FEDERAL ELECTION: BE READY TO CONFRONT THE ‘SILENT SEVEN’

If
any of the 338 Federal MPs in the House of Commons entered a race to name the “most
quiet” politicians, the Newfoundland and Labrador seven would win hands-down!

For
them, flying under the radar is a practiced art, a condition which may change slightly
during the next six weeks of the Federal Election Campaign — though, if they
are re-elected, reversion to “same ol’, same ol’” is a certainty. Even NL’s
Minister in the Federal Cabinet loses his tongue for extended periods,
occasionally bobbing up to utter some vague assurance that he is on the job.
What job is seldom clear.

The
condition persists because voters believe their financial condition is generally
acceptable; the large fiscal issues obscured by “I’m OK, Jack” sentiments. With
the local fiscal can kicked down the road, people believing that neither
ratepayers nor taxpayers will have to ante up for Muskrat Falls, and demands on
MPs obscured by what constitutes Federal Responsibility — though Bill C-69
ought to resonate — the public seems less than preoccupied with public policy issues
that may impact their near-term fiscal future.

The
Premier looms large in this narrative, too.

Decent
political leadership should be preparing the public for bitter medicine. But “decent”
is far too high a standard for the Ball Administration. Partisanship, and a
general unwillingness to put up any fight on anything, also puts Trudeau’s
Ottawa ahead of matters local. There being no evidence that they are engaged in
a national agenda either, the seven MPs face no expectations except to prove
occasionally that they have a pulse.

A
modicum of forethought (it’s not as if the date of the Federal Election was a
secret) by Ball and co. would have spelled out the urgency of “rate mitigation”
in particular. Back in April, the Premier’s purchase price to diminish the
Atlantic Accord, in favour of Bill C-69, was a mere $2.5 billion for the period
to 2056: 37 years. This, in a demographically and geographically tangly, albeit
fiscally irresponsible, place not eligible for Equalization!

In
April, Seamus O’Regan could be heard saying: “The Government of Canada will be
expeditiously working with the province to examine the financial structure of
the [Muskrat Falls] project so that the province can deliver rate mitigation.” Since
then, Liberty Consulting and Synapse, both Consultants to the PUB, have
returned Reports containing dubious results as to the latitude available to
reduce the threat of 23 cent per kWh power.

The
most noteworthy of their proposals is the idea of stripping dividends due to
the Province — which was always Nalcor’s intention. To avoid “rate shock”, they
said, as if they expected us to be impressed by their ingenuity! Emera will get
paid their dividends but how the province’s nearly $4 billion equity will be returned
– at all – is a matter unspoken. Does anyone recall the Premier saying that the
taxpayer would be liberated from Muskrat, too? There is a contradiction here,
if anyone noticed!

Even
the savings from Holyrood’s closure — a dumb idea unless you are desperate to
build a megaproject — is no longer a certainty.

There
is another problem, too, that links our pocketbooks with those sleepy MPs. I
refer to the coterie of Newfoundlanders who suggest that we can’t invoke
Federal responsibility for Muskrat.

Some
even state the assertion with such force that you might wonder how we could be
so unkind to Ottawa.

An
enthusiastic desire to fall on one’s own sword would be commendable if, in the
same breath, they removed cheque book from tight grasp, confirming their
responsible, possibly even generous, nature. 
But, alas, it’s only talk.

Most
of those blokes haven’t even figured out that Budget balance alone is highly
improbable. Or that Budget balance and rate mitigation, barring social chaos, is
impossible.

This
Blog could invoke, as it has done frequently, Federal complicity in the
sanctioning process of the Muskrat Falls project and, therefore, justification
for Ottawa’s cheque. That — giving notice to the timid and the partisan — does
not suggest that Williams/Dunderdale/Martin and their ilk are less complicit
than first supposed. It’s just that on a cock-up of Muskrat’s size, there is a
lot of blame to go around. And Ottawa’s complicity is visible to all, if people
want to see it.



Related to this post:
Federal Complicity: The Untold Story of Muskrat Falls (Part I)


A Debacle and the Federal Government’s Role in it (Part II)


When NL Needs A Heavyweight There’s Only Shamus O’Regan

That
said, if Dwight Ball had even a modicum of spine, he would have (publicly)
prepped Seamus and the other members of the Silent Seven as they boarded their
Air Canada flight for Ottawa each week. As it stands, the Federal Election is
upon us and those MPs — and the Premier — have allowed Federal Finance Minister
Bill Morneau to maintain the vagueness that saw the local Liberals kick off the
provincial General Election.

There
is no cure for what ails Premier Ball. The voters told him as much in May. But
unless the $200 million share of “rate mitigation” for which the Feds have been
fingered forms part of the additional $706 million Muskrat operating requirement
in 2020, this place is in a really tough spot.

If
the Federal Minister eventually comes across, be sure to check the nature of
the commitment, especially its duration and from whence it comes (i.e. will the
sum be assigned to your great-grand-children to pay?).
 

But,
first, just be wary of more pleasantries from the Federal Finance Minister (and
from the Silent Seven, too).

Des Sullivan
Des Sullivan
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Uncle Gnarley is hosted by Des Sullivan, of St. John's. He is a businessman engaged over three decades in real estate management and development companies and in retail. He is currently a Director of Dorset Investments Limited and Donovan Holdings Limited. During his early career he served as Executive Assistant to Premier's Frank D. Moores (1975-1979) and Brian Peckford (1979-1985). He also served as a Part-Time Board Member on the Canada-Newfoundland Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB). Uncle Gnarley appears on the masthead representing serious and unambiguous positions on NL politics and public policy. Uncle Gnarley is a fiscal conservative possessing distinctly liberal values and a non-partisan persusasion. Those values and opinions underlie this writer's views on NL's politics, economy and society. Uncle Gnarley publishes Monday mornings and more often when events warrant.

REMEMBERING BILL MARSHALL

Bill left public life shortly after the signing of the Atlantic Accord and became a member of the Court of Appeal until his retirement in 2003. During his time on the court he was involved in a number of successful appeals which overturned wrongful convictions, for which he was recognized by Innocence Canada. Bill had a special place in his heart for the underdog.

Churchill Falls Explainer (Coles Notes version)

If CFLCo is required to maximize its profit, then CFLCo should sell its electricity to the highest bidder(s) on the most advantageous terms available.

END OF THE UPPER CHURCHILL POWER CONTRACT: IMPROVING OUR BARGAINING POWER

This is the most important set of negotiations we have engaged in since the Atlantic Accord and Hibernia. Despite being a small jurisdiction we proved to be smart and nimble enough to negotiate good deals on both. They have stood the test of time and have resulted in billions of dollars in royalties and created an industry which represents over a quarter of our economy. Will we prove to be smart and nimble enough to do the same with the Upper Churchill?

143 COMMENTS

  1. UG used the word "cock" , as in cock up. Signs of being irritated by this boondoggle mess, so who could blame him?
    Yesterday an engineer I know in the oil sector said he was voting Green. Will we see a shift to Green as in other jurisdictions?.
    AG

  2. The silent seven are ducking responsibility but the blame lies squarely on the provincial blokes, Liberal, Conservative and NDP with a circular firing squad are primarily responsible for the MF debacle.

