Word count is your friend (3)

As noted before, the Voisey's Bay Statement of Principles, released in its entirety on June 11, 2002, including headings, totals 6,068 words.

That document wasn't good enough for Danny Williams:

MR. WILLIAMS: It is a useless document. Why are we being put through this sham here in the House of Assembly? Why won’t the Premier provide the beef, the real deal? Why don’t we get all the documentation?

Mr. Speaker, in paragraph 3, and this is just another indication of what we are not getting, "The principal conditions to be met in order for the Proponent to proceed with the Project are: (a) the passage into law of any changes to the Mining and Mineral Rights Tax Act contemplated by the Statement of Principles, (b) the completion of an Environmental Management Agreement, (c) the completion of required aboriginal agreements, including Impacts and Benefits Agreements and the Voisey’s Bay chapter in the respective land claims agreements or other interim arrangements...". As well, Mr. Speaker, there are corporate tax agreements and there are Industrial and Employment Benefits Agreements.

We have not seen any of them. They are all relevant agreements to this entire large commercial arrangement. We have not seen them. We are not going to be given them. We are being asked to vote tomorrow without the benefit of that documentation.

This is a government that will tell you, that will tell the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, that it is open, it is accountable, and it is transparent. Well, Mr. Speaker, why aren’t we getting all the documentation? I can understand why the former Auditor General said that this is the least accountable government in this entire country.

Mr. Speaker, we do not have all the deal.

...

Mr. Speaker, we have to make tough decisions, we have to stand firm. When it comes to making decisions, we have to stand up. We cannot just do the things that may appear to be popular at a given point in time. That is the position that we find ourselves in. We are standing up for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and we are trying to make this a better deal, but we are not getting the information from this government that is not open, this government that is not accountable, and this government that is not transparent. We are in the dark, we do not have all the information, and it is impossible for us to make a responsible decision on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The backgrounder to the White Rose deal, announced today, the only public documentation on it, consists of 601 words.

Mitigating factor: that's still 166 more than the 435 words that have been released on the sooper-sekrit Hebron deal.

De-mitigating factor: At least Roger Grimes opened the House of Assembly in the summer five years ago, giving then-opposition leader Danny Williams a soap box for his rant against sooper-sekrit resource deals.