Letter to the Editor -
Dear Editor,
The Provincial government recently announced that its Crown Corporation "NALCOR" would be putting some 20-million into oil exploration in the Parson's Pond area of the Northern Peninsula, and will be taking the lead roll in the exploration from Alberta-based company, Leprechaun Resources, and could start drilling as early as September. All to the delight of Parsons Pond's mayor, Brenda Biggin, who has worked over the years to bring prosperity to her area.
But as soon as the announcement was made both the Liberals and the N.D.P cried foul and said it was a gamble of the tax-payers money and that the money could be better spent in helping the troubled fishery. But as Mayor Biggin states, "everything is a gamble", Hibernia was a gamble, mining is a gamble, and the fishery is a gamble for sure and every fisher-folk will tell you that "life is a gamble".
Every day we hear politicians say the fishery should be stream-lined, there are too many fish plants, too many fisher-people after too little fish. Yet when the government tries to create jobs outside of the fishery they cry "foul." Even if every hole they drill on the Northern Peninsula turns out to be a 'dry hole' it did create jobs for people who otherwise would have been left out in the cold.
Over the years we have talked and read about the problem of putting all of our eggs in one basket and oh haven't this been true for rural Newfoundland and Labrador. All up through the years politicians have said if it can't swim or doesn't have fins it's no good for rural Newfoundland and Labrador. This is why we are in so much mess as we are in, and only now beginning to get out of it.
Nothing will replace the fishery as the province's economic strong back. There is a future for it and without it the province will not survive economically. But if the government is to help the fishery survive, they have to get into the marketing sector because like all other commodities, and fish is no exception, if markets are good so is the fishing industry. During this recession the market for steel nearly dried up and as a result the world economy went down, way down. A few days ago, China announced it was out of the recession as well as two other countries. The result, stock prices for steel went up. The same holds true in the oil business. Alberta for example, of all of its eggs in one basket, the results has been devastating; houses selling at a last and food banks running low of supplies.
But not all politicians feel the government's decision to get into the oil business on the Northern Peninsula is a bad one. Example, Premier Brian Peckford feels it's a good move, remember him and his famous quote "some day the sun will shine and the have not shall be no more"? Within the political frame work, they say we have now reached that goal, but realistically we have still a long way to go. We have come a long way but there are those who have fallen through the crack. Many of these will remain through the cracks even if we become the wealthiest province in Canada, because that is a part of how society works.
Francis Patey
St. Anthony
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