    Even now I hear no blame directed to the Emperor responsible for the disaster on the Churchill, or the premiers of both stripes that have refused to call bullshit on Nalcor.

    Place blame where it is deserved and quit blaming the federal enablers that complied with demands for cash.!

    • Have to disagree Bruno.

      See my Tele letter of August 25, 2018 ("We're having the wrong argument about Muskrat Falls"):–

      Excerpt below:
      QUOTE

      "…it was the previous (Harper) and existing (Trudeau) federal governments, the Nova Scotia government and Emera that were the “enablers” of this Muskrat Falls boondoggle.

      While they are (along with the banks), and will be for the life of this project, the principal beneficiaries, we quibble over which pocket only N.L. ratepayers/taxpayers will pay from.

      If we have been improperly, unethically, illegally (or fraudulently) locked into this fiasco, what is being done to analyze and to get us out of this mess?" UNQUOTE

      https://nl-news.pressreader.com/the-telegram-st-johns/20180825

    • My main point is that it was 'not only' the Emperor, an Emperor or an Empress that lock us into this fiasco, but that the enablers also had a hand in this fiasco, and to the extent that they did, they too have a duty to minimize the negative impact on the NL tax/ratepayers.

      But there is a responsibility on the NL Government to push for that.

    • I just don't see the feds allowing that.

      The hill that needs climbing is to get the federal government to do something (as best that is reasonable and possible) to alleviate that portion of culpability (if that's the right word) that rests with it.

      It is not easy to get the federal government to do its duty (especially where there are so few seats here and very few senior bureaucrats from here in Ottawa).

    • It is hard to see the feds culpability apart from failing in its overview function. It will be hard to define a dollar amount to the feds share when all failed in any oversight, ensured by Nalcor secrecy, manipulation and outright fraud they condoned and/or covered up.

    • Perhaps.

      But if Nalcor was secretive, manipulative, and/or condoned and covered up fraud, then the IE would have had a duty to inquire into that and if/when found, to expose that.

      An exposure of flawed cost estimates, geotechnical/engineering/environmental work, etc. could have in turn affected sanction, re-assessment, re-configuration, etc. of the project.

      But I think beyond all that was, at least in part, a political culpability/duty — a duty to ENSURE that the project was properly assessed (the need, affordability, environmental and other risks, etc.).

      The feds fell down on the job.

    • https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/c-rcmpolice-i-am-requesting-criminal-investigation-all-pritchard-ma c. To: Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] Mailing Address: O Division RCMP Headquarters, P.O. Box 3240, Station "B", London ON N6A 4K3, Canada From: Llewelyn Pritchard "Dear Sir/Madam I am submitting this written complaint requesting a A Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] Criminal Investigation into all stages of the whole Muskrat Falls Boondoggle hydropower project, Newfoundland and Labrador [NL] for at least seven good reasons" 5 September 2019

    • I agree!

      Our “Silent Seven” need to be silenced forever!

      Unfortunately for us here in this Province, there are still a significant number of people who are unaware that Joey Smallwood is dead yet!

      They have a Liberal “fog” on the brain?

      My apologies to anyone that is finding out for the first time that Joey has passed away.

    • Better phrasing would have been "Wake up Newfoundlanders, show them your nuts".
      Cause that's what this is. MF was the bastard love-child of Danny. He owns it, he brought it into existence with that cursed handmaiden Ed Martin. Cry as you might "we was robbed", the Canadian Government only the little man what he wanted. Once again we see that looking for scapegoats to blame our own stupidity is our national pastime.

    • but isn't the NL govt., NL?
      collusion means "a secret cooperation or deceitful agreement in order to deceive others". Only parties to MF collusion were the Little Dan and the Nalcor Walter Mitty's. To claim FG set out to deceive anybody is natavist paranoia at its best. They only gave Dan want he demanded.

    • Mainly agree with you, except Harper gave the loan in bad faith. He wanted to get Danny and us in general. Danny asked us to give him a goose egg in the election and that's what we gave him, not referring to the last election but the previous one. He called us people with a defeatest attitude. Great words for a prime minister, kind of attitude THe Hump uses. So his attitude was send the fools further and give them enough rope ( loans ) to hang themselves. Mackey for different reason, to benifit NS, his own province. But both in cahoots in deception tactics. Now Trudeau, gave the 2nd. loan but for a different reason, he was advised that the project was too far gone to hault. So you see we don't blame everyone, just those that wanted to do us in. Average Joe.

    • You still don't get it, Dan-Ed-Kathy created the deception, the collusion, the curtain-covered charade. Harper give the little tyrant what he wanted. What would Danny have done if Harper refused? Burned down the DFO office. Repeat after me, we fucked up, we royally fucked up.

    • And repeat after me…Harper was out to screw us…Harperr was out to screw us…..and he did royally, and still laughing …if that's possible. Same as for the MPRS in the CETA agreement, in exchange for our signature, where he was going to give us $400 million. But not a red cent after it was signed. Ask Dunderdale, she even had a big signing announcement and party. Average Joe

    • DW was fully dedicated on this mission. Without the Feds, DW would have obtained his LG from the private sector WITHOUT any difficulties – just on more expensive terms.

      Having all of Nalcor's assets as collateral made it a no-brainer, really.

      MF was a go, FLG or not.

    • Dreaming in technicolor EX. The banks would have scrutinized the project more closely and given a thumbs down. But when it was backed by the Feds, well the banks were grinning all the way home, like the 3 little pigs. And the same with Emera, they only hung around when the FLG came through, with out that they would have been history. And no way would the banks give Danny or whomever 5$ billion, and certainly not another 3$ billion when that ran out. So no money, no Astaldi, no SNC. End of story. Says average Joe, and a good many more, including some at the inquiry.

    • Well, just Nalcor's 65.8% CFLCo's ownership is already worth way over $5B. Again, with such collaterals, it was a no-brainer. What can you lose?

      Under DW, MF was a go anyways you look at it.

      (Agreed, the second $3B LG would not have occured)

      And MF not completed would have triggered repossession of some Nalcor assets – to repay Emera etc.

    • You have to remember, you sell that 65.8% (I know, it will never happen) and the proceeds basically pays for the whole MF boondoggle.

      However, even that assets sale would not solve NL's incapacity to balance its budget. That's where the priority should be directed.

      (MF's $ are now mostly wasted and gone – it's now irrelevant)

    • BS Ex! The "asset" loses 800 million a year remember? No private entity when they ran the numbers would have bought in but instead would run for the exit.

      Who would put up their money on an asset that will lose money for several generations? Only those desperate to claim victory from the largest fraud in Canadian history. I can think of only a handful of people like you and Danny and Ed Martin. Who do you represent here?

