Off da hook

Back in January 2006, when he was still shilling for his then kissing-cousin federal Conservatives, Danny Williams stretched the truth, ever so slightly, by spinning the contents of Stephen Harper's list of election promises:

“The Conservative and NDP responses were very encouraging on several fronts, including support for a loan guarantee for the development of the lower Churchill, support for the reinstatement of the Gander weather office and support for a cost-shared agreement on the completion of the Trans Labrador Highway, among other issues,”

Danny, giddy as a schoolgirl, gushed.

Asked last fall by The Telegram, “are you worried the Harper government will change its mind on agreeing in principle to a loan guarantee for development of the Lower Churchill River's hydroelectric potential?”, Danny, lying through his teeth, replied:

That commitment, again, has been repeated and reiterated. It's there in writing. It's very clear.

On December 2, The Telegram reported:

Williams said he will hold Prime Minister Stephen Harper to his word that the federal government will provide a loan guarantee to allow the Lower Churchill development to proceed.

But, for the first time nuancing his comments, he added:

And if Ottawa is reluctant to provide such a guarantee, this province will go it alone...

Two days later, his cynicism was laid more bare for the CBC:

“I have a commitment in writing from the prime minister, for what it's worth.”

And now, Mr. Consistency Himself has declared:

“From a fiscal perspective, we can say to Steve and company, that we don't need your guarantee on the Lower Churchill. Thanks very much for promising it to us, but your promises aren't worth the paper they're written on.”

On the TLH file, Great Negotiator was very clear when he told The Aurora on March 12th:

“In fairness, because it’s such a huge contribution and expense, those 50 per cent [federal] dollars are huge to us. Why start and do half when if we can get them onboard with us we can get the whole thing done?”

And also last month, Danny's Minister of Blaming Ottawa for All Our National Transportation Woes told the CBC:

“We are going to continue to press the federal government here. We are not letting them off the hook,” said Hickey. “I am not letting them off the hook, I can assure you.”

But the increasingly dyspeptic and inconstant government presided over by the two year old Taoiseach is having trouble keeping its story straight. In fact, the Teasack himself told the Telegram, less than a week before John Hickey's “not letting them off the hook” pronouncement:

Williams said the province will move ahead on some issues, with or without the federal government. He singled out the paving of the Trans-Labrador Highway from Labrador City and Wabush to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. “We can’t allow the Government of Canada to have us on our knees all the time so we will remain behind the eight ball because they’re not going to provide funding. I’m not going to allow that the happen,” Williams said.

And in his budget speech yesterday, the Provincial Money Bunny stated:

Let me make it clear, that our government will proceed with hard-surfacing this year with or without a federal contribution.

So it is now official.

Danny Williams, Glorious Leader, Great Lawyer™, Master Negotiator™, has waived the two biggest-ticket promises made, or supposedly made, by Stephen Harper in the dying days of the last federal election campaign.

We'll go it alone.

With or without.

Off the hook.

Our Glorious Autonomous Nation's Glorious National Autonomy in Action.

Which is going to make it really, really, really, fun to watch, when Danny Williams does another U-turn, just as when he pronounced he could live without the “volatility” of Quebec and its politics, and goes crawling, nay, slithering back to Ottawa, half-demanding, half-begging for the very same money, in cash or in negotiable instrument, he has just said he can do without.