Well Stephen Harper opens his mouth again and pisses of an entire province. Newfoundland were pissed off at Harper's betrayal last election and completely shut out the Conservatives from the province. That Anything but Conservative campaign I might add was lead by Conservative Premier Danny Williams.
This election Harper returns to Mulroney's pork barrel politics and makes a promise to subsidise a hydro electric dam for the province. Since Harper has a proven track record of breaking his election promises, I have no idea what makes the voters of Newfoundland think he will keep his promise but that's beside the point.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest is taking issue with a campaign promise made by Stephen Harper to finance a hydro mega project in Labrador, saying the federal backing would be the equivalent of offering an unfair subsidy.
Harper has promised financial support for Labrador's Lower Churchill hydro project to build power lines from Labrador through Nova Scotia and potentially into the United States, building it into a competitor for Hydro-Quebec.
Charest told a crowd in Quebec City on Friday that Hydro-Quebec had built its system without federal support and that using federal money to create competition was unfair.
This campaign promise has sure opened a can of worms. Pork Barrel politics is one of them. Pissing off Quebec who he hates and calls separatists is another. Yet it also opens the conflict of privatizing power for profit.
Charest is concerned that Harper will be subsidizing a power proposal that will compete with Quebec. Obviously Charest doesn't care about providing the people of Newfoundland with power. He's concerned with a price war selling their power in the United States. Problematic indeed.
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