    • Bruno is wrong again, what else is new? Private capital could have been raised, at a bit higher interest rate than the Feds guarantee because;
      1. Assets such as our island hydro , Nfld Hydro, worth about 2 billion
      2. CFs 66% share worth about 15 billion
      3. At that time oil revenue was substantial, suggesting assets from Hydro and CF were mere backstops, but available if needed.

      All was needed was recklessness, such that Williams , Dunderdale, Ed Martin and others, who had this had this in spades….even Wade Locke, our MUN expert economist with his fingers in the pie, his on the side consultant work! Maybe as many as a 100 or more who were reckless.
      Without the Feds this was proceeding anyway, after the Inquiry who could doubt it. Even now DW puts MFs worth at "somewhere less than 100 billion" was his testimony!
      The BSer here is Bruno not Ex, I submit.
      Who does Ex represent asks Bruno, to suggest an adverse motive.
      Could it be that Ex just represents himself, truth as he sees it?
      Who has the ownership of truth, I ask? I list some facts, whether other agree or disagree? If these are facts, then they give weight to Ex as the one with truth on his side, at least on this question, I submit.
      Over to you, Bruno…….attack the messenger. Suggest they are communists or fascists or HQ reps or whoever your silly mind can imagine. Avoid facts. Avoid reason, smear and insult, which is your primary skill.
      Give us short one liners, please. make us laugh.

      However, I think the Feds did get snared and enabled the boondoggle, through lack of good oversight and scrutiny of Nalcor's deceptions and edited technical reports etc.
      AG

  3. As a responsible government, you don't give a premier or province what they "demand". So if you don't just give what is demanded, what should the feds have done?

    Your duty, your reasoned best judgement, based on a comprehensive, cohesive, informed assessment of what was 'demanded' vs. what was needed, what was affordable, and what was risk averse or at least, risk tolerant.

    I would suggest that the feds failed on all counts.

    • It took a $30-million 12-month long inquiry to untangle the web woven by Danny and Mr. Ed. Do you honestly think the Feds had the time and money to do the same. It always comes back to the diminutive townie ambulance chaser, nobody else; except maybe the 80% of population that roared his name. I understand trying to finagle $200 million from Feds, but let's be truthful, it's welfare, not reparations.

    • I have to agree with Anonymous16 September 2019 at 17:03.

      Not only did the feds give the loan guarantee that NL demanded but it cost Ottawa nothing but whoring its good name with the rating agencies on behalf of NL. This was a cheap and easy sleazy backroom fix to placate petulant child NL.

    • And my point is that Canada should not be in the business of placating a petulant child.

      If that's what Ottawa did, then it failed in its duty with respect to good governance (and is therefore, in part, at fault).

    • Again, do you expect the FG to spend a year and $30-million cutting through the web of deceit? I imagine that they expected the province was run by adults instead of Napoleoneasque petulant child; are you saying that was their fault? That we elected a diminutive circus clown and his cronies is on us, no way is it the FG fault.

    • You are saying that we need somebody to bail us out again, but we are too proud to say that we need welfare. Therefore since it can't be welfare, we must try to assign some blame to our welfare agent, so that we can say it's not really welfare but reparations. Irrespective of how you try and impugn the actions of others not in NL, we did, we own it, we will pay dearly for it.

    • Yes. We did it (and I have, years ago, written publicly that this time "we did it to ourselves").

      But you would have to be blind to even suggest that we did it "alone".

      To the extent that others aided and abetted, they have a responsibility.

    • There none are so blind as those that will not see.
      To abet means that somebody else encouraged somebody to commit a crime. To follow your and UG's logic, this would mean that the FG, Emera, and/or whomsoever else you wish to seek money from, actually encouraged Danny-Ed-Nalcor Walter Mittys to commit a crime. This is too foolish to contemplate. Muskrat Falls was the wet dream of Danny-Ed-Nalcor Walter Mittys, they were not encouraged to create the monster. It is a home-grown, unabetted, monster.
      Now unto aided. The FG was sold a bill of goods by L'il Danny-Ed-Nalcor Walter Mittys; "clean green energy", "building pan Canadian system", etc., etc. So, they took the information at face value from a sovereign province that this was a sound idea. Granted, unlike the UGs of this world, they did not have the benefit of a 1-yr-$30 million inquiry to unravel and illustrate the lunacy of Danny's wet dream. So they took data from self-proclaimed "world experts" and allowed us to get a lower rate on interest. Their "aid" only went that far, they didn't provide the money, they just said we were good for it. The second loan guarantee was actually to stave off utter bankruptcy. So yes they aided us there, by saving our financial skins. Let's try and get more money from them on that basis; it's like putting a gun to your own head demanding a ransom. Oh yes what about bad ole Emera. Ed turned the project into a pretzel trying to get a deal with Emera. Emera is a public company with a fiduciary responsibly to make money for its shareholders. Were they to turn down a deal that was financially beneficial? If they did they'd be committing a crime by not looking after their shareholders (a sacred duty that Ed and Danny forgot long ago). And even then, without Emera's infusion of liquidity, MF (and by extension, NL) would have gone bankrupt.
      So yes, let's rant and roar about how somebody else has a responsibility for MF just to shake a few more coins from the pocket. But we'll never become a mature society until we take responsibility for our own mistakes. Unfortunately, I think it's too late and we will become principality run by whoever is Prime Minister in Ottawa.

    • "…and we will become principality run by whoever is Prime Minister in Ottawa."

      And I wrote publicly and warned about that many years ago as well. So if the feds were blind about that risk, they were willfully so.

      By your own admission — "The FG was sold a bill of goods by L'il Danny-Ed-Nalcor Walter Mittys; "clean green energy", "building pan Canadian system", etc., etc. So, they took the information at face value…".

      If the feds 'took the information at face value', then they failed their responsibility for 'good government' and are therefore are in part — responsible.

      You can twist it how you like, but that does not eliminate or reduce the responsibility or the role that the feds played in making sure that this fiasco got done (and that NL ratepayers would be on the hook for what they knew OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN was not needed, unaffordable and too high a risk on many fronts) — in short a boondoggle/fiasco).

    • "Face Value" from "world class experts", as I said we've only been able to see through the fiasco after a 1-yr $30 million inquiry. Are you suggesting that the FG should have undertaken a similiar investigation? If deceit/deception were involved it was on the NL side. The FG simply thought they were dealing with honorable, honest people.

      I know that you and UG and fellow travelers will never "man up" for the home-grown monster. So let me ask you, based on your bias, how much money do the FG and Emera have to pony up to make things square? $1 billion, 2, 3, the whole $13.7 billion. Do you think they should through in a little extra few $billion for us to blow again? And who are the other dastardly culprits beyond FG and Emera that "owe" us something? HydroQuebec? Nova Scotia?

    • "…we've only been able to see through the fiasco after a 1-yr $30 million inquiry".

      Go to http://www.vision2041.com and read 'just the dozen or so' of my letters and articles that The Telegram published PRIOR TO sanction.

      How about "Muskrat Falls: boon or boondoggle" (September 2011).

      Or "The danger of long-term forecasts" (December 2011).

