The Politics of the Caribou

Some pictures turned up in ye olde in-box showing caribou in Labrador.  The shots were taken this year.

At this point don’t get concerned with the discussion of which herd is which.  Are biologists in agreement that the various herds  - George, Red Wine, Joir, etc - are actually separate entities?  Or are they merely sub-sets of one large caribou population that ranges over what some people have referred to as the Quebec-Labrador peninsula?

If the Red Wine herd was really only 100 animals and it seldom migrated very far then six or seven years of hunting by both Labrador and Quebec Innu should have wiped them out.  Well, certainly if the Innu are reportedly taking way more than 100 animals every season.

The biology of it is one thing.  The politics of it is another and as this story of the Innu hunt has really taken off, people are getting a better perspective on the deep political cleavages that lay behind the annual caribou media frenzy.

There is the pressure on the provincial government, evidenced by a statement issued by Hisself  - presumably recuperating from heart surgery in sunnier climes - and the companion piece – a media availability by Hisself’s hand-picked political mouthpiece and occasional stunt-double.

Then there is Innu leader Peter Penashue pissing all over the Quebec Innu for supposedly being backward-assed and stunned.  Peter reveals the schism between the Innu south of the border and those north of it pretty nakedly. He may also be a bit ticked at being on the receiving end of some of the same tactics he and his associates have been known to use, but that’s another story.

But truth be told, Peter himself is not representing a monolithic group. Heck, Peter’s own mother isn’t on side with the deal.  And when it comes to hunting endangered caribou, Peter was singing a very different tune before Christmas than the one he spouts today.

In other words, the issues involved in this are complex.  They cannot be dismissed as easily as Peter dismisses them or as some of the non-aboriginal people of the south are making them out to be. 

Heck, it isn’t clear yet Peter’s own crowd north of the border will buy into the New Dawn or view it as merely a dolled up version of the original Matshishkapeu Accord. He may like people to think that everything is tucked in, but we heard that same story from him when the Matshishkapeu Accord rolled out the first time.  Whatever happened to that January 31 2009 ratification vote, there, Peter? 

As with a herd of caribou, there is much more to this story than may first appear.

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Firds of a bleather

Provincial finance minister Tom Marshall, speaking in Corner Brook in mid-February:

“Now we have to benefit from new industry, benefit from the knowledge economy, the innovation economy.”

Adios “stimulus”. 

Innovation is the new buzzword on provincial Tory lips.

And then a couple of days before the federal budget, you’ll never guess what federal Tories are saying, well according to Globe and Mail sources:

The Harper government's Throne Speech and budget this week will try to shift the spotlight away from the billions of dollars in short-term stimulus and onto measures designed to generate higher-paying, longer-term jobs.

 

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A knowledge economy, indeed

Finance minister Tom Marshall, in mid-February 2010:

“Now we have to benefit from new industry, benefit from the knowledge economy, the innovation economy.”

Sure, Tom:

A spending freeze on funding for graduate students at Memorial University of Newfoundland is expected to affect hundreds of professors and students.

The university's administration is freezing funding for new graduate students, starting fall 2010 because the university's School of Graduate Studies is running a deficit.

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Oil production figures

BP gave you the numbers in November 2009.

Turns out the provincial finance department’s statistics division did a run of the same figures in October but didn’t make them public until January 2010, three months later.

Still, they projected oil production over the whole fiscal year would be down 21% from the previous year. They changed the exact numbers from 98 million barrels forecast in March to 101 million barrels by December and – in true political hyper-torque mode -  in the December financial update this was pushed an an increase compared to the forecast.

It was – obviously -  an increase compared to the forecast; but that only masked the fact they were actually forecasting a drop of 21% in production regardless of how you looked at it.

That, almost inevitably, will translate into a substantial drop in revenue as well.  Yet,  the December financial statement claimed there’d be only a modest drop in oil revenue from the blockbuster year in 2008.  The finance officials never did show how they came up with that calculation.

The BP forecast for revenues used used actual royalty figures from the federal natural resources department. They show the provincial government’s royalties tracking below the March forecast.

And while the treasury will pocket close to $200 million from the Hibernia transportation dispute settlement it’s still a bit hard to see how oil prices are going to rebound sufficiently to produce the extra $520 million in oil revenues – compared to March’s forecast  -  that the revised treasury forecast said would be in hand by the end of the year.

