October 15, 1996
(Mines and Energy)
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Dr. Rex Gibbons today expressed dismay at statements by Opposition Leader Loyola Sullivan on the Churchill Falls campaign - statements which he said serve only to undermine the position of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. "Mr. Sullivan should be supporting the government's attempts to get a fair share of the resource revenue from the Upper Churchill, rather than repeating the conventional arguments against renegotiating the contract. Such actions actually serve to support the position of Hydro-Quebec and not the interests of the people of our province," said the minister.
Mr. Sullivan said today that the Premier should give up on his quest for a fair deal on the sale of power from the Upper Churchill, and accept a 1991 Hydro-Quebec proposal for development of the Lower Churchill.
The minister said that the development of the Lower Churchill offers some potential for the future - when markets become available for the power. Serious discussions were held with Hydro-Quebec in 1989-91, the minister said, but added that Mr. Sullivan's analysis of the 1991 offer overlooks one very serious problem which he failed to mention in his statement: in 1991, Hydro-Quebec would agree to work together with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro on the Lower Churchill development only if our province would extend the tax concessions in the 1961 Upper Churchill water lease for the period from their expiry in 2016 to the end of the power contract in 2041.
"This proposal was simply not acceptable to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador at the time," said the minister. "Not only did it tie the development of the Lower Churchill directly to one of the terms of the current and completely unacceptable Upper Churchill contract, but it would have meant that our government would not be able to tax the Upper Churchill power resource, which we own, during the last 25 years of the infamous contract. In effect, Quebec would have continued to control our ability to levy taxes on our own hydro resources. This was not acceptable in 1991, and it is not acceptable now.
"Mr. Sullivan does not appear to understand that the injustice of the unconscionable Upper Churchill contract would have been transferred to future developments if the government of our province had agreed to any deal on the Lower Churchill that would have extended the tax concessions enjoyed by Quebec for the Upper Churchill.
"The real question for Mr. Sullivan is, would he, if he were Premier, sign an agreement with Quebec which would extend the onerous tax concessions - which expire in 2016 - for an additional 25 years to 2041? The people of the province have every right to have Mr. Sullivan's answer. We want to reduce the inequities of the Churchill Falls contract, not to extend them. What is Mr. Sullivan's position?"
Contact: Tara Laing, (709) 729-0050.
| 1996 10 15 | 4:10 p.m. |
