Autonomy! or, What's Good For Grenfell...

In this week's column for the Transcontinental stable of papers, Michael Johansen compares and contrasts the capital of the NWT with what the local MHA, when he was its mayor, semi-jocularly called the capital of Labrador:

One community is as rich as the other, but the decisions on how the riches are spent, on how the lucrative resources are exploited and distributed, are made in vastly different ways.

In Yellowknife, they’re largely made in Yellowknife by residents of the Northwest Territories.

Maybe if the decisions on how to exploit Labrador’s resources and how to distribute the wealth they generate were made in Happy Valley-Goose Bay by Labradorians, the vibrancy of the town might match Yellowknife’s.

Maybe Happy Valley-Goose Bay would have more sidewalks, better streets, cleaner landscaping, more successful and varied businesses, and a generally brighter outlook for the future — just like Yellowknife.

Interesting proposition.

One that could end up being empirically tested, if the Minister of Finance and Glorious Leader himself are sincere in what they say.