Someone kindly forwarded this little gem to me. I just couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head at how we all seem to be stuck in some sort of bizarre time loop.
February 5, 1966, Toronto Star
Joey plans undersea 16 1/2 mile tunnel
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP Special) -- Plans for a tunnel under the Strait of Belle Isle between Newfoundland and Labrador to carry cars, trains and power cables and to connect with a trans-Labrador highway were outlined in the Newfoundland legislature by Premier Joey Smallwood yesterday.
He said the 16 1/2 mile tunnel would cost about $43 million to build and take four years.
-30-
If only, if only I was makin' this stuff up.
Sad to say, this is a real news clipping of a real story from 39 years ago. Even sadder, this was actually the first major development initiative announced by Premier Williams last year when he tossed tens of thousands of dollars into a pot to study the feasibility of the fixed link concept.
Premier Williams remains committed to this nutty idea even though the current estimated cost is more than $4.5 billion dollars. Of course, the Premier claims it will generate thousands of car trips per day (where hundreds exist today) and that people will be clamouring to see the big hole in the ground. Who does he plan to get to pay for it? Why, Paul Martin and the Government of Canada of course.
Hmm. I wonder what the Globe and the Star and the Empire Club will say when they get Danny's pitch for The Big Busy Ditch (copyright pending)?
