[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l you all see this on Churchill/Newfoundland...
Monday, March 13, 2000
Churchill hydro deal questioned
Nfld. Tories want delay
The Telegram
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. - Newfoundland Tories want the provincial government to
suspend talks with Quebec over hydroelectric development of the Churchill
River.
The party, during its annual convention on Saturday, said development
shouldn't proceed until an agreement is reached on a transmission line that
would bring cheaper power to Newfoundland from Labrador.
"It's important that we ensure that the people of this province are
protected," said Tory energy critic John Ottenheimer.
"What better way than to ensure that we can have cheap and efficient
transmission of power and resources from Labrador to the island?"
The initial framework agreement with Quebec for the development of
additional power included a transmission line from Churchill Falls to
Newfoundland.
However, Brian Tobin, the Premier, said in December that a transmission line
was no longer a make-or-break condition of the deal because there is now an
option to develop natural gas reserves on the Grand Banks.
The former premier, Brian Peckford, who took his fight to get the original
Churchill Falls contract overturned to the Supreme Court of Canada and lost,
encouraged Tory delegates to not let the issue die.
"This can get you elected next time around," said Mr. Peckford, who was
premier from 1979 to 1989.
The Newfoundland government is ignoring the two components that were
originally to be part of any deal for the development of additional power --
a transmission line and the renegotiation of the Upper Churchill contract,
Mr. Peckford said.
Those two conditions were accepted by the Quebec governments of the day as
being prerequisites of the Newfoundland government, Mr. Peckford said.
"Now we find comments being made that there is an imminent agreement on the
so-called Lower Churchill River totally ignoring the Upper Churchill
component, which the Quebec government had agreed to, and totally ignoring
an agreement that had been passed in the government of Canada and
Newfoundland ... which says it has to be transmitted to the island," he
said.
Mr. Peckford suggested the provincial Tory party "call everybody's card on
this one."
He said letters should be sent to every organization, board of trade and
chamber of commerce in the province, asking them to demand the transmission
line.
"Don't forget, the government, on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador, has relinquished the Upper Churchill from ever being part of it,"
he said.
Copyright © Southam Inc. All rights reserved.