For just a little background on the winter availability deals between CFLCo and Hydro Quebec, flip to these two releases:
1. Issued By Natural Resources Minister Ed Byrne last year.
Skip down a bit from the Premier's comments about reselling the power "outside the province" and you can easily see that what follows in the second link is actually the truth of it.
2. Issued by Paul Dicks as Mines and Energy Minister in 2000.
As the release says: "The release of this information by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro should put to rest, once and for all, the misleading and inaccurate statements made by the Leader of the Opposition," said Minister Dicks. "Mr. Byrne is just plain wrong and his deliberate misrepresentation of the truth is irresponsible and detrimental to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador."
Go down a little bit more in the older release and you find this:
"The minister noted that without the GWAC and Shareholders’ Agreement, both of which arose from the March 9, 1998 Framework Agreement with Hydro Quebec, CF(L)Co would have been in financial jeopardy. Indeed, in the absence of such arrangements, it would have been possible for Hydro Quebec to take greater ownership and control of CF(L)Co. These agreements protect Newfoundland and Labrador’s interests over the long term," said the minister." [Emphasis added]
"These agreements have been very beneficial to Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and to the province as a whole. In fact, the GWAC and Shareholders’ Agreement, as well as the 130 mw Recall Block arrangement, will result in revenues of $2 billion over the life of the deals. These revenues will be used to develop hydro resources in the province, contributing to our economy, and will also provide substantial revenues to government to support social and economic programs as required."
Geez, Danny and Ed, I guess the Liberals did such a fine job of running the place into the ground you just kept on doing the same things.
By the way, where was Ed Byrne yesterday in government's initial response to the Ontario/Quebec proposal?
