Tasha Kheiriddin - Forget the leaders’ debates, Liberal daycare plans or Tory tax breaks. The only federal political issue on Quebecers’ minds is Stephen Harper’s announcement that Ottawa will finance the development of the Lower Churchill River to produce hydroelectric power for the benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In a rare show of solidarity, both Gilles Duceppe and Jean Charest denounced the idea; on the streets of Montreal yesterday it was hard to find anyone who was enamored of it. Quebec developed its own Hydro resources without federal funding, and the Churchill river itself is also a point of contention. Quebec currently reaps huge profits from power generated by the Upper Churchill, thanks to a sweetheart deal which requires that the power be sold only to Quebec, an agreement which expires in 2041.
What is at stake in the newly-minted megaproject? From a economic perspective, 500 million megawatts of power, enough to keep the lights on in a large part of Atlantic Canada, and leave a few million megawatts to spare for sale to the United States. From a political perspective, votes in Newfoundland, a province which was openly hostile to the Tories in 2008 thanks to former Premier Danny Williams’ ABC campaign.
It also reinforces the notion that the Conservatives seem to writing off Quebec in this election. Quebecers are frankly puzzled by this; it flies in the face of the usual coziness displayed toward the province at voting time.
But it is consistent with the Plan B approach the Tories seem to be adopting in their quest for a majority: go around Quebec, not through it. By appearing almost anti-Quebec, they actually shore up their support in parts of the country who have little regard for la belle province. And they seem rather unconcerned about the seats they could lose there; Quebec political analysts estimate that at least two ridings are on deathwatch one week into the campaign.
Of course, if the Tories are to succeed with their crush-the-Liberals-into-oblivion strategy in Ontario, they had better hope that Michael Ignatieff doesn’t have four more weeks of relative success, while Mr. Harper trips over his feet on both announcements and tactics. The coalition threat still carries weight, but the Tories need to play it carefully so it doesn’t bounce back and bite them. As for his about-face on the duel with Mr. Ignatieff, Mr. Harper better just hope that everyone forgets about that by the time the actual leaders’ debates come around in eleven days.
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