Danny Williams Bashes Quebec

Here's an excerpt of a speech given by Danny Williams at the Canadian Club in June, bashing the province of Quebec pretty good. It's easy to see where he gets the reputation either as a spoiled child or a great defender of his province, depending on your political perspective.

Please note that the speech was much longer, you can see the entire version over at CPAC in English or with French over-commentary.

Since Danny Williams gets in some pretty good licks, let me play devil's advocate and offer some form of rebuttal on a number of points that he makes.

Let's tackle the big issue, the Churchill Falls hydro-electric deal of 1969 that left Newfoundland holding the very short end of the revenue stick. That one-sided deal works decidedly in Quebec's favour and Williams is absolutely foaming at the mouth in describing what he refers to as Quebec's absolute "greed' in it's refusal to re-negotiate in order to give Newfoundland a more equitable split of the profits.

Let me ask you this;

Would Quebec be a publicly traded corporation, instead of a province, do you think it would feel compelled to re-negotiate towards a lower proportion of profits?
Why on Earth?

Any CEO who would entertain such a proposal, would be laughed out of a job.  Giving away money for no good reason would invariably get him/her fired and probably sued to boot, by enraged shareholders.

Newfoundland made a bad deal. Period. It was their own fault.

The deal was rushed into by Joey Smallwood because he feared that the Newfoundland company involved,  Churchill Falls (Labrador) Company (CFLCO), would soon be bankrupt. Eric Kierans, the Anglophone cabinet minister in the Bourassa government who did the deal for Quebec, described  the absolute desperation on the side of Newfoundland to do a deal, any deal. What did they expect?
Five years after the deal was consummated, the Newfoundland government was so pleased with it, that it bought out Brinco's share for 160  million dollars. When the price of power skyrocketed in the mid-seventies, everything changed. It was then when the Newfoundland government realized their glaring error in capping the price of the electricity and making a deal that would bind them to the same price for 65 years, the height of stupidity!

Let me put this question to you. Regardless of whether you have business experience or not, would you make a deal to sell a product for 65 years at a fixed price?
Would a hot-dog vendor agree to such a deal?
Would the Girl Scout organization enter in to such a deal vis-a-vis the sale of their cookies?

The Churchill Falls hydro-electric deal is not an example of Quebec greed, but rather a story of the most incompetent provincial government in the annals of Canadian history!
The deal remains a painful reminder to Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans, how stupid their leaders were. Danny Williams talks about the deal as if Newfoundlanders weren't even in the same room where the deal was brokered.

"It is not difficult to feel aggrieved when one has the distinct impression that the politicians of the day, as well as the lawyers, had the wool pulled over their eyes good and proper. If they weren't hoodwinked, they had to have been incompetent or part of a deal to swindle the province. Isn't it better to think that they were naïve?" -Audrey Manning

Now defenders of Newfoundland will argue that Quebec's refusal to grant Newfoundland a right of way to transport its power across Quebec is the root of the problem, but to believe that Quebec should have acted any differently is a bit naive.

What idiot would allow a direct competitor the right to transport his product across his territory
without exacting the maximum amount of compensation available? It just makes sound business sense, as is borne out by history.
Now today, the rules have changed, the USA demands that this practice not be allowed, and access to a transportation grid be open to all producers. But Quebec continues to put up regulatory roadblocks to defend its monopoly. Good for them!
Again, if Quebec was a business instead of a province, wouldn't it do the same. Perhaps that's Newfoundland's problem, running a business as if it is a government. 

Why should Quebec compromise with Newfoundland when that province has tried every trick in the book to abrogate a deal that it agreed to freely?
Why should Quebec cooperate, for Newfoundland's benefit, while being subjected to the kind of virulent attacks as typified in the above video?

Now before we go on to to general issues, I'd like to point out that Mr. Williams, either misspoke or misled the audience in declaring that Quebec 'makes' $2.3 billion dollars on the Churchill Falls power as compared to the 50 million that Newfoundland 'makes.'
He is talking about gross sales as opposed to profit. When a company takes in $2.3, it doesn't 'make' that amount. There are expenses to be deducted. The real figure is debatable, but in January of this year Williams himself claimed the amount was somewhere around $1.7 billion dollars. LINK
That's a lot of money just the same, but the Premier knows his figures and shouldn't have put forward an inflated figure as fact.

