March 10, 2006A check with some other sources suggests that the GRAP cable deal may have been kicking around the Confederation Building but it didn't get to cabinet before Rain Man Sullivan made these comments.
Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan says Aliant's decision to become an income trust will mean the loss of corporate tax revenues for the province. Some reports suggest the four Atlantic provinces could lose as much as 49 million dollars. Under an income trust, taxes are paid by shareholders who could live anywhere. Sullivan says he knows how much the province will lose, but he can't disclose the figure publicly. Sullivan says they don't know yet when the income loss will be felt.
Nope.
It might have been a few weeks later and it might be sheer coincidence but the correlation is interesting.
Maybe there are some cabinet meeting notes - only to be released decades from now - that document the Premier's endless rantings about the evil Aliant empire and how it must be destroyed.
Maybe, there is a reason some people report seeing sheets and sheets of drywall moved to the 8th Floor after hours and only garbage bags with broken plaster coming out. (Lots of ceilings to replace as The Furor's head goes through them more often than usual these days, methinks.)
Don't underestimate the power of commitment to a petty insult to an old monopolist. Go back over the explanations offered by the provincial cabinet, notice the lack of concrete details being used to support the $15 million in spending, notice the curious timelines and then consider the Sullivan comment.
It all starts to make sense.