Transmission Line Bad News for Labrador. Good news for the Province.

Deliberately excluding Labrador from the province is done tongue in cheek.

It's been noted frequently by Labradorians, particularly this one, that Labrador often gets ignored as being part of the whole province, by government, and by Newfoundlanders, not all certainly, but it seems, often. Unfortunately Labrador's hopes to reap the benefits of Labrador's Hydro resources, specifically the named Lower Churchill development, are being thwarted by the current NL government's plan to run a transmission line from Gull Island in central Labrador to Soldier's Pond on the Avalon Peninsula. As commenter Lloyd from Labrador responded to a Telegram article,

Yep, and bypassing (and passing by, very closely, almost THROUGH, some Labrador communities and totally ignoring all other Labrador communities in the process. No cheap 'clean' electricity for them to heat homes, grow industry or anything else.

Dwight from Labrador also has this to say,

should never be let go ahead until the people of Labrador have clean, abundant, and affordable power. A straight shot transmission line to the Avalon is sickening while we pay a fortune for dirty diesel power here, and still have to heat homes and businesses with fuel or wood. Where the hell are the Labrador members of government??? Patty Pottle, is this not a problem on the north coast?

At blog site Labradore, WJM, reminds readers that promises to Labrador are often just that - the words don't match the actions. Here's a recent example of one of his many mentioned examples of promises made to Labrador, and disappointments:

“We will not develop the Lower Churchill unless the primary beneficiaries are Labradorians. You have my assurance on that.”

That was PC Party Leader Danny Williams, on September 30, 2003, speaking in Happy Valley-Goose Bay during that fall’s provincial general election.

It's worth the read, here's another bit:

And sure, the EIS documentation for the so-called Lower Churchill itself only contemplates transmission within Labrador to a point where the juice can be pumped out the Hydro-Quebec grid.

But none of that is to say Labrador and Labradorians won’t benefit. No sir. Nothing could be further from the truth...

Imagine, along with the electricity itself, the revenues which will figuratively flow along that line, all the way from the wilds of central Labrador, from an artificial lake — the Williams Reservoir perhaps — many times the size of Sandy Pond, and many times further away; then stepped down at Soldier Pond and transmitted thence directly to the Finance Department in Confederation Building for re-transmission all across the province, for all kinds of provincial purposes.

Effectively written and point made. See more of Labradore's posts on Lower Churchill Expectations.

Another ongoing point made at that blog is that many Newfoundlanders blame Canada for ignoring NL, while many Newfoundlanders turn a blind eye to what's going on, or what's not going on, in Labrador. To this blogger, there's a triad relationship - how some in Newfoundland/"the province" see Canada, is often how people in Labrador see NL's government and some Newfoundlanders. Will stop there.

Labradorians give their actual stories, and there is a story - the perception of Labrador, references to "the province" (with an "and Labrador" add-on), and taking Labrador for granted. It is a story that has not yet gotten full appreciation in provincial media, or by perhaps many, citizens in the province.

Premier Gets a Bumpy Reception in Labrador

It's not surprising that Premier Williams and the Minister for Labrador Affairs, and Transportation, John Hickey, were put on the defensive regarding the province's energy plan. People, including mayor Leo Abbass of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, residents, and local councils, oppose Williams' plan to run the Lower Churchill transmission line to the island portion of the province.

"So what's going to happen is that industries are going to look more to Newfoundland than Labrador to set up because there's not going to be no grid or anything for industry to set up to get cheap power," said resident William Burden

Williams' response was "When it comes to this new power, I can tell you categorically that that industry is going to be here in Labrador." (see CBC article. The report did not say whether the Premier elaborated with further details, but the assumption may be, not.)

Yvonne Jones, Liberal critic for Natural Resources, also spoke out against the Williams' plan for the Lower Churchill energy. She also reminded listeners on VOCM this morning, as has been repeatedly made known by the highly researched, and incisive WJM, that very little progress has been made on the Trans Labrador Highway, despite many pronouncements and promises from Minister Hickey, that more much of the TLH would have been completed by this time. WJM and others have pointed out that there were/are plenty of words, and pronouncements that sound good, but have been misleading, and failed to deliver.

It will be interesting to see if Hickey can hold onto his seat given his record among Labradorians.

The Next Time You Think the Weather is Bad Here

Then have a look at what the most recent tornado did to this Kansas town. It annihilated 95% of Greensburg. It's amazing anyone survived as some of the dead were found in rubble filled basements. We in Newfoundland and Labrador suffer through long and often brutal cold winters, and hopelessly dreary, lingering, cold, wet, windy springs, at least in St. John's (apart from that the weather couldn't be better). But we do not face the devastation suffered by states in tornado alley, or south-eastern seaboard states that get the brunt of hurricanes. Each time a big tornado or hurricane occurs it amounts to many $ billions worth in damages, not to mention the priceless lives that are taken. So far, there are 11 people confirmed dead in Greensburg. If you could put a town in a giant blender and set it to maximum, here is what it might look like. It looks like Hiroshima.

Like many I have complained about our weather, but when seeing and hearing about disasters like Greensburg, it helps put our place and weather in better perspective, and reminds me to appreciate this place. You can take any place in the world and find something positive and negative about it. We associate warmth with the southern U.S. People in the south may love non-winter like weather for much of the year, but they have to deal with nature's cruel force and destruction. It's like people living there have been gambling in a bizarre lotto - and the winners are the ones who lost everything but their lives. In fact it reminds me of a short story called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It's an inverted lottery in which the "winner" gets stoned to death, but year after year, the towns people gamble, knowing it could be anyone.

Unfortunately it is all too real and sad for the families of the eleven killed.

If anyone still thinks we have it bad, then have a look at this video footage of the damage in Kansas. With a risk of freezing rain and cool temperatures today I'll have no reason to complain.

More Beautiful Places to Visit in Newfoundland & Labrador

There are so many places all around the province that are interesting to visit just because of their natural beauty alone. In a February, 2007 blog I posted many other places worth seeing, and here are some more. Newfoundland and Labrador is an astounding province with an alluring variation of scenic coastlines, landscapes, bays, hills, waterfalls, and ruggedness. It is a hiker's paradise, and offers pristine areas of nature. It is ours to protect and yours to discover.
Aviron Bay (South Coast) below These photos are not mine, but I will try to find the web source.	Red Rocks, West Coast
Fraser River Canyon, Labrador	The only problem you might have is deciding what part of the island and Labrador to see first. The province is huge, so the best thing to do is get a map, study the regions, and places you want to visit, and set aside enough time to cover a number of places, or the number of things you want to do. You can certainly see alot in a week or two, but chances are, you'll want to come back.

Links for Tourists

Provincial parks

Iceberg Finder

Hospitality Newfoundland & Labrador

Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism

Provincial Ferry Service

Scenic Touring Routes

Beautiful Places to Visit in Newfoundland & Labrador

Updated: click here for more posts with NL scenes.
(Note: to view the source of the photos, click the place names)

There are so many places all around the province that are interesting to visit just because of their natural beauty alone. In this blog you will find some places that don't get alot of exposure, and that's too bad, for tourists, and for ourselves. To see a beautiful place that we didn't know existed is an education, and it also gives one a sense of pride by knowing it's part of our province. Growing up in a small community I hiked to every hilltop just to see the beauty of the community valley, the river which ran through out to the harbour, and the spectacular view of the offshore islands sitting in Placentia Bay. see Rushoon below
The community of Rushoon, Burin Peninsula	Francois (South coast of Newfoundland)
We live in a hiker's paradise because there are so many accessible communities and towns that because of the reason for their existance in the first place, the fishery, are located next to harbours, inlets and bays, and hence had roads constructed to get there. Many places are hilly, and hiking to these hilltops is not only a good exercise but an excellent opportunity for some frameable photos.
Labrador
Korok-Palmer River Valley The Korok-Palmer River Valley is an excellent hiking and canoeing destination in Labrador.	Check out this canoe.ca site for pictures of Labrador Odyssey 2001 which shows pictures of the Palmer River.
Much of Labrador's coastline is dotted with many small islands, and with rugged shoreline. There are sandy beaches too, but Porcupine Strand may be the longest. More than 40 km long, this "Wonderstrand" is an oasis of resort type sandy beach. What a treasure to admire and preserve.	Porcupine Strand
Labrador, North Coast List of Coastal Labrador places and galleries	Nain
North West River List of Coastal Labrador places and galleries	North West River beach festival
South Coast of Newfoundland
This park is located near Burgeo on the south coast. It has 7 km of sandy beach (Read more about this park at the Word Play) site.	Sandbanks Provincial Park
The drive out to the Port au Port Peninsula is scenic all the way, especially from Stephenville driving next to the ocean to the jewel of Cape St. George.
Cape St. George
Little Bay Islands (adjacent to the foot of the Northern Peninsula) This looks like the perfect harbour, protected by small islands at the entrance to act as breakwaters. Very picturesque.	Seal Cove
Bishop's Falls
West Coast of Newfoundland
Wreckhouse This is probably the windiest place in Newfoundland, but the scenery looks anything but wrecked.
	Trout River
Located near the tip of the northern peninsula, Trout River begs to be visited, hiked, and photographed.
Links Provincial parks Iceberg Finder Hospitality Newfoundland & Labrador Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Provincial Ferry Service Scenic Touring Routes

Reply from HNL re: TLH Letter

I was pleased to receive a response from Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador (HNL) concerning my letter about the importance of speeding up the completion of the Trans Labrador Highway. From the letter it sounds like HNL has been expressing the same message for years. The reply sounds encouraging. Here it is:

Thank you for your email concerning the need for a speedy completion of the Trans Labrador Highway.