      Or "Nalcor's faulty forecasts" (April 2012)

      Or "Looking for proof of increasing electrical demand" (October 2012)

      Or read my February 2012 Written Submission to the 2012 PUB Least-cost Review.

      ALL OF THE ABOVE — at no cost to rate/taxpayers and all BEFORE a public inquiry was even a thought a possibility.

      If it was "knowable" back then to this non-expert (in every sense of the word) that Muskrat was a fiasco, then what reasonable excuse can the Government of Canada give that it was ignorant of the obvious flaws in the case being forward by the province?

    • So you are a seer that writes angry letters to "Telegram" (not new York Times, Globe & Mail, etc.). Vs. "world class experts" in Nalcor and NL government. Your lonely voice in the wilderness was no match for the thundering rocket blasts from the "experts".
      You obviously ascribe blame to others.
      So again answer my questions. Who is on your list of enablers? How much must they pay to make you happy?

    • Anon, the enablers are many, some significant ones, but not all, exposed via the Inquiry.
      Why would you expect MA to assign weight to the proportion of each enabler? You seem angry that MA, a non expert, exposed so many of the "world class experts" false assumptions. You expect him to go further than even Leblanc will likely do.
      MA has it right, you are attacking his message, not his opinions that turned out to be facts. Is this, by you, what they call trolling?
      AG

    • AG both you and MA are wrong. I am not angry that he spoke out early on the debacle, in fact he deserves to be congratulated on his courage. I am angry at the NL trait of always laying blame (be it partial or full) on outsiders.
      Again I ask, who were the enablers? How far down the line, across the planet do they extend? How many and whom do you wish to send a bill? And finally, to make MA (and you and UG) happy, how much money will be acceptable to make things right? How much more welfare do we expect? You/he/UG provide no answers, you just look at the outside world as a giant piggy-bank to which we alone have the right to access. Will you be happy with $1 billion? 2, 3 13.7, hey why not ask for $23 billion cause the only thing we're "world-class" at, is squandering and bitching. afterwards!

    • I would suggest money alone cannot make things right, as MA said it is primarily a NL fault. You suggest a total NL fault? No outside party fault, whatsoever? That is a gap not to be bridged by citing persons or amounts. You offer no compromise. you equate the suggestion of fault by others as welfare, period.
      MA and UG are mere bitching in a world class fashion, you say.
      You praise their courage for bitching! If the Inquiry had value, it resulted from their courage to speak truth to power, I suggest, but you call it bitching.
      Maybe too few bitch loud and long enough, and too many are anonymous, like you and me? Are we the cowards?
      AG

    • Isn't it futile to bicker about how much the Federal Government should pay and why? When NL goes belly up sooner than most people expect, the feds will be paying for the works. Then it will be the mainlanders bickering about their politicians not questioning the Harper 1st loan guarantee and the Trudeau 2nd.

      Our debt levels were already precariously high when DW bet the farm and lost everything we had. Now Ball and the others are selling false promises of hope, wasting more resources to avoid telling the truth and surely cementing our fate.

  4. Harper and Quebec got the last laugh on Danny, Dunderdale and all those dimwitted ABC cheerleaders lol!

    Like my old man always said… the Newfies are their own worst enemies. They've certainly perfected cutting off one's nose to spite one's face to a fine art lol! Thesmart ones will get out while the gettin' is good…

  5. This is a good piece, thanks Robert.

    "Pauly’s pioneering and often provocative work has shed light on what the scientist calls “the toxic triad of fisheries” — the under-reporting of catches, overfishing and the tendency to blame depleted catches on “the environment.” All three are are play in NL. First the lie was cold water for the decline, the Europeans are overfishing came next and Harris pointed out in 1990 that we were catching twice our safe reference point (f0.1).

    Pauly's three recommendations my colleagues have been calling for for decades. End government subsidies is first. Create a thirty mile zone around nations for artisanal fisheries that forbid technology that drags the bottom. Finally creation of large marine reserves offshore.

    These rules without political discretion in setting quotas is the only hope for a recovery of the northern cod complex.

  6. The UK has had (for decades now) an International Maritime Organization (IMO) Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) designation that extends 200-miles east of Ireland (http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/PSSAs/Pages/Default.aspx ).

    It's been about 20 years now since Environment Canada had a consultant assess the east coast for such designation. A report was filed that recommended that Placentia Bay be so designated, but if I recall correctly neither EC nor DFO did the necessary science and statistical work and did not request that IMO designate a PSSA in Placentia Bay (or on the Grand Banks).

    Surely, from an ecological and marine risk perspective the entire Grand Banks is more important and more at risk than the open ocean 200 miles east of Ireland.

    Where is Canada's so-called "oceans" related leadership when it comes to protecting our oceans, the sustainability of our coastal communities and our multi-billion fishery?

    • As Pauly points out the feds are out playing golf with the big guys. DFO decided decades ago that inshore fishers are rowdy, break down doors at announcements when they get stiffed. The corporate sector speaks their language (and sips the same 12 year old scotch).

      Sadly fish have become bargaining chips to bungling, lazy bureaucrats and politicians.

    • Can't help but laugh at Dr Bruno citing "his colleagues", to elevate his own importance . Cold water a lie says our doctor. I suppose warmer water too not a factor? Even Pauly says water temperature and climate change is part of the problem.
      Can Winston comment to try and steer Dr Bruno straight? The only hope, says Dr Bruno, seems to excludes addressing climate change as part of the fishery problem. Our Doctor me thinks is enabling some Fake News.
      AG

    • I am your Shadow, Dr Bruno, and "The Shadow" knows what evil lies in the hearts of men.
      Who did you represent at the UN conference? Was this the Sierra Club, who later dropped you like a hot potato? Post your CV on UG will you? Is your Dr an honorary one, or well earned?
      AG

    • Only you conferred me a Dr.

      An anon troll can kiss my royal derierre. Ask Cabot Martin he was there and brought a planeload of bag licking NGO's to counter the rukus we caused when we pointed out it was CANADIAN draggers primarily the cause of the cod collapse.

      Do your own research. You may learn something apart from trolling with zero to add to the debate.

    • Bruno, what kind of pointer did you use, to point out that it was not the Newfoundland draggers that caused the cod collapse. Have you ever heard of pair trawling. Or dragging. Yes, back in the seventy and eighties a few NS cod draggers out of Cansol, but by far were NL draggers, so basically Your CANADIAN Draggers were NEWFOUNDLAND cod draggers. Now figure that one out. Average Joe.

    • Dear Dr Bruno (not Dr Bruneau, who has earned his Doctor, I assume).
      Again you elevate your sense of self worth, to suggest your ass is of "royal" stature. On what grounds would you think it is royal, being big and fat, or other quality?
      It is a practice of your's to seek others to kiss your ass? Is this to be done fully clothed, or the bare ass, skin to skin,like kissing the cod fish say?
      Some anon you adore, but only if they agree with you. You figuritively kiss their ass on your UG comments, anon being no issue then.
      Others are trolls if they even slightly disagree with you.
      You have no love for Cabot Martin it seems,despite his work on the North Spur risk and his book Muskrat Madness. Can you praise him for that even?
      What is your reference to zero? The Shadow operates solo, and is not in collusion.
      I referenced a part of Pauly's research, which you ignored and you don't like. Need I do research and duplicate what Pauly has said. That is irrational by you.

