The Liberal Ball minority government nor the loyal opposition Progressive Conservatives do not look good at the public inquiry looking at their handling of the Muskrat Falls debacle that has left Newfoundlanders facing a future of skyrocketing electricity rates and enormous environmental damage. That's probably one of the major reasons Ball called the 2019 election early in order to avoid his own public inquiry testimony creating large political re-election problems for him. Despite his attempts to avoid scrutiny before the election, all he could do was win a minority government. Ball admitted that Muskrat Falls was “the greatest fiscal mistake in Newfoundland and Labrador’s history” in the public inquiry today.
Liberal Premier Dwight Ball took the stand Thursday at the public inquiry into cost and schedule overruns that have plagued the controversial dam on Labrador’s lower Churchill River.
The 824-megawatt dam has essentially doubled in costs to more than $12.7 billion since it was sanctioned by a former Progressive Conservative government in 2012.
Ball, who called the inquiry under intense public pressure, has called Muskrat Falls “the greatest fiscal mistake in Newfoundland and Labrador’s history.”
Though the project is nearly complete, the looming threat of skyrocketing electricity rates to pay for cost overruns has become a pressing issue for Ball’s government.
Ball said Muskrat Falls should never have been sanctioned, but defended his 2016 decision to carry on despite its ballooning costs, saying abandoning the project would still have been very costly and would not have solved the problems already in motion. ...
The inquiry has already heard from a parade of past and present government officials, bureaucrats and energy executives, some of whom have suggested project risks had been intentionally downplayed.
Direct questioning of the premier by inquiry counsel wrapped within two hours, significantly more quickly than other high-profile witnesses, before other lawyers questioned him....
He said he was growing concerned at former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin’s insistence that the province should pay more money to Astaldi, which was struggling to meet its targets, to prevent possible insolvency, pushing the project timeline back further and driving up costs.
Ball said he doubted any number would solve “the Astaldi problem” and did not want Martin negotiating a settlement alone.
Ball said the importance of Astaldi’s contract to Italy was made clear by then-ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado’s persistent requests for a meeting, including an unexpected encounter with him at a hotel lobby in Toronto that Ball described as “probably not coincidental.” ...
The premier was also asked to address testimony from last month, when senior government officials revealed that time had run out to mitigate risks from methylmercury contamination downstream from the dam when the reservoir is fully impounded later this summer.
Research has indicated that flooding the uncleared reservoir near the dam could cause a spike in methylmercury contamination in wild food sources used by local Indigenous communities. Methylmercury is formed as vegetation rots under water and can contaminate fish and other crucial wild foods.
Muskrat Falls also presents an enormous environmental risk to people as this May 2019 article illustrates. Unsurprisingly, indigenous people have been left to face the extremely dangerous risk of methylmercury poisoning by Liberal and Conservative governments.
https://thenarwhal.ca/mercury-rising-muskrat-falls-dam-threatens-inuit-w...
Here is a good look into the level of racism that operates throughout much of Canadian politics. I have recieved some funny voicemails when people haven't hung up but this one is not very funny even though the two people were joking all the way through it.
The NDP have gained 16% in the provincial polls to 23% overall under Alison Coffin's leadership in three months according to a September poll by Narrative Research (the new name for CRA). The Liberals are down 4% to 42% while the Cons have dropped 10% to 32%.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/poll-narrative-rese...
Narrative Research December poll shows all three major parties staying in a statistical tie with the company's September polls. The NDP's 24% statisically ties its 23% in the September poll but is up from the 7% they got in the May election, when they only ran 14 candidates. Coffin is the preferred choice of 19% of voters for premier.
https://narrativeresearch.ca/nl-provincial-government-satisfaction-reach...
Premier Dwight Ball will resign as soon as a new Liberal Premier is selected.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/newsalert-n-l-premier-dwight-ball-t...
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball remains unwilling to answer questions about government scandals after announcing his intention to resign yesterday.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/mha-ball-departure-...
The downfall of Dwight Ball has been building for a while. Under Newfoundland law, an election has to occur within a year of a new Premier being chosen.
So...is the Newfoundland NDP in any better state of readiness for an election within the next year than they were for the last election, which was...er...last year?