As you mentioned, the completion of the Trans Labrador Highway will open the region up to many more economic development opportunities, including those in tourism. HNL has worked hard for many years to highlight to government the need for improved transportation infrastructure in Labrador in order to grow the tourism industry and take confort that residents of our province, like you, believe the same thing.

Thanks again for your email and HNL will continue to advocate for improved transportation infrastructure in Labrador.

Sincerely,
Nancy Healey
Executive Director

Letter to HNL on TLH

In my previous post below I outlined why it is important that the Trans Labrador Highway completion be sped up. I have sent a letter to Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador president, Nick McGrath, to urge them to encourage government(s) to give more priority to this crucial infrastructure. I've posted the letter here for anyone to read or copy if interested to send a message to HNL, Dept. of Tourism, your MHA or MP.

Dear Mr. McGrath,

The completion of the Trans Labrador Highway is a priority for the province, and it is for this reason that I write to you to urge that HNL advocate for a more expeditious finish to this momentous project. The sooner the TLH construction is completed, the better for all travelers, Labrador residents, and tourists. It would benefit residents' health needs by cutting travel time. It could also improve peoples' health because fresher produce will become more available. A paved TLH will help bring Labrador on par with Newfoundland.

A full hard top road system will open up more opportunities for economic development. For those with an entrepreneurial inclination an inviting paved TLH must be great news, and help in the business development mindset. For example, there could possibly be more service stations, convenience stores, restaurants, camp grounds, parks, hiking outposts, canoeing/kayaking businesses, fishing or hunting trips, outback expedition businesses, snowmobile rentals, flight rentals, skiing or golf resorts, cabin development, forestry and mining industries, and others. The easier it is to get to places like this, the more likely people will come, the more likely more people than at present will come, and perhaps more likely people will come more often.

It is frustrating to have to travel long distances on gravel roads, and to experience car problems like damaged windshields and tires. If tourists did not have to experience such problems, they would probably be happier campers, which leads me to the tourism aspect of the TLH.

There are beautiful places in the province that are never seen by most of the public because they were not advertised or publicized. There are many scenic places like Porcupine Strand, a 40 km stretch on Labrador's coast. With a fully completed TLH, organizations like HNL will be able to promote places in such a way as,

"Just a one hour drive from Goose Bay, Glacial valleys at Grand River and Grand Lake can be seen along the Trans Labrador Highway", instead of "A three or four hour drive from ..."

It would be much more enticing for people to want to see Labrador when there is a smooth, paved, and speedier road infrastructure.

Thank you for your time. I know many others feel the same about the importance of picking up the pace on completing the TLH. I hope the HNL does too and takes action to voice this message to government officials and those in positions of influence to really impact a swifter completion time.

Sincerely,

____________________

Trans Labrador Highway Needs Speed Increase

The sooner the TLH construction is complete, the better for all travellers, Labrador residents, and tourists. The highway construction is a massive project but it is an infrastructure, economic and tourism priority. Labrador is such a a vast area of beauty, with large wilderness areas like Mealy Mountains, which is marked to become a national park. The Mealy Mountain range is nearby the still unfinished phase III.
The Torngat Mountain range is already a national park reserve. The whole of Labrador is a hiker's paradise, photographer's heaven, an adventurer's playground, and an alluring scenery buffet.

It is good to know that the transportation system across Labrador is being constructed, but there are delays. Originally the basic construction was set to be completed by 2008. That's been put back to 2009.
(source: NL Gov., Dept. of Works, Services & Transportation)

The completion of the TLH is a priority, a top tourism priority, and a vital infrastructure link for residents who rely on the highway to travel for basic needs, not to mention more serious matters concerning health. We all know that a difference in minutes and seconds can be the difference between life and death, but imagine suffering a heart attack and having to drive extra travel hours to get to a medical facility. A paved road would save hours on certain drives, as well as lives. Phase I and II are mostly gravel road, and phase III is still under construction and will resume in the spring.