Today,  Danny Williams is screaming that Quebec is a bloodsucker in relation to other provinces in the Canadian federation. It's probably true, but it's also a case of sour grapes.

 In this speech, he goes off about the equalization payments and the 60% portion that Quebec receives, only because his province, flush with oil royalties is being cut out. Newfoundland has always received a higher percentage of the equalization pie per capita, than Quebec.
When his province was sucking at the federal teat, Danny Williams didn't complain about Quebec. The real problem is that Newfoundland, as a 'Have' province, now wants to stiff paying into the fund, because it is no longer a beneficiary. Disgusting!

Now Williams goes on to make more ridiculous statements, including the one that the Bloc Quebecois is somehow affecting the national agenda, an idea stupider than wood. The Bloc has about as much influence on federal policies as the Tooth Fairy. Do you think Gilles Duceppe can call up Stephen Harper and ask him to screw Newfoundland as a favour, or in return of political considerations?

William's second assertion about Quebec cabinet ministers wielding too much power is cleverly worded in the past tense.  Why?
The truth is rather inconvenient.  Because of the Bloc presence in Ottawa, Quebec has less power and influence than ever.

Mr. Williams howls and barks but in the end is nothing more than a toothless pit-bull. Scary at first, but laughable once you know the truth.

He tries rather lamely to draw Ontario into the Newfoundland/Quebec fight, as if that province has some sort of real stake.
The truth is that Ontario couldn't give a shit about Newfoundland or Quebec and his attempt to widen the battle is so transparent that it is laughable. 

Mr. Williams holds himself and his province up as 'holier than thou,' but nothing could be further from the truth.

His hasn't come clean on a number of issues dealing with Hydro-Quebec.
Like his secret negotiations with his sworn enemy concerning the development of the Lower Churchill. You'll hear more about that in a future post.

Newfoundland and Labrador have nothing to teach Quebec (or any one else) about honesty. Sanctimonious lectures by Williams about morals and fairness are a joke, considering that his province has the worst reputation for honesty and that it is home to the greatest and largest organized scam on the Canadian taxpayer ever, all backed by the Newfoundland government itself. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
You'll hear more about that in a future post.

To all of you who believe that Williams is some sort of a savior, you are wrong. He has ridden the oil boom to prosperity and has taken credit for it all.

The reality is that he's a bad manager and poor decision maker, which unfortunately is something that's all too typical in Newfoundland leaders. His rants fall on deaf ears not only in Quebec but across Canada. When Danny Williams talks, people listen with amusement. His rants are colourful and entertaining, but so sanctimonious they leave people laughing. He has burned too many bridges and taking down the Canadian flag was something that remains unpardonable.

Sadly, he is the very essence of a Newfie joke.

Heaven Help the Montreal Canadiens!

Nowhere in the language debate does the naked contempt for 'les autres' manifest itself more clearly than in the demand by language and cultural nationalists that the Montreal Canadiens hire more francophones.

The mantra that the Canadiens have to become more French is not only the obscure ravings of a rabid fringe element, the issue is also a topic in the mainstream press. Spear-headed by La Presse blowhard Rejean Tremblay, a clamour has gone up for an  affirmative action program targeting the ranks of the players and management, in order to insure that more francophones are on the team.

The latest salvo, launched last week, is entitled "CH Abuse Quebeckers," another mean-spirited attack which has morphed from a sports piece into a language harangue, complete with those familiar hackneyed phrases that are the stock in trade of the paranoid language militant constituency.

"Quebec bashing" "colonizer" "respect" "abuse" 'arrogance' and "contempt" 

We've all heard it before, but not in the sports section.....(sigh!...)

I've already commented on the many sneering and contemptuous attacks on Anglos penned by the nasty and self-satisfied, Rejean Tremblay. You can read a couple of pieces, here and  here.

With the team counting just two or three francophones among starters, the hysteria has risen to new heights of paranoia.

As a group, Quebec's francophone sportswriters are a bunch of whiny cry babies, howling every time a French speaking player is shipped out of town or dropped from the roster.

Now, adding insult to injury is the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning have put together a team which  boasts a plethora of francophones. Voices are being raised calling on the Canadiens to be more like the Lightning. Don't be surprised if RDS (TSN in French) starts broadcasting a few games, that's how keen interest is.

