NL needs a
revolution. It’s just possible that the seeds of revolt are germinating. A
recent VOCM “Question of the Day” Poll may have revealed such an undercurrent.
It wasn’t a
scientific Poll in the tradition of CRA, MQO or one of the many market opinion
research entities offering political parties and detergent retailers essential
feedback.
Neither did
it offer a representative sample of a defined population or even a statistical probability
of accuracy (as in 19 times out of 20).
But it boasted
three compelling components which, taken together, stand out: it was strikingly
relevant, offered a choice of unambiguous answers, and attracted a high level of
respondents — in excess of 10,000.
read simply: What measures will you take if power rates continue to increase?
 |
| VOCM “Question of the Day” July 31, 2017 |
province” was the choice of about 67% of total respondents (there may have been a
later version of the exhibit shown above). Though the open poll left plenty of room for flippancy, still it seems NFLDers
are prepared for a quite drastic resolution to the problem of increasing
power rates.
An
application for a rate increase of more than 6% in each of the next two years —
totalling 13% — awaits approval by the PUB. And we haven’t even gotten to the granddaddy of rate imposition: paying
for the whole Muskrat Falls project.
The current
rate proposal is just a warm–up. It seems we are being saved from “rate-shock”
mitigation — which may be distinct from “rate” mitigation, though that is not likely.
The Premier
has drawn an imaginary line in the sand at 17 cents per kWh, and wants Nalcor to
come up with solutions to prevent the number going higher.
Of course,
the Premier is just practicing comedy lines for a post-First Ministerial
career.
Nalcor has
no capacity to perform as he suggests — although they can make the problem bigger! And they are working on that.
Likely they won’t willingly confess to having falsely contrived the original estimates,
making a Forensic Audit unnecessary. A weak Premier certainly won’t tell the
bondholders that they have been fools — that we are not paying the money back — unless the public gives him his marching orders.
But back to
what was striking about the VOCM Poll.
The resolve
of many — far too many — is to leave the province. Rather than fight for their
financial well-being, they want to cut and run!
How many are serious is difficult to determine.
Thousands
might like to thumb their noses at a bunch of incompetent — possibly deceitful,
and even corrupt — politicians and bureaucrats. But against the realities of why we
live here — family roots and sense of community, as a start — there won’t be more
than a few dozen souls who will make the trek across the Gulf solely to escape the
cost of electricity.
In fact, if
only ten percent of the number that say they will leave actually do so, it
will be greater than the number that left the province following the cod
moratorium!
So folks, like
it or not, the VOCM Poll results seems like an exercise in ‘feel-good’. But it won’t let you escape your electrical
bill.
As always,
there is an option — even if it’s not the most attractive.
What you need
to decide is whether you intend pay for someone else’s deceit and tomfoolery —
their big salaries and bonuses and severance packages, and the profits of
companies, small and large, who have fed off your naiveté, your partisanship,
and your trust.
Or do you
plan to look in the mirror with the determination to see a revolutionary looking
back?
Like the
VOCM Poll, the choices are fairly stark.
The treasury
has been ransacked. The question is: are you content to pay a robbers’ ransom?
Have you
“rolled over”, choosing to “play dead”? Is the VOCM Poll just an expression of
your resignation — your inability to influence your politics?
For sure, if not resignation, the
Poll reflects a frightened public. Likely people see themselves faced with the impossible choices those rate increases will demand — hence the knee-jerk
reaction: “we’ll just leave”.
let Nalcor keep on spending. He will suppress any attempt to expose deceit or
corruption, too. He will let a government — unwise and weak to the point of
capriciousness — drown us in debt, oblivious to its consequences.
Dear Reader:
It’s time you got your mojo back. That is metaphor for suggesting ‘you have to get off your collective asses’. You have to put behind you your partisanship,
your wilful naiveté, even your misplaced faith in Danny Williams.
It is time
that you — yes, you — became a revolutionary. You need to own up to the existential
threat which the public debt and Muskrat Falls poses, to you and your family.
Waiting for
another saviour is akin to waiting for Godot.
Waiting for a Forensic
Audit is an assurance that the miscreants will have left the province long before
you.
So before
you choose to lay awake at night contemplating how you will ever get all your
things into that U-Haul, you might at least put up a modest fight, and let a
quisling Premier know that he must:
Auditor to report on the Muskrat Falls project.
that threat about packing the U-Haul and feeling even better.
