Monday, April 4, 2011

LOWER CHURCHILL- Manufacturing Dissent

It didn't take long for the politicians of all stripes in Quebec City to come out loudly against the announcement by the Conservative government that they'd support the Newfoundland project to build an underwater cable to carry electricity to American markets from the prospective Lower Churchill hydro-electric project.

Quebec has long held that the overland route through Quebec makes more economic sense, but the chances of Newfoundland entering into any agreement with Quebec vis-a-vis electricity transmission is, as they say, slim to none.

The deal that presently carries Newfoundland power across Quebec with almost all the profit accruing to Hydro-Quebec, remains a powerful humiliation to Newfoundlanders, who although responsible for their own stupidity, hold Quebec responsible for refusing to re-negotiate the one-sided deal.

The Quebec position, that a deal's a deal, is thoroughly defensible, but insures that Newfoundland won't do another deal with the province as long as the current Churchill Falls accord remains  in place.

The Quebec government remains peeved that its promise not to screw Newfoundland again, on a new deal for the Lower Churchill, is falling on deaf ears. For Newfoundland, it's a case of- Once bitten, twice shy. 

By the way, one could only imagine what would be if the shoe was on the other foot.

For Quebec to complain now, that the decision to bypass Quebec is somehow unexpected and unfair smacks of self-delusion.

And so,  Quebec politicians are howling that Ottawa has chosen the Newfoundland side unfairly and are pedalling the notion that it's the crime of the century and that once again Quebec is being disfavoured.

First the facts;
Ottawa has promised to guarantee the loan related to the project. There is NO DIRECT FINANCING.
Bernard Drainville
It's like signing for a loan for your son to buy a car. You only pay, if he stiffs on the payments and let's hope Newfoundland is a better risk than junior. By the way, that loan guarantee isn't that risky, the deal is pretty sound, but it does allow Newfoundland to borrow at a lower rate, shaving millions from the cost of the project.

To listen to Bernard Drainville a bigwig in the PQ, the entire project is being financed in part by federal tax dollars, an outrageous claim that goes beyond merely colouring the truth.

Mr. Drainville made a four-minute YouTube video in which he explains the deal telling by one whopper after another.
I knew I was in for a treat when Mr. Drainville started the explanation telling his audience that Newfoundland once belonged to 'us.' He carefully avoids using the term Quebec, because Labrador never belonged to Quebec at all. It was at one time part of Lower Canada, but when Quebec entered confederation as a province, Newfoundland was not part of the deal.
In 1927, the permanent border was adjusted in Newfoundland's favour, but nobody seemed to care, it was an uninhabitable wasteland.
In fact the Newfoundlanders tried to sell Labrador off to Quebec twice, the first time during the boundary dispute for a paltry 9 million dollars and later on in the Depression for 110 million. Both offers were rejected. Read an interesting article on the subject.

But the truth never seems to get in the way of a good story and Mr. Drainville goes on to tell us that the Newfoundlanders don't want to use the Quebec route because they're not ready to pay their fair share, a bald-faced lie.

Newfoundland tried to get access to the Quebec power grid following the open access rules that govern the fair use of transmission lines to bring power to market. But Quebec put a spanner in the works, claiming that the grid couldn't handle the power, holding out for a deal that would screw Newfoundland again, demanding that the power be sold to Hydro-Quebec at a cut rate fee rather than being wheeled through Quebec for a service fee.  LINK
Mr. Drainville's idea of a fair price is likely the price that Quebec now pays for Churchill power;
"The provincial government (Newfoundland) has claimed that Quebec reaped 95 per cent of net revenues from Churchill Falls - $19 billion of a total $20 billion - up to the end of 2006." Link
Read Danny Williams speech to the Canadian Club of Ottawa of Ottawa last year, in which he destroys any pretension of fairness on the part of the government of Quebec in regards to cooperation. LINK

Mr. Drainville next tells us that the Newfoundland government asked Ottawa to finance a part of the project and that this represents an unfair treatment of Quebec because Quebec paid for its own electrical development.
Cleverly, he intimates that Ottawa is financing the project, when clearly it is not!

Building on his pack of lies, he then tells the biggest lie of all.
"And so we find ourselves in a situation where Quebeckers will finance 25% of a project that will compete with our state company (Hydro-Quebec.)"

In a few short sentences Mr. Drainville has changed a simple loan guarantee into a financing scheme where Quebec is paying 25% of the whole Newfoundland project!

He then sanctimoniously tells us that Quebec never asked for money to develop its own  hydro-electricity and so Newfoundland shouldn't be allowed to get money either.
Mr. Drainville would actually have us believe that Quebec somehow pays its own way, conveniently forgetting the billions that pour into the province each year from Ottawa.