Still, the final tally on the budget update in December only shift the figures around slightly.  If it holds on track, the provincial government will still wind up borrowing close on a billion dollars in cash – either from the banks or from its own temporary cash reserves – in order to balance the books.

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But if the “mother fish” is dead…

Apparently someone missed the fairly simple point that if a large size cod is a sign of a healthy stock – the big ones are successful breeders – then it only stands to reason that a large dead cod can’t help the endangered cod stocks to recover.

Because…like…you know…umm…

Dead cod don’t breed.

Right?

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Priorities

New legislation consolidating the province’s animal control and protections is due in the House of Assembly in a couple of weeks’ time.

Meanwhile, there are at least 10 pieces of legislation – one dating back to 2004 – which passed through the legislature but which are not in force.

And on top of that there are campaign promises, some of those dating back to 2003, which are still unfulfilled.

Danny Williams may think the crowd at the Ceeb are mothers for poking around his heart business but apparently  - what with those damn Dead Dogs from Dunville  - he sure looks to the Mother Corp to drive public policy.

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Whistleblower Protection Bill – the annual reminder

From January 2009,  here’s, here’s the link to the text of a draft bill to protect people who blow the whistle on misdeeds by public officials.

Your humble e-scribbler offered up this self-contained piece of draft legislation as a way of helping a government that seems to have a spot of trouble meeting its campaign commitments.

This one dated from 2007 and in his 2008 year-ender with the Telegram, the Premier said:

"We indicated that we would try and get that done by the end of this year. We realized getting into that, that that's a very complex piece of legislation that we have to make sure that it's done properly…".

No need to fear complexity.  This draft bill is based on a tested example from another province.

Never let it be said that your humble e-scribbler didn’t try and help out the provincial government, especially since it has been off for the past month recovering from major heart surgery.

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Bullshit headline; bullshit story

“Quebec Innu hunters may face charges” screams the headline above a cbc.ca/nl story.  The subject  - the annual caribou frenzy  - rivals the annual march madness of the seal slaughter for the media play it gets and the howls of protest from people within the province.

There is the first sentence that supports the headline and makes it look like the provincial government might actually be doing something to stop the hunt of caribou near an endangered herd.

The second sentence is a quote from the minister:

"We certainly do," [justice minister] Felix Collins told CBC News. "We certainly hope that the evidence will be sufficient to lay charges.”

Unfortunately the rest of the story reveals the naked truth:  the headline, lede and quote are sheer bullshit because the provincial government doesn’t have a scrap of evidence worthy of the name. 

There’s a quote from the minister that anyone with half a clue could figure out:

"Evidence taken from surveillance cameras presents some challenges because you have to identify a shooter with a dead animal on the ground, and given the angles of the cameras and the lighting and the clothing and distinguishing one individual from the other and what not, it takes quite a challenge to do that."

Collins said no evidence was seized at the scene.

If you listen the audio that goes with the story, Labrador Morning host Cindy Wall very simply notes for justice minister Felix Collins that there have been no charges laid despite the fact this stuff goes on regularly. Collins gamely insists that work is progressing and evidence is being assessed.  He even tries to make it sound like there is still a possibility charges might be laid arising from events last year.

Good luck with that one, there Felix.

Collins even insists that charges would be laid against anyone, including Innu from Labrador.  Wall pointedly corrects that one, too by calmly speaking truth to power. The last time Labrador Innu hunted in a restricted zone they got their gear back and no charges were laid.

Admittedly, Collins is in a hard spot on this one.  He’s caught between the domestic political pressure to do something and the practical problems of trying to do anything at all with a massive hydro-electric legacy project at stake. 

But Collins dilemma hardly warrants a news story that starts out with sheer crap for a headline, lede and opening quote.

Leave that for the crowd in the Confederation Building who get paid huge amounts to pour out just exactly that kind of bullshit.

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The Annual Caribou Frenzy: 2010 edition

Every year Quebec Innu hunt caribou in the northern part of the territory they claim.

Every year there is a panic about it.

This year was no exception.

There was just a unique excuse this year:  the Matshishkapeu Accord.