Do I see a “revolutionary”
in the mirror?
If NFLD Power has a guaranteed and regulated profit margin, is it simply a change in regualtions needed to reduce the rate?
If I remember correctly, the company made over $700 million in 2016. Thier profit margin should be reduced and then ratepayers will have some relief.
It's not fair for everyone to pay higher taxes (including HST on electricity) while the regulated profit margin for NFLD power goes unchanged.
If the residents of NL are truly the shareholders of NALCOR then it is high time to have us tell the Board of Directors that the company will not be getting a return on investment. Any profits will be diverted into the reduction of electrical rates. The latest rate increase proposal by NL Hydro should be terminated by PUB.
That revolution needs to overhaul the political system and our voting methods so that we can rid ourselves of the "party system", defaulting on our "odious debt / regime debt" and sovereignty. We need legal control of our vast offshore resources. We need to purge the public service (from DM through management) and have open public job competitions to replace some of these positions. We also need to prosecute the real criminals like Iceland did. We need marine sanctuaries to bring back fish stocks and the fish needs to be process right here. There is much to do and most of it has already been studied already, just not implemented.
There's no point in overhauling a system that no-one seems to understand to some other system that they won't understand. We need to educate our public on our currently political system so they can use it to their advantage, instead of being taken advantage of by those who have learned to warp the system. Education is the key here, not some drastic upheaval.
ONLY FOR THE ELITE WE HAD NO SAY IN MUSKRAT NO VOTE NOW THE ELITE ARE IN OUR POCKETS.
There are three regulated utilities in Newfoundland. NL Power, NLH and now emera. They will all make about 70 million a year off the backs of Newfoundlanders. Newfoundland Hydro's should be returned from 8% to the historical ~4%. That would provide 35 million in relief to the rate payer. Emera – well we need to ask how in the hell did Emera get to a position to make so much from their investment in Muskrat Falls? Why do they not take some element fo the risk for the complete lack of performance of their partner? 8.9% is a fantastic rate of return when there is Zero risk.
As for NL Power – Well I think they are the most deserving of the three. But in the age of 2.5% interest rates it is fair to ask if a 8.9% rate of return is reasonable, when there is no risk?
There is alot of risk free profit being made in the NL electrical sector. It must be asked, with competition, why do we need regulation?
Following through on this post; are we headed for a housing crisis? That is thousands of houses on the market with no buyers. The cod mortiorm was mainly from rual nl, this time it will be from urban areas, where increases in electric rates will have it's greatest effect with not much room for escape. Those who act first in selling and moving will get a reasonable return on their house investment by selling, but will quickly dry up. Some will not be able to afford to sell their life investjiment in a hose and move. The younger generation that have not invested much in housing may be the first to go, our best and brightest with their future ahead if them. There will be a general decline in the total population, not good for the housing market. People that are not spooked by higher electric rates will be spooked by a major drop in the current value of their properties. How will they react. It's a dominio effect. Will people become revolutionary then. I think so. Dannyville will have no buyers. It will be rather ironic, and rightfully so that the author of muskrat will be the author of his own misfortune and demise.
The housing crisis has already started. Those who bought at the peak are going to be underwater soon or bankrupt.
Newfoundland and Labrador Monthly Summary
June 2017 Year/Year % Change
Residential Unit Sales, 426 -15.5
Residential Dollar Volume, $110,008,181 -19.4
Residential Average Price, $258,235 -4.7
Total Unit Sales, 449 -17.5
Total Dollar Volume, $113,332,656 -19.6
http://creastats.crea.ca/stjo/
Thank you for this information.
Heating estimates today from NFPower listed below. I think that the choices are obvious for a homeowner with money, but without rebates I think there will be a lot of suffering. Especially renters who will be paying their own utilities.
