Take a page from Williams' book
Published Wednesday January 28th, 2009
It's all about self-sufficiency. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams charted a course several years ago to put his province on the road to self-sufficiency. The latest signpost along the way was his government's expropriation of Abitibi-Bowater assets on the closing of its pulp mill. If the mill isn't going to operate, reasons Williams, then the company has no rights to the woodlands and waterways that were entrusted to it in return for providing local economic activity.
His swift action on announcement of the mill closure drew sharp gasps of disbelief and disapproval from pundits and politicians, not to mention the business community. Public reaction, however, was very different. From coast to coast to coast, citizens applauded Williams' move, enthusiastic to witness a politician standing up for his province against the private interests of a huge corporation. Indeed, it is the absence of such assertiveness in the face of corporate power that contributes to the cynicism that pervades Canadian politics. The impression that politicians are the handmaidens of business is widespread and regularly reinforced.
But not in Newfoundland and Labrador. There the premier has decided that whatever the provincial assets may be, the government will extract the maximum public benefit from them. Take the Voiseys Bay nickel deposit, the largest in the world. Mr. Williams set his terms - maximum value from any mining activity. Inco wanted to ship the raw ore back to Sudbury for processing. Williams sent the company packing. Eventually the company came back; the nickel hadn't gone anywhere. He has had similar show-downs with oil companies, and won. Is it any wonder he has 80-plus per cent approval ratings? There is nothing partisan about this guy - he is all about his province.
Meanwhile, back in New Brunswick, Business minister Greg Byrne has assured the business community that his government would never pull such a stunt.
Whatever public assets the private sector wants it shall have, with few strings attached. This at a time when forest communities in which mills have been shut down have been pressuring the government to turn the Crown land licences attached to those mills over to community control, giving them an asset base on which they can base new economic development strategies. But the government has no interest in empowering communities like this. It's too messy and corporate investors, existing or potential, wouldn't approve.
What makes Williams' expropriation so controversial (for surely there was a time, long, long ago, when public assets were not privatized) is that NAFTA was supposed to protect corporations from such political shenanigans. The investors' rights provisions are supposed to discourage governments from taking any action that might infringe on profit-making by foreign companies. Chapter 11 grants a private corporation the right to sue a national government for lost profits should such an attempt be made. Thus companies have been virtually assured of government cooperation as they go about their business.
Williams, however, is not prepared to play by those rules. He actually believes in the right and the responsibility of government to act in the best interests of its citizens and is prepared to defend that right against corporate interests. He will have his chance, since Abitibi-Bowater has announced the company will launch a suit against Canada under NAFTA's chapter 11 provisions. Rather than argue the case before a Canadian court of law, however, it will be heard by a private tribunal consisting of one member from each of the three NAFTA countries. There is no opportunity for appeal. (NAFTA subverts the justice system as well as national sovereignty).
We can all thank Danny Williams for taking this stand. No longer content with vague promises of residual benefits trickling down from the corporate trough, the case will feed the public appetite for leadership that actually puts public interest first, and will highlight for all Canadians the serious political problems NAFTA presents.
It will also set the tone for responding to a signal from the Obama administration that NAFTA is not holy writ and therefore must be renegotiated. Canada's agenda with NAFTA was to grease the wheels for Canadian companies to get access to US markets. Traded off was a goodly chunk of national sovereignty and we need to get that back. Who better than Danny Williams to run that flag up the mast.
Whether he wins or loses at the tribunal, he wins in the hearts and minds of Canadians.
Meanwhile, Shawn Graham should take heed. Rather than continuing the down the same old path of corporate coddling, his self-sufficiency agenda, not to mention public approval, is much more likely to be realized by adopting some of the philosophy that drives Mr. Williams.
Janice Harvey is a freelance columnist. She can be reached by e-mail at waweig@nbnet.nb.ca. Her column appears on Wednesday.
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Actuallty there only three things seperating Danny and Graham Crackers...oil, integrety and a brain