Five years later

The Western Star editorialist laments:

The Harper government has since said it will guarantee the financing for the project, but there is much more the feds could have — and still can do — to get multibillion-dollar project off the ground and make it more profitable.

For starters, if Ottawa had signed on to invest in the Lower Churchill, it could have included both phases of the project that had to be trimmed down because of the cost factor.

It’s not like this province is asking for a handout.

There is money to be made from clean hydro power and Ottawa could have made some cash for the federal treasury if politicians like Prentice had pushed for that to happen.

One wonders, in an information vacuum given the online inaccessibility of the paper's archives from the relevant period, what the Western Star thought, in its humble editorial opinion, about this:

In keeping with the provincial government’s agenda of developing resources for the maximum benefit of the people and continuing on the road to self-reliance, Premier Danny Williams announced today the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (NLH) will take the lead on the potential development of the Lower Churchill hydroelectric resource. The decision was made following the assessment of the proposals short-listed from the Expressions of Interest and Proposals (EOI process).

"Just over a year ago, we embarked on a process to identify the best approach to develop the Lower Churchill hydro resource that would ensure maximum benefits and returns to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador," said Premier Williams. "Our team has thoroughly assessed and evaluated all of the proposals that were received through our EOI process, and today we are pleased to announce that the province in partnership with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro will lead the development of the Lower Churchill. It became clear that a Newfoundland and Labrador-led development presented the best option to realize our objectives to develop this tremendous, clean source of renewable energy."

On the day of that release, in May 2006, and possibly even in a now-expunged version of it, Chairman Dan actually used the phrase "go it alone" — a phrase which he used on numerous occasions afterwards on a go-forward basis [GIVE IT UP! - ed.]

Where has the Western Star been during all that time?