2005 Year in Review - The Highs and Lows in Newfoundland and Labrador

Happy New Year everyone, I trust you’ve enjoyed a happy and fun filled Christmas season with your family and friends. With a new year upon us I thought this might be a good time look back over the previous year, before we hurl ourselves too far into the new one.

2005 was undoubtedly a year of upheaval in our little corner of the Atlantic Ocean.

Newfoundland and Labrador saw battles with the Liberal government in Ottawa, one part of our province had the opportunity to take control of the federal government but squandered it, another part of the province saw numerous towns and one family torn apart and in addition to all of this, weather or at least weather forecasting, was a major topic throughout the year.

2005 began with a bang as the battle over offshore oil revenues heated up between St. John’s and Ottawa. Paul Martin’s Liberals, having promised the deal during a close election campaign several months earlier, had their feet held to the fire by the Country’s newest Premier. After much kicking and screaming, after Canadian flags were lowered and after public sentiment started to turn against his minority government, Martin finally acquiesced and signed a deal with the province. He was not happy.

A year later the money is in the bank and being used by the province but many still wonder if the words of one of Martin’s top aides spoke of more than simple frustration on the part of the Liberal government. During negotiations the Prime Minister’s press secretary, Scott Reid, said that Newfoundland would be made to “pay for it” in the long run. Some feel that this “pay back” is already happening.

One of the most noticeable examples of the impact of the Atlantic Accord negotiations can be seen during the current election campaign. While the Conservative and NDP parties have been very outspoken in their support of several provincial issues, Martin’s Liberals have refused to make any real promises to the province. It seems as though Mr. Martin is a little gun shy when it comes to making election promises in this province after being held to one he made in the last election. Does this mean he is trying to make Newfoundland and Labrador “pay” as some think, or does it simply mean that his government doesn’t mind making promises, they just don’t like having to keep them.

Part way through the year Labrador was embroiled in a federal bi-election after long time Liberal MP Lawrence O’Brien passed away. The people of Labrador went to the polls during a time when the nation was poised for the potential fall of the federal government. They went to the polls during a time just following a vote in the House of Commons that saw the Liberals barely survive, thanks to a single independent MP, Chuck Cadman. They went to the polls with an opportunity to sit an independent representative in Ottawa who might just hold the balance of federal power in his very hands. They voted Liberal.

2005 was a year that saw much suffering and pain in rural communities across the province. While income trusts and an RCMP investigation of Ralph Goodale’s potential role in insider trading are a key topic of debate during this election, much earlier in the year the province had its own issues around income trusts.

During the year Fishery Products International approached the province about setting up an income trust. In order to carry this out they needed provincial acceptance of the plan. After much debate and negotiation a supposed “free” vote in the provincial house of assembly opened the door for FPI. The trust still didn't happen.

Even after the oddest vote in provincial history, one that saw the Premier vote to deny FPI while most of his party voted against him and agreed to accept the deal, the trust was not set up. The reason was the tax review on income trusts that was underway by Ralph Goodale at the time and is making so much news today. FPI deferred the plan and as a result several towns in the province did not receive the financial support or industrial infrastructure enhancements they had been promised by the company.

2005 was also the year the town of Stephenville saw both a major flood and the loss of its primary industry.

After experiencing a natural disaster that saw hundreds evacuated from their homes, just before Christmas Abitibi announced that its Stephenville mill would be shutting down for good. The fate of another Abitibi mill in Grand Falls-Windsor is still in the air and both towns are reeling.

Comments from the Federal government on the issue often took the angle that Ottawa was not in the business of providing financial support to business enterprises and although it would do what it could to support the town, it would not provide federal funds to assist the company. I guess companies like Honda and Bombardier are different in some way from the ones on this province. Who knew?

Just before Christmas was also when Israeli immigrant Alexis Portnoy and his family were separated from each other, upon his arrest and detainment by the Canadian Border Services.

Having lived in Canada for a decade and after becoming an integral part of his community, Alexis was arrested and taken to Montreal where he is awaiting deportation. After an unprecedented campaign by many in the province in an effort to keep him and his family to here, the Federal Minister in charge has continued to turn a deaf ear. Alexis is now expected to be flown back to Israel on January 16. His pregnant wife and four young children, including two who were born in Canada, remain secluded in a church basement in Marystown. Their future is as yet unknown.

Another issue that saw unprecedented support in the province this year was the petition to reinstate the Gander weather office. Since the closure of the office by the federal Liberals all forecasting for the province has been managed from Halifax while marine forecasts originate in Quebec. It quickly became clear to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that this was not such a good thing. Forecasts for 10 centimeters of snow saw the province receive 50 or 60 centimeters. Forecasts for rain saw snow and forecasts for storms saw clear skies. All of this is of course a major concern for a province that is so large and where so many people work on the land and on the sea.

In a few short weeks the petition to reinstate the office circulated around the province and gathered signatures from over 125,000 people, including the Premier and even federal opposition leader Stephen Harper. At this point both the Conservatives and the NDP parties have clearly promised to reinstate the office. Only the Liberals have held out claiming they have much bigger plans for forecasting in the area. Exactly what those plans are is very sketchy however. Many in the province are wondering why a government that supposedly has "bigger plans" for weather services in Gander closed the office in the first place saying it wasn’t necessary and could be done on the mainland.

In some ways 2005 was a different kind of year in Newfoundland and Labrador, in other ways it was much of the same. In a province that has become accustomed to the highs and lows of life, 2005 was not really all that different.

The year saw the province win a major revenue fight with Ottawa and lose the economic engines of multiple communities. It saw the province make plans to develop the hydro capacity of the Lower Churchill River and it saw protests by animal rights activists over the annual seal hunt at a time when fishermen themselves protested over a provincial crab sharing scheme.

The year saw the people of the province cheer as the Brad Gushue curling team won their way to Turin and the olympics and immediately saw its bouyant spirit slammed by a slanderous sports editorial in the Toronto Sun.

Throughout the year as the stories have changed so too have the feelings. Emotions have gone from those of joy to fear to anger and back to joy again. Newfoundland and Labrador is a textbook example of contradictions and this can easily be seen in the events of the past year.

In a time when the province is experiencing unprecedented, nation leading economic growth, the unemployment rate is the highest in the nation and several key industries are in serious trouble.

In a time when the province is being lead by a conservative government and a Premier who enjoys an almost God like approval rating (nearly 80%), after being threatened by Liberal representatives in Ottawa and having countless provincial issue ignored by the reigning government again and again, the people refuse to send a message to the Liberal government. The province only elected 2 conservative representatives in Ottawa in the last election and appear to be leaning toward electing even more Liberals this time around.

Never a dull moment in Newfoundland and Labrador and 2005 has been no exception. An interesting year to say the least, I wonder what 2006 holds in store?