” and “Newfoundland did get screwed on the Upper Churchill -screwed by its own premier.”

Well at least he admitted that Newfoundland and Labrador got screwed, that’s something.

Indeed a contract was signed and I agree that Joey Smallwood signed it, but when you put it into context, something Macdonald seems determined not to do, a far different story appears.

In reality Hydro Quebec and the Quebec government refused to allow Newfoundland and Labrador the ability to wheel power across their province to markets elsewhere, leaving Newfoundland and Labrador no option but to negotiate a contract with Quebec on their terms. As anyone knows, when you have nowhere else to turn, it’s usually a pretty one sided negotiation.

As for Joey signing the contract, indeed he did, and many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians still despise him for doing it. In reality however it was Hydro Quebec that stretched out the negotiations for years, nearly forcing the project’s development company into bankruptcy, before using inside information on the company’s impending insolvency as the catalyst to present a final “take it or leave it” contract.

The options at that point were limited. Sign the contract and live with the consequences for the next 60 years, period.

There are still decades left on that contract so as much as Mr. Macdonald may see it as a thing of the past to be put aside, in Newfoundland and Labrador it is not. It isn’t a thing of the past in Quebec either where billions in revenue continue to roll in as a result of it.

In his next attempt to convince Newfoundland and Labrador to “move on” Macdonald noted that Premier Williams even mentioned the border between Labrador and Quebec in a recent speech, saying, “…he is so bitter and twisted about the past that he can't get on with the future. Not content to rant about the injustice of the Upper Churchill, he even thought to mention the British Privy Council decision of 1927, awarding Labrador to Newfoundland, and ripping Quebec for still including Labrador on its map on the government web-site. Get over it.”

Once again the point was missed completely.

Get over it, really?

Yes, the border between the two provinces was decided in 1927 but the act of trying to encroach on that border is continuing to happen every day in Quebec.

Maps are drawn up all the time by Quebec government agencies, including Hydro Quebec, the Tourism Departments, even by Quebec agencies that regulate mineral and oil exploration, depicting portions of Labrador as being inside Quebec or noting that the 1927 border is not officially accepted by Quebec.

How is the ongoing act of border modification a thing of the past to “get over” when that border is directly tied to the head waters and rivers from which Upper Churchill power is, and hopefully Lower Churchill power will, flow?

In his efforts to put Premier Williams (and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador) in its place, Macdonald claims Newfoundlanders are like “Palestinians” because we will never reach a deal due to past grievances. Premier Williams he claimed is over the top in referring to Quebec’s “greed, arrogance and sense of entitlement.

In the next breath, and throughout the article he then goes on to say that Williams is right when he says that Newfoundland and Labrador is getting screwed on the Upper Churchill, that Quebec uses revenues from the Upper Churchill and from buying cheap off peak power from Ontario, then selling it back to them during peak periods, to fund better day care than anyone else in Canada, to offer the lowest university tuitions in the Country and to artificially freeze Quebec power rates, instead of capturing those revenues and lowering the level of equalization payments Quebec receives (more than any other province in the Country).

Call me crazy but whose point is Macdonald actually proving here? The examples presented sound about as close to a strong sense of “greed, arrogance and entitlement” as you can get.

For some reason Ian Macdonald seems to feel that Premier Williams was out of line when, he denounced, “Quebec's "agenda to deny competitive power to the rest of North America," and when he called the decision of the Quebec energy regulator "the most biased decision that I have ever seen in 40 years as a lawyer ...”. Saying “The decision was so absurd and wrong as to be embarrassing to Quebec."

Clearly Mr. Macdonald has been spending far too much time listening to his inner voices rather than doing some valuable research.

It’s clear from examining the Regie (Quebec regulator) decision on transmitting power from the Lower Churchill through Quebec, and on the appeal documents now filed by Newfoundland and Labrador, that the board and its findings are, or should be, a complete and utter embarrassment to Quebec, ripe with incorrect assertions and outright falsehoods.

Among many, many other “mistakes”, the Regie somehow came to the conclusion that the existing Upper Churchill power plant, built in Labrador and run by a division of Newfoundland Hydro, falls under the jurisdiction and control of Quebec, also claiming that the power lines on the Labrador side of the border (remember the border) are regulated and controlled by Quebec.

In the most insulting and idiotic statement of all the Regie noted that the Quebec transmission wing of Hydro Quebec was not aware of the 1969 Churchill Falls agreement. I ask you, if that ludicrous assertion isn’t an embarrassment to the Quebec regulator what in heaven’s name would be?

So, it seems that Danny Williams is no longer Canada’s Hugo Chavez, a name that was born and quickly died out after his dispute with the oil elite finally garnered the province a respectable energy agreement and proved that his tactics wouldn’t drive companies away from the region.

Williams is now, according to Macdonald at least, Canada’s answer to the leader of the PLO with Newfoundlanders the Palestinians. I guess that makes Quebec the much maligned and altruistic Israel of Canada, at least in Macdonald’s twisted and oxymoronic mind.

Quebec, a place where everyone simply wants to live in peace and harmony but where they must forever be vigilant to defend themselves against their neighbors in foreign lands like Ontario and the Canadian Palestine of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ian must feel so bad for Quebec. If only Newfoundland and Labrador would stop picking on God’s chosen people.

NL Appeals Lower Churchill Transmission Ruling

This week NALCOR, Newfoundland and Labrador's energy corporation, on behalf of the Province, filed an appeal with the Regie in Quebec. Earlier this year the Regie, which regulates the power industry in Quebec, ruled that Quebec did not have to permit Newfoundland and Labrador to wheel Lower Churchill power across its grid to markets in Canada and the U.S.