By the way, even  his statement that Quebec pays 25% of the federal taxes is false, another exaggeration. Quebec has less than 23% of the Canadian population and since Quebeckers make less money than Canadians, the amount they pay in taxes must be somewhere between 20%-22%.

But let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Of course Gilles Duceppe, Pauline and even the Premier are up in arms.

The real hurt in all this is the sombre realization that Newfoundland is actually doing what it said it would and after 40 years of being mocked, it is ready to leave Quebec out of the equation.

Believe it or not, Quebec really believed that in the end, the overland route through Quebec would be chosen because of expediency.
Using the land-sea route will cost Newfoundland a bundle, a lot more than the Quebec route, but the project remains viable and that's all that counts.

So all that's left to Quebec is to make the best of a bad situation and that's to bash Ottawa over the deal, manufacturing dissent through dishonesty.
Good Luck.
And as I've reminded readers this past year.......
Payback's a bitch!

Read: Quebec versus Newfoundland- Whiners Square Off! 
Read: Danny Williams Bashes Quebec

27 comments:

  1. I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for Quebec. They already got a sweet deal from NF once, or as editor wrote "Once bitten, twice shy."

    Too, you can bet your bottom dollar that Quebec would indeed be screaming bloody blue murder if the shoe was on the other foot...loud, long and hard.

    Hell, there are still Quebec civil servants still screaming at their own government for a 20% pay rollback they sustained in early 1983 to recover some of the ballooning deficit they created after giving away the store in 1979 for referendum votes. It took until 1985 for their pay to recover to 1982 levels. THEY WERE WAY, WAY OVERPAID TO BEGIN WITH! They remained well overpaid and still do to this day! Many of them retire long before age 65. Why wouldn't they? After about 32 years service, they're entitled to their full pensions. That means if you started with the Quebec Public or Parapublic sector at age 21, by age 53, you can draw full pension. Many "retire", get their full pension, then go back to their old departments as fee-collecting consultants yet still get their pensions and benefits as retirees and therefore not have to pay their part anymore! Double dipping with no deductions! What a sweet, sweet deal!

    If it wasn't for all the federal equalization payments, would the retired civil servants still get all this pension money to live like kings? Their packages may still be lucrative, but not as much as they are now, at least now without the private sector employees paying that much more than the confiscatory taxes they're paying now, but that's the cost of left-leaning politics.

    As for NF, good for them. Good for them to find ways to running their lines through Quebec's back yard and to be sure paying dearly for it. Less dependence on Quebec means less leverage for Quebec.

    Like I wrote recently, Quebec is losing that "knife to Canada's throat" leverage Stéphane Dion's father once pointed out to Bourassa. Let the Conservatives slip through Quebec's fingers one more time in favor of da Bloc and should Harper get his majority, Quebec will drink very bitter water when he turns on Quebec and gives them sweet f--- all in the way of federal favors. As Charlie Sheen said on 2½ Men, "leverage is a fickle bitch"!

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  2. I wondered if the editor was going to comment on this issue which came up last week. Here you have Duceppe and Charest moaning over the preferential treatment of NF. I dare say that if the shoe had been on the other foot that this deal would have been re-negotiated by the feds many years ago to favor Quebec or at least make the deal more equitable.

    Drainville's comments like most separatistes and politicians in Quebec are absolute BS as the editor clearly indicates.

    What is more important is that this issue has now been raised to the spectre of the people in the entire nation who are more than sympathetic for Newfoundland on this issue whilst becoming more critical of Quebec.

    See the comments in Rex Murphy's piece in the national post last weekend.

    http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/04/02/rex-murphy-newfoundlands-three-gigawatt-insult-to-gilles-duceppe/


    MG is absolutely correct in his statement that Quebec is losing the "knife to Canadas throat".
    The facts and truths about the one sided arrangment between Quebec and the other provinces of Canada, as this story clearly points out" are becoming more widely known and the reaction is as one would expect. "to hell with Quebec".

    I also notice that to soften the blow that the Conservatives have now said they will perhaps consider the the 2.2 Billion dollar HST issue in Quebec if "the conservatives receive a majority government in the coming election". Might explain why the Conservatives have went from less than 19% popularity in Quebec to about 26% in the last couple of weeks.

    Danny Williams in his address gave the facts, Drainville is full of lies and untruths as is quite normal, as previously indicated.

    Anyways, I hope NF is successful with this project. I see a loan guarantee to the NF government far less objectionable to the 8 billion dollars per year being funneled into a Province which is an economic black hole.

