Check national websites today and the Labrador by-election is the lead story just about everywhere.
Comment by Labradorians though seems to reflect the legacy of Joe Smallwood. He dominated provincial politics between 1949 to 1972 to the point that people can't distinguish between things that are St. John's fault and the things Ottawa is responsible for. The same guy used to show up with both the local candidate and the one heading to Ottawa.
No surprise therefore that roads, water and sewer, and the Young Royal Commission are high on the list of things people in Labrador are supposedly ticked about. There is a feeling of being taken for granted that runs throughout all of Labrador. But hey, those are all provincial issues, not federal ones.
See this CTV story which, sadly relies on one lone reporter in Labrador for perspective. But the water and sewer is likely a bigger issue on the south coast, one of the four distinctly different regions within Labrador.
On the north coast, I'd venture the future of the LIA land claim is a hot topic as the Inuit people transition to self-government.
In western Labrador, it is the future of the mines.
The future of military training at Goose Bay is the dominant issue in central Labrador. The local citizen's committee has been sitting on its backside for the past decade waiting for Ottawa to fix its problem- low level training has had its day and few of the historic visitors to the base's facilities are coming back. The committee then blames government for failing to bring back the Nazis or the Commies or invent an enemy in Greenland to justify massive spending at Goose Bay "like in the old days" from someone like the Americans.
The committee moans and complains but has done nothing to look seriously at alternatives. Addicts have a hard time breaking a habit and the Connie promises are like OxyContin. No surprise therefore that the ideas floated by Gordon O'Conner - especially the ludicrous plan to base an infantry battalion at Goose - are being snapped up. Conservative candidate Letto's connections to the local committee didn't hurt on that score; it's also easy for the party out of power to promise the moon in exchange for votes.
The race is reputedly close - extremely close.
The irony of the vote today is that the future of the offshore revenue deal - highlighted in the CTV story as primarily benefiting the island portion of the province - might rest in the hands of Labrador's MP.
