Did Harper break a promise?
Yes.
Has anyone shown the financial impact on the province?
Nope.
That's a set of facts the provincial government isn't talking about.
Are there things the Premier isn't talking about besides that?
Yes. Take this excerpt:
The Premier also agrees that for now there is no cap on the Atlantic Accord. But the province will be forced in the near future to take the same alternative as Nova Scotia was forced to take in their budget last week which results in a cap on its accord revenues.What the Premier didn't say is that he's referring to the point when the provincial government goes off Equalization, i.e. becomes a so-called "have" province.
That's a cap built in to the 2005 offshore Equalization offsets deal.
or consider this bit:
The Premier also pointed out that contrary to some commentaries recently Newfoundland and Labrador in fact contributes greatly to the Canadian federation, in particular as it relates to natural resource revenue.Note the conditional language; the federal government "could take in."
“Over the life of our three existing offshore oil projects, projections indicate the federal government could take in approximately $20 billion on those projects, and several billions of dollars on the Voisey’s Bay project,” added Premier Williams. “These are just two examples of the contributions our province make to this federation; contributions which greatly assist the federal government in delivering important programs and services to the Canadian people.”
Ok. Well, over the life of the projects - upwards of two decades - it likely will hit that number.
What about the provincial take?
Well, you won't hear those figures from the provincial government.
Provincial government revenue from the offshore isn't convenient when you have been busily spreading the myth that that every single development deal ever done before October 2003 was bad, that we always gave away our resources.
And for the record, the federal revenue from economic activity in Newfoundland and Labrador ran at about $4700 per person in 2004. Federal transfers to the provincial government, to individuals and to companies ran at about double that in the same year.
The Premier is right. Newfoundland and Labrador does contribute tremendously to the country.
It also reaps tremendous benefits.
Just as well to acknowledge the facts.
The question is how the province can grow and thrive in the future.
People certainly can't support good policies if all they have is a selective presentation of "facts" in a government news release.
We sure won't get anywhere with a pointless war of words with the federal government.
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