"Consideration has even been given to pursuing an action against the federal government, who could've certainly intervened along the development of the Upper Churchill . . . and the people of Quebec who've received the benefit from the Upper Churchill"Danny Williams must wonder why he bothers to get out of bed in the morning lately. Last week he had to deal with a Deputy Premier who was bullying his Municipal Affairs Minister and his Services and Works minister. Tom Rideout quit before he could be fired. The Premier told the House of Assembly that he has confidence in his cabinet, particularly since Rideout was gone. After today, I am not sure he could provide the same answer.
- Kathy Dunderdale
Today his Minister of Natural Resources held a news conference to clarify how much money the department has been spending on the Lower Churchill Project. They had been quite critical of expenditures on this file by the previous administration and were facing a freedom of information request.
However, Dunderdale dropped a bomb. She announced that the Williams administration was looking at legal action against the federal and Quebec governments - in order to secure redress for the Upper Churchill Falls contract.
The Newfoundland government has launched legal actions before challenging the validity of the Upper Churchill contract. The claims were dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada. Although there are a few people, like myself, who think that 92. A of the constitution, the 1982 constitutional Amendment on Resources, has not been tested and some judicial decisions would go a long way toward clarifying some doubtful issues.
92A grants provincial jurisdictions, in particular over non-renewable resources, forestry resources and electrical energy. It represented a change in the division of powers and legislative authority.
So when I heard the Minister's comments I thought, yes, about time. They are going to explore what 92 A might be able to do about the inequitable Churchill Falls arrangement. Of course in retrospect, giving what came next, Minister Dunderdale might well think 92 A is a combination platter at her favorite Chinese restaurant.
Turns out that Dunderdale misspoke at her press conference. It would appear that no legal challenge is forth coming. The Minister was accompanied by Justice Minister (enforcer) Jerome Kennedy to explain her mistake.
The Minister must have been reading the Innu position which is that 40 years ago the original project went ahead without consulting the Innu and they were not compensated for roughly 6,000 square kilometers of land. They stated last week that they are not prepared to sign on to a Lower Churchill Agreement until such a time as the issues from the Upper Churchill are addressed.
On days like this you can understand why the Premier's office seems to keep a tight rein on things. Let's see, a bully, two ministers who cannot stand up to a bully, a minister who cannot even follow her briefing notes and mistakenly announces a new policy direction on redressing Churchill Falls, and a Minister of Health who pulled a similar stunt to Dunderdale's a few months ago related to infrastructure issues with health care facilities.
Time to consider shuffling the cabinet. Confidence is waning in the Williams TEAM! I hear Ian Brodie is looking for a job. He knows how to deal with these situations.
1 comments:
Jurisprudence on 92A would be interesting, perhaps even helpful for the future. But jurisdiction of Churchill Falls has never been the issue. Just because the province has jurisdiction of something doesn't mean it cannot sell, give or negotiate it away. That's the problem with being master of your own domain - you have complete authority and autonomy to screw things up.
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