    Further, on the hydro issue, why is Quebec's hydro revenue not included as income in the equalization formulae?

    I also see that the Conservatives made a deal just before the election call (on the eve, I beleive) to give Quebec 100% of the royalties from oil and gas revenues from the Old Harry field. I wonder if these revenues are going to be only 50% credited towards income when it comes to equalization payments. Better not be more, or there will be hell to pay in the West and NF.

    At the very least the telescope on Quebec has become more clearly focused in the ROC.

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  3. "I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for Quebec."

    Qui l'eut cru ? Je suis bouche-bée!
    Mes 12 donuts du matin roulent maintenant sous la table au grand plaisir de mon chien (Doug) déja diabétique.

    De toutes façons Harper n'a plus rien a perdre au Québec.Je crois que les Bloquistes vont encore une fois balayer notre province et ce n'est pas quelques mégawatts (pfff!)a coût très élevé qui vont faire la différence.

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  4. Jean Charest blasted Stephen Harper's loan guarantee to Newfoundland & Labrador.

    What was Charest's real gripe here? It was the fact that by Harper had given the province of Newoundland & Labrador a guaranteed loan of $4-billion for the Lower Churchill project, which really meant that Quebec was no longer in a position to exploit Newfoundland & Labrador as they did n the 60's. Now Newfoundland & Labrador could go sahed on the Lower Churchill project and sell-off thre extra hyro-electric power to the province of Nova Scotia and and the State of Maine, USA, without any input from Quebec. Boy! Did that not hurt Quebec premier Jean Charest's long-term plans for further exploitation of Newfoundland & Labrador, which over time had become totally dependent on power from Hydro-Quebec.

    If Newfoundland & Labrador completed the Lower Churchill project, the $6.2-billion hydro plant, it would harness power from the Lower Churchill River and channel it to Newfoundland via an undersea cable, running below the Atlantic Ocean. Such a project, when developed would provide power to thousands upon thousands of clients and Newfoundland and Labrador would no longer be dependent on Hydro-Quebec.

    Now here is the real fly in Quebec's ointment. Quebec's opposition to the granting of a loan to Newfoundland and Labrador, will put it in a position to compete with Hydro-Quebec, which it claims would not be fair to Quebec, and have an advantage on energy pricing. The real issue being that Quebec as usual does not like the idea of any competition. Quebec is so used to exploiting Newfoundland & Labrador that they are opposed to any change in the status quo, and all that matters is Quebec's own selfish interests, and not that of the people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

    At no point did Stephen Harper slap Quebec in the face, but he has looked at the issue from all angles before making the loan, which would in the long term give the people of Newfoundland & Labrador jobs and a better standard of living than ever before. After all Newfoundland & Labrador are also part of Canada, are they not?

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  5. I love the map of Canada posted by the Editor which indicates the territory of Quebec just after confederation. If Quebec ever separates, it should lose all of the land (Rupert's Land) that was later given to it as a province of Canada. Quebec would then forfeit all of its James Bay hydro-electric installations.

    Quebec could also be further partitioned by retaining Montreal and a corridor from Montreal to the Ontario border as territories of Canada.

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  6. Quebec paid for their electricity. Once again Quebec get screwed. We are paying to much to be force to be part of a country without any identity or culture.

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  7. "Quebec paid for their electricity. Once again Quebec get screwed. We are paying to much to be force to be part of a country without any identity or culture."

    Can't imagine getting screwed when you don't include the hydro revenue in equalization formulae such that you rip off the ROC for in excess of 8 Billion dollars per year.

    Your culture is one of deceit and deception as the editors article clearly illustrates.

    Nice guys, 19 to 1 in favor of Quebec and you consider it a fair deal with a neighboring province. Quebec restricts access to their transmission grid to NF in order to maintain a monopoly.

    Give me a break.

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  8. "We are paying to much to be force to be part of a country without any identity or culture"

    English Canada has plenty of culture, some of which was on display at the Juno Awards recently. What culture does Quebec have? The tacky Celine Dion and the very gay Cirque de Soleil?

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  9. "English Canada has plenty of culture..."

    Yeah right!?!...Hahahahahahaha!...stop pleeeeease!!Plenty of culture..juno awards!!!...Hahahahahahaah!

    Sérieusement,vous devriez proposer vos talents a l'organisation de "Juste pour rire" ils sont présentement a la recherche de nouveaux comiques,vous avez des chances.De plus nous avons la version anglaise (Just for laugh).

