Peter Penashue decided to pack it in as deputy grand chief of the Innu Nation.
That leaves the Matshishkapeu Accord in even more doubt than before now that its chief champion is gone to the sidelines. The Accord is crucial to development of the Lower Churchill.
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Danny Williams and his little band might be off to New York to push the Lower Churchill but those savvy people in the Big Apple will know the project is increasingly nothing more than a cute little video with Ron Hynes’ voiceover.
The aboriginal land claims agreement said last year to be finalised and set for a ratification vote in January is still mired in the negotiation and ratification process.
Canadian Press is reporting that Innu deputy grand chief Peter Penashue said:
"Government and the aboriginal people have signed off ... and that will ultimately go for ratification in the very near future."
But Penashue said it could be three or four years before the agreement winds its way through federal channels and is ultimately approved and voted on by his people.
Three or four years before it gets to a vote.
That’s a long way from this fall, which was Penashue’s prediction in June 2009.
Danny Williams was right when he told the Telegram editorial board recently that the project would not happen in the near term.
One of the reasons for the delay in finishing the land claims agreement is that only two of the three parties necessary for a finished product were involved. Despite the provincial government’s decades of experience with land claims agreements, including lengthy negotiations on the Innu claim, these talks ignored the federal government entirely.
"At one point we were looking at splitting the agreement" into provincial and federal areas of jurisdiction, he said.
…
"Subsequently, it has been agreed to by lawyers that (provincial issues) can't be separate from the feds because the feds have the constitutional powers and authority to finalize these agreements," Penashue said.
There’s no explanation why the provincial government and the Innu embarked on the bilateral talks knowing that legally there was no way to cut Ottawa out. What legal genius thought otherwise?
This is further proof that the problems and delays in the Lower have nothing to do with the politically driven fiction coming from the Premier’s Office - and faithfully repeated by some others - that the whole Lower Churchill project is buggered up because of Hydro Quebec.
There’s a reason why your humble e-scribbler labelled the New Dawn announcement the Matshishkapeu Accord. The whole thing is a pile of wind, from some of its initial details to the sheer nonsense that the whole thing was done.
The Premier heralded the thing last fall as doing everything except curing scoliosis. The deal was not just an important step toward the Lower Churchill, it was an “extremely important” one and before the already breathless sentence ran out of breath let’s add that it was also a “significant” step too. Like an important step - let alone an extremely important step - wouldn’t also be significant unless that was added to the sentence as well.
Anyway, the overblown language turns out to have been a very good indicator that the deal was not so much of a deal after all. Remember the Rule of Opposites?
After it was announced, the Matshishkapeu Accord quietly slipped away into MIA Land. The ratification vote was cancelled amid rumblings of major problems with the deal that needed reworking.
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Some pictures turned up in ye olde in-box showing caribou in Labrador. The shots were taken this year.
At this point don’t get concerned with the discussion of which herd is which. Are biologists in agreement that the various herds - George, Red Wine, Joir, etc - are actually separate entities? Or are they merely sub-sets of one large caribou population that ranges over what some people have referred to as the Quebec-Labrador peninsula?
If the Red Wine herd was really only 100 animals and it seldom migrated very far then six or seven years of hunting by both Labrador and Quebec Innu should have wiped them out. Well, certainly if the Innu are reportedly taking way more than 100 animals every season.
The biology of it is one thing. The politics of it is another and as this story of the Innu hunt has really taken off, people are getting a better perspective on the deep political cleavages that lay behind the annual caribou media frenzy.
There is the pressure on the provincial government, evidenced by a statement issued by Hisself - presumably recuperating from heart surgery in sunnier climes - and the companion piece – a media availability by Hisself’s hand-picked political mouthpiece and occasional stunt-double.
Then there is Innu leader Peter Penashue pissing all over the Quebec Innu for supposedly being backward-assed and stunned. Peter reveals the schism between the Innu south of the border and those north of it pretty nakedly. He may also be a bit ticked at being on the receiving end of some of the same tactics he and his associates have been known to use, but that’s another story.
But truth be told, Peter himself is not representing a monolithic group. Heck, Peter’s own mother isn’t on side with the deal. And when it comes to hunting endangered caribou, Peter was singing a very different tune before Christmas than the one he spouts today.
In other words, the issues involved in this are complex. They cannot be dismissed as easily as Peter dismisses them or as some of the non-aboriginal people of the south are making them out to be.
Heck, it isn’t clear yet Peter’s own crowd north of the border will buy into the New Dawn or view it as merely a dolled up version of the original Matshishkapeu Accord. He may like people to think that everything is tucked in, but we heard that same story from him when the Matshishkapeu Accord rolled out the first time. Whatever happened to that January 31 2009 ratification vote, there, Peter?
