Letter: Some of us saw the ‘big picture’ from the get-go

Stan Marshall seems to think that it is he and only he who sees the Muskrat Falls “big picture.”

Let me remind Stan of the wisdom of Socrates. More than 2,500 years ago, Socrates said that “the first step towards knowledge is recognizing one’s own ignorance.”

Now, if Stan is not ignorant of the Muskrat Falls big picture, he is certainly ignorant of the big picture understanding that many of us naysayers have had since at least 2011 — and we did not need a $650,000 salary to awaken our God-given insight into big-picture thinking, into strategic planning or into what we know to be — or not to be — in our own or our province’s best interest.

As early as 2011, I responded to a CBC question about what I thought of Nalcor’s proposed Muskrat Falls project by stating that “we don’t need it, we can’t afford it, and it’s too high a risk.”
That pretty much covers all of the “big picture” Muskrat Falls issues.

From April 2011 to 2018 I have had some 50 letters published in The Telegram — all of which were designed to flesh out, in understandable terms, a big picture understanding of what Stan Marshall only latterly came to describe as the “boondoggle” that is Muskrat Falls.

A boondoggle? Read my September 2011 Telegram piece, “Muskrat Falls: boon or boondoggle.”

Flawed assumptions? Read my December 2011 Telegram letter, “The danger of long-term forecasts.”

A wrench thrown in the gears of a new energy paradigm that could have moved this province toward greater economic growth? Read my September 2014 Telegram piece, “Smart meters dumbed down by Muskrat agreement.”

Safety and other project viability risks? Read my January 2016 Telegram item, “It’s not just the North Spur we have to worry about.”

And as to “‘independent” analyses and reports? Read my September 2017 Telegram letter, “‘Reassuring’ gobbledygook on Muskrat Falls.”

Stan, when you are finished, go towww.vision2041.com and read the other 50 articles and letters (a seven-year) big picture exposé of the boondoggle that the rest of us did not come by by getting lost in details or by allowing ourselves to be hoodwinked by the planned deception foisted on us by past and continuing government leaders.

While Nalcor has a monopoly on energy production, it certainly has not shown itself to have a monopoly on big picture thinking.

I take little solace in your egocentric disrespect for your fellow citizens, who unlike you, had the courage to speak up — early, and often.

Maurice E. Adams
Paradise