Financing the Lower churchill Project
Quebec doesn't hesitate to stoop low, as low as they can, to ensure that they come out on top of any relationship, any business deal, any opportunity to wrest as much tax dollars from the federal government, or energy proceeds from unfair deals with other provinces as possible. The province simply feels entitled to everything. Rarely giving a thought to the equal entitlements of others involved in enterprises that they have every reason should benefit them, as well.
Quebec's traditional arrangement with Newfoundland, signed off on by Joey Smallwood when he was obviously relaxed in a spirit of trusting comradeship with a sibling-province, has benefited Quebec hugely over the years, at the expense of Newfoundland. Any entreaties by Newfoundland, under a series of succeeding premiers, to re-visit the agreement and cut some slack for Newfoundland has always been spurned by Quebec.
And now that Newfoundland has finally managed to make a business arrangement with Nova Scotia that would benefit all of Atlantic Canada, by building a costly but necessary pipeline that would sideline Quebec's, diplomatic niceties have gone awry. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have appealed to the federal government for a goodwill gesture of $400-million to help fund the building of the sub-sea cable from Newfoundland to Cape Breton.
That is an entirely reasonable request under the federal government's infrastructure funding program, one that would be hugely beneficial. But not to Quebec. Which province sees it as a challenge to its own locked-in energy monopoly with the United States. For the simple reason that should the underwater cable and transmission lines in the joint $6.2-billion Newfoundland-Nova Scotia, Lower Churchill hydro project eventuate, the price and market for electricity that solely benefits Quebec could become "distorted".
Isn't this typical Quebec? The U.S. north-eastern market is Quebec's and Quebec's privilege to make the most of, singularly. Interference by other aspiring provinces to establish a market for themselves is not to be tolerated. And that the federal government would even give consideration to enabling the project to proceed is beyond contemptible.
The windfalls that Quebec has reaped since its agreement in 1969 with a naive Newfoundland premier suits Quebec just fine. Quebec is more than satisfied with providing Newfoundland with a pittance for its energy, while itself reaping the lion's share of proceeds for electricity sales to the North American market.
Quebec is more than prepared to offer its transmission of power from the Lower Churchill project through Quebec's transmission grid and on to markets in Ontario and the U.S. Trouble is, Newfoundland has a long memory, its people, cognizant of the unjust situation, are resentful, and they are being quite unreasonable about the matter.
Imagine, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia visualizing a fair return for their energy; what's the world coming to?
Quebec's traditional arrangement with Newfoundland, signed off on by Joey Smallwood when he was obviously relaxed in a spirit of trusting comradeship with a sibling-province, has benefited Quebec hugely over the years, at the expense of Newfoundland. Any entreaties by Newfoundland, under a series of succeeding premiers, to re-visit the agreement and cut some slack for Newfoundland has always been spurned by Quebec.
And now that Newfoundland has finally managed to make a business arrangement with Nova Scotia that would benefit all of Atlantic Canada, by building a costly but necessary pipeline that would sideline Quebec's, diplomatic niceties have gone awry. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have appealed to the federal government for a goodwill gesture of $400-million to help fund the building of the sub-sea cable from Newfoundland to Cape Breton.
That is an entirely reasonable request under the federal government's infrastructure funding program, one that would be hugely beneficial. But not to Quebec. Which province sees it as a challenge to its own locked-in energy monopoly with the United States. For the simple reason that should the underwater cable and transmission lines in the joint $6.2-billion Newfoundland-Nova Scotia, Lower Churchill hydro project eventuate, the price and market for electricity that solely benefits Quebec could become "distorted".
Isn't this typical Quebec? The U.S. north-eastern market is Quebec's and Quebec's privilege to make the most of, singularly. Interference by other aspiring provinces to establish a market for themselves is not to be tolerated. And that the federal government would even give consideration to enabling the project to proceed is beyond contemptible.
The windfalls that Quebec has reaped since its agreement in 1969 with a naive Newfoundland premier suits Quebec just fine. Quebec is more than satisfied with providing Newfoundland with a pittance for its energy, while itself reaping the lion's share of proceeds for electricity sales to the North American market.
Quebec is more than prepared to offer its transmission of power from the Lower Churchill project through Quebec's transmission grid and on to markets in Ontario and the U.S. Trouble is, Newfoundland has a long memory, its people, cognizant of the unjust situation, are resentful, and they are being quite unreasonable about the matter.
Imagine, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia visualizing a fair return for their energy; what's the world coming to?
Labels: Economy, Government of Canada, Life's Like That, Technology
posted by Pieface | 7:08 PM
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