Going it alone together (IV)

Dave Bartlett reports for the Telegram on Thursday:

But Williams also said Wednesday the province will now shift it's focus to developing a Maritime route to transmit Lower Churchill power to the Island and on in to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

He said that has been his preferred option all along even though it is more expensive.
[…]

Williams said he and the other Atlantic premiers will discuss that route further during a conference call next week, which the federal government may also be a part of.

It is not immediately obvious why the federal government would be part of this conference call (or indeed why there would be such a conference call at all.) After all, in announcing the Sinn Fein development four years ago this week, Dear Leader said:

We are capable of doing this project by ourselves, for ourselves. We are on a path to be masters of our own destiny, and the successful development of this project will be a significant step forward in reaching that ultimate objective for this province.

At around the same time, he told the Bow-Wow Parliament:

Mr. Speaker, in anticipation of this announcement today, I spoke last night with the Prime Minister to indicate to him that this was proceeding and exactly what we were doing. I spoke to the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, to indicate that we were proceeding on a go-alone basis but that we would certainly be prepared to entertain the Province of Ontario as a customer. I spoke to the Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, and talked to him about what our plans were. We discussed briefly his energy proposals, which were released just last Friday. He indicated to us that they had gone ahead with their energy plans on the basis that - they assumed that we were probably going to do the Lower Churchill project on our own.

A year later, in proclaiming his noisy revolution – this was several months before Our Dear Theme Song exhorted Us all to join His Peaceful Resolution – He said:

We're going to do it without them. Whether that happens to be the Trans-Labrador Highway or that happens to be the Lower Churchill, we're going to move forward… We can't wait for the presumed generosity and largesse of Ottawa to advance our province.

In 2008, he told the Bow-Wows:

There have been discussions. There have been representations by the department. There have been representations by Hydro. There have been discussions with Minister Lunn, Minister Baird, if I remember correctly. Certainly, the matter had been raised on previous occasions with the Prime Minister. So everything that can be done is actually being done, but I can tell you categorically, and I have stated it here time and time again, that this Province is going to move forward with or without the federal government.

And, let us not forget the solemn laying down of the Williams Doctrine in 2007:

Our people are not content to tolerate a future of relying on others economically. However, our people have now also learned that we will achieve self-reliance economically only by taking charge of our future as a people. To that end, My Government will harness the desire among Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to cultivate greater cultural, financial and moral autonomy vis-à-vis Ottawa.