PC leadership candidates face off in debate
Let Muskrat Falls fail, Crosbie says; Wakeham counters that project still has much to offer
Progressive Conservative leadership rivals Tony Wakeham and Ches Crosbie chased no aces in the Goulds on Monday, instead looking to gather votes for their bids to lead the provincial PC party.
On Muskrat Falls, sparks flew.
Crosbie supports looking at ways to sell Nalcor’s assets. Specific to Muskrat Falls, Crosbie says letting the project fail should be an option.
“In the commercial world, bad investments are allowed to fail. Maybe that’s what should happen to Muskrat Falls,” he said.
Wakeham, on the other hand, says Nalcor has lots of potential left for the province.
“Muskrat Falls is one part of the plan. We have Gull Island ready to develop. We should find someone to do it, gain royalties,” Wakeham said.
Neither candidate was clear on whether or not they would have sanctioned the Muskrat Falls project back in 2012.
Wakeham found a way to blame the Liberals for Muskrat Falls, pointing to Cathy Bennett and Al Hawkins, former Nalcor board members.
“The board of Nalcor sanctioned the Muskrat Falls project, including a number of prominent Liberals who sat on that board,” Wakeham said.
“I’m not privy to the information they had when they sanctioned Muskrat Falls, so it’s a difficult thing for me to say. I’m looking forward to the inquiry.”
For Crosbie, the government shutting the Public Utilities Board out of the decision-making process was a bigger problem than what has come since.
“The government of the day short-circuited the qualitycontrol process that was available that should have been applied,” Crosbie said.
“Our problem is a lack of evidence-based decision-making.”
Moderator Michael Connors of NTV asked the candidates to justify the Tory spending increases, noting that from 2004 to 2015, spending in the province doubled, from about $4 billion to $8 billion.
Crosbie says decisions on public-sector spending in those years have been hard to go back on, which is a lingering problem for the province.
“We need to have a public discussion on the options. The options are only three: cut back on spending, raise taxes — and I think we’re at the limit of that — or thirdly, we’re in a federal system. Therefore, there can be inputs from the federal government, which is another topic of discussion,” he said.
Wakeham says any plan based on raising taxes and hoping for more oil revenue isn’t a plan at all.
“We can’t afford to go down that road. We need to build a budget, freeze our expenditures and curtail the deficit. I believe that using increased production from oil, increased price increases, to pay down the deficit is the way to go,” he said.
“When you’re in a hole, the first thing you need to do is stop digging.”
Neither candidate would endorse a carbon tax for the province. Crosbie stated the province is taxed enough, while Wakeham said the province should get credit for shutting down Holyrood when Muskrat Falls comes online.
On the topic of recent nolayoff clauses put to publicsector unions, the candidates disagreed on whether or not there’s an obligation to honour them.
Wakeham says a new government has no choice but to honour the agreements of the Liberals.
Crosbie says everything is on the table given the fiscal crisis facing the province.
“In a bankruptcy situation, collective agreements are meaningless,” he said.
Of the sitting PC MHAS, only Keith Hutchings and Tracey Perry have yet to endorse a candidate.
Barry Petten and Jim Lester have both endorsed Ches Crosbie.
Kevin Parsons and David Brazil are both on team Tony.
Outgoing PC Leader Paul Davis says he has no intention of endorsing either candidate publicly, though he will vote in the election.