The CBC report of an anonymous senior
Nalcor engineer - who claims that low-balled estimates were used to obtain sanction for the Muskrat Falls project - has, again, shed light on a Crown Corporation that, sometime after 2009, went rogue.
The engineer’s allegations are now
well-known, but Nalcor’s response – specifically Anthony Germain's interview – finds a retirement-minded CEO indicating casual indifference to what can only be described as the most serious accusations ever leveled at the government since Confederation.
The CBC quoted the senior engineer using
the words “absurdly low” to describe the estimates. In my Blog Post of February 2017, the same engineer used the word “falsification”.
Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall described the
estimates as “unrealistic”.
“Absurdly low”, “falsification” and
“unrealistic” – any difference is fundamentally meaningless.
In this context it is important to remember that we are not discussing the replacement of a culvert
in Bung Hole Tickle. Estimating a multi-billion dollar project is complex work.
It also goes through multiple layers of review – each time by a group more
senior.
