Great horny toads!
A couple of weeks ago, Danny Williams claimed that president-elect Barack Obama was copying the Williams formula for economic success:
“You know what I like the most is Barack Obama is listening to what we're doing here,” Mr. Williams said during question period to roars of applause from his Conservative caucus.
Okay, in the looney tunes world of Newfoundland and Labrador politics – and that was one of the more delusional claims from the crowd currently running this place – things may be about to a get a bit more zany for Danny and the rest of the repo crew owing to its recent adventure in central Newfoundland.
That would be zany in a bad way.
You see, they’ve managed to make it onto the radar screen at Foggy Bottom but not in a way that anyone really wants, especially when that radar screen sits in Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest overseas trading partner. forbes.com has the story.
Yes, Yosemite Dan has managed to wield the expropriation bill pretty much like the two-by-four between the eyes of the camel:
"We are concerned that this action could negatively affect Canada's investment climate," the State Department said in a statement. "We are always concerned whenever U.S. companies operating overseas encounter difficulties, whether commercial or legal, and we are following closely the action that the provincial government appears to have taken in this case."
The department also said it was asking Canadian federal officials for "more information about the provincial government's explicit legislative statement that it was expropriating certain of its rights and assets without compensation."
Not surprisingly, AbitibiBowater’s shares rose dramatically in trading on news that AB had some really powerful friends in really high places. There’s nothing like to get American attention than dealing with American companies in a heavy-handed way like say you might see in Venezuela.
Add in the current climate south of the border, the climate that questions the value of the North American Free Trade Agreement for the United States and you can see the recipe for the expropriation bill becoming a major irritant in trade between Canada and the United States.
Of course, that’s what you get when you act without thinking.
-srbp-