Writing on the website created by striking Journal de Montreal journalists, Rue Frontenac sportswriter, Serge Touchette, launched another tirade against the NHL for discriminating against francophone coaches. He cites the example of Mario Tremblay who has accepted a job with RDS after being forced to 'retire' as an assistant coach, after Jacques Lemaire called it a day as coach of the New Jersey Devils. A count of francophone coaches in the NHL confirms that they seem to be doing quite well, thank you very much, but Touchette has a novel complaint. Francophones assistant coaches are not given enough 'second chances' after leaving a job or getting fired.
Try on this convoluted line; 

"It would be too easy to blame the NHL coaches of racism against French, but it's reasonable to ask serious questions." LINK

What???
And note, these are the mainstream media complainers. The Internet is replete with French language militant crazies, who pull no punches.

In a moronic attack piece, on the  Mouvement Montreal Francais web site, Montreal  head coach Jacques Martin was subject to a vicious rant by a reader who was outraged that he organized a golf tournament outside Quebec.

"Why did this man hold his golf tournament in Rockland, Ontario, Canada. Are we missing golf courses in Quebec, or is it just because some people prefer English Canada??? ....apparently, 'it's  fuck you francophones!!' "

Hmm.... I wonder if the writer considered that maybe the tournament was held in Rockland because Mr. Martin is a Franco-Ontarian and it is his home town?

 Over on vigile.net, prolific resident nutter, George LeGal, puts forward a plan to safeguard French on the Montreal Canadiens, after claiming that there is an 'establishment' plot out of Toronto, hellbent on destroying the French language on the team...(I swear, I'm not making it up) Link(French)

• The positions of president, general manager, head coach, his assistants and Captain must be reserved for Quebeckers only. 

• Within two years the team must reach a threshold of 50% +1, Quebec players. 

• French must become the working language of the organization, with interpreters for players who don't understand French. 

• Players are to be encouraged to learn the language of the organization, the language of the nation- French. To this end, a program of French language and Quebec cultural immersion is to be instituted for players and their families. 

• The name, 'Bell Centre' must be changed to a typically Quebecois French name, after having launched a public competition to rename the building. 

• Announcements at hockey games shall cease to be bilingual, the same as in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. French should be prevalent.

• The Organization should work with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Quebec and the Quebec government to radically reform the league so that it meets the aspirations of young Quebeckers while producing more players for the NHL, especially for its Quebec based club, the Montreal Canadiens. 
  

Whilst articles like these last two are comical, they are starting to have an overall numbing effect.
Sportswriters are notorious in requiring content to fill their columns and Anglo bashing seems to be the topic 'du jour,' that is filling the bill.

Already, stories are appearing in the press hailing the return of the 'future' Quebec Nordiques as the saviour of the French language in the NHL LNH.

Like generals fighting the last war, these sports writers and bloggers are living in the past, believing that while the Canadiens are a lost cause, the Nordiques will resurrect past glories and lead to a glorious renaissance of French in the league.

That ship has long sailed.

In the meantime, Heaven help the Montreal Canadiens if they fall for this nonsense.

So far so good, but cracks are appearing...

Bixi Anthem!

For all of those who tell us that that Arcade Fire doesn't represent Montreal because they are English and outsiders, I offer up this treat of a couple of Anglo Montrealers who are most certainly plugged into the city Montreal.  DaGryptions

Enjoy!

Inspirational Posters Volume 2

For more see- Inspirational Posters Volume 1

Quebec versus Newfoundland- Whiners Square Off!

To most Canadians who live west of the Ottawa river, listening to the never-ending whining of Quebec and Newfoundland about their mistreatment at the evil hands of Ottawa, is about as satisfying as a trip to the dentist.
The righteous indignation of the likes of  Gilles Duceppe and Danny Williams has me so annoyed that I have taken to throwing a foam shoe at my television set each time their respective faces make an appearance, spouting another idiotic and insulting pronouncement, dissing Canada.

Both provinces have been sucking at the federal teat for well-nigh a half a century, all the while complaining at the unfairness of it all. Both  have mastered the art of twisting figures and manipulating facts to somehow pretend that they are getting the raw end of the stick. The rest of Canada is not amused.