      Do you do your own research? Any peer reviewed articles by you, alone or with colleagues? Can you give links for them?
      AG

    • No, I had not noticed. I considered his Muskrat Madness a good work and he seemed passionate about it's negative impact and BS being spouted by Ed Martin. If you have other insights, other than insults of his character, you have gone on a tangent. Maybe others understand your hidden meaning? But seems he has dropped out of the MFs debate. Maybe he is wise?
      AG

    • Cabot Martin, Prima Donna, like La Scala! This reference from your Italia roots, Dr Bruno?
      It refers to "a vain, undisciplined , egotistical, obnoxious or tempermental person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team, but whose contributions are essential to the success of a team" It comes from attitudes of some opera singers in the late 1700s and 1800s, but now used in other references.
      Does that fairly describe Cabot Martin? I have never met the man, so cannot assist you Doctor Bruno with your viewpoint.
      Do others on this blog fit this description? Hmmmm. Let me see?
      I have noticed in the past that Winston, a frequent commentator, overlooked some of your vices but not others, maybe he sees you as a prima donna, but essential?
      Can Winston clarify on this as to Bruno, prima donna or not, or just plain old Dr Bruno?
      AG (aks, The Shadow)

    • Bingo …except for the "are essential to the success of a team" a vain, undisciplined , egotistical, obnoxious or tempermental person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team " about nails Cabot. You would love his arrogance and pretension Winston.

    • Not sure if I'm right, but I read that AG suggests you, Bruno, display the characteristics you accuse Cabot Martin with, including arrogance and pretension, and so labels you Dr Bruno. I do not see WA saying he loves these qualities, but the opposite, and is not personally aware of Cobot's flaws as you describe him, having never met him. Perhaps you can elaborate Bruno on your experience?

    • Dr Bruno ( I like that title) is puzzled,suspecting Etienne for the anon post @ 15:00. Why Etienne? Etienne is from Quebec and not a fan of Bruno, we know. Bruno uses the word 'moi", is this French for 'Me', I think so. Has Bruno got racist characteristics? I think so, could be wrong.
      Poor Bruno, calls himself a "victim" has he not, if anyone anon questions his opinion, they are anon trolls, and he trashes them.
      Very this skin it seems, this Bruno guy.He dishes it out in spaces but cannot take critisism. POORRRRRRRRRRR Bruno. Lets weep for him.

    • I have the strength of character to append my name to my ideas, unlike you.

      You also know little of my public persona and ability to take criticism. I will survive a pointless missive from a troll whose moral character is demonstrated by his or her cowardice.

    • Case closed.
      1. responds with the T word; Troll
      2. says my moral character is that of a coward.
      3 unable to take this one criticism
      4 says I know nothing of his public persona. Really? Describe it please, in 10 words.
      5 you knowing nothing for sure about my moral character, except I am anonymous at 09:52. For now this is a necessary defense, against an apparent bully. Bully Bruno….ever been called that Doctor? Do you self medicate? Maybe I am sensitive and shy and not a coward?

    • Yes, Bruno "boy", but not Bruno 'man".
      Like Trump , his wife said "if you attack him, he attacks back 10 times more". We have seen his bluster, threats of fire and fury, his words. He attacks cripples, colored people,parents of dead soldiers, even attacked the Pope, who suggested building bridges instead of walls. He attacks other world leaders, but praises dictators. He even attacks mother nature. He attacks people of common sense, that Mexico will pay for the wall, that China pays the tariffs. Trump is a crazy man, or this his persona, while reaping personal profits.
      Is Bruno crazy for his style of attacks, or this just his persona, a strong tough guy?
      Bruno cannot ignore, it is not in his persona as an attacker projecting strong character. Might he be the sensitive pansy, seems likely. He lashes out at innocent people, due to his imagination running wild. Seems he has one supporter here @ 13:11. Bruno , a Prima Donna? Best he quiet down and be respectful for a change.

  7. Given JT's utter drivel of a response to the $200 million rate mitigation request, we can confidently assume the real answer is no way in hell.

    Dwight Ball therefore needs to inform the public and the PUB of how this shortfall in his rate mitigation intentions is to be dealt with. Will Ball be committing a $200 million grant to Hydro?

    As this is such a large piece of Ball's plan, if he does not make his intentions clear, the PUB rate mitigation hearings next month will be a waste of time.

  8. We are all responsible for the Muskrat falls project. We heard it from several sides not to do the project but we were all so far up Danny's arse we all believed in the Messiah of NL politics. He saw the writing on the wall and got out before the shit hit the fan. I was against it moving forward as we were never going to benefit from the project the way they were suggesting at the time. Now we're all upset at Dwight Ball for dealing with an issue that was started without his agreement at the time and we all job on his neck for the mess. I'm a conservative but a realistic one who think his mine not the party line. Mitigation has to happen or we're all screwed but be prepared not to get what we want. Oh by the way, Vote Conservative!

  9. That's right, what we can't get through the front door we can get from the back door. Vote Scheer. We don't need Ball and Trudeau, we can have Chess and Scheer. They will belly up to the bar anytime, the parties that are really responsible, and anti up for rate mitigation, $200 million or any number. Vote conservative for sure. Now on the other hand with 7 tiny seats in Ottawa it won't matter a hell of a lot who we vote for. But I would say whomever you think is most likely to take responsibility for their share of the boondoggle, then that seems reasonable to place your vote, except for the old Joey voters. Who are they going to vote for ask Joe blow.

  10. It's election time and Mr. Trudeau has dished out more than $10 billion dollars in election promises. Except when he comes to NL he makes no promise of support for rate mitigation and tells the province that any cost escalation for waste water infrastructure will have to be shouldered by the province and/or municipality. No doubt a hard line but why? The answer is simple. NL is a political liability to the federal Liberals. If Trudeau gives us any support, he will pay a political price in Ontario and Quebec, where most of the people and politicians are against giving us any financial assistance. Whatever assistance the Feds provide, now or after the election, will be token at best. This time, we will have to figure out our own mess and suck up the associated pain in the process. Some tough love from the Feds is long overdue and it's high time that we collectively paid a price for our collective ineptness. You only learn from a mistake if you pay a price, which then serves as a deterrent to make similar mistakes in the future. The Feds have protected us from our self created bad outcomes for decades and clearly we have learned nothing. Bring on the NL meltdown! The only way to make it better is to tear it down to nothing and rebuild it from there because it is rotten to the core.

  11. Anyone read the article on CBC regarding the RNC and the school board?

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/rnc-search-warrant-auditor-general-nlesd-fraud-probe-1.5277296

    What I find particularly odd is this: "That warrant allowed fraud investigators to seize computers from the auditor general — computers that contained work product and supporting documents from the AG's 2½-year review of financial issues at the school board."