But every year the Innu hunt caribou, and every year the government gets its collective knockers in a giant bunch, some locals call for the army to be sent in to arrest the interlopers and every year the endangered Red Wine caribou herd and its 100 animals never seem to get slaughtered into extinction.

And it’s not like someone hasn’t pointed out that this pattern occurs.

Same bat time, give or take a few weeks.

Same bat place.

Every.

single.

year.

 

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SCANners

One of the pieces of legislation included last May in Bond Papers’ list of legislation  not in force has turned up dead.

Cause of death is reported to be changed priorities.

As Terry Roberts reported in the Saturday Telegram, the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act (SCAN) won’t be put into force despite being passed by the legislature in 2007 and supposedly still being on track in 2008:

"At this point in time, there's no inclination to proclaim it because our priorities now have changed," Collins said.

"We've put significant investments into policing in the last couple of years, and that's where our priorities have gone."

He said the province's policing budgets have increased $40 million since 2004.

Collins said financial concerns played a role in deep-sixing the SCAN law.

"It's a question of getting the best bang for the buck with the resources you have," he noted.

But the minister could not put a dollar figure on how much implementing the Safer Communities law would have cost taxpayers.

Odd that Collins said financial concerns entered into consideration.  A highly misleading news release issued in 2007 – it was an election year, don’t forget – carried the title “Government takes action for safe communities and neighbourhoods” and also included this line:

Budget 2007 provided $237,000 for an investigation unit within the Department of Justice that will be in place as early as this fall.

Less than $250,000 dropped in 2007 with the clear implication in the release that not only was the legislation in force – when it wasn’t – but that government already budgeted cash to get the whole scheme up and rolling.

So how come three years later the whole thing is dead and money was a contributing factor to the project’s demise?

The SCAN messaging fit perfectly with the Tory campaign that fall which placed a heavy emphasis on crime and crime prevention.  The campaign even included a staged event with police recruits. 

SCAN didn’t get the highlight the Tory campaign expected though.  That’s likely because, as the Telegram reported, the law proved unpopular with community groups.  The Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women warned of serious problems with the bill and no evidence it actually worked in any of the other provinces  - like Alberta, Saskatchewan, and  Manitoba – where this type of law actually was in force.

Amendments to the bill seemed to address some of the concerns but apparently not sufficiently to avoid controversy.

SCAN legislation is supposed to deal with cases where property is being used for illegal activity but where it’s unlikely that the Crown prosecutors could  get a conviction under the Criminal Code or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.  SCAN can also serve as a tip to law enforcement about illegal or suspicious activity.

SCAN isn’t the only topical piece of justice department legislation that is on the side of milk cartons.  In 2004, one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the new Tory-dominated legislature was designed to beef up court security. Six years later, the thing is still not in force. 

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Related:  “Massive cost overruns, delays now normal for provincial government?”

Too close for comfort: Gladiator and Pirates

Close your eyes and just listen to the music.

This is what you get when you hire the same guy  - or his associates - for both movies.  You not only get music that “sounds like” what so-and-so did for that film over there, you get pretty much the same stuff.

And if that wasn’t enough proof of One Thought Zimmer’s penchant for borrowing from himself, about half way through this compilation, you’ll find that Glad and pirates sounds like a chunk of the soundtrack for a Wesley Snipes parachuting movie.

 

Zimmer’s not alone.  James Horner seems to have had one idea and milked it through several movies as well.  The bits from Willow and Enemy at the Gates are laughable. And right at the end, there’s the past master of “homaging”, John Williams with photocopy job in JFK and Jurassic Park.

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The Last Post: Dead Dipper Dale

Tickling Bight  is no more.

It has ceased to be.

Bereft of life, it has run down the curtain and joined the invisible choir of political blogs in this province that vanished without a trace and without warning.

It has hydroqueened, you might say. Where is Hydroqueen these days, any way?

Tickling Bight may not have managed to last for one rideout, the shortest measurement in local politics. One rideout is 43 days, the length of time Tory Premier Tom Rideout held office in 1989. .

Tickling Bight was the partisan outlet for Dale Kirby, a local New Democrat organizer.

There’s no word on why the blog – which started without much fanfare -  slipped quietly into the night.

Resurrection Update:  And then just as mysteriously as it vanished, Tickling Bight reappears.