As with a herd of caribou, there is much more to this story than may first appear.
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There are signs the Matshishkapeu Accord might run into some trouble in the Innu communities in Labrador.
Not surprising, at all, is that.
Expect some heavy concern among non-aboriginal people in Labrador as well, especially when it gets closer to defining Labrador Innu Land. Any non-Innu people currently holding title to land in the area will have to be properly compensated or have their title recognized.
The land claim is a long way from settled. The Lower Churchill deal is a long way from sanctioned if it is sanctioned at all. These things are complex and they take time to work through all the details.
So one does have to wonder what all the rush was about last week. By the Premier's own account the deal was cut in a week of intense negotiations that finished in an all-nighter Thursday. The thing was settled before seven in the morning Friday and the newser was held before anyone had time to do much more than grab a quick show and head to the media gathering.
On something this important, it seems like a rather high pressure tactic to use, one where people are bound to make mistakes in the heat of the moment and under the undue duress of the style.
It's not like really bad deals haven't come out of just such an approach before.
Anyone else remember the mess that came out of just such a high-pressure situation in early June 1990?
Anyone else wonder what Danny Williams would have said if the oil companies tried the same thing on him?
This thing is far from settled.
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Some curious details lay in the clauses of an agreement announced today between the provincial government energy corporation and representatives of the Innu people of Labrador. Any lawyers out there who want to offer a different view or take issue with the following are welcome to do so.
CFLCo Privatization: In the Upper Churchill section, for example, there is reference to a potential sale of the Newfoundland and Labrador interest in Churchill Falls Labrador Corporation to as yet unknown private investors. The "parent company" is the province's energy corporation.
For all the nationalist posturing by the current administration, it's curious to see a contingency established for the sale of such an important asset. Language referring to the privatization of public companies exists in the energy corporation legislation.
Just the existing project: The compensation payments to the Innu apply only to the existing physical plant of CFLCo. Any expansions in the future aren't subject to the agreement.
Don't count your Chickens: Clause 2 (a) establishes an annual payment of $2.0 million paid by the provincial government to the Innu Nation but it only begins on ratification and execution of the impact and benefits agreement...for the Lower Churchill project. No Lower Churchill; no cash
Don't count your Chickens 2: Clause 2 (b) provides for an additional 3% of dividends received by the provincial government "directly or through a corporation owned by the Province." Someone might want to double check. The Province - i.e. the provincial government - doesn't get CFLCo dividends directly.
As for a corporation "owned by the Province", that would refer to Nl Hydro, the company that holds the provincial government's 65% interest in the company that runs Churchill Falls. It used to be held by NL Hydro and that company didn't declare any dividends in 2007. Three percent of zero is...well... zero. Let's not even get into a discussion of the express statement that the percentage would only be paid on dividends on common shares.
Count those Upper chickens for the last time: The payments under Clause 2 (a) and (b) are effective only if the Innu agree to give up any and all claims past, present and future related to aboriginal rights on the Churchill Falls project.
Don't count the Lower chickens either: Any payments are expressly tied to the sanction of the Lower Churchill project.
Don't count your chickens 3: The energy corporation will pay a minimum of $5.0 million annually to the Innu Nation from the period between first project sanction and first commercial power. The payments run for a maximum of 10 years and can stop if the project stops for some reason.
After first commercial power, the energy corporation will pay the greater of the minimum payment and five percent (5%) of annual Net After Debt Cash Flow.
Sounds wonderful, except for two things. At the front end of this project - if it even starts in the first place - that net after debt cash flow might be a really tiny number. It could be a negative number. Read the definition of net after debt cash flow contained in the agreement and you can see the only thing not included in the calculation is the proverbial kitchen sink purchase and operating costs on the outhouses at the site, amortized over the life of the project and including an allowance for annual kitchen sink replacement, repair, refit, redesign and eventual decommissioning.
That would be very bad for the Innu because of the second thing. Clause 3(c)(ii) states that 10 years after project sanction, that minimum payment of $5.0 million is equal to zero. Nada. Zip.
And remember, the clock starts ticking from project sanction, not from construction. If it takes the project 10 years to get on stream, the Innu could wind up receiving nary a penny once the power starts flowing.
The ghost in the turbines: Talk about your Churchill Falls. Oy vey!
Even with that deal the provincial government gets something. In this case, the Innu will have to settle all claims for the promise of getting $50 million ($5 million a year for $10 years). And at the point power starts flowing? Potentially receiving absolutely nothing at all or a trifling amount for an unknown point beyond that.
Of course, if the corporation is sold off in the meantime, then the whole thing stops anyway. The agreement is oddly silent on that eventuality but odds are the clever legal bunnies working for the energy corporation know that not much would come of an Innu legal challenge.
