Danny Williams Steps Down
Posted in Personal Miscellany
on November 25th, 2010 by
Stephen DeGrace
Topics:
News
Today, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams announced he is stepping down. There are certainly a lot of mixed feelings about Danny Williams out there. However, as a Newfoundlander, I always felt that Danny Williams was good for Newfoundland and Labrador. I was utterly disgusted with his Canadian flag stunt, but in the following years he did a lot of things that made me forgive him.
He stood up to Ottawa and got away with it; he invested in infrastructure with the money from the offshore oil; he stood up for Newfoundland ownership and Newfoundland benefit from Newfoundland's resources; he went on American television and stood up to know-nothing seal hunt protesters; he stood firmly against the national party's anti-gay bigotry; and his legacy project of circumventing Quebec to get Labrador hydro to market will prove critical for the future of the province.
If there is one thing that offshore oil oil fileds are notorious for is that when they go into decline, their production drops like a rock. Newfoundland's good fortune is finite and we need to start thinking about what comes after. In a world of ultra high oil prices and global warming, a combination of cheap, renewable electricity, a well-educated and low-wage workforce and proximity to North American markets will give Newfoundland an economic future as a manufacturing centre.
But building that infrastructure right now depends on being able to sell that power outside Newfoundland.
Don't get me wrong, my partner is French and I actually like Quebec as a place, but they as a polity are utterly ruthless and self-serving and cannot be trusted. Any deal made with them would be ruinous. The Nova Scotia route therefore is critical to the province's future.
It is a fine legacy for a great premier. Danny may not have been perfect, but I'll miss him.
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