Again, just like the hydroqueen.

Someone forget to pay the bill or something?

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Kremlinology 18: And that was W.A. Mozart with a little tune called Lacrimosa…

In some countries,  you can tell when the latest Great Helmsman is dead. 

The radio stations bombard listeners with sombre music of a classical bent for a few hours before the formal announcement is made. Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov, all got the warning treatment before being propped up for displays of ritual public grief and then stuffed in the Kremlin wall for posterity.

Well, there may not be any depressing music yet but we may already have begun to hear tests of the the eulogy for Danny Williams’ political career.

Tory backbencher Ed Buckingham called voice of the cabinet minister’s morning talk show on Friday to rebut some comments by an earlier caller about the Hibernia South deal. Maurice was out to lunch but Ed went a bit farther than necessary in defending the master’s honour when he got into the great wonderments of the deal just inked.

Ed picked up the thread about all the great knowledge and wisdom which is coming from  not just this deal but others.  Apparently before now, no one knew anything about oil and gas stuff.  But thanks to Glorious and Wondrous Leader’s efforts – according to Ed – we are learning more with each one and getting better and better at deal-making.

Then he tossed in the bit that was way too much.  The thing about WGL – according to Ed – is that he is always looking ahead to make sure that we his doting subjects, his sheep, his idiot children, his precious flock of stooges are looked after, all in preparation for the day when he is not around to lead us all in his usual wondrous and glorious fashion.

Now that line displayed an entirely patronising and belittling attitude toward the people of the province, let alone what it said about Ed and his fellow politicians currently sitting in the legislature.

And we’ve certainly heard the line about gaining knowledge and how that is a big part of these deals. Having an oil company is supposed to help “us” learn about oil stuff, like none of this has ever happened before in the history of the province.

What’s noticeable about this reference is that it is the first time – in light of the most recent unmentionable subject - that one of the truly faithful has dared to make any reference to the prospect that at some point someone else might have to put a hand to the tiller instead of the guy who has been doing it for the past seven years.

Even without reference to that most recent unmentionable subject, as distinct from the unmentionable subject Bob Wakeham mentioned, that seems to be about the only time some local Tories have floated the idea that Wondrous and Glorious Leader might actually not be here for the thousand years foretold in legend, the four terms joked about with VOCM or the one more election he told Fred Hutton about.

But if one of them does start talking about the post-Danny world, then it may not be so very far away after all.

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Just like the Daily News never died

Yes, folks, never let it be said that sycophancy need be without its inadvertent humour.  For record – and before it disappears – here is a headline that doesn’t really say exactly what was intended even though the article is another vintage bit of knob-polishing from a corner of the Internet that polishes DW’s knob more than a Tory back-bencher on Open Line sucking for a cabinet seat.

Punchy?

Well, it could mean sharp and incisive but “punchy” in that sense is usually used in reference to words on a page or in reference to an action. An example of a punchy column would be Bob Wakeham’s latest.

When used to characterise an individual – which is the sense of the headline - “punchy” usually means bewildered, dazed confused. It can be a synonym for punch-drunk which means “showing signs of brain damage”  as a result of receiving too many strong blows to the head.

Heaven knows there is plenty of doublethink going on these days but this headline on a post takes the cake.  Apparently Danny was both unaffected and addled all at the same time.

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Buried Update:  Post still appears, unaltered.  A flurry of overnight posting on everything from phlegm to cartoons drops it down the order so people would have to go looking for it.

Was the Vancouver source named Liz one wonders?

Ink-stained wretches of the world unite!

Telegram editorial page editor Russell Wangersky spreads the ribs on the latest racket and puts all the bits  - and that would be all the bits - where they belong.

One particular bit is rarely expressed these days but it is very true. 

Wangersky tackles the issue of the recent boycott of CBC over comments made by an on-air guest and then offers a suggestion:

If we were less competitive and self-serving, and more committed to the right of free access, the media in this province would stand up to this particular bully.

We’d set up our cameras and digital recorders for some Williams command-performance media event — some event that he felt was of critical importance for him to speak on, and when the premier appeared, all of the media would pack up their gear and leave him standing there. You’d probably only have to do that once, because Williams is no fool. Why do it?