Oil
Price per unit: $0.725
Units: Litre
Btu content: 36,882
Efficiency: 80%
Cost per kWh: $0.084
Propane
Price per unit: $0.706
Units: Litre
Btu content: 24,129
Efficiency: 90%
Cost per kWh: $0.111
Baseboard
Price per unit: $0.106
Units: kWh
Btu content: 3,412
Efficiency: 100%
Cost per kWh: $0.106
Wood Pellets
Price per unit: $5.99
Units: 40 lb bag
Btu content: 330,000
Efficiency: 75%
Cost per kWh: $0.083
Heat Pump – Air Source
Price per unit: $0.106
Units: kWh
Btu content: 3,412
Efficiency: 200%
Cost per kWh: $0.053
Heat Pump – Ductless
Price per unit: $0.106
Units: kWh
Btu content: 3,412
Efficiency: 250%
Cost per kWh: $0.042
Heat Pump – Ground Source
Price per unit: $0.106
Units: kWh
Btu content: 3,412
Efficiency: 350%
Cost per kWh: $0.030
What source is this Nfld Power data…..somewhere in their public filings………
It seems reliable data, generally, and showing ground source at 350 %efficiency and air source ductless 250%, except when mounted in the attic they can achieve equality, or near so, on a year round basis with ground source, so a cost of 3 cents equivalent.
Yet why did Nfld Power, last year show a cost exceeding 10cents, so not to offer incentives, when more cost effective than oil for Holyrood!
Winston Adams
This data was requested a long time ago in the questions on the TakeChargeNL website (login required). The new Eco Cute air-to-water heat pumps that use CO2 as a refrigerant have even better performance – over 400%. https://takechargeofmyhomenl.ca/users/sign_in
Good luck with a revolt of the people since Newfoundland is a population mainly compose of seniors. Newfoundlanders have been ripped off by all governments since 1949. It is obvious that all members of government over the years have supported whatever the sitting Premier of the day has cooked up to fool the voters and to take advantage of them. Newfoundland politicians have always been about self preservation rather than the benefit and welfare of the people and in the process there have been massive giveaways of resources and major boondoggles. How many times more will we be fall for the lies of crooked politicians and let them knock us down and empty our wallets? Ball and his lap dog, spineless, incompetent liberal party members won't support a forensic audit immediately and there is hardly a wimper from the public and the media has done very little to challenge Ball on the issue, so I don't expect a revolution in Newfoundland. Actually if the conservatives don't get a strong leader and someone in the NDP party don't get someone to replace tired, idealess, boring Earl Mcurdy the liberals should have no trouble winning the next election. Isn't that the way we reward those who rip us off in Newfoundland..return them to power again. We know honesty doesn't exist in Newfoundland politics and never has but it can't be there is no fight left in Newfoundlanders or there is not one Newfoundlander who would enter politics to benefit the people rather than him/her self.
What's interesting, is the possibility that many seniors may actually elect to move. I think many seniors have less ties to our humble province than many people realize. Most seniors have more children living in other parts of Canada. Living on fixed incomes, for many, it will be difficult to make adjustments to heat their homes during the long winter, spring and fall. In Ontario and other parts of Canada, its possible to heat and cool your home with natural gas for virtually nothing. If we had been smart, years ago we would have invested in natural gas transmission from our oil fields but that's another story! Unless the federal Government intervenes this provinces future is dire.
You're putting stock in VOCM's poll. Hilarious. Your fear mongering is just staggering in this piece. What a crock of shit.
Dear crock, where do you get your public information, from the mainstream media like vocm or do you work directly or indirectly for NALCOR, if so then I know where you get your crock. What is the state of the local housing market, as indicated above, guess that's a crock too. Tell me about immigration, the cost of living increases, the propose rate in hydro cost, the cost to heat a home down the road, when will muskrat be completed, what will be the final cost, guess you have all the answers in the crock. But you will need more info than, hilarious, fear mongering, staggering, and shit. Please inform us. Have a nice day.
The only thing that can save us from total ruin is to STOP THE DAM NOW: Quit borrowing to complete it. No more increases to NL Hydro, no more money to Nalcor; Rates are not supposed to increase till first power from MF, no power means that the Government will have to figure out other ways to pay for it. They say that what is there now will last a hundred years, so what's the hurry to finish it. How about when oil reaches $120 a barrel.
GG
The rationale for Muskrat was: to accommodate our baseboard electric heat load which was growing and needed Holyrood oil fired generation in winter to meet this growing load. We have about 1100MW of island hydro power and uses about 350MW on average at Holyrood in winter.
A Revolution……..yes…….sure Nova Scotia has advertised and promoted a revolution for the past 7 or 8 years……..called THE HEATING REVOLUTION. Of course this is the mini-split heatpump, promoted with incentives, by both Efficiency Nova Scotia and contractors there.