    Why would they need computers from the AG rather than just the documents that the AG had? Do they see the AG as an inpedient to the investigation? I would have expected the AG to have organized all evidence of fraud and to have turned it all over to the police.

    1) The English school board needs to be terminated. It is an unaccountable waste of government money and corrupt.The department of education should take over.

    2) The AG doesn't seem that interested in protecting the public purse. How come Muskrat Falls wasn't investigated? Perhaps because of conflict of interest? Perhaps that is why she was made the AG.

  12. I've been hesitant to comment on the climate change retoric because I'm dislike hateful comments, but heck, why not see what happens. I am a scientist and an engineer with many decades to become jaded, so take this for what it is worth. I don't work for an oil company or any other special interest.

    1) The hockey stick model of rapid global warming, presumably due to fossil fuel burning is not believable. However, any research that questions the data or points out previous periods of higher CO2 levels is attacked. Sort of like anyone that points out problems with the official 9/11 story. Science has become politicized. Good science doesn't need attack dogs to protect it – e.g. Galileo or Copernicus vs the establishment and inquisition.

    2) Recent human industrialization may or may not be affecting climate. There is a lot going on and most of it is natual. Man didn't sart the last ice age, and man didn't end it either.

    3) Many cycles affect climate, and many are positive feedback loops. For example, methane is a strong greenhouse gas. The more that melts out of the tundra, the warmer it gets, and the more gas is released. Once these positive feedback processes begin, they are unstoppable until they run their course.

    4) There is likely nothing that we can do to stop or mitigate what has started. Furthermore, the fear mongering over year over year changes is unwarranted. In many cases it is just noise, just normal volatility. These processes can span hundreds or thousands of years and we don't live long enough to be able to put it all in perspective. Notice that "global warming" has become "climate change". Climate has always changed.

    5) We have burned about half the easy to get fossil fuel. CO2 output is going to decline anyway, no matter what we do.

    6) Infrastructure: Most of it is crap. We build homes and buildings that are lucky to last a hundred years. As these decay, the solution is simple. Demolish the old infrastructure and build in a better location. Higher ground for example. As road culverts wash out, install larger ones and raise the highway beds. There is no need for trillions. It isn't an emergency. However, whenever anything enters end-of-life, its replacement location and construction methods should be re-assessed.

    We need common sense, not fear mongering nor politics.

    • You are a scientist and engineer, and I'm the Wizzard of Oz.
      If a climate person, You are part of the 1 % that deny the science, while 99% agree with the science.
      Co2 keeps climbing, now at even a faster rate, and with warming, methane gets worse, and you say fine we can and should do nothing.
      All good science is just noise you say. Positive Feedback loops that my be avoided, you say let them happen, ignore fear mongering you say, bring it on even.
      There are scientists and engineers both good and bad. Who is now paying you to comment here with your BS of climate change denial?
      You have no balls to confirm your expertise. So I go with the 99% not you 1 %ers.

    • You make all these half-baked assertions without one iota of evidence to back them up… yet you claim to be a "scientist"??

      Perhaps a "scientist" of alchemy and astrology, or maybe a seeker of perpetual motion, but I'd say that's about it.

    • Do CO2 emissions cause climate change or are CO2 emissions a result of climate change, that is the question that credible scientists, if they can be found, should answer. Political science is not an answer to this question or many others, perhaps.

    • You reading comics from the Enterprise Institute?

      Please note CO2 drives temp from YOUR "proof" of some confusion.
      "The rise in carbon dioxide matches well with the curve of known human emissions. And these two curves match very well with the increase in temperature. The overwhelming evidence shows that carbon dioxide emissions are the dominant factor driving climate change."

    • Quite the polarized comments above. Check out Dr. Tim Ball's "The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science" and look at the reviews on amazon.

      The paper “Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries." has 2279 citations in scholar.google.com and is the basis of much global warming predictions. The author of this paper sued Dr Ball and recently lost in the Supreme court of BC because he failed to provide the data used to support his paper. That is a red flag.

      Similarly, just because thousands of books and web sites claim you are crazy if you suggest that WTC7 was a controlled demolition, doesn't mean that thousands of engineers and architects at ae911truth.org are crazy. It just means that some professionals don't blindly follow the herd.

      911truthers, climate deniers, conspiracy theorists – we seem to love to attack anyone that questions the establishment story line.

      Climate change science is a rabbit hole worth exploring. You know the mainstream opinion as we hear it all the time. Try reading a skeptical book with good reviews, and if you don't have a university library card to get journal access to the papers it references, try scholar.google.com. If you work for the federal government, you should have free access via google search without a pay wall.

    • That you'd put any stock at in this controversial Tim Ball individual over all the climate scientists at NASA and the UKMO Hadley Center only demonstrates how abjectly misguided and misinformed you are on the topic.

      From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Ball

      Controversies and lawsuits

      Ball claimed, in an article written for the Calgary Herald, that he was the first person to receive a PhD in climatology in Canada, and that he had been a professor for 28 years,[48] claims he also made in a letter to then-prime minister of Canada, Paul Martin.[49] Dan Johnson, a professor of environmental science at the University of Lethbridge, countered his claim on April 23, 2006, in a letter to the Herald stating that when Ball received his PhD in 1983, "Canada already had PhDs in climatology," and that Ball had only been a professor for eight years, rather than 28 as he had claimed. Johnson, however, counted only Ball's years as a full professor.[50] In the letter, Johnson also wrote that Ball “did not show any evidence of research regarding climate and atmosphere, ignoring the fact Ball's PhD thesis in 1983 was on climate and weather.”[42]

      In response, Ball filed a lawsuit against Johnson. Johnson's statement of defence was provided by the Calgary Herald, which stated that Ball "…never had a reputation in the scientific community as a noted climatologist and authority on global warming," and that he "…is viewed as a paid promoter of the agenda of the oil and gas industry rather than as a practicing scientist."[49] In the ensuing court case, Ball acknowledged that he had only been a tenured professor for eight years, and that his doctorate was not in climatology but rather in the broader discipline of geography,[42] and subsequently withdrew the lawsuit on June 8, 2007.[49][51]

      In February 2011, it was reported that climate scientist Andrew J. Weaver had sued Ball over an article Ball wrote for the Canada Free Press which was later retracted. In the article, Ball described Weaver as lacking a basic understanding of climate science and stated, incorrectly, that Weaver would not be involved in the production of the IPCC's next report because he had concerns about its credibility.[52][53] Ball contended that the lawsuit was nothing more than an attempt to silence him because of his skeptical position on global warming.[54] In February, 2018 Andrew Weaver's defamation suit against Ball was dismissed completely. The judge noted that Ball's words "lack a sufficient air of credibility to make them believable and therefore potentially defamatory" and concluded that the “article is poorly written and does not advance credible arguments in favour of Dr. Ball’s theory about the corruption of climate science. Simply put, a reasonably thoughtful and informed person who reads the article is unlikely to place any stock in Dr. Ball’s views…".[55][56]