In order to get the first cash, they have to sign away all future claims and indemnify the energy corporation to boot.
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You remember that one from last year.
Around these parts, your humble e-scribbler called it the Matshishkapeu Accord since it seemed a bit like something cooked up by the Fart Man.
Then in the winter, the world learned the deal was completely off the rails.
By July, like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the deal was still dead but Innu leader Peter Penashue hoped to bring it back to life in the fall.
Now in the fall, Peter’s not returning Rob Antle’s phone calls and the Premier’s office is saying naught either.
Not good.
Not good at all, since this is one of the key deals that have to be closed in order give the Lower Churchill hydro megaproject any hope of flying.
At least there’s a consistent silence on this one where both parties don’t want to talk. On the Rhode Island memorandum of understanding, natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale said one thing. The Rhode Island governor’s office said something completely different.
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Announced with great fanfare last September, a land claims agreement-in-principle between the Innu of Labrador and the provincial government is apparently on life support.
The New Dawn agreement seems to have turned into the Matshishkapeu Accord after all.
The deal was supposed to go to a vote back in January but according to media reports the deal was postponed indefinitely.
Turned out there were unspecified “outstanding issues”. Those issues have led to further discussions but it isn’t clear what the hold-up is or when, if ever, the deal may reach the stage where it can head to a vote.
Innu deputy chief Peter Penashue said last week that he hoped the deal will go to a vote in the fall. He had hoped it would be concluded by now.
The deal was in trouble from the start, however and the same concerns within the Innu community are still be heard almost a year later. The deal has a number of other potential problems beyond local concerns over which Innu companies will benefit from the deal.
Whatever happened there’s no sign the deal is really back on track, despite Penashue’s optimism.
Settling a land claims deal with the Innu is crucial to development of the Lower Churchill.
In its annual report for 2008, the province’s energy corporation trumpeted the agreement as a major achievement in efforts to develop the Gull Island and Muskrat falls power complexes. There’s no mention of the hang-up even though the report was released months after the vote was cancelled.
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Sometimes you wonder if these guys actually have a clue:
The recent Public and Private Investment Intentions survey revealed that growth in non-residential capital investment in the province will be the fastest in Canada, surging by an impressive 31.2%. This increase will be fuelled by stronger investment in mining, oil and gas extraction,
utilities (related to the Lower Churchill Hydro development project) and the provincial government’s aggressive infrastructure stimulus plan.
Lower Churchill Hydro development project?
Since no one will be spending money on a project that doesn’t exist it’s going to be pretty hard for that gigantic imaginary project to drive economic development in the province.
It’s like the Matshishkapeu Accord, appropriately named around these parts after the spirit of the anus, the flatulence god. Because that’s pretty much what the whole LC project is right now: so much hot air that hits your nostrils with a pretty ripe odour.
Then there’s this piece of sure shite from the boys at the bank:
Employment in the province fell by 5,200, causing the unemployment rate to rise during most of the year; however, outside of energy and mining, the rest of the domestic economy fared surprisingly well.
Sure.
Surprisingly well indeed, if you don’t mention that the fishery is down 22% in landed value.
And let’s not forget that forestry, as in pulp and paper making, is in near complete friggin’ meltdown. Mills closed. The one remaining mill has one machine going instead of two and is slicing off workers and costs in a desperate effort to stay afloat.
The province’s finance minister admits they’ve shagged up government spending so badly that current spending patterns are “unsustainable.” But the fin min say recently that if it wasn’t for oil – thanks BP, CKW, BT, and RG – he and DW would be shagged up royally? good thing there were all those give-aways before 2003 of they’d be up the creek.
But sure sure thing, there, RBC economist guys.
Everything in Newfoundland and Labrador is just wonderful.
Protected by a magic bubble.
Friggin’ loons.
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Every year Quebec Innu hunt caribou in the northern part of the territory they claim.
Every year there is a panic about it.
This year was no exception.
There was just a unique excuse this year: the Matshishkapeu Accord.
But every year the Innu hunt caribou, and every year the government gets its collective knockers in a giant bunch, some locals call for the army to be sent in to arrest the interlopers and every year the endangered Red Wine caribou herd and its 100 animals never seem to get slaughtered into extinction.
And it’s not like someone hasn’t pointed out that this pattern occurs.
Same bat time, give or take a few weeks.
Same bat place.
Every.
single.
year.
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Apparently, the Matshishkapeu Accord will be back for the Innu people of Labrador to vote on.
This must be the final, final, final version of the final agreement announced two and a half years ago as being the final agreement.
Note, though, that all the feds have announced on Monday was a financial deal. The rest of the land claim is still up in the air.
Just sayin’, in case anyone figured this was a done deal.
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