This was the logical primary component to a solution to our baseboard heater problem ,and more effective here than in Nova Scotia and would have allowed low cost termination of fuel burning at Holyrood, and likely hardly any power rate hikes and actual lower yearly energy bills from reduced power consumption. See the posting above citing the effective costs for ductless minisplits for heating at 4.2 cents per kwh. Best practices could reduce this to close to 3 cents per kwh.
Why did this Revolution not take place here…….follow the trail with government, the power companies, the Consumer Advocate, and the PUB, and you will find they were all counter revolutionaries, with no true interest for the public.
And now we are in a pickle, with 12.7 billion to pay off, and declining power demand. Maybe a different kind of revolution is now needed, to answer the questions of the deceit and incompetence and corruption.
Winston Adams
The straw poll result is not surprising because the labour numbers are bleak and the main stream media continues to ignore this crisis. On Friday past, Stats Canada proclaimed there are 40,800 within the labour force that are unemployed.
However, yesterday's E.I. characteristics report announced the unemployment rate for Newfoundland and Labrador, outside of the north east Avalon, is now a staggering 20.3 percent. For those that follow the characteristics report, this 20.3% represents a 7 year high for economic region #2 out of the 64 economic regions. Only Northern Manitoba has a higher unemployment rate.
And let us not forget the welfare rolls. According to the most recent numbers, there are 25,742 adults on income support. That is a two year high.
So combine the unemployed and welfare numbers you have over 66,500 people out of work.
Two thirds said they would leave sounds about right to me.
p.s. and to show how knowledgeable the main stream media is about our unemployment crisis: Today's Cheers and Jeers column in The Telegram has our unemployment rate pegged at 14.9 percent. That was the unemployment rate for the month of June. July's unemployment rate is actually much higher at 15.7 percent. It appears someone can't read the data provided by Stats Canada.
The need for a Nfld revolution goes beyond Muskrat. Three weeks ago at Middle Cove beach, a senior man from Flatrock spoke of the fishery.
He said `Nflders should be more militant, we`re too easy goin…look at how the fishery has been destroyed…….that Confederation Building in there should be taken apart brick by brick`
I judged his age at over 80, as he commented about setting his trawl, when he was 11 years old, saying: `as fast as you could put on fresh bait, a cod would take it`.
I just this past few days came across a report by the fishery researcher George Rose, written in 2003, citing the neglect in fishery research by our government, Ottawa, DFO and MUN. A very damming assessment, written 14 years ago, and current today.
A neglect of one of the worlds great resources.
I recall no media attention having been given to that report, and our fishery still remains neglected while Iceland and Norway`s fisheries thrive.
Incompetence, neglect and corruption has long been hallmark of our ruling elite.
There is no competence required to be a politician, except the gift of the gab, which is highly prised.
Hilter says he found his voice in the beer pubs of Germany after WW1, and his message appealed to the common unemployed man, and they elected him and he led his country to ruin.
Trump speaks to the masses at his rallies saying `I am your voice`. He says that he `Digs clean coal` and the unemployed of West Virginia shout his praises.
Joey said `Burn your boats`….which showed how little he valued our great fishery potential.
Danny Williams praised our energy warehouse, and embarked to put us into the poor house.
And what is Ball`s qualifications …………
Even a labourer needs the qualification of a strong back, but a politician, just a strong voice. No sound rational thought is essential to coordinate that voice. Just tell us what we want to hear.
It`s surprising that the human race has survived this long.
It is no surprise that, here in Nfld, prosperity evades us, though surrounded by vast natural resources. Look at our leadership deficiency. Did not Sir Robert Bond abandon politics due to the extent of corruption here!
Winston Adams
Corruption and gross incompetence is alive and well here and will continue to be when we elect politicians who are unwilling to take the bull by the horns and do what must be done, damn the threats of lawsuits and bullying in the form of public badmouthing as we commonly hear from one in particular.
Trump won't last a second term and probably the first term because there are people in the States who are not afraid to stand up to his kind. Those here in NL who still push around the political elects and tell them to keep their mouths shut OR ELSE must be taken to task. It looks like Dwight Ball is under the finger of those who we all know are running this province for their own benefit and gain at the expense of the rest of us. –Talk about lambs led to the slaughter!!
You are no revolutionary if you don't understand that the Trumpster is taking on the establishment and the establishment controlled media. I believe he is losing badly and the swamp may well drown him. He is now out of the white house for a period of time while they clean out the bugs left by the establishment( or is it the Russians?) that are being used so far successfully to undermine his administration.
