July 2005
by Barry Stagg
It looks like the Upper Canadian pooh-bahs are getting interested in Newfoundland hydro- electricity once again. Evidently keeping Jeffrey Simpson in Ottawa beyond the first humid days of early June conjures up nightmares of air-conditioning failures and August evening sessions of the Senate he has yet to reach by way of the anticipated edict of the anointing Party.
Such a serendipitous way of getting Churchill Falls back on the national political stage is still appreciated. The desperation of eastern swells sweltering in the dark is enough to crinkle the eyes of any wise-cracking Newfoundlander. It helps to have a wicked sense of humour and a long memory. Then you remember the economic indignities of the Churchill Falls contractual extortion forced down upon several generations of Newfoundlanders starting in the 1960's. It makes you keen to see a deal done to help out the latte crowd huddled together along the shores of Lake Ontario.
To give Mr. Simpson his proper due, he did write a decent column in June on the need to get a deal done on the development of the Lower Churchill hydro project. Quite properly he cited the joint interest of Quebec and Ontario in bringing this huge potential energy source into profitable, reliable reality.
But with characteristic central Canadian carelessness, he ignored the basic reason that the Lower Churchill remains a river rather than a world class electricity source. Until J. Simpson's Ottawa confidantes wise up to the need to legislate a national powerline corridor across Canada, the deal for the Lower Churchill remains unattractive for any Newfoundlander on the right side of comatose. Not until the spectre of Quebec confiscation of Newfoundland electricity at the Quebec-Newfoundland border is blasted deep into political eternity will Newfoundlanders agree to send another watt of electricity across Hydro Quebec power lines.
Justice for Newfoundland in the matter of Churchill Falls electricity is a basic building block of Canadian Confederation for Newfoundlanders. Whether it comes soon or in another generation or two depends on the ability of central Canadians to understand that this issue must be made right. If it is not, then it remains just another sore spot that contributes to the Balkanization of Canada, both in the figurative and literal sense.
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