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Scrambled priorities

Published on June 19, 2012; Published on June 19, 2012

Topics :: Department of Fisheries and Oceans , Belo Monte

One wonders about federal government priorities, or perhaps who is actually running our country.

The federal government is making drastic cuts to science, environmental regulations, programs and services, etc., which will impact our standard of living negatively, for example by “saving” $79.3 million with the cuts at the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Yet massive outlays are made in other directions.

For example, about a year and a half ago we gave a loan of $1 billion to Vale, a very wealthy mining company, with no strings attached.

Shortly afterwards, Vale gave a loan of $1.5 billion to the Brazilian government towards building the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon.

Does that mean that Vale did not need our cash, or is our government covertly helping build this damaging dam?

The present federal regime prefers to operate in secret, so we will never know.

John Gibson

St. John’s

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Phil Taylor

- June 20, 2012 at 11:22:26

I'd like to bring some factual clarity to some comments in Mr. Gibson's letter, for the benefit of Telegram readers. First, the Government did not give a loan to Vale, Export Development Canada did. EDC is financially self-sustaining, meaning that it does not receive annual funding from the Government, and its loan was underwritten at commercial rates and on standard commercial terms. Second, of the total CAD 1 billion dollar loan, up to USD 250 million will be made available for capital expenditures for the Long Harbor nickel processing plant in Newfoundland and Labrador, and another USD 250 million will be available for several projects slated for development in Ontario. The remaining USD 500 million will be available for future purchase of Canadian goods and services by Vale for its operations outside Canada, or to support Vale exports involving signed contracts with Canadian suppliers. Vale annually procures several hundred million dollars worth of supply and services from Canadian companies, both in Canada and abroad, and this loan has already served to increase that amount for small and large Canadian companies alike. Less than a year after providing this loan, Vale announced over CAD 10 billion in new investments in Canada. In our opinion, a good result for Canada. Finally, the loan provided by EDC to Vale will be used for the purposes outlined above, and has no relation whatsoever to the stake that Vale bought in the consortium that will build a dam in Brazil. A simple Google search revealed that becoming part of that consortium was a corporate aquisition, having nothing resembling a loan to the Government of Brazil involved in that process. I hope this clarifies the facts for the Telegram's readers. Phil Taylor Export Development Canada

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William Daniels

- June 19, 2012 at 08:14:38

Our present provincial regime prefers to operate in secret as well. Billion dollar tobacco deals handed out, deals on huge parcels of land, the relationship between mining companies and MF, etc.

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