ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — After more than 100 days of testimony and several months of further work and reflection, the commission tasked with sussing out the beleaguered Muskrat Falls project has delivered its final report.
On Thursday, Commissioner Richard LeBlanc from the Commission of Inquiry Respecting the Muskrat Falls Project delivered a six-volume final report — "Muskrat Falls: A Misguided Project" — to Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady. The minister was not surprised by its size.
"It was a robust inquiry," she told reporters Thursday morning outside the House of Assembly.
In a news release, the commission said it will share the report online at www.muskratfallsinquiry.ca once government decides to release it publicly. The report was due at the end of last year, but the commission requested an extension in early December of 2019 to the end of this March.
Coady met with reporters to discuss how the process of releasing the report — in excess of 1,000 pages — will unfold. She said it must undergo a legal review before that can happen.
Legal issues
Peter Ralph, who served as legal counsel for the Crown during the inquiry, will be among those involved in the legal review.
"It's a limited review of a large document," he said. "The question is, would the information in the report impact litigation? This is a not a communications review. It's pretty clear that the preference of the minister would be to release this document immediately, but we advised the minister that it's not prudent to do so without a review by the Department of Justice."
Ralph indicated government lawyers already had a strong sense of legal issues that would need to be looked at within the report based on what occurred during the inquiry.
"We already have lists of issues that we think are going to be looked at," Ralph said, later adding he could not get into specifics at this time. "I think it's a fairly easy process to identify those issues."
He later delved further into the relationship between the inquiry and the content of the report and how there could be legal issues to explore.
"I haven't read the report, obviously. We just got it a few minutes ago. I understand, in fact, there were confidential exhibits that the commission has relied upon. For the most part, the information that's contained in this is in the public record. We don't really have concerns about that. But I understand as well there is information that came from confidential exhibits, and it's important for us to make sure that those will have no impact on litigation."
Asked about the potential for redactions within the report, Coady she government does not anticipate having "any deferrals of information," but added if issues of that nature arise, they will be addressed accordingly.
Public release days away
Coady referred to the review as being "brief" and added the report should be released publicly "in a matter of days." The minister would not get into specifics about the number of recommendations included in the report, though she did indicate if there were to be any legislative issues to address based on its findings, they likely would not get dealt with until the fall sitting of the House of Assembly.
While she did not give a direct answer when asked if it can be assumed government will accept all recommendations contained in the report, Coady did reiterate government has a lot of existing concerns about the handling of the Muskrat Falls project.
"We called the inquiry. We're very concerned about the issues around Muskrat Falls and have been since we became government. I would think that we'll have a keen eye to what the recommendations are."
The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project ballooned in budget from $6.9 million to more than $12.7 billion since it was initially sanctioned towards the end of 2012. It is nearly finished, though according to Coady, it now represents approximately 30 per cent of the province's debt.
"That's a tremendous amount of debt that's attributed to the Muskrat Falls project, and there have always been concerns around the project. I think there continues to be concerns around this project, and I think you're seeing it laid out. Even the title speaks to me — 'Muskrat Falls: A Misguided Project.'"
Coady also reported Thursday the commission's work was completed 50 per cent below the budgeted amount of $33 million. The final hearings were held last August in Labrador.
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