When you survey the present political scene,
at least from my vantage point, disappointment awaits on all fronts.
In my home province, a major inquiry report
into the Muskrat Falls Hydro Project has just been released.
This is the project that has seen its capital
cost go from $6.2 Billion to $12.7 billion. A project, that in its failure,
subjects the Province to near bankruptcy (saved because it is a province of
Canada) for years to come. A project that sees the residents of the
neighbouring province of Nova Scotia pay less for Muskrat Power than the
residents of Newfoundland, and Labrador, the province in which the project
resides and under whose authority it was commissioned and executed.
The report is damning and demonstrates the
incompetence and deception underlying the project’s execution. It actually says
that Nalcor Energy, the Crown Corporation implementing the project,
deliberately withheld information from the Government.
It says the Corporation failed to adhere “to
the core values of open communication, honesty and trust, or accountability in
their discussions and communications with GNL [the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador] and Nalcor’s board of directors.”
And as for the Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador the report says:
‘Although it had publicly professed that a
business case for the project would have to be established, in effect GNL had
predetermined that the project would proceed. In so acting, GNL failed in its
duty to ensure that the best interests of the province’s residents were
safeguarded.’
So, the fallout? Who gets fired?
Looks like no one as of this writing; so, the
dishonesty continues
In like manner on the federal scene we have a
Parliamentary Committee of the House of Commons effectively shut down any
investigation of the Ethics Commissioner’s Report on the law breaking of the
Prime Minister of this country, and the sordid details of the SNC Lavalin fiasco.
The Liberal MP’s, no doubt instructed by the Prime
Minister’s minions, and a Bloc MP from Quebec, of course, have voted to halt
any parliamentary follow up on the Commissioner’s report. This follows up on
earlier behaviour by a Parliamentary Committee which refused (blocked by a
Liberal majority) to hear additional testimony from former Attorney General
Judy Wilson Raybould on the scandal -- and the refusal by the Government to
allow certain witnesses to be interviewed by the Ethics Commissioner in the
operation of his inquiry.
And now we learn that certain information,
that pertains to new legislation on assisted dying, was leaked to the press
violating the rules of Parliament.
So, the dishonesty continues.
In 1972, Brian Peckford was first elected, as a Progressive
Conservative, to the Newfoundland Labrador House of Assembly -- he became
Premier at the age of 36, holding the leadership of his party and government
from 1979 to 1989.
Since leaving politics, early in 1989, Peckford has conducted public
inquires for the governments of British Columbia and Canada, has served on
numerous Boards including the CBC, and has been active in public affairs.
Since 1993, he and his wife Carol have made British Columbia their home;
they now live in Parksville, on Vancouver Island. He blogs at Peckford 42.
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