There is every advantage to a more speedy highway completion with asphalt surface. There are many reasons to accelerate the development of the road system. As mentioned, for residents' use alone. For all intents and purposes the island of Newfoundland has a very accomodating highway and road system. There are some places on the south coast that still rely on the coastal boat service to provide supplies and transportaion. We as islanders take this for granted. Many residents and parts of Labrador can not take the transportation system for granted. They are not on par with the rest of us on the island of Newfoundland.

A full hard top road system will open up more opportunities for economic development. For those with an entrepreneurial inclination an inviting paved TLH must be great news, and help in the business development mindset. Possibly there could be more service stations, convenience stores, Tim Horton's?, camp grounds, parks, hiking outposts, canoeing/kayaking businesses, fishing or hunting trips, outback expedition businesses, snowmobile rentals, flight rentals, skiing or golf resorts, cabin development, forestry and mining industries, and others. The easier it is to get to places like this, the more likely people will come, the more likely more people than at present will come, and perhaps more likely people will come more often.

It must be frustrating to have to travel long distances on gravel roads. Before the Burin Peninsula and the TCH were paved it would take up to 10 hours to travel from my old home town to St. John's. Now it can be done in 3-3.5 hours. For car owners it is doubly irritating when you suffer the many car problems arising from such a long rock popping drive. The incidence of broken windshields, tire damage, base pan damage, paint chipping, and other problems are multiplied when travelling on dirt roads. If tourists did not have to experience such problems, they would probably be happier campers, which leads me to the tourism aspect of the TLH.

There are beautiful places in the province that are never seen by most of the public because they were not advertised or publicized. I have done searches on the web and have seen interesting and beautiful places from Labrador, but there are others I cannot find. There are some scenic places like
Porcupine Strand, a 40 km stretch on Labrador's coast

Our tourism agencies could broaden their scope in terms of presenting more places to visit. With a fully completed TLH, they will be able to promote places in such a way as, "Just a one hour drive from Goose Bay, Glacial valleys at Grand River and Grand Lake can be seen along the Trans Labrador Highway", or "The Wilson River area is especially picturesque in the fall, and the Bowdoin Canyon and Muskrat Falls

are also short strolls from the road. The Mealy Mountain range is near the TLH."

There are many beautiful places in the whole province that don't get the exposure it deserves simply for aesthetics sake alone. On the coast there are some nice looking communities like St. Lewis

When I see an image of some beach, coastline, rock formation, cove, hilltop view, that I haven't seen before, it makes me proud to be a citizen of NL, just to know that this is where I live - and look what we have all around us. I then wonder why places like Porcupine Strand in Labrador, Grand River, etc. are not presented when our tourism brochures are produced. Instead of more of the same, Cape Spear, Quidi Vidi, a typical lighthouse, it would be refreshing to see other places in the province used in tourism brochures.

While much of Labrador is 100's of miles from the nearest road, it is still popular with hikers, adventure tourists, mountain climbers and photographers. This is especially true for the Torngat Mountains, Cirque Mountains, Palmer River Valley. There are a outfitting and tour companies ready to take you to those places. But the potential growth in this sector alone seems like the big land sky's the limit. It would be much more enticing for people to want to see Labrador when there is a smooth, paved, and speedier road infrastructure. It's alot more to look forward to when you know a trip won't take two or three times as long as by gravel road. For anyone curious about what the landscape looks like, who wants to take new photographs, who wants to appreciate and enjoy clean sprawlig, rolling and rugged landscapes, then the paved TLH will be like just landing on a new planet, and that discovery is exciting.

How can the completion of the TLH be sped up when the Labrador Transportation Initiative Fund, LTIF, is run dry? With time the TLH will likely help increase business for current entrepreneurs, or help ignite new business initiatives. For the province this means more tax income in the future. I'm not an economist but it seems the NL government can reserve say for example, an extra $50 million (beyond any budgeted amount), roughly enough to cover an additional 50 km worth of paved highway, from the next surplus the province gets. Federal funds to match or even double this amount will speed up the process.

Mile 1 Club
The west coast of Canada obviously has by far the highest, and many would think the most spectacular mountain ranges. Most provinces east of Alberta have low elevaton hills in comparison. However, Labrador's mountains bring it into the mile 1 club. There are at least two mountains that are actually more than a mile high. They are situated in the Torngat Mountain range in northern Labrador. Mount Caubvick's elevation is 5420 feet. Mont D'Iberville is 5419 feet, and virtually a mile high is Torngarsoak Mountain at 5232 feet.

Here is a great picture of another virtual "miler", Mount Erhart (elevation, 5049 ft.).


I will be sending a letter to Hospitality Newfoundland & Labrador in support of expediting the TLH completion, and improve the ferry service (more on this later) to Labrador. It will be posted here for anyone else to copy it if interested.