Omg…not another trumpie supporter here in nl. I will give you a few of his traits and accomplishments. First of all trumpie is a pathological liar, Bernie Saunders and many others have been calling him that for years. I have nothing personally against billioneers, but they are all me, me, me, and have left thousands in their wake after walking over them and scewing them royally, and trumpie is a perfect example. Yes, he got elected, by feeding the populace hundreds of lies, as a pathological liar does easily, and was able to make them believe that he would do all the things he said, including bring back, clean, clean coal jobs. What has he done so far besides tweet lies, bungle his way through 200 days of golf playing interspersed with visits to the WH. And could go on and on . But the claws of justice are gradually closing in on him and they will get rid of hi, maybe lock him up. Trumpie should be allowed to live, but not in the WH, maybe the nut house and in charge of the inmates. Poor guys if he were.
Which news agency do you work for, CBC, VOCM, NTV? Or just brainwashed by the establishment media?
Lol …what a silly little question, I am a man of the world me son !!!! Who do you think trumpie is, if not the establishment, a billionear in NY, owns skyscrapers galore, but being such a liar has convinced guys like you that he just crawled out of heaven in clean shining armour, and being attacked by Aileen's from other countries and the so called media establishment. Trumpie helped build the establishment and rubbed shoulders with them all his life to see what he could get from them to add to his personal empire, after being bankrupt a few times.
Man of the world let me guess, you watch CNN and read the National Enquirer all the time.
Keep on guessing. Recently returned from uk and Philippines. Reading guarding there, and china daily, and of course Ny times. But this conversation is not about us and who can piss further, this conversation is about the leader of the free world, the president of the most powerful nation on earth, and how he is running the show. And so far like an idiot, almost as good as the idiot in n. Korea. They must very well cause a serious confrontation, risking millions of lives. We may be safe on this side of the earth for now, but with trumpie in the WH, you never know. If you want to further that topic be glade to debate you, but otherwise, have a good day.
They, the US government have been coddling this NK guy and before him, his father for decades since the Korean conflict in the fifties. Enough is enough, it is good to see a guy like the Donald ready to say put up or shut up! It makes the so-called climate crisis look like it really is " a tempest in a teapot".
Interesting…….you compare the likelihood of anuke war and climate crisis.
Hawkings, that fellow from Cambridge, in the wheel chair, says climate change is a bigger threat to humanity than a nuke war…………..but you call it a tempest in a teapot.
Some tempest……………..some teapot, as Churchill might say. Churchill and Roosevelt believed in science. Do you have flood insurance! I hear its expensive in coastal Florida.
PF
Well it is comforting that at least the cobwebs and denial has fallen from the eyes of residents.
Survival of NL does indeed depend upon seeing a revolutionary in the mirror. The act of defiance is empowering and the logjam will finally be breached.
Act now and demand the madness stop and a forensic audit start now.
Last week in St Anthony 1000's of lbs of Cod fish couldn't be processed because the plant wouldn't open to take the fish. Everyone out of work. Barry now building two new fish plants on west coast. Another troubling thing last winter my brother inlaw asked a guy to clear three arces of wood off his land he did so but then foresty tried to fine the gèntleman $1500.00 for having the firewooď. The land owner had to drive to the foresty office with copies of his land deeds so they could photo copy them in order the gentleman didn't get the fine. Now the price of a pickup loaď of firewood on the Islanď is gone from $75.00 to $165.00 right now. We r not allowed to have fish or firewood to hèlp us live here so I guess someone wants this Island for themself.
While attention has been taken up with the Muskrat crisis, the St. John's Board of Trade net debt clock quietly hit $15 billion yesterday. Remember that crisis? Steadily deepening.
Tell me more mr. Crosby about the 15$ billion that the board of trade owes. Is that owed to the fincincial markets and will we the average John Doe pay it back and how will we pay it back . If we the public don't have to pay it back, don't cry on our shoulders, and I would say the same to Exxon, or val or Danny or anyone else. But I am not as informed in the workings of the board of trade as you are . So please enlighten us.
The cod is back but didn't we just give it to the EU in the CETA agreement?