Because every media outlet in this province will eventually feel the same premieral lash, unless they are so hopelessly hero-worshiping and fawning as to never come close to experiencing the same opprobrium.

Will it happen? I don’t know. I’m not sure that the media in this province realizes that today’s gain might be tomorrow’s servitude.

He’s right.

On everything.

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Kremlinology 17: Woof! Woof!

 

“If I collapse up here, please drag me to Seattle – because the Canadian Medical Association won’t have anything to do with me,” the Newfoundland and Labrador Premier said.

In politics, they call it a dog whistle.  That’s the use of coded language that sends a very particular message that can only be heard by those attuned to the code. 

In this case, the key word is “Canadian” and the concept is that the Canadian doctors  - like are just sooking because they couldn’t get to operate on The Other Great One.

It’s a theme that’s been running through Danny Williams’  comments since undergoing major heart surgery in the United States.  The doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador did a bang-up job.  When he had to look at options outside the province he went to another native son for advice.  This guy just happens to be a leading thoracic surgeon in New Jersey and he recommended a fellow in Miami. Williams did say that the option of having this surgery with this method done in Canada was never offered to him, but that, it seems might be nothing more than a lawyer’s careful choice of words.

Now that some Canadian surgeons are pointing out that the same procedure was available in Canada, it isn’t good enough for Danny Williams to rely on the idea that it was simply his choice.  He’s got to take a dig that fits both with his narrative on the surgery and, for those familiar with it, his highly defensive modus operandi.

Now the rather interesting thing is that as Williams slipped that one into his Thursday night speech at a small crowd in Vancouver, it appears that some of his homies have already started howling the same tune.

Telegram comment[ary]s editor Peter Jackson made very similar snide comments a couple of days ago in response to a blog post by Geoff Meeker criticising an [Telegram] editorial that may have been written in largest part by Jackson [Correction via Peter’s comment below:  “And I had no involvement whatsoever in the writing or even proofing of that Telegram editorial.]

Let me see,,, [sic] so it's you guys, some anti-Obamacare propagandists in the U,S,, and insecure mainland surgeons who think there's a big story here…

…

The Globe seems to have taken a cue from the defensive cardiologists, many of whom they [the Globe] likely hunted out themselves…

…

You can ramble on for ages about the merits of both systems. It has nothing to do with Danny Williams.

((I'm wearing my private opinionator hat herre, [sic] not that of a Telegram staffer.)

And then in the Friday Globe, there’s a letter to the editor from Marjorie Doyle:

Perhaps Mr. Williams should voluntarily undergo more surgeries and spread his custom among the pouting doctors.

Now maybe this is nothing more than three people who may share similar ideological views purely by chance taking a cue from a misleading headline in the Globe.  Read the story at the end of that link, incidentally, and you’ll notice the huge gap between what the doctors actually said and what the headline says.

Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time dog whistling turned up in local politics during Williams’ time in office.

And what better way to deflect the argument currently centring on him and his own choices than to make it into a fight between “us” and “them”.

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Let the jihad begin anew

Bar the doors and windows and get the small children off the streets.

Bourque’s Newswatch is likely to set off another round of entirely spontaneous protests that were in no circumstances encouraged on province-wide radio by a cabinet minister.

That top story is a link to Geoff Meeker’s post on the Premier’s anti-CBC crusade which – as previously noted – is not in any way a partisan attack and bears no connection whatsoever to the entirely spontaneous outpourings of rage and hate aimed at the news media for daring to discuss the fact the Premier was ill.

There are a bunch of comments below the post, including this one from local media bad boy Craig Westcott, a fellow who is more than passingly familiar with being blackballed:

Again though, the real issue is that Danny Williams, Dunderdale and his PR team tried to pull a fast one on the Newfoundland and Labrador public. They didn't get away with it, because NTV broke the story. But by regaining control of the public relations aspect of the issue, they managed to pull off an ever faster one in its wake.

Let me repeat: the local media has treated Danny Williams and his government with kid gloves, CBC included. ELizabeth [sic] Matthews' claim that Bob Wakeham's comments justify a ban on CBC coverage is an excuse. Matthews and Williams have conducted a relentless campaign to silence journalists. This is just another effort in that campaign. It's ironic that having long ignored what the Premier's Office has been doing to intimidate other journalists, the CBC now finds itself in that same uncomfortable and unfair spot.

