The Wisdom of Gerry Reid

From the debates of the House of Assembly, May 18, 2006:

Last week, when the Premier rolled out that hastily-arrived-at news conference, I was convinced, and I think most of the people in the Province were convinced, that we were going it alone. We were going to develop the Lower Churchill on our own. I was almost convinced that the federal government was going to give us a loan guarantee so that we could do it on our own. That was just a week ago. Yesterday, the government, on a private member’s motion, introduced the motion, and all of a sudden it is changed from going it alone on the Lower Churchill to taking the lead on the Lower Churchill.

Mr. Speaker, for anybody who wants to stop, sit down, and think about the differences in the meaning of those two phrases - going it alone and taking the lead - it is like black and white. If we are somewhat confused, and if I am not jumping up and down on my feet and saying how delighted I am because we are going it alone, that is one of the reasons. We do not know what going it alone means, especially when they say, a few days after, that going it alone means taking the lead on something.

Mr. Speaker, the other problem that I have with this government when they talk about doing things, especially on the Lower Churchill, is that, if you question the government on it, you are attacked. If you dare raise the spectre that you might not be in favour of it, you are unpatriotic. That is the way the Premier operates. He either personally attacks you or he goes out and he tries to convince people that you are not patriotic and that you want to sell out the Lower Churchill to Quebec or some other group. That is always the case. You have to be looking over your shoulder and choosing your words when you are dealing with the Premier in the House of Assembly, or if you are dealing with him in the media, because that is the way he operates.

He has himself held up now as the great Newfoundland and Labrador patriot, and anybody who says anything negative about him is somehow less than patriotic. If you dare question him, you are insulted. If you dare question him, your character is assassinated, whether it is in the House of Assembly or out by the door. We have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of that, anyone who has sat on this side of the floor in the last two-and-a-half years, looking at the Premier from where we sit, because you do not always see it on television; because, right now there are supposed to be forty-right members in this House of Assembly, and those of you who are watching on television, I think, will only see me and they may see my colleague, the Member for Grand Bank, sitting behind me. They do not see what happens across the floor, because when that little red light goes out, that is in front of me on that microphone, I know the camera is not on me, and every member in the House knows that, and that is when the antics start. That is when you are insulted. That is when your character is assassinated, for trying to get some information, trying to find out what is right, trying to make an informed decision as to which way you should vote on one thing or the other by asking questions.

There are large swaths of the rest of that day's debate worth reading, too, especially with the benefit of three years of hindsight. Check it out.