Anonymous7 August 2017 at 22:27, your version of events in St. Anthony is at variance with the truth.
http://www.northernpen.ca/business/2017/8/7/labrador-fishermens-union-shrimp-company-to-process-northern-pen.html
Ches Crosbie, the St. John's Board of Trade enthusiastically supported the free-spending, wasteful, big-government ways of YOUR so-called "Conservative" party, and even more enthusiastically endorsed the Muskrat Falls disaster, so the St. John's Board of Trade can take its debt clock, and stick it in the bodily orifice of its own choosing.
As to Muskrat and the PUB, …….makes me wonder….
The PUB made no decision on MF saying it did not have enough information.
Recent requests for some 18 percent rate hike was reduced to about 8 percent , to avoid shock rate increases , which exceeds 10 percent in 1 year.
Meanwhile MF was intended to cause 60 percent rate jump once it went on stream……….so why couldn`t the PUB rejected MF as causing shock rates, right from the get go…….and so turn thumbs down in 2012. Why are we now worried about shock rates but not in 2012!
And can anyone say what happened to the MF PUB phase 2: reliability issue that was suppose to start early Jan 2017
And will Andy get his job back at the PUB, or switching to run for mayor………..
Winston
It is starting to sound like an episode of As The World Turns does it not Winston?
Will we learn from LNG’s failure in B.C.?
Worth a read; How Government run mega projects "get er done wrong"
THOMAS GUNTON
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Aug. 06, 2017 7:10PM EDT
Last updated Sunday, Aug. 06, 2017 7:10PM EDT
61 Comments Print
Thomas Gunton is director and professor in the Resource and Environmental Planning Program at Simon Fraser University and is a former BC NDP deputy minister
Right up to the most recent B.C. election in May, the British Columbia government had been promising three to five new liquefied natural gas plants that would generate between $130-billion and $270-billion in government revenue and create more than 75,000 jobs.
Cancellation of the Petronas project, which was among the most advanced and economically viable of B.C.’s 19 proposed LNG plants, clearly exposes the fallacy of the government’s promise.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/will-we-learn-from-lngs-failure-in-bc/article35891390/
In the interests of public education, why would not the MUN Faculties not invite Mr. Gunton to give a lecture on the subject on campus? he could point up the problem that political rhetoric creates on projects such as Muskrat. The history of such Boondoggles in BC is just as bad as NL. You are not alone.
Hucksters and carnie men the lot of them. Selling the flash and sizzle to the same gullibles who drive 100s of miles in expensive trucks to a Chase the Ace. No one looks at the reality of statistical odds.
Everyone heaps their hard-earned money on the greedy hucksters. A further tax on the poor.
My prediction? We'll all go down in a whimper not a rousing revolution.
A pity.
That sounds like a whimpering excuse for inaction. I see your web handle is dripping in irony.
The psychological stasis and struck-dumb loathing of change will ensure that many NLers will do SFA about their wretched predicament re: ensuing train-wreck about to befall the province.
However, the natural order of things has always been to take the path of least resistance, and more than a few NLers are much more mobile these days than the poor wretches impacted by the cod moratorium were.
You're dealing with an entirely different mind set now.
We'll be getting out, while the getting is good.
Agree with you, "entirely different mind set now". Yes nl's are much more mobile now, and I am not talking about 100 per cent of the population or the 60 odd percent that vocm pole suggested, but let's say it is the range of 10 or 20 percent. Can you imagine the catastrophic effect that would have on this problem, particularly the home ownership of the remaining population, thousands of modern houses on the market, with no buyers, everyone's property value drops like a rock. You will see these people up in arms vey quickly, " now your walking on the fightin side of me". This will have a greater effect on the population than gradual increases in hydro rates. Think there will be a lot of revolutionaries in the public airways and brave media as well as behind the scenes. We are rushing at break neck speed to a Hugh cliff and will be too late to put on the brakes. Ball and company, and those behind the scenes, what are you going to do. Best to get out in front if this train, call the audit of muskrat and do what has to be done.
So there we have it:
Andy Wells, the tiger who became the pussy, once his arch enemy, Danny Williams helped appoint him to the PUB. Strange that that happened given Danny had once said Andy needed a good SHIT KNOCKIN.
He could have turned thumbs down on Muskrat solely on the grounds that it proposed to bring shock power rates of 60 percent, even before sanction. Now we face 100 percent increases to pay for the fiasco.
The PUB rejected the idea that the loss of the North Spur would affect power reliability here, so would not allow it to be part of the review.
