I would like to comment on the Telegram letters “Of strawberries and fixed links” (Oct. 16) and the adverse response to it titled “Be careful what you wish for” (Oct.18).
Instead of looking at the cost of the Newfoundland to Quebec fixed link tunnel in the face of Muskrat Falls, waste-water and other related financial issues we should look at it in terms of lost opportunity and as a future investment in economic development for both Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and the rest of Canada.
The recently opened Gottard double-bore railway tunnel in Switzerland runs for 57-km deep under the Alps (one and a half km) connecting southern and northern Europe. At a cost of $12 billion it roughly compares to that of Muskrat Falls. The average 18-km distance, however, across the Strait of Belle Isle at the closest point to Quebec is approximately one third that distance.
A fixed link could open the entire region to new economic development and population growth. Forestry, mining, tourism, stranded North Atlantic gas reserves, transportation links to Europe and other spin off potential utilizing locally available electricity in both provinces are a great advantage to what is arguably the last North American frontier. The benefits to the economically stagnant Great Northern Peninsula and Quebec’s Cote-Nord could be enormous. For travellers and freight a full day’s saving could be realized from St. John’s to Toronto. Food security to the island would be enhanced and we would finally have a stable connection to mainland Canada unaffected by ocean storms.
Such a development would bring employment, training and cooperation agreements which could mitigate many of the social ills now affecting the region. With native land claims either resolved or under negotiation now is a good time to have the discussion. While the idea has become a political football in recent years with various studies conducted, and shovels actually in the ground at one point, the recent announcement by the federal NDP that it would be interested in considering it as a national project is gratifying.
This area is akin to the U.S.A’s Alaska, except that one does not have to traverse another country (Canada) to get there. When purchased by the U.S.A. from Russia in1867 Alaska had approximately the same population as Labrador now has i.e. around 30,000. Today it is over 700,000 with 80 per cent of the general population and nearly 70per cent of indigenous people living above the poverty line.
This land has lain fallow for too long. The fixed link is eastern Canada’s version of the CPR. And in regards to the snickers of those who consider it a pipe dream (not a bad analogy considering the federal government bought the approximate similar cost Trans-Mountain Pipeline for $4.5 billion) you have to spend money to make money. The world is full of the lore of successful enterprises rescued by true grit.
And how much could be saved by a scaled back or eventually eliminated Marine Atlantic? The link would also provide a more secure route for the Muskrat Falls cable and go a long way to offset enduring bitterness between this province and Quebec over Upper Churchill grievances. Of course, we would have to overcome the caterwauling by affected areas on our west coast and in eastern Nova Scotia, not to mention significant negotiation and co-operation with Quebec.
The Newfoundland-Labrador fixed link is an idea whose time has come. The only thing missing is decision makers with the foresight to follow through — leaders with forthright tunnel vision.
Tom Hawco,
St. John’s
RELATED: