VOCM news is reporting today that Prime Minister Paul Martin wants to help develop the Lower Churchill hydro electric potential.
For those who may have forgotten, the PM said this last year and the year before, as far as I recall.
It is certainly the same message John Efford carried to a Newfoundland Ocean Industries Association meeting in April 2004.
In fact, the Premier noted that commitment in a news release on the offshore oil revenue talks a day or two after Efford's speech. Here's the link to that release.
As I recall - and I stand to be corrected - the Premier didn't move the Lower Churchill offer forward at that time because he was focused on other issues, including the budget controversy at the time. Aside from the fact the government had already decided in the spring of 2004 to move to an expressions of interest process in October, the government had also entered into secret talks with the Sino-Energy consortium to share information on the Lower Churchill - and presumably receive a proposal eventually from that group. Existence of that deal wasn't revealed until July 2004 and the details weren't made public until September. In April, none of us outside government knew anything about Sino-Energy.
What's the next step? Someone from the Premier's Office or Hydro needs to get in touch with the Prime Minister's Office and John Efford's office ASAP.
It's been a year since the commitment; let's take the PM up on the offer. The only reason the offshore talks took so long is that the province didn't push the issue seriously until October.
Before anyone screams a partisan foul, I'd be more than happy to provide the documentary evidence to back up that point.