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  10. Gilles Duceppe’s diversion, Globe and Mail, Sunday, April 3, 2011

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/silver-powers/gilles-duceppes-diversion/article1969304/

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  11. "Sérieusement,vous devriez proposer vos talents a l'organisation de "Juste pour rire" ils sont présentement a la recherche de nouveaux comiques,vous avez des chances.De plus nous avons la version anglaise (Just for laugh)."

    No, the comedians are the politicians from Quebec such as Duceppe, Charest and Marios.

    Interesting this article and poll on how politically astute and aware are a great deal of Quebecois. Poor people have been brainwashed into not believing they are on welfare. Either that, or they are so naive (uneducated) as to not understand reality. Of course the politicians in Quebec wouldn't want to let the people know how under-performing Quebec has become under their leadership. Talk about a bunch of blind sheep.

    http://www.calgaryherald.com/Propping+Quebec/4553814/story.html#ixzz1IYRb3B5G


    Pathetic

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  12. I laughed when I heard Gilles Deception describe the proposed Federal loan guarantee as a "slap in the face" to Quebec (as if he would have said ANYTHING else). Kind of ironic considering that, when the original Churchill Falls agreement ends, Quebec will have been kicking Newfoundland in the 'nads for 69 years. The cool thing about this is that up to this point Quebec probably thought they had a good chance of screwing NF on transmission rates even after 2041. Let's face it Gilles: Joey Smallwood got totally suckered by Quebec when he signed the first deal. Fine. It still has 30 years to go, so enjoy the ride, but for God's sake please don't whine like a petulant child when they refuse to continue being scewed.
    Go NF! Go Canada!

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  13. Another great article. I could not agree more with your story.

    Also, one thing you forgot to mention, one of our so called ridings goes into Newfoudland Labrador. Another great example of Quebec's arrogance towards it's neighbours. Claiming somebody else backyard. Way to go Quebec. The Je me souviens motto on car plates should be replaced with arrogance and stupidity.

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  14. Good for NFLD. Good for Canada.

    Hopefully, this will end Quebec's monopoly over the provision of energy to New England.

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  15. Excellent article - I can totally relate to the biased judicial system in QC: http://www.youtube.com/user/wiccab101/#p/u/6/6hrUKndZUWE
    Be fair, or protect a sacred nationalist institution like the Caisse de défauts? The video describes the bureaucratic warfare in Quebec and blatant discrimination that goes unabated.

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  16. Has anybody actually LOOKED at a map? Newfoundland is an ISLAND, and Labrador shares a 10,000 km long border with Québec. Sure, legally Labrador may belong to Newfoundland, but it's not our fault that this doesn't make any geographic sense. It's like BC and Manitoba complaining that they can't directly send other electricity.

    Nflnd could have made a reasonnable business proposition ti Québec but they chose to bitch and moan instead for their premier's political gain... well thats their choice and I personnaly won't be shedding a tear fot them when their new underwater cables turn out to be much much more expensive than they thought.

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  17. "Hopefully, this will end Quebec's monopoly over the provision of energy to New England."

    Après la distribution de l'énergie aux clients locaux,savez-vous combien de mégawatts seront disponibles pour le marché de la Nouvelle-Angleterre?A peu près rien et ce qu'il restera n'arrivera jamais a compétitionner avec nos tarifs.Les amerlocs n'achèterons pas les quelques MW parcequ'ils sont anglos.

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  18. “Après la distribution de l'énergie aux clients locaux,savez-vous combien de mégawatts seront disponibles pour le marché de la Nouvelle-Angleterre?A peu près rien et ce qu'il restera n'arrivera jamais a compétitionner avec nos tariffs”

    OK. You convinced me again. You’re on a roll there, buddy. I’m calling the premier of NFLD and asking him to stop the project. The Quebecois have these amazing tariffs, so the competition is futile. And the megawatts stuff? Wow. I bet they haven’t checked, and they have no idea what they’re getting into.

    Thanks buddy. You and me, we’ll save NFLD from making a mistake of their life. I'm getting on the phone right now.

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  19. "Has anybody actually LOOKED at a map? Newfoundland is an ISLAND, and Labrador shares a 10,000 km long border with Québec. Sure, legally Labrador may belong to Newfoundland, but it's not our fault that this doesn't make any geographic sense."

    Your comment doesn't make any sense. I suppose the Magdalene Islands and Anticosti Island shouldn't be part of Quebec because they are islands. Or Hawaii and Alaska shouldn't be part of the United States because they are not directly connected to the contiguous, lower 48 states.

    "Nflnd could have made a reasonnable business proposition ti Québec but they chose to bitch and moan instead for their premier's political gain..."

    It is nearly impossible to deal with a jurisdiction (Quebec) that is NOT reasonable and has no sense of fair play, which is defined by its discriminatory laws and its negative behavior towards neighbouring provinces.

