Williams' actions brand Canada badly?

Deborah Yedlin's column in the Globe and Mail business section Friday contain some observations on Danny Williams' rejection of a 300 million barrel oil project off the province's coast.

Some of the comments, especially the one about Loyola Sullivan, will be familiar to Bond readers.

Among other comments though there are ones like this:

Energy companies around the world -- particularly those that are publicly traded and not national oil companies -- are challenged to invest capital and replace current production. And if they can do it in politically stable countries where there is a rule of law that can be relied on, so much the better. That's why they come to Canada.

Because of what's at stake, they are unlikely to hold back on providing as much information as possible to decision makers in order to win the necessary approvals. The folks running The Rock don't seem to get it. Instead they persist in playing hardball.

or this:

With all this as backdrop, is it such a coincidence that the government's well-respected finance minister resigned some two weeks ago? The Newfoundland government now has to live with the likelihood that the companies that have been turned down twice are going to have a tough time giving Newfoundland a thumbs-up if others in the business ask whether it's a province that is friendly to investors.

Many will reject Yedlin's comments out of hand, especially those who find it difficult to question Williams at all on anything. A few out there will see the larger implications of this week's gambit by the man who thinks it immensely flattering to be compared to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.