I'd strongly encourage them to get candidates nominated for every riding as soon as possible. They pulled off a miracle doing what they did with fewer candidates last time, but they won't be able to do THAT twice in a row.
There is now talk that the NDP are interested in forming a coalition government with the PCs and install Ches Crosbie as premier.
Big news out of Newfoundland & Labrador tonight... Might the NDP be going into a big coalition government with the PC's, some Liberals and an Independent? This could be an historic government and a fascinating case study for future potential coalitions... Big stuff to watch for sure https://magpiebrule.ca/2020/02/20/an-historic-coalition-in-the-making/
Coalitions don't usually work out well for the junior partner, in this case the NDP if it were to join one, as the larger party tends to get the credit if things go well and if things go badly, all coaltion parties take the hit. I think it would be better if the NDP became the Official Opposition to a Liberal-Conservative government, so that when its support wears thin, they have a chance to win.
Jumping into a coalition when Newfoundland faces the vast array of problems outlined below would probably mean the end of any hopes of forming a Newfoundland government in the future.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-newfoundlands-next-leader...
Is there any further news on this coalition development?
I agree that this would be a bad idea. For one, remember Crosbie's speech on election night? No congratulations, no promises to work together to hold the Liberal government account, just anger and sour grapes for losing. That's not an attitude of someone you want to go into coalition government with. Furthermore, this thing would be very unstable, and probably collapse within one year, given the different factions involved. Then we're off to the polls, and what will the people want? Stable government, and that election would likely result in a majority. The NDP would be safe in their St. John's seats, but would be nowhere near able to make an argument about being ready to govern, regardless of how prepared they were for an actual election.
Rather than coalition, I think that it would be better to prepare for an election and pull the plug. If the Liberals are having a leadership crisis and the PCs cannot form a stable coalition, let's vote so we can start fresh.
The Liberal government is having problems in another area with the resignation of the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council (WERAC) over the failure to protect designated areas.
https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/expert-advisers-to-newfoundland-a...
The Liberal party will pick a new leader on May 9th.
https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labrador-liberal...
Below is an update on the Newfoundland Liberal Party leadership race:
https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/furey-abbott-confirmed-as-liberal...
There is no surprise in the latest Narrative Research (formerly CRA) poll showing Liberal support dropping 5% to 37%. Furthermore, dissatisfaction with the Liberal government has risen from 42% in November to 55% today while satisfaction is down 12% to 40% leaving the Liberals overall at -15%. The PC's and NDP are both up 2% to 35% and 26% respectively, while the Greens received 2%. The NDP's Coffin at 22% (up from 12% just before the May 2019 election) is now only 8% behind Premier Ball in best premier and 5% behind the PC's Crosbie.
https://narrativeresearch.ca/satisfaction-with-premier-balls-government-...
The Newfoundland Liberal Party has suspended its leadership race during the pandemic. Since provincial law requires an election must be called within a year of the selection of a new premier, this could delay when the next Newfoundland election occurs.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6723526/n-l-liberal-party-suspends-leadership...
Liberal Sherry Gambin-Walsh removed from cabinet after RCMP executes search warrant
http://ntv.ca/sherry-gambin-walsh-removed-from-cabinet-after-search-warrant/
I posted this elsewhere but it is very relevant to Newfoundland.
While Canadians are focused on COVID-19, the Trudeau Liberal government is accelerating the process of developing Newfoundlands offshore oil by carrying out a public consultation to eliminate the required environmental assessments for Newfounland offshore drilling. This involves rougly 100 drilling holes according to the following article from Le Devoir. I used Google Translate to convert the article to English.
The reason for doing this: "According to the government, the report produced by the "committee" that conducted the regional assessment "concludes that the effects of exploratory drilling for oil and gas offshore are well known, cause minor, localized and temporary disturbances, and are not likely to 'be important if standardized mitigation measures are put in place'."
The goal: to produce 650,000 more barrels of oil a day by 2030 from the Newfoundland offshore. So much for Trudeau's greenhouse emission reduction targets.
https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/environnement/575559/le-gouvernement-tr...
Liberal Andrew Furey is the new Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, doubling the vote obtained by John Abbott.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/abbott-furey-libera...