As everyone knows, Newfoundland has now become a 'have' province, due to the offshore riches of oil. But like a welfare recipient who wins the lotto, old habits are hard to change. The idea accepting the responsibility of paying into Canada, instead of sucking out, is so foreign to the island, that the petulant premier actually took down the Canadian flag in protest that his province will receive less and less equalization payments in light of it's new found wealth. Link

 Over in Quebec, The Journal de Montreal ran a story about a road project that will double-track Highway 175 that connects Chicoutimi, the gateway to the Saguenay region, with Quebec City.  LINK (French)
The provincial government and Ottawa came to a cost sharing agreement, with the feds agreeing to pay for half the cost of the upgrade. The Quebec government demanded complete control of the project and the Feds agreed, with the stipulation that any cost overruns would be the province's responsibility. The work proceeded and lo and behold, what do you think happened?

Drum roll please........The project went 50% over budget. 400 million dollars, that is, not exactly chump change!

Amidst much hand wringing, the cry has gone up that Ottawa ante up half of the deficit, contract aside. After all it is argued, the spirit of the agreement was that the cost was to be split 50/50.

Unfortunately for the Quebec government, the idea was shot down by John Baird, minister of transport, who said that "A DEAL'S A DEAL!" much to the consternation of the province, now claiming that it's important to be reasonable and flexible in the face of evolving circumstances. Right?

Creative math, voodoo economics, spoiled brat syndrome, and institutionalized whining are what Newfoundland and Quebec have in common, so it's to be expected that when the two provinces face off against each other, a battle royal is in order.

For the rest of Canadians, seeing the two provinces beat each other up is deliciously satisfying. It's like watching a boxing match between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama Bin Laden. We can sit back and hope it never ends, cheering on each blow and hoping that each gets the shit kicked out of them. The fight has been going on for well nigh thirty years, with no end in sight, HOORAY!

So far Quebec is ahead on points, having opened the match with a near fatal blow.

That was the contract Newfoundland signed with Quebec in relation to Churchill Falls power. Back in 1969, desperate to develop the Churchill Falls hydro-electric project, Newfoundland signed a foolish deal with Quebec that in effect sold the Labrador power to Hydro-Quebec for what is now, a pittance. Today, Danny Williams is claiming that his province was 'coerced' to make a bad deal because the federal government wouldn't compel Quebec to give Newfoundland the right to put up a transmission line across Quebec to transport the power to the USA.  Hmmm...
Instead, Hydro-Quebec agreed to buy the power and resell it itself. Today, Quebec is reselling the power at a profit of over a billion dollars a year. KAPOW!

Danny William's reaction over this situation is most entertaining, especially given that Premier's penchant for indignant rage. So far,  all he has mustered in defence of his province, is some salty trash talk.  LINK.

But it seems that now, Newfoundland is mounting a real counter-attack.
Both provinces have been wrangling over the right to develop the undersea oil field known as "OLD HARRY" which lies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between the two. The oil field may be bigger than Hibernia, but the lack of agreements have kept the development of the project on the back burner.

Now back in 1964 (before the discovery of the oil field) the four Atlantic provinces agreed to a 'border' that became known as the "Stanfield line,"(after Premier Robert Stanfield) that has the effect of giving most of 'Old Harry' to Quebec. Premier Joey Smallwood himself, signed off on behalf of Newfoundland and Labrador.

But now Newfoundland is singing another tune, having discovered a loophole in that agreement. Apparently, the provinces did not submit the deal to the federal government, as required in the constitution, so according to Newfoundland, it's now -NO DEAL! LINK (Montreal Gazette)

Quebec recognizes the 1964 border because it puts 60% of Old Harry in the province's territory, notwithstanding that the province doesn't exactly recognize the 1927 border between Quebec and Labrador. In fact, a Quebec government web site's placement of the border is at odds with the generally accepted line described by the Canadian and Newfoundland and Labrador governments. That fight is likely put off for the future.

At any rate, it seems that Newfoundland has finally landed a stinging blow, even if they didn't know it. The province recently sent a letter to Quebec outlining the position that the border is now in dispute, a letter that has rocked Quebec. LINK

And today, Quebec is being chastised for having sent a letter to 'Ottawa' trying to queer a deal whereby the feds would help pay for an underground transmission line that would bypass the Quebec transmission line connection. COUNTER PUNCH!
The reaction of the blustering Danny Williams who called the letter 'disgusting,' once again, gives rise to much hilarity! LINK

Boys, keep swinging, pass the popcorn!!!