There is one week left for the Opposition to try to hold Kathy Dunderdale and her government to some account over this Muskrat Falls deal, and to show the people of this province that if realized, it will be an absolute fiasco.
And for those of us keen on following along with this, especially by tuning into the live telecasts or webcasts of the House of Assembly (I, myself, preferring the convenience of the webcasts found on the House of Assembly’s website), we have one more week until the fall – if Dunderdale opens the House before October 11th’s election – to watch this Premier in all her edgy and discombobulated glory stand in the House and try to explain the economics of this deal which she has great difficulty doing, hence the recently coined term "Dundernomics".
It leaves me dumbstruck that Kathy Dunderdale and her sickeningly obsequious puppets can push for a deal that is going to put us in serious fiscal trouble, not to mention making it more difficult for the citizens of this province – especially those who are poor – to afford their electricity seeing that bills are expected to double to pay for this vanity dam most necessary green project for this province and country.
Talk about self-interest no matter the costs.
I think if this megaproject goes ahead, and heaven forbid, that once we see the astronomical spike in our power bills, we really could call ourselves “Dunderstruck”.
It would very much be like being shocked by thunder and struck by lightning, as the shock felt by citizens in this place will reverberate throughout the island and throughout Labrador once it hits us all.
It truly amazes me that most people don’t seem to care and seem to feel that this government does what is in our best interests all the time, since they restored our pride and all and singlehandedly made us a have province. And because the Opposition is so weak. People really need to get past the mythology of Kathy Dunderdale’s predecessor and his wizardly ways, because I think that alone is why people are not apt to scrutinize this deal - because he signed it - and seriously tune in to what is about to happen here.
I do not oppose this deal as a partisan only, but as a concerned citizen who does not want to see the fiscal future of this province “shafted”, nor wants to see her own power bills skyrocket to pay for this misguided legacy deal.
Why should the people of this province today, and their children, have to pay for outsiders’ energy, our energy that they get and effectively have subsidized by us?
And why will we have to pay a mint for our own energy?? (That’s a rhetorical query as I know the practical answer if this deal goes forward.)
How anyone cannot see the entirety of this as absolutely ludicrous and injurious for us, both personally and collectively, truly escapes me.
And as broke about a week ago now, Dunderdale is keeping Muskrat Falls away from the Public Utilities Board.
That is quite shady and suspect, and the people of this province need to ask questions and to demand answers about this particular decision.
Dunderdale and Co. like to patronize and distract, during Question Period in particular, but keeping this deal from PUB scrutiny under the hollow and quite frankly untrue rationale that time doesn’t permit is an insult to injury here, the injury being this deal if it happens as it stands right now.
This PUB exemption, regardless of which government changed the legislation allowing for that, distracts from the real issue which is: what exactly are the economics of this deal and how is it going to impact this province fiscally for now and for the near future?
Dunderdale is using this very exemption to keep the PUB away from this Lower Churchill deal and there is something as putrid as the massive reek from Robin Hood Bay about that calculated action. And she sidesteps the reason why she has done this and lamely attempts to make it all about the Liberals’ legislation from 1999 that exempted any Lower Churchill deal from PUB oversight.
If this particular deal passes the smell test, then why is Dundergov so adamant about exempting it from the PUB’s cost-benefit analysis? The exemption also means no public hearings, which is, too, convenient for a government that has a rotten megaproject it is trying to push forward.
Why people en masse in this province are relatively quiet and complacent about something that is going to wound us economically like this will -wounding both the provincial treasury and citizens’ pocketbooks – is really puzzling to me and hugely disappointing, especially with an unelected Premier at the helm right now who seems not to be quite sure of what it is she is selling.
And if she is unsure and all over the place in her explanations and justifications, how can we be confident in her and in this deal?
We cannot.
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
I finished my six month contract on June 29, 2012, and wrote this before I was hired by the Opposition Office.