RIP Go It Alone, 2007-2010

In Captain Autonomy Goitalone’s 2005/06 Christmas election wish-list to Uncle Ottawa, he asked:

Does your party support efforts to develop the hydro-power resources of the Lower Churchill River System for the primary benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador, including the provision of a Federal Government guarantee to proceed with the project?

In 2008, Captain Autonomy Goitalone asked:

If returned to government, will your party support efforts to develop the hydro-power resources of the Lower Churchill River System for the primary benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador, including:
• commiting to the provision of a Federal Government loan guarantee to proceed with the project; and
• commitment of funds and legislative and regulatory measures to develop a truly national electricity transmission system, in particular funding for transmission in Labrador, to Newfoundland, and, if necessary, to the Maritimes?

In 2009, Captain Autonomy Goitalone cleverly tried to greymail the federal government to compensate the province for the, um, cheaper construction costs of taking a shorter transmission route across the island of Newfoundland, around Gros Morne National Park rather than detouring through it.

(This was around the same time that Natural Resources Minister, and notional Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale revealed that Captain Autonomy Goitalone had spent five years trying to get Hydro-Quebec’s money into the goitalone project.)

And in 2010, Captain Autonomy Goitalone, going it alone with sidekick Dexter, applied for federal funding for a transmission line from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia. (What on earth ever became of Ed Martin’s idea of running the line from the Bill to New Brunswick?)

So that makes it official.

There is not one component of the great Go It Alone project, supposedly the Best hydro-electric project in the solar system, whether the dams and powerhouses, or the transmission line across Labrador, or the transmission line under the Strait of Belle Isle, or the transmission line across Newfoundland, or the transmission line under the Cabot Strait; there is not one component which, by the very admissions and actions of Captain Autonomy Goitalone himself, can be accomplished without federal (or Quebec!) financial assistance, including cash freebies.