June 19th-25th
Commentary on Bill C-5, the Sign, the MOU, More
Happy Thursday, all! This is the first edition of the Aldis. The first sections are brief recaps of noteworthy news - references are in brackets and links are at the end. Feel free to read for yourself. As well, this is not “all-encompassing” - just things that caught my eye this week, and things I thought worth sharing. The end section is my take - an unfiltered, no-punches-pulled commentary on a few things on the go this week. Got a different opinion? Leave a comment - let’s have a dialogue!
Townie News
Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs: St. John’s City Council has stalled its decision to put up one of those destination signs (the ones that were all the rage about 10 years ago!) in Bannerman Park, due to constituent pushback over the cost and location. [1]
Beatin’ the Path: Water Street pedestrian mall opens today, June 26th, for the season. (I am going to have a pint or four this weekend.) [2]
Professional Excellence: St. John’s native Abby Newhook has been drafted into the PWHL by the Boston Fleet, becoming the second NL native drafted into that league. I am not sure what the Newhook's put in their corn flakes, but whatever it was has landed both Abby and Alex at the highest echelons of professional hockey. And I can’t even skate. Congratulations Abby! [3]
NL News
Taking the Temperature: Minister of Health Krista-Lynn Howell & NLHS announced that Deloitte will be conducting a review & analysis on core nursing staffing, focusing on the factors affecting the workloads on nursing staff, including working hours, recruitment, organisation, etc,. The move is being positively received by RNU NL, who say it is long overdue to improve the working conditions of healthcare professionals. [4]
Oh God, He’s Back: Former Premier Danny Williams is in the news again, this time going after NL Hydro over the Upper Churchill MOU, claiming this deal repeats the mistakes of the 1969 agreement. NL Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams offered corrections to Danny’s statements & invited Danny to come to NL Hydro for a briefing. Danny claims no such invite was actually extended, and requested a meeting with Premier John Hogan to discuss the deal’s “faults”. (I have *so many* thoughts on this topic. In keeping with the unbiased nature of the skimmed news section, I won’t offer them here. See below for my thoughts.) [5]
Auditor General’s Report: AG Denise Hanrahan released a scathing report regarding the government’s handling of agency nurses (“travel nurses”), finding that the government hired these nurses at a “frivolous pace” without proper financial controls or vetting of credentials. [12] (A quick aside - it looks like the travel nurse agencies took NLHS for the runaround; with excessive billing & inappropriate reimbursement requests. The burden, though, rests on government for not catching & clamping down on that.)
Proper Thing: Justice O’Flaherty sentenced Martin Tulk, a convicted cocaine “king pin” in Newfoundland, to 10 years imprisonment, exceeding what the Crown had asked for, citing the impact him & his accomplices have had on the local community’s safety and wellbeing. This is, in my opinion, big - we’ve seen a string of high-profile drug busts & associated violence in the city over the past few months, and this is the first conviction in the midst of all that. [6]
Canada News
Standing On Guard: Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada would meet the 5% of annual GDP spent on defense quota alongside NATO leaders in The Hague today, weeks after announcing the government’s plans to meet the 2% target established 11 years ago. That level of spending would equate to approximately $150B per year. Of note, Canada has recently joined the new European defence pact, with the hope being that we will be able to procure more from our likeminded European allies, and be less reliant on the United States. Domestic arms production is also expected to be increased as well, with restarting of ammunition production to be a start. [7]
Get ‘Er Done: The clock continues to run down on a Canada-US trade deal in the wake of our government’s deadline of 30 days post-G7 meeting to make a deal, before Canada launches reciprocal steel and aluminum tariffs on the US. This comes after the Carney government announced a strategy to entice domestic users to consume Canadian steel and aluminum, setting limits on tariff-free imports of foreign steel & aluminum. This measure, in theory, would minimise impact on small-to-medium size business (think a local welding shop) who don’t order enough steel to exceed the limit, but still ups domestic demand for steel and aluminum as larger capital projects (roads, bridges, new projects etc.) will have an incentive to buy Canadian. [8]
Shipping News: The Canadian Trucking Alliance is claiming that the “Driver Inc.” system, where trucking companies invoice drivers as contractors instead of employees (disproportionately targeting New Canadians, by the way), is a blatant tax evasion scandal that implicates both companies and drivers. They claim that by allowing companies to invoice drivers as sole proprietors, taxes are being evaded. [9]
Continued Crisis: Wildfires continue to burn in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with the forecast outlook uncertain. [10]
