Nalcor’s effort to have local taxpayers subsidize electricity exports to Massachusetts came up in the House of Assembly on Thursday.
Well, sort of came up.
New Democratic Party leader Lorraine Michael asked a couple of lame questions and got – not surprisingly - a few equally lame answers.
Here they are, in their entirety.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Nalcor is in Massachusetts lobbying lawmakers to pass a clean energy bill, which Nalcor hopes will lead to financing of their proposed Gull Island hydro project.
I ask the Premier: Why is a utility which can barely keep the lights on this Province continuing to build on its own Muskrat Falls folly?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, I hardly know where to start, I have to be honest, but I will start. It is about vision. It is about planning. It is about a future. It is about laying groundwork. It is about looking forward and about the opportunities that exist in this Province to develop our resources for the benefit of the people of this Province, not only in this generation but generations to come.
I understand the member opposite really struggles with economic development, Mr. Speaker, but we have laid that down in this Province for the past ten years. We are developing our resources, but we are also looking to the future. They are in Massachusetts because there is a strong market there. We are on the ground. We are getting favourable response from it and certainly appreciate the work that Nalcor is doing to lay out the future for Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I ask the Premier why his government is condoning Nalcor’s planned construction of an even larger and more expensive hydroelectric project instead of putting development in place that is rooted in the communities of this Province.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, I am struck amazed, I have to be honest. How you can talk about communities and development and go against a project like Muskrat Falls is unbelievable.
How you can stand there and criticize when government and the Crown corporation is planning for the future, planning for our children, Mr. Speaker. They are not out spending money and developing Gull Island; they are laying out a platform, whether it is this government or any other government. That is our responsibility: to have vision, to make plans, to develop for our future.
We have students in this House today, Mr. Speaker, and it is about those students that we are going to develop and plan for the future.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. DALLEY: It is time to be a part of it, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
You will now understand why the Conservatives mock the NDP every day for their incompetence.
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