The provincial government’s tourism folks love Gros Morne with all its beautiful views and its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.
The provincial government’s energy folks want to sling 40-odd metre tall hydro towers through the park because it would be cheaper than going around the park.
So when the Telegram goes to the tourism department looking for a media line on a project that has – presumably – been endorsed by cabinet and therefore all of government, the tourism people suggest that reporter go speak to someone else.
Like the natural resources minister, she who oversees the line slingers.
Now it’s not like the comment was about something outside the tourism department’s mandate. They should have a line on it ready to sling in the event someone asks them about the power line slinging.
But they didn’t.
They instead pointed to the other bunch.
And that’s a bit odd.
It suggests that somewhere in the tourism department there is at least one e-mail, at least one memo perhaps pretty high up the departmental food chain that considers the liner slinging to be “the most serious threat” to any tourism campaign featuring the pristine natural beauty of the province.
There might even be a document of some kind that says that, having looked at the “trade-offs”, the tourism people don’t like the idea of high voltage direct current electricity wire zapping bugs all down through the park.
Because, the surest way to put an end to any news story about the threat to Gros Morne from the potentially unnecessary infeed from the Lower Churchill – if that even gets built – is to have the tourism people state publicly that having Gros Morne festooned with steel girders and power lines is just a lot of fuss about nothing at all.
But they didn’t do that.
The tourism people passed the buck to someone else.
Very curious.
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