Leaders want province on-side

Complacency from Labrador's leaders must end to enact profound change.

Community and organizational members along the Straits agreed on this fact during a meeting with Labrador MP Todd Russell on Thursday to discuss which factions in the region need support from the federal government.

During the meeting, prompted by the economic zonal board, Mr. Russell heightened the urgency surrounding Labrador issues for inclusion in the federal government's economic stimulus package.

Fodder usually reserved for kitchen table gossip was brought to the forefront in spasms of frustration.

"As long as we stay docile, nothing's going to happen," said Gilbert Linstead, general manager of the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company Limited. "There's so much announced and nothing done...year after year, nothing happens."

Forteau Mayor Reg Hancock echoed that frustration.

"Our leaders are not working together," Mr. Hancock said. "The ball is in our court...one time we worked together - it can be done."

Mayor Hancock said the issue is speaking out in the right places.

"There's not a concerted effort for everybody to work together - and unless that happens, we're going to have difficulty moving our agenda forward," he said.

Silence breeds silence, Mr. Russell added, but action spurs action.

Pre-sets for the stimulus package must include major investments in infrastructure, particularly in the Trans-Labrador Highway, Mr. Russell said.

"Because we are not on the same par as the province, we should have had in the past, we must have now and we have to have in the future an accelerated approach to investment in Labrador," he said, adding investments are also needed for wharf/dock infrastructure, sewer projects, additional school construction and improvements to airstrips.

"From an infrastructure perspective, we're trying to run the whole gambit," he said.

There is "solidarity" throughout the region, from Labrador West to L'Anse au Clair, regarding transportation issues, he said.

"If our communities are going to survive, transportation is going to be our main issue," said Anges Pike, president of the zonal board and mayor of West St. Modeste.

"Unless our people start to make some noise of what's needed and where our issues are, somebody in St. John's doesn't know - just as bad as someone in Ottawa."

And that's a unique problem.

The majority of Labrador initiatives brought to Ottawa go through St. John's: the federal government commits money and the provincial government decides where those funds are best allocated.

Mr. Russell called it "offloading" during an interview following the meeting.

"Our challenge is to get the province to sign off on money for Labrador," Mr. Russell said.

This system diminishes the federal government's involvement in Labrador, he said.

"There's a double challenge in Labrador when we have to go to the provincial government and lobby to have federal funds spent in Labrador," he said. "I think when we lobby the federal government, we get funding; then we have the added burden or responsibility of then going to the provincial government and saying there are projects in Labrador, there are issues in Labrador, which require some priority.

"We would deny history if we did not understand that Labrador has had a unique relationship with the province - Labrador has felt, and continues to feel, that Labrador gets treated by the government in St. John's like the government in St. John's feels it gets treated by Ottawa."

Because of this system, Mr. Russell said, has attempted to contact with the provincial government, to no avail.

"I think the provincial government could be a hell of a lot more responsive," he said. "I believe that where I have given them opportunities to be more co-operative...they have not availed themselves of that particular opportunity, and I think that does a disservice to the political process generally; but it certainly does a disservice to the people, who are affected by these particular projects."