That the reliability of the transmission of the power could be reviewed by the PUB, and was to proceed early 2017 has seen no schedule for proceeding and seems a dead duck.Then recently Andy is suspended from the PUB for flimsy reasons. Meanwhile there is a call from UG and the public and the ANOM engineer for a forensic audit……even from the Telegram. And lo and behold Andy, the pussycat resigns from the PUB to run for his old job as mayor of St John`s, as the so-called investigation into Andy`s crime is abolished. But he still says he is concerned about the fallout of the costs of Muskrat Falls.
Andy, you had a choice……you have have squashed MF , instead of being neutral.
And Andy, you could have have condemned the power companies and offered incentives to help customers with household efficiency, as recommended by the Consumer Advocate last April (who stated that the power companies had failed in their Conservation and Efficiency Plan). Instead you ruled for the the power companies against the poorer citizens who will suffer the high rates.
Seems even the de-fanged tiger was too much for Ball, and an inquiry into the reliability of Muskrat power was to be terminated one way or another.
Remarkable that the head of the PUB who seems to have been constructively fired , had so little to say.
As Bruno suggested, another episode of As The World Turns soap opera.
Guess Andy will not lead the revolution.
And Andy, a climate change denier as well, opposing St John`s intent to buy two all electric vehicles. Can`t see him join Paris and other cities wanting to ban the gas and diesel engine!
Winston Adams
Well yes, was all in the grand scheme of things for muskrat, you keep your enemies closes to you, appoint him to head the pub and he is now be holding to you, so he will give no flak, and do your bidding and let muskrat pass. No big secret there, been saying that for years.
With the price of Muskrat power coming down the pipe, Andy made a good call coercing SJ to avoid buying electric vehicles. I suspect NLers wanting an electric should move to NS before committing to a purchase.
In listining to Paul Davis yesterday asking Premier Ball if he would commission a forensic audit (now) and the answer Ball gave was stomach turning to say the least. The PCs put us in this situation in the first place but the onus is on YOU to start a forensic audit/inquiry NOW! NOW! NOW! not when this train wreck is finished and those SLEEVEENS responsible and untouchable.
For Christ's sake answer the GD question!!!–The financial stability of NL and moreso its hapless residents command it and not for you to play political games. DO THE RIGHT THING
Forensic audit is an easy out for the assholes responsible, we need a full blown inquiry with a forensic audit as part of it. Leave no stone unturned, compel evidence and make them all pay for their transgressions regardless of party affiliation, wealth, power or pelf.
Now that we have a nl net debt click by the St. John's BOT can we also get a NALCOR or more precisely a muskrat debt clock showing the amount spent to date and by the second onwards. I know NALCOR will not provide this, too closed shop for that, but maybe the BOT can take on that challenge too, or maybe the minister of finance or minister Coady, since she is the minister directly responsible for NALCOR and hense muskrat spending. That's the least that the minister should know about muskrat how much they have spent and the reate if spending. How much of muskrat is already included in the provincial debt clock. We are responsible for paying back the amount on both clicks so should we not have 2 clocks, or is NALCOR such an untouchable that no one dear raise the issue. The provincial net debt clock is now above 15$ billion, over 24,000 for each person in the province, what is it for NALCOR or more specifically muskrat. Don't we need to at least know that before we clamer for a forensic audit?
I prefer not to be interrupted when reading UG.
His piece titled: NL Needs a Revolution, took me by surprise. Does he not know that some 200 land protectors are killed each each according to the British Guardian newspaper. Many of these are in Brazil or South American countries, but still, they include those opposed to dams.
Fortunately for the Uncle, he said he would not lead such a revolution. But still……he is, what you might call , a supporter. A fighting Nflder even.
And so, just part ways through this piece, at the breakfast table, Monday morning, by wife says: I got to tell you my dream, and so interrupted this shocking piece by the Uncle.
`We was walking up through Podbrook, down in Island Cove` she says,`coming along where grandmother used to live, and the water was up over the road, to our knees, but we got through it. So, we came on. And then when we got home you told me you were joining the militia, and you went and got your uniform and put on. It was the queerest thing. And then someone sung out to me and I woke up`
My wife often relates dreams, and I seldom remember one. But I long ago read that dreams is a way the mind tries to make sense of things that seems to make no sense.
