On January 17, Consolidated Thompson chief executive Brian Tobin - yes, that Brian Tobin - said that his company would no longer be pursuing plans to purchase Wabush Mines.
No surprise there, since Bond Papers covered the issue when it happened. Never content to accept things at face value, your humble e-scribbler went so far as to speculate that maybe Premier Danny Williams' attitude to power costs for the two mines in Labrador West may have been a factor in the decision by CT to abandon the Wabush deal. Incidentally, CT cited unspecified liabilities as the reason for dropping the project.
On top of that, about 10 days after the original story, reference to the Bond Papers column turned up in The Aurora, Transcons' weekly in Labrador West.
How very strange then, that this news release flew out of Confederation Building at mid-day on Friday stating that the provincial government was encouraging CT to take another look at Wabush.
Two weeks after the company abandons the project and makes an announcement to investors to that effect, Danny Williams apparently decided to give his old pal Brian a call and "encourage" him to take another look.
The cynic would point out that the Premier is just trying to do some damage control in Labrador West in advance of what will be the fifth by-election in 2007.
Then again, regular readers of Bond Papers would recognize the pattern here. Long after an issue has been decided, Danny Williams issues a news release all for naught.
Think about the long series of releases and delays over the Voisey's Bay smelter location. INCO decided against the Argentia site since it carried way too many liabilities. Williams asked the federal government to accept unlimited liability for the site. He kept it up for months, until the feds politely declined the opportunity. Heck, Danny Williams was still talking about Argentia as INCO filed applications to approve the Long Harbour site.
Completely pointless, mind you, but Danny is persistent.
Then there was the release last summer taking issue with someone's remarks about the province's offshore policy. The only problem was the Premier's comments were about something that had happened three weeks previously. By the time he got around to clenching his jaw again for the cameras, most reporters - let alone most people on the planet - had long since forgotten what had been said at the NOIA conference on the local oil and gas industry. Nonetheless, Williams fired out the release, called reporters together and had at the windmill.
In this latest instance, there are one of three possible outcomes:
1. Since the company has skedaddled away from the purchase based on certain liabilities and maybe because of Danny Williams' position on power rates, Danny will find himself talking to himself...yet again. Consolidated Thompson will move on to other things. In the meantime, western Labrador will see some benefits from the Bloom Lake development, once it is up and operating.
2. Consolidated Thompson will gladly come back to the table expecting that Danny Williams will now be willing to talk some sense on power rates. They might even expect - since he is chasing after them - that he will pony up cash and take care of those pesky environmental liabilities.
Yes, the Great Negotiator will meet the Great Communicator.
But since the Great Negotiator is entering the talks from a position of some weakness, I'd put my money on the guy who parted ways from Frank Stronach after a handful of months and pocketed more cash than you could shake an unread financial report at.
3. While Danny is busily talking to shadows, or figuring out how to get his watch on the right date, Brian Tobin will make a pitch to Iron Ore Company of Canada, buy up their facility and extend the life of that operation.
That's only possible, of course, if Williams changes his tune on what rates IOC can buy power from its own company.
Either way you look at it though, this latest news release shows just exactly how heavily micromanaged and how badly out of touch this government is.