Our profession, locally, has gone soft.

The second one is to the Globe’s story on the NAFTA challenge Abitibi launched against the provincial government’s seizure of assets belonging to three companies: Abitibi, ENEL and locally-based Fortis.

For the record, NTV ran the Abitibi story toward the front of its major supper hour newscast and included an interview with Abitibi spokesman Seth Kursman.  CBC ran a short script story in the second quarter hour. Just sayin’.

Readers not living in the bizarro world just off Cape Breton will find in Geoff’s post the complete record of what the now infamous Bob Wakeham said to piss off Danny all the down in Sarasota.  That such tame words have been attacked publicly by one local editor as “contemptible” will surely strike such readers as being entirely beyond comprehension.

For some reason the words “nutty, nutty, nutbar” come to mind.

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Illegal Dipper campaign donations in NS

Elections Nova Scotia is fining the provincial New Democratic Party over $10,00 in illegal campaign contributions.

Meanwhile, as BP told you this time last year, the Ontario NDP broke that province’s election finance laws in 2003 when they made a donation to Randy Collins’ campaign in Newfoundland and Labrador contrary to s. 29 of the Ontario Election Finances Act.

No word on whether or not the Ontario elections office ever followed up on that tidbit.  The maximum fine under Ontario law is $5,000.

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Dead Caterpillar Update

Apparently, Jerome accidentally lopped a bit of it off over Christmas so he took off the rest of it in order to keep everything looking neat.

So now it’s back.

Uh huh.

So by the same token  that would mean all those verbal tics last year just up and run off as if by magic too.

And over the past couple of weeks there was just a spontaneous and totally un-organized outpouring of venom and hatred aimed at certain news media for things they didn’t actually do.  yep.  Totally unprompted by any e-mails or calls people just magically said the same things at the same time which – purely by total coincidence  - happened to match exactly what the Premier’s Office wanted.

R-i-i-i-i-i-i-g--h-t.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, sunshine.

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Epic Fail on seizure looms

Back when the provincial government managed to ram an unprecedented bill through the legislature seizing private assets and crushing active legislation without compensation, one argument used to justify the seizure was novel.

Apparently the environmental clean-up costs and the potential penalty under the free trade deal for the seizure would be so close that the whole thing would wind up being a wash after a negotiated settlement.  No money would wind up changing hands but ultimately the mill – carefully excluded from the initial seizure – would come to the provincial government and Abitibi would just walk away.

Officially, the Premier described the idea this way:

So, if, in fact, there is contamination which is located with operations in Botwood or around the mill in Grand Falls or the logging operations or any other rivers or whatever happens to be where they have constructed bridges or have had a presence in Newfoundland and Labrador, then there may be environmental fallout from that and that has to be quantified. If that is quantified, then that would be offset against any responsibility for compensation. If there is an excess of value over liability, then that would be the amount that would be paid.

And if there was any discrepancy, then they’d add in the amount the provincial government paid out voluntarily to settle issues with some of Abitibi’s former employees.

Nice, tidy and wonderfully convenient.

Things haven’t quite worked out that way.

First the provincial government wound up getting the mill unceremoniously dumped in their laps.

Then Ernst and Young valued the environmental remediation at around $50 million and maybe as much as $100 million.

Now Abitibi has filed its NAFTA claim seeking damages of at least $500 million, reputedly a record amount if it is awarded.

It’s also not far off another old record, the cost of the Come by Chance bankruptcy back in the 1970s which was up to that time the largest bankruptcy in Canadian history.

So now having paid out the workers cash and assumed full liability for the environmental clean-up, the provincial government is now facing a history-making lawsuit for damages.

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Dunderdate;  Some choice words from natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale that reinforce the notion of the whole thing being a wash, at the end of the day on a go forward basis.  From the Telly, 25 Mar 09:

The company has publicly put the price tag for those assets at $300

million.

 

Dunderdale says the government's figure is lower than that, but would

not say just how far apart the two sides are.

 

She said the province has a clear idea of how much it thinks the

assets are worth and has determined a range of value it would be

willing to pay Abitibi.

But Dunderdale said the province wouldn't go beyond that range just to settle up with the company.