Going it alone, I

Terry Roberts reports in The Telegram today (not online):

The province will also begin laying down a “hard top” on the Trans-Labrador Highway, with or without help from the federal government. Williams is hoping the federal government will announce its share of the project in Monday's budget.

And Williams Government told The Aurora this week:

“We already indicated last year that we are prepared to put $50 million into surfacing the road. The $50 million we allocated last year we couldn't use because we were waiting for the feds to step up.”

Even if the feds don't step up to the plate, the premier assures the province will go ahead with the hardtop anyway. The reason the province waited until this year, he explained, was to ensure the whole thing got done.

Oh?

Really?

That's novel.

As Ken Oliver wrote in The Labradorian on January 22nd:

Of that amount, $17 million will go towards ongoing construction of Phase III of the Trans-Labrador Highway and a further $15 million is earmarked for hard-surfacing in Phase I of the TLH. The latter though is subject to cost sharing with the federal government.

As Rob Antle reported in The Telegram on January 18th:

The province will commit $7.5 million to begin hard-surfacing Phase I of the Trans- Labrador Highway. But that work is conditional on Ottawa matching it with $7.5 million in federal cash.

And Craig Jackson reported for the same paper on November 29th last year:

Transportation Minister John Hickey is confident the federal and provincial governments will each contribute $10 million next year as part of the five-year, $100-million hard-topping contract for the Trans-Labrador Highway.

There's been a tremendous amount of movement between both levels of government on the Trans-Labrador Highway file, he said, noting federal cabinet ministers have indicated it's a done deal.

John Hickey stated on August 7th:

Surfacing of the TLH from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Labrador City-Wabush is estimated to cost in the order of $100 million, to be shared equally by the federal and provincial government.

The Telegram reported on April 12th:

In Budget 2006, government announced plans to invest $26.7 million to further construct Phase III of the Trans-Labrador Highway and another $15 million - with help from federal government

Williams Government announced on March 13th:

Government will invest $26.7 million to further construct Phase III of the Trans Labrador Highway - including 50 kilometres near Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Cartwright - and another $15 million, subject to 50-50 federal-provincial cost-sharing, to start application of a sealed surface on Phase I of the Trans Labrador Highway between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Wabush.

A point which he, Williams Government, re-inforced on March 30th:

As recently announced, $25.5 million to further construct Phase III of the Trans- Labrador Highway, including 50 kilometres near Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Cartwright. Another $15 million – subject to 50-50 federal-provincial cost-sharing

And which Trevor Taylor re-re-inforced on April 11th:

Government will invest $26.7 million to further construct Phase III of the Trans-Labrador Highway - including 50 kilometres between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Cartwright - and another $15 million, subject to 50-50 federal-provincial cost-sharing, to start application of a sealed surface on Phase I of the Trans-Labrador Highway between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Wabush.

(As Smallwood would say: first you announce that you are going to announce something. Then you announce it. Then you announce that you have announced it. – ed.)

Trevor Taylor wrote in The Telegram’s op-ed page on February 4th, 2006:

Last year, the province successfully petitioned the federal government to have the Trans-Labrador Highway added to the national highway system. As a result, the province is seeking federal cost- shared funding for upgrading and maintenance of those roads, as the new designation allows.

(“…and maintenance”!?!? Does the province have any spending jurisdiction in Labrador? – ed.)

Is Williams Government really prepared – and here’s a fun phrase – to “go it alone” on the Trans-Labrador Highway?

If so, it would be a first.

And it would give Lawrence Cannon a very convenient out. Williams Government has, in effect, conceded that he doesn’t really need that federal money after all… he only wants it.

And it makes you wonder, what was the point in shifting blame to the federal government all these years, if Williams Government was prepared to spend its own money, no strings attached, all along?

Williams Government is either a bad negotiator for letting the federal government off the hook for its Trans-Labrador Highway promise.

Or Williams Government is a bad negotiator for “negotiating”, not in good faith, but solely for the purpose of setting up the federal government as the guy to blame.

Either way, Williams Government is a bad negotiator.

The fact remains, though, that the federal government has outspent the provincial government on the Trans-Labrador Highway 9 to 1 over the past thirty years, notwithstanding the efforts of Liberal and Tory provincial governments to re-write the highway’s funding history.

If Labrador really is – and here’s another fun phrase, an “integral part of the province” – then it really is time for the province to come to the table, with its own-source, unconditional money. Labrador doesn’t pay 50 cent, conditional provincial tax dollars; why should Labadorians settle for 50 cent, conditional spending dollars?

“With or without help from the federal government” would mark a major departure, not only from Williams Government’s own buck-passing and buck-begging to the federal government on the Trans-Labrador Highway issue (and anything else to do with Labrador), but the long-standing trend of provincial governments, Liberal and Tory, to match federal money with more federal money. Provincial-sourced funds are as scarce along the TLH as cell phone service or pavement.

If Williams Government really is prepared to go ahead on the TLH, “with or without” federal money as The Aurora and Terry Roberts report, it would be something.

But, barring a direct quote from Williams Government himself to that effect, it’s probably nothing.

A good question for The Telegram to ask as a follow-up comes from Williams Government’s pre-by-election Aurora interview:

“The total cost of doing all that alone by the province given what we are trying to do in other phases of Labrador is a big nut to crack.”

What are all those other things “we are trying to do in other phases of Labrador”? List them, with particular reference to all of those things which “we” are trying to do without federal money.