LABOUR SHOULD HAVE NEGOTIATED THE FEDERAL LOAN GUARANTEE

Undoubtedly, the public sector unions are worried as they prepare for labour negotiations with the Provincial Government.  Its not as if they are going to the bargaining table with the NHL Owners, though.  Given the absolutely terrible Federal Loan Guarantee (FLG) and the Emera Sanction Agreement, Dunderdale and Kennedy negotiated, I'm convinced the Government will sign anything as long as the Unions promise them they won't miss the party, afterwards.  An opportunity for the Premier to make a big speech should be worth an extra point or two.  I am being only a little facetious. But, had the leadership of NAPE and CUPE negotiated the FLG, they would have handled the Feds and Emera, too, much better.  

One lawyer wondered aloud why the Premier would attach her signature to a document that is so “full of holes”, you could “drive a Mack truck through it?   Another made the more academic comment that the FLG “is an unfinished agreement which, in law, makes it no agreement at all”.    

Not surprisingly, we might ask, why would the Premier sanction the Project now, given the weak position it places the Province, as it strengthens the hand of Emera and the Feds? It is quite legitimate that the Government of Canada, as Guarantor, would want certain protections, but the FLG, in its current form, requires that all final decision-making is passed over to an Independent Engineer (IE).  Emera, on the other hand, gets complete flexibility to “opt in” and to take no risk.