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  20. To AngloBuster,

    "Yeah right!?!...Hahahahahahaha!...stop pleeeeease!!Plenty of culture..juno awards!!!...Hahahahahahaah!"

    Wow, what a brilliant response. Your ignorance and stupidity are stunning. There were many big time names at the recent Juno Awards, from older and younger generations, who were presenting awards, receiving awards, and performing. Some of them included Shania Twain (the biggest selling female singer in history), Neil Young, Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Geddy Lee, Randy Bachman, Arcade Fire, Hedley, and many more.

    As for the Juste Pour Rire/Just For Laughs festival, it owes its popularity to the English speaking acts from Britain, the United States and Canada. It would have died out a long time ago if it remained a French only event, with its terrible, pathetic Quebecois comedians.

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  21. "...we’ll save NFLD from making a mistake..."

    Ce ne serait pas la première fois vous savez?
    N'oubliez pas que ce sont des newfies.

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  22. "There were many big time names at the recent Juno Awards..."

    Sous produits américains pour le marché
    américain.Même phénomène pour vos industries,sans les amerlocs,vous n'êtes rien.Même saveur,même odeur mais avec une mentalité de hillbillies et un budget réduit.
    Pas de langue particulière,pas de cuisine particulière.Un cinéma,un théatre et une littérature plates a mourir...Bref,vous êtes multiculturels.

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  23. "Your comment doesn't make any sense. I suppose the Magdalene Islands and Anticosti Island shouldn't be part of Quebec because they are islands. Or Hawaii and Alaska shouldn't be part of the United States because they are not directly connected to the contiguous, lower 48 states."

    You should read before commenting. I don't know why London transferred Labrador to Newfoundland. It was probably for political reasons. But geographically, Labrador is, obviously, far closer to Québec. That 10,000 km long border should be a clue. I would be very curious to know the basis of London's original decision.

    Nevertheless, anybody looking at a map should realise that Newfoundland doesn't have many possible options. A joint 50/50 partership with Hydro could have been negociated years ago, but it was better politics for their premier to whine and play the victim. Quebec bashing is usually a good way to score points in the ROC. Anyways he won because he gained popularity, Lower Churchill is still not done, while Newfoundlanders are left with a multibilion dollar project with great financial and technical risks. Good luck with that.

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  24. "I don't know why London transferred Labrador to Newfoundland. It was probably for political reasons. But geographically, Labrador is, obviously, far closer to Québec. That 10,000 km long border should be a clue."

    The fact is that geographic borders change fairly frequently. I wonder why the Canadian government gave Quebec such a large portion of Rupert's Land after Confederation? Quebec became Canada's largest province but it still wasn't satisfied (as usual) - it wanted Labrador too.

    Labrador is not that far at all from the island of Newfoundland. They are separated by the very narrow Strait of Belle Isle, which is only 15 km wide at the narrowest point.

    By your reasoning, Alaska should be part of Canada because it shares a 2500 km border with Canada (and no other country), and is very far from the rest of the U.S.

    Newfoundland was wise to bypass Quebec with Lower Churchill, just as the people of New Brunswick were intelligent enough to reject the takeover of New Brunswick Power by Hydro-Quebec.

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  25. To Maxime Berne,

    "There were many big time names at the recent Juno Awards..."

    "Sous produits américains pour le marché
    américain."

    The same can be said for Celine Dion and the Cirque de Soleil because they are popular in the U.S. They are even more heavily packaged for the American market because they have regular shows in Las Vegas.

    The fact is that the people/bands that I mentioned have made it big not only in the U.S. but around the world.

    "...mais avec une mentalité de hillbillies et un budget réduit."

    The Quebecois are simply impoverished hillbillies who speak Joual and collect welfare from the rest of Canada.

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  26. I will rejoice the day that the teeth of Hydro Quebec are pulled from the neck of Newfoundland. Not only will the lower Churchill power venture avoid the manipulation of the whiners in Quebec City but their cash cow (the Upper Churchill Falls)could also be lost. The hydro junkie is having his source cut off.

    Mulroney was responsible for the creation of the Reform Party because of the favourtism he paid to Quebec. Remember the CF-18 project that was won by a Manitoba firm. It was worth over a billion dollars but Mulroney redirected it to Quebec, outraging western Canada.
    Not to mention moving the Canadian Space Agency from Ottawa to Montreal. Many gifted scientists moved to the US rather than move to Montreal.

    If Quebec is ever asked to play on a fair playing field, they whine "oh woe is me".

    The next referendum should be held in the other 9 provinces.

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