Just to correct a letter from Chris Gross in the Oct. 25 paper regarding the plight of Alberta and Newfoundland, Quebec’s place in it, and Canada’s response.
Gross appears to expect the federal government to intervene in a Supreme Court case between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. That’s hardly acceptable, and to compare it to the SNC issue is a stretch.
Secondly, Alberta sends no transfer payments to Quebec. In addition, to call the judges “biased” is even a farther stretch given the fact that Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that Churchill Falls Corp. Ltd. — a subsidiary of Newfoundland’s Crown corporation overseeing hydroelectricity — has the right to sell energy produced above a certain threshold.
I’m not a lawyer, but I doubt the feds can overrule a Supreme Court judgement in contract law.
However, they can, and will have to play a role in your Muskrat Falls situation, much like they did in Saskatchewan 25 years ago.
Miles Tompkins,
Antigonish, N.S.