Now 3 days before she had watched the CNN special with Al Gore on the Inconvenient Truth sequel movie coming out. That is dream worthy, and maybe might even trigger a nightmare. Now for the water to be as high as she said would mean the sea would have risen 15 or 20 feet, not far fetched with climate change and storm conditions.
But this militia thing!. Now I did have some military training, but decided I was not cut out for that. I had once been in the line up, and inspected by the Queen Mother, in the 1960s, while training as an Officer. I had come second in my class in pistol shooting, having had prior experience in my youth shooting at seagulls with a 22, I suppose. And I still have my cap, marked William Scully Ltd, Service, Airman, size 7,… the leather band having shrunk about 3 sizes. I once, in my uniform, hooked a free ride home from Trenton on a cargo plane, to see my flower, during our courtship.
But the militia…….that was a word never even used in Nfld.
Meanwhile, here was Uncle Gnarley taking about revolution!
What to make of it! Rather mysterious. And I with not a revolutionary bone in my body.
Ok, I don`t like the anything called Royal, but that is no big deal. And I do believe that aboriginal peoples get royally screwed, but that is spelled with a small r, but probably should be a capital letter, like the RCMP. Just read the current Independent story by Justin Blake, of the 150 to 400 finest to help enforce `safety`.
But militia………perhaps my flower was thinking of the Boston Tea Party or something……..dreams are so silly.
And where did the Uncle get this revolution idea…….not many in favour of that, it seems.
Firing of Pete Sucey got much more attention.
Winston Adams
Canadians mostly all have, to our credit, bought the motto; "Peace, Order and Good Government".
For whom does the "Good Government" serve, and if it does not serve the common good, what then?
I see that Jim Learning is in trouble with the Law again. Watch carefully the Question Period at the Legislature.
Keep the Buggers accountable!
In times of deceit and fraud speaking the truth is a revolutionary act Winston. You are a revolutionary and need to embrace the role.
Never forget Margaret Mead's words "Never doubt the ability of a handful of committed people to change the world…in fact they are the only ones that do".
The truth, who knows it and who will dare tell it if they know? Good luck with it, as I am well on in years and still seeking the real truth.
Of course, Des Sullivan is leading, or at least is a leader of a revolution, now having 1.3 million hits to this blog.
Of course he seeks no militia, but asks his readers: `whether you intend to pay for someone else`s tomfoolery -their big salaries and bonuses and severance packages and the profits of companies, small and large, who have fed off your naivete, your partisanship, and your trust……it is time that you, yes you, become a revolutionary`.
Those are powerful words.
As a province we lack sound fiscal management, and we either hold accountable those at fault, and change our culture to demand accountability and transparency or we remain as slaves to the deceit and corruption, as in centuries past to the fishing admirals and the Water Street merchants.
Des refers to the VOCM poll showing nearly 70 percent intending to leave this province………suggesting it a Feel Good reaction to our troublesome fiscal situation, but that a feel good moment will not pay for your electricity bill.
Being a revolutionary is the alternative. I guess it is a state of mind, like the Labrador Three…….and requires some action, and you pay a price, otherwise you pay a even higher price.
Winston Adams
Isn't Al Gore really the author of the 'convenient lie'? Follow the money, how much does he make from this environmental so-called crisis?? Ask the question and demand the answer, although you may never get one!
Inconvenient lie! There was a song…..Where have all the flowers gone……
I ask …….where have all the cod, capelin and flatfish gone……….25 years now.
What environmental crisis you ask! And soon , crab and scrimp will not be able to make shells for their bodies, and lobster too it seems.
Where will all the fishermen go…….gone to graveyards everyone…….when will they ever learn…………when will they ever learn.
PF
How many Mounties does it take to control dozens of protesters who occupied Muskrat Falls camp site last Fall…..
Answer :one , he was a Mountie who considered himself a peace officer
How many Mounties does it take to do a house arrest on 79 year old Jim Learning…..
Answer: 24
1 to put on the hand cuffs
1 to put on the chains
1 to read him his rights
1 to calculate their overtime pay
20 to bang on the outside of the house to wake him up so he could let them in.
As many police as required to keep the peace is the answer. We need to tolerate peaceful protest but not facilitate and cover it over it as the media has been doing for years and continues to do.
Whats the hangup to enjoying an oil boom in NfLb? To make synthetic gasoline you need 1) Limestone, 2) salt mineral like we have offshore, 3) saltwater 4) Hydro-electricity and 5) labour! We have all these resources in NfLb!