Major Projects, Minor Scuffles: The House of Commons passed Bill C-5 last week, an Act designed to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and create an environment that welcomes capital flow into major projects by guaranteeing regulatory certainty. There has been concern amongst interest groups (and indeed within the Liberal caucus) that the bill has been passed too quickly, without sufficient consultation, and that it gives too much power to the federal government to override legislation to get projects through. Prime Minister Carney has stressed that the speed at which the bill was passed is necessary to get the bureaucratic infrastructure up and running as quickly as possible, citing the extreme financial pressures we face as a country, and that further consultations will be conducted over the summer. The Senate is expected to pass this bill by Friday. [11]
My Takes
St. John’s Sign Debacle:
In my humble opinion, this story is much ado about nothing. I am not trying to sound dismissive, however, the usual suspects are chiming in (am I becoming a usual suspect?) about this, and as usual, reason is somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, the sign is 1) about 10 years too late, and 2) if installed as-designed, not very flattering to Bannerman Park. On the other hand, the City should be commended for trying new initiatives like this, and $85k is not a large sum for a capital expenditure. (Seriously. When you consider manufacturing and labour costs - it’s not.) I feel like our energies would be much better spent on more pressing issues - housing, safety & security, economic development. The sign debacle is taking all the oxygen out of the room. Get one of the b’ys a sheet of plywood and a can of spray paint if you want a sign. Or put up the proposed sign. It doesn’t matter. The fact that the feds rejected St. John’s housing accelerator fund proposal? That matters.
Defence Spending
Keeping up with our commitments in an ever-increasingly dangerous world is a good thing, actually. The Liberals yet again prove that they are the only party to understand nuance - we cannot become a vassal state of the US, and we cannot leave ourselves defenseless. Plus, it’s nice to think that domestic industrial production will get a boost from this. The usual suspects will try to convince you that we’re “wasting money” when it could be redirected towards social causes, like healthcare, etcetera. I’ll put to you that defence spending is not a waste, and guaranteeing our security is the final backstop to ensure that we can maintain those same social programs and standard of living for Canadians. It’s a tired talking point. We’re not going to start bombing random countries a la Israel & the US, we’ll just be able to respond and assert our sovereignty if the US and Russia decide to start tangoing in the Arctic Circle, for example. As well, as the effects of climate change bake in (quite literally), do you think being the nation with the most fresh water & vast quantities of critical minerals should be defenseless..? However, be wary of the Conservatives - they were gung-ho for the Iraq War in 2003, and we’re not sure what they’d do with said new military if they were in power. Good thing we don’t have to worry about that for the next little while, because they lost. (Haha!)
Danny Williams, the PCs and the Upper Churchill MOU:
I would be a bold-faced liar if I said that my desire to have a whack at the public discourse surrounding the Upper Churchill MOU did not influence my decision to start up Aldis. This topic alone warrants its own long-form (which is being developed) but to keep this brief, I will only say the following:
Danny Williams’ gilded hand set us on course for financial ruin with the Muskrat Falls project. PCs (both old and new) will claim “bu-bu-but the debt came on during the Liberal tenure!”, or “bu-bu-but we wouldn’t have the Maritime Link without it!” when both of those things are demonstrably untrue. (On point one, have you ever heard of invoicing and contract litigation, Tories?) Blame for that project lies solely on the government of the day - NOT the professionals at Hydro who did the best they could under the circumstances. The issues began at the executive level - with the sign off. Given two options - isolated island or Lower Churchill - the PCs slewed the cards to pick the riskier investment. Fine if it was a private business, but it was not. Knowing that we likely would not have appropriate commercial & industrial demand to warrant such a project, knowing the technical & commercial risks inherent with hydroelectric dam construction, and knowing that the Newfoundland and Labrador taxpayer would foot the bill, they sentenced us to debt, that, notwithstanding intervention, I, my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will all shoulder. (I’m 22.) The LeBlanc report dissected the nitty-gritty of how things panned out; I will not summarise its contents - if you’re working in the project management/engineering space like myself, I highly recommend reading, even just the executive summary. I have tried time and time again to attempt to rationalise this decision - why did they do this? - and the only conclusions I can draw are that one man’s ego, combined with our province’s (justified) desire to shiv Quebec for its imperialist grip on our resources, are to blame.