    • But wait, there's more…

      In February 2011 Ball told an anonymous interviewer that Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, "should be in the State Pen, not Penn State," with reference to Mann's role in the Climatic Research Unit email controversy.[57] The interview was published on the Frontier Centre for Public Policy's web site. Mann then sued Ball and Frontier Centre for libel, and stated that he was seeking punitive damages and for the article to be removed from the web site.[58] On 7 June 2019 the Frontier Centre For Public Policy published a retraction and apology in which they stated that they had published "untrue and disparaging" allegations about Mann, and said that "Although the Frontier Centre for Public Policy still does not see eye to eye with Mr. Mann on the subject of global warming and climate change, we now accept that it was wrong to publish allegations by others that Mr. Mann did not comply with ethical standards". Mann said that this retraction and apology was part of the basis on which his claims against the Frontier Centre for Public Policy had been settled, but Ball remained a defendant.[59]

    • The science is settled as to CO2 causing much of global heating. 99% of climate scientists agree. Much research continues and shows projects has underestimated the impact, and so a crisis now.
      To say the cause is not real is the same as the tobacco industry to deny and cause doubts for the public while they continue business as usual. All would wish this to be fake news, but nothing fake about the climate emergency, except by fake scientists and engineers as this anon is.

  13. I have no illusions. I've been looking at rural real estate in Nova Scotia. Quite attractive. I'm mortgage free. I'll have enough to start over and I imagine travel quite a bit in my retirement. Staying here, struggling to heat my home, is not an option I really want to explore. In the absence of any firm commitments from Trudeau, we need to hedge our bets politically. If we elect one or two NDP candidates and a Conservative (I'm biting my tongue), at least we will hedge our bets! We should have brought natural gas ashore from the hibernia field. Perhaps its not too late. Maybe someone can comment on that.

    • Some natural gas is already been flared off at the well head. I imagine some is also injected to help maintain well-head pressure. If the gas that is been flared off could be used to provide energy in our province, economically, in my view it would be much more beneficial for the environment than burning it offshore.

  14. Anon:18:15. "These processes can span hundreds of thousands ……" Very true, when it is left to nature itself, but when man intervenes as you have mentioned, how much is nature speeded up. That is the question. Can you comment on that ?? Nature becomes in balance over hundreds of thousands of years, whether it is the fish of the seas or the air above us, but how do we contribute to that change. Call it global warming or climate change it is all the same, just a play on words. Warming causes more extreme changes in weather and climate. Not a scientist or an engineer, just average Joe using common scense that you mentioned.

  15. Nfld Hydro, under CEO Jennifer Williams, now operates by TWEET, is this Trumps mode of communication? A little bird whispered : electricity prices increasing 6.4 % on Oct 1. PUB gave the nod Sept 11, the tweet from Hydro on Sept 13, Friday the 13th.
    This due to oil price increases which has gone from 86 to 106 dollars, and also using more oil than ever,…. go figure.
    Of interest it seems it is # 6 oil……is this not diesel fuel? So due to gas turbines instead of adding wind and CDM?
    12.7 billion, last year one pole running on DC, importing dirty coal to reduce oil at Holyrood we were told by Stan, yet this increase for oil costs!
    Hydro says Nfld Hydro, the CA and the Industrial interveners were part of this process that gave the nod…….for this approval, and hydro chose via TWEET
    To UG readers; say a little bird told you, just in time for the fall election. The big issues now going before the PUB, one deadline for intervenors tomorrow? This increase will add about 44.00 to a 600/month jan power bill, tax in, will it not, and MFs not yet in the system! They say add 6.40 to 100.00 and don't mention HST. Transparency, hey b'y.
    PF

    360 Nflers are following this tweet, released quietily

    • #6 is far closer to crude oil in pricing and quality than it is to refined fuel products such as diesel. Hydro's cost expectations are suitably high to meet their unstated intention of collecting a surplus. Don't forget that the Premier last year ordered Hydro to build a slush fund before 2021 to be used for rate mitigation. The PUB appears ready to play along under the guise that the Rate Stabilization Plan would credit ratepayers on excess billings. Chances are the Premier will intervene and order the cash to be held for rate mitigation.

    • # 6 is conventional bunker C, now generally used by poor countries who cannot afford more environmental fuel.
      The boondoggle continues, and now being overcharged on rates for using the dirtest fuel. Little different from coal.
      And consultants said our wind energy was no good, right? Which consultant?

  16. International unions, representing 200 million people, are supporting student strikes for the environment, tomorrow, this the idea of 16 year old Swedish girl. Will FFAW, NAPE , CUPE etc here support this here tomorrow? If so what will be Balls, Ches's Coffin's response? What of the Green Party?
    Next week the 27th is Earth Strike event.
    What does scientist/engineer think? What does the Digger think?

  17. I think it is past due that UG take up the issue of our health care crisis. Seems it is only acknowledged now that is big on the Avalon too, and effecting even Sin John's.
    99,000 without a family doctor. 19 % of our population. A blind eye as to a crisis on the Labrador coast for decades.
    Medical ass leader saying it is a crisis for those without the family doctor, but not an overall crisis, Haggie says.
    They meet and chat, pat each other on the back, they are concerned, changes are needed, like PRN instead of family doctors, so a down grade of competence that we should be happy with.
    Doctors don't want family practice. It's a MESS and a crisis. Haggie's denial is like Dunderdale after DarkNL.
    A year ago this was a crisis, but swept under the rug.
    What value are we getting for 3 billion a year? Inefficiency and incompetence. Just like Nalcor.

    • What can UG say except this is only going to get worse due to the fiscal incompetence of the past 20 years.

      How do we spend less when the rest of Canada will pay top wages to doctors and nurses? It seems hard to imagine how to significantly relieve health care expenditures in the face of rising demand that won't precipitate or worsen the human resource shortage already being felt.

      UG and anyone else can see that no political party wants to take control. Spending will rise on health and then bigger deficits and more pressure on other line departments.

      Anyone who has played Monopoly knows how this ends. We spend all our cash gambling on the wrong properties, have to mortgage everything to the hilt and pray to land on free parking or collect chance windfalls. Luck if any doesn't last long and then you're out of the game.

  18. Justin Trudeau's Canadian values have been exposed once again in 2019. First it was throwing female indigenous ministers and their female friends under the bus to save himself from obstruction of justice in the SNC-Lavalin affair and now being outed as a serial racist! The new hypocrisy is that he went after Conservative and NDP candidates and Andrew Scheer for their past value judgements. Shame on him and his party!! We just had a provincial minister resign for a similar but perhaps lesser offence. Down with young Trudeau and the Liberals party of Canada. Vote for real values come October 21st.

  19. i see that strikes for climate has started in Australia and will move around the world today. what is I see is that about 3 to 1 in support as to online likes or not. Many businesses also in support.
    In Nfld we are previous a few hundred on school strike for friday, see what happens today. Not easy to save our planet to keep stability. Much like the North Spur, on shakey ground.