When Dwight Ball announced in mid February that he would resign as Premier when a new leader was chosen, Covid-19 was barely on most Canadians view, but the Liberals had already fallen from their 44% victory in the May 2019 election to 37%, while the PCs were at 35% and the NDP at 26%. Like all Canadian governments Covid-19 helped increasing the government's support, pushing the Liberals up to 60% support in May with the PCs falling to 26% and the NDP to 13%. Since then the Liberals have slipped to 48%, the PCs are back at 35% and the NDP is at 12%, according to a June poll. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_Newfoundland_and_Labrador_general_ele...)
With all the problems and scandals mentioned in the last post that the Liberal government faced during the last year, I expect the Furey government to call an election soon while the Liberals are still somewhat popular before the problems, which show no sign of disappearing, and the same or new scandals remind voters of the situation under Ball. Having an election quickly would also allow Furey to avoid running in a byelection to win a seat and then running in a general election.
Hopefully the NDP will be better prepared than in the 2019 election when they were only able to run 14 candidates in the province's 40 ridings, and yet defied expectations by winning three seats.
Further increasing the chance of an early election is the follwing Newfoundland law: "Newfoundland and Labrador, unique amongst the nine provinces and two territories which have adopted fixed-date election laws, requires that new premier appointed to office before the close of the third year in the life of a House of Assembly advise the Lieutenant Governor to call an early general election within 12 months." (https://parliamentum.org/2020/02/18/newfoundland-labrador-must-by-law-ho...)
IMO this puts further pressure on the Newfoundland Liberals to go this fall before being trapped into an election as the one-year deadline nears next year.
The Newfoundland Liberal party did away with leadership reviews unless he loses power today, thereby redefining democracy under the new Andrew Furey regime.
https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/liberals-abolish-leadership-revie...
Once again the Trudeau government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth as it changes offshore drilling rules in Newfoundland in order to make it easier for the fossil fuel industry to meet them and then proclaiming that the industry must live up to those standards while environmental organizations complain about the changes. The Liberal government has also excluded new drilling from environmental assessment there. This has become even more important with the announcement of the discovery of oil in two new places in the Newfoundland offshore.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/11/05/news/environment-minister-de...
New Liberal Premier Andrew Furey has been buoyed up by how the government has successfully responded to the pandemic. By law provincial law, the government must call an election no later than one year after the selection of a new leader, so expect an election in the spring as the clock runs out in August. The NDP sits at 15%, a slight increase over their the 13% of 3 months ago but down significantly from the 26% they had in early March before Covid became the dominant issue that has driven up government support in all the Atlantic provinces.
https://narrativeresearch.ca/nl-liberals-maintain-decided-voter-support-...
Liberal Premier Dwight Ball called the 2019 election early in order to avoid his own public inquiry testimony creating large political re-election problems for him. Neither Ball's government nor the loyal opposition Progressive Conservatives looked good at the public inquiry looking at their handling of the Muskrat Falls debacle that has left Newfoundlanders facing a future of skyrocketing electricity rates and enormous environmental damage. Calling the election early helped him stay in power with a reduced number of MLAs and aminority government but did not remove the Muskrat Falls albatross. In the end he resigned.
Muskrat Falls continues to be an enormous finanical and environmental risk to Newfoundlanders as this May 2019 article illustrates. Unsurprisingly, indigenous people have been left to face the extremely dangerous risk of methylmercury poisoning, a neurotoxin so dangerous the World Health Organization ranks it among the top ten chemicals of public health concern, by Liberal and Conservative governments.
The pricetag for the project had doubled to $12.7 billion with another $4o0 million now being added due to Covid-19 construction days pushing the bill over $13. This was about to lead to a doubling of Newfoundland's hydro rates and leaving Newfoundland with a crushing debt load as of December 31st, until the Trudeau government stepped in today to waive debt payments temporarily. However, this does not solve the problem, only delays it and at best may shift some of the costs onto federal taxpayers. What a mess.
I expect the new Liberal government to call an election in the early spring before all the still unsolved problems become apparent and while the Covid-19 halo still shines.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/muskrat-falls-newse...