The filing, which can be viewed here (or in our Links section under NL Development Links)clearly outlines the Province's position and details a number of factual problems with the earlier ruling. Everything from the board's conclusion that the Churchill Falls generating plant in Labrador is a fully controlled part of the Quebec authority and going so far as to boldly claim that Quebec Hydro's Transmission company was not aware of the 1969 existance of Churchill Falls power contract.

Reading the detailed issues and misrepresentations found in the original ruling, which are identified by NALCOR in its appeal document, it should be bewildering to anyone with even half a brain how the Quebec regulatators can function, let alone make sound decisions.

In this writer's opinion, and based on the content of the appeal document, either the decision making body of the Quebec Regie is totally ignorant of reality or they are even more blatently corrupt than anyone could possibly be without self destructing as a result of wallowing in their own crapulance.

Newfoundland and Labrador to Seize Control of Canada

At a surprise press conference in St. John’s this morning Premier Danny Williams, of Newfoundland and Labrador, unveiled plans to seize control of the Canadian government.

Premier Williams said that, “After 60 years of planning and decades of untold sacrifice by thousands of our people, the time for Newfoundland and Labrador to make its move is finally at hand.”

He went on to say, “Effective at midnight tonight we invade Canada, take control of the government and form the Country of Newfoundcanada.”

Williams, was very open and honest with the 50 or so reporters at the gathering, explaining how the Province’s out-migration over the past decades had been nothing to do with a search for employment but in reality was a strategic placement of over 100,000 covert operatives in key areas throughout the Country. He then went on to name names

Williams identified media expert Rex Murphy as being in position to take control of the national media. He then noted that with Canada’s former top General Rick Hillier in a position to rally Canada’s forces (Newfoundlanders and Labradorians making up the largest percentage from any province) he was finally ready to make this move.

Williams stated that “…our 30,000 plus fisherpersons would lead with a naval attack on Cape Breton and since the people in Cape Breton have much the same accent, cultural influences and unemployment problems as Newfoundland and Labrador, the rest of Canada is not expected to even notice this first wave.”

Of course once Cape Breton has been breeched, it’s a short march across the Canso Causway and into the rest of the Atlantic Canada. According to the Premier this area is expected to fall within days as many citizens are considered largely sympathetic and basically pissed with the rest of Canada anyway.

Although he didn’t mention it, the truth of the matter is that most of Canada probably won’t notice anything out of the ordinary, since they largely ignore Atlantic Canada anyway, until Newfoundland and Labrador’s troops pass out of the Atlantic region and into other parts of the Country.

At this point, Williams said, this is where the genius of the plan really takes flight.

The key will be to attack Ontario and Quebec immediately after securing the Eastern coastline. Soldiers under General Hillier’s command will move into position in the city centers before an order is given to an operative at the Churchill Falls generating plant in Labrador. The command will be given directly from NL-HQ high atop Signal Hill to flip the switch at the mighty Churchill and plunge much of the eastern seaboard of North America into total darkness.

“Immediately afterward our boy Rex Murphy, who will have taken control of the national broadcasting service will go on the air and reassure the general public that the power problems they are experiencing are simply a result of downed power lines and that there is nothing to worry about. He will advise them to remain in their homes and to stay off the streets.” According to the Premier.

Of course while all of this is happening the governments of Canada’s two largest provinces will simply welcome our armed forces in and give them free reign on the streets of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa where they will be seen as a way to ensure order is maintained. When Ottawa falls, so to does the Nation.

It’s a great plan of course, but Premier Williams noted that he could not take all the credit for its conception. Once again it’s a case of being in the right place at the right time in history.

The reality is that this plan was developed nearly three years before Newfoundland and Labrador entered into Confederation.

It was during a weekend of heavy partying at a local watering hole in downtown Gambo that the late Joey Smallwood and two of his cronies drew up the plan on the back of a purity biscuit box.

From those humble beginnings grew a complex tapestry of lies and deceptions, of cunning exploits and acts of heroism that could not be spoken of outside the Province until now.

It was this plan that started us on the road to Confederation, a road taken to facilitate our covert operations inside Canada.

Much of the credit must also go to every Newfoundlander and Labradorian who sacrificed for the cause inside Canada, waiting for this very moment to arrive.

Williams noted, “After years of seeing our best young men and women leave the Nation of Newfoundland and Labrador in order to infiltrate areas of strategic importance throughout Canada, the wait is over. The vast oil and gas industrial complexes of Alberta have been infiltrated. The chemical and aerospace plants in Ontario and Quebec have been infiltrated. Media, military, universities and factories from one end of Canada to the other have been infiltrated. In fact, there is not one part of the great nation of Canada, including its government, that has not been infiltrated by our operatives.”

The people of Newfoundland and Labrador greeted this news with great joy and the stong belief that it will assuredly succeed. Of that they have no doubt. One individual I spoke with after the press conference happily expressed his belief in the plan by saying, “It has to succeed. The planning has been too well executed not to.”

Many readers may be wondering why Danny Williams tipped his hand just a few hours before the invasion. According to one source close to the Premier, “The truth is that it doesn’t matter. Most people in the rest of Canada never listen to anything said down east and the few who might listen won’t pay any attention to it. It’s just a big joke to them. I bet they won’t even realize the takeover is complete until the see the Newfoundland and Labrador flag raised over the Parliament building.”