  20. Now what's the burgers up to again??? Increases to rate payers based on the predicted oil prices into the future. Anyone want to predict where the stock market wil be next year this time the Dow, or TSX etc. No one knows with any certainty, and the same with oil prices. So why put rates up based on predictions. Why should the rate payers be hit first after all we have been through. Wait until we see what it WAS and then base the increase on the previous year. That'swhat got us in the boondoggle mess, oil prices going up, never to come down. So Brent is at 64$ US a barrel and they predict another 20$ increase to 106$ a barrel, that must be in Canadian. Or if in US more like a 50 per cent increase. Did they add the 20 bucks because the Iraquies fired a few scud missiles at the Soudies. So boom, hits the rate payers here. The same old song and dance, oil going up, using more oil, yet 12$ billion spent on hydro. The buggers should be shot. Yes, who would you rather pay your money to, the big international oil companies of the world or your own company called nalcor. Heard that one before, especially in the election of 2011. Nalcor, hydro, power, pub, govt. etc. all in cahoots to stick it to the rate payers, just in case oil goes up, and comes down, and muskrat doesn't produce as much power as predicted. What do UG and bloggers say about that ask Joe blow, average Joe, AJ. Plus govt converting govt. buildings to baseboard heating. If the had more than one brain cell they would be dangerous.

    • Yesterday's climate strikes, mostly students, but supported by adults, unions and some very large corporations such as Google, took place in 185 countries. I am not aware of any event in Nfld or Labrador.
      In Australia 300,000 turned out.
      In Germany, 1.4 million marched. Angela Merckel announced a 60 billion dollar package to reduce carbon emissions. She said "As a scientist, I am impressed by Thunberg's message to 'unite behind the science'.
      Around the globe millions took part in the strikes.
      In New York thousands chanted " Greta, Greta, Greta". 250,000 marched in NY city, where officials permitted students to take time off from school.
      Greta drew laughter saying all the politicians what selfies taken with her, but do nothing to take action on the climate issue.
      Our Brian Peckford, (akaThe Digger), had a piece this week titled: "There is no climate emergency" It reads, the so called climate emergency is "imposed on us by climate alarmists,…an assault no less frightening and damaging than the wars that have plagued mankind since the dawn of time. It is time for people and governments to stand up to the power hungry alarmists"
      Odd that Angela Merckel and Google and others are NOT getting the Diggers message.
      If Greta came to Nfld , Ball would look for a selfie with her,while promising to double offshore oil production. Ches would do the same. Ball was anxious to pose with Captain Dildo, yet Greta crossed the Atlantic in a sail boat, carbon free and zero emissions, in hurricane season,that would make Captain Robert Bartlett proud.
      Winston Adams

  21. Time for young Trudeau to appoint a minister of national apologies to try and take the heat off his abysmal past behaviours and values and his abysmal record as prime minister to date. I am an undecided voter though, you will understand.

  22. OF INTEREST:
    Richer than you think?
    Average net worth of Canadian families;to the end of 2018
    Vancover, 1.14 million
    Toronto, 997,000
    BC, 943,000
    Ont 794,000
    Que, 470,000
    NS, 445,000
    NL, 405,000
    NB 361,000
    Canada , 678,000
    Nflders are described as having preference of conservative investments such as back deposits. Little has changed since the 1930s! I think this is important as why we have so man natural resources and not so rich.
    I would have guessed the average Nfld net family worth at about 300,000, so most have bank savings at low return.

    For school strikes , CBC notes Mealy Mountain HVGB, and Stephenville had climate strikes. Comments are 3 to 1 against the students. Those against saying it is abuse of the children. Those for, saying "Child abuse? Mount Cashel was child abuse. Teaching children facts isn't. Get help"
    Seems the Digger has fertile ground in his home province to spread his message that there is no climate emergency, that to slow down fossil fuel extraction and use is wrong, and as damaging as wars! Very Trumpie, we Nflders. Science be dammed.
    Winston Adams

  23. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/c-rcmpolice-i-am-requesting-criminal-investigation-all-pritchard-ma c. To: Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] Mailing Address: O Division RCMP Headquarters, P.O. Box 3240, Station "B", London ON N6A 4K3, Canada From: Llewelyn Pritchard "Dear Sir/Madam I am submitting this written complaint requesting a A Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] Criminal Investigation into all stages of the whole Muskrat Falls Boondoggle hydropower project, Newfoundland and Labrador [NL] for at least seven good reasons" 5 September 2019

    • If you have done this I give you a thumbs up!!
      Every way this boondoggle can be looked at smells to the high heavens of corruption and fraud which our grandchildren will be paying for long after we are gone.
      This cannot be swept under the rug. Those responsible,starting with DW and continued on with KD, PD et al and allowing the likes of EM and his cohorts to pilfer the public purse screams for a criminal investigation.
      If there are no consequences for their actions it will happen again and again and again. One good place to start is to expose the owners of the numbered companies involved with work on the project.

    • Wayne – Snailmailed To: Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] Mailing Address: O Division RCMP Headquarters, P.O. Box 3240, Station "B", London ON N6A 4K3, Canada From: Llewelyn Pritchard "Dear Sir/Madam I am submitting this written complaint requesting a A Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] Criminal Investigation into all stages of the whole Muskrat Falls Boondoggle hydropower project, Newfoundland and Labrador [NL] for at least seven good reasons"
      1. To discover any crime[s] about what went on with NL, Canadian taxpayers money: “how did so many people in positions of responsibility exclude themselves from common ethical norms and processes, as well as the “best practices” of their professions, affording themselves engagement in a lengthy, complicated, and costly plan of deception to achieve the sanction of such a reckless, state-sponsored project?” [Des Sullivan Monday, September 02, 2019]
      2. To discover any crime[s] using, for example, the findings by Judge Richard LeBlanc, Commissioner, The Commission of Inquiry Respecting Muskrat Falls Project expected in December 2019.
      3. To discover if any behaviours connected with politicians, corporations and companies included criminal activity.
      4. To find out if any negligence constitutes crime[s] in any [established] lack of due diligence by all parties involved with the project.
      5. To find out if criminal fraud was apparent at any stage of the whole Muskrat Falls ‘Boondoggle’ [Stan Marshall, Nalcor Energy CEO] project
      6. To bring into the public domain '…the question of penalties that ought to be meted out to the “culprits” most responsible for saddling the province with the Muskrat debacle.’ [Des Sullivan Monday, September 02, 2019]
      7. To discover any criminal behaviour in deceptions and strategic misrepresentation, for example about costs, by Nalcor Energy, NL and Canadian Governments in backing such ill-conceived projects as Muskrat Falls. [‘The Moral of Muskrat Falls’ A dodgy dam in Canada’s east – Newfoundland and Labrador has a history of backing ill-conceived projects The Economist 19.8.17.]
      No alt text provided for this image
      I declare my interests in supporting The Labrador Land Protectors and GrandRiver Keeper Inc. as well my Independent Research findings into the troubled history of Port Hope Simpson. I also declare my membership of the Muskrat Falls Concerned Citizens Coalition [MFCCC.]
      Yours Sincerely
      Signed Llewelyn Pritchard MA
      Ccc. Des Sullivan, David Vardy, Ronald Penny [MFCCC]