People (i.e. not the man who threw us off a fiscal cliff) have very well founded reasons to be skeptical of this new MOU. Well founded not because the deal is bad, but because we have been fleeced so many times in our past. In contrast to those times (i.e. one man or one entity coming forth and proclaiming I Am Your Saviour), this recent MOU is a shining example of how confederation with Canada SHOULD work. It is not “an embarassment”. It is not “a repeat of 1969”. The entire document and deal has been brought out before the public, multiple times, in both the House of Assembly and NL Hydro’s public engagement sessions, and more. There is an escalatory price clause that allows us to negotiate higher power rates that reflect future market conditions, to our benefit. There is a clause that stipulates that any disagreement over the arrangement will be debated in the neutral Ontario Supreme Court. There is a reason why Upper Churchill power is going to be sold at 6 cents per kilowatt hour - the asset, that already exists, is paid off in full. (Imagine - a large part of power rates are for servicing the debt on assets! Who knew!). The majority of risk & financial burden will be carried by Hydro-Quebec (i.e. if things go south, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians won’t be on the hook). Sure, we could wait until 2041, and end up with a much similar deal to what we have today - so why not get kicked off early; get tradespeople working, get billions of dollars flowing into provincial coffers & on to public works? While it would be satisfying to flip the table on Quebec, we cannot reasonably expect that to happen. A 50/50 deal is what we get, and that is fair. We cannot fight fire with fire; it’s best to just let that old rage burn out. It is an example of how Confederation should work - two equal provinces, each with different resources and needs, working together on a mutually beneficial solution. They need the electricity, and we need the money. There is an extreme amount of political wool pulling going on around this MOU. It is an inherently fair and good deal. Those who are attempting to convince you otherwise want you angry for their own benefit (i.e. the NL PC Party, whom were too dim to understand what was going on during the MOU debates, so they walked out & abstained from voting. If you’re going to oppose something, fine - vote against it - don’t abstain and then waddle back and oppose it when it’s politically convenient for you.) I could go on. I will. Just not this week.
Above all, I am shocked at the gall of Danny Williams to rear his head on - of all subjects - hydroelectricity, to demand a meeting with the Premier & CEO of NL Hydro, and whine like a colicky child when he does not get his way. This man has all the riches that his years of skill in the private sector have given him, and yet, he seems hellbent on screwing up the deal that’s going to help fix the deal he screwed up. Why can’t he just go away and be happy?
To summarise, I’m glad Jennifer is the Williams is in charge of this deal, and not Danny. Her leadership is an exemplary demonstration of competency, professionalism, and forward-thinking. Danny’s re-injection into the public sphere is a godawful reminder of the sad chapter that put us on the ropes.
Major Projects Bill
Those who know me may not be surprised to know that I’m going to give the Carney government the benefit of the doubt on Bill C-5. The scale of the crisis we face as a country will mean that an impactful response is inevitably going to step on people’s toes - but I do genuinely believe they will consult & work with the groups that have legitimate concerns about the bill to ensure that everyone’s consulted. We do need to go fast, and government is a notoriously slow machine. Passing C-5 allows the Privy Council & civil service to get the wheels turning early, so that FIDs can get issued as quick as reasonably practicable. The speed is necessary, and the government has assessed that it is more important to get capital projects moving than to get bogged down in consultation. It is a stark departure from the Trudeau era; and I welcome it. I also believe they truly will make sure concerned voices are heard as well as is reasonably practicable. It would be political & judicial suicide if they did not. We’ll see how it goes, but as someone who’s working in and around big capital projects, this is very, very welcome news.
That’s all for this week - see you next Thursday!
References
[1] https://vocm.com/2025/06/24/update-capital-city-pauses-placement-of-controversial-sign-pending-further-public-consultation/
[2] https://www.stjohns.ca/en/recreation-culture/downtown-pedestrian-mall.aspx
[3] https://vocm.com/2025/06/25/abby-newhook-selected-by-boston-in-pwhl-draft/
[4] https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundland-labrador/deliotte-to-handle-nl-nursing-core-staffing-review-suggested-in-health-accord
[5] https://vocm.com/2025/06/25/danny-williams-wants-meeting-with-premier-on-hydro-mou/
[6] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/martin-tulk-cocaine-sentence-1.7568359
[7] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/canada-commits-to-new-nato-defence-spending-pledge-to-hit-5-per-cent-of-gdp-by-2035/
[8] https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/06/canada-bolsters-its-measures-to-protect-canadian-steel-and-aluminum-workers-and-industries.html
[9] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/driver-inc-scam-drives-truck-industry-crisis-1.7569716
[10] https://www.alberta.ca/wildfire-status
[11] https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/senate-under-pressure-to-deal-with-carneys-major-projects-bill-quickly/
[12] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/ag-report-agency-nurses-1.7570535