Canadian voters could soon see a détente between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his east coast nemesis, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams.
In the realm of politics making strange bedfellows and a week being a long time in politics, such possibility staggers the imagination – and yet is being discussed in the highest political circles of Newfoundland, including the Premier himself.
“If the Prime Minister reached out,” Williams told The Globe and Mail, “we would accept any kind of an olive branch.”
The Harper government and Williams provincial government have been at a virtual state of war since the Premier charged that the Prime Minister had failed to live up to a signed 2006 campaign promise to exclude non-renewable energy sources from the national equalization formula.
In response, Williams launched his brazen ABC (Anybody But Conservatives) campaign during the 2008 federal election, eliminating any prospects the Harper Conservatives might have had in Williams's Conservative stronghold. The Harper team was shut out of the province's seven federal seats.
“It's not my intention in the next election to go with an ABC plan,” Williams said.
A Williams reversal from antagonist to supporter could, theoretically, somewhat alter the coming federal election in favour of the federal Tories.
“If Williams can defeat federal members,” says one ranking Newfoundland and Labrador Conservative, “he can get them elected, too, can't he?”
Williams's antagonism toward the Harper government peaked earlier this year when he felt the Jan. 27 budget “targeted” his province and “penalized” Newfoundland and Labrador by denying more than $1-billion that would otherwise have been collected over the coming three years under the deal he believed had been struck.
“I give an elbow,” he said at the time. “I don't expect to get a sledgehammer over the head in return.”
Nine months later, Williams's new conciliatory attitude is striking, and puzzling to many. He was relative cordial during Harper's last visit to St. John's and says “I bit my tongue” – though not entirely – when he concluded that the Prime Minister had suggested when he believed he could win an election with or without Newfoundland and Labrador.
The feisty Premier is, however, still simmering over federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's stimulus budget. “While he was stimulating every other jurisdiction in the country,” Williams says, “he took away $1-billion to $1.5-billion. We got cooked. We got $140-million.”
But, he says, it's time to change. “I'm trying to get away from that anti-Harper mentality,” he says.
“I am saying we are here to work with the federal government at any point in time.”
Newfoundland and Labrador sources say Williams will need federal help in his new battle against the expansion plans of Hydro-Québec. The energy giant has recently struck an agreement that could result in a $10-billion deal to gain significant control over New Brunswick Power, and there has been talk of a similar arrangement with Prince Edward Island.
Williams has been very vocal about the New Brunswick arrangement, saying it would place far too much energy clout with Quebec and would effectively usurp any energy sovereignty New Brunswick currently has.
“It's giving away their future,” he says.
The deal could also lead to lower comparable hydro rates in Quebec – affecting economic development in the region – as well as significant job loss in New Brunswick and, perhaps, PEI, Williams warns: “The whole idea of merging these is to get efficiencies. This is no different than the merger of large companies.”
