UPDATED - Evidence of the Muskrat Falls U-boat Wreck

They say that people lie, but the evidence doesn't. Throughout the years there have been many rumours about the German U-boat wreck near Muskrat Falls. There have been plenty of tails passed down by Innu hunters and fishermen. Tales of seeing the long dark shadow going up the river so quietly. Tales of others, encamped very near the river hearing the engines in the middle of the night. Scenes of large groups of men dressed in uniforms speaking different languages or refusing to speak. So many stories and so hard to prove any of them with the passage of time.

However, time doesn't erase all the traces. In the case of the sunken U-boat wreck near Muskrat Falls there is plenty of evidence - although it has taken years to put together on a part-time basis. The key to the puzzle was to discover just what kind of U-boat it was. There were many different types of U-boats during World War II. The best identifiers of a U-boat type was whether or not it had a snorkel. A snorkel was fitted on U-boats after late 1943. It was also, which is key, fitted on the port side of the type VII U-boats, but only on the starboard side of type IX U-boats. In the picture below you can see the snorkel raising gear (circled in red) is on the starboard side of the conning tower which means this wreck is a type IX U-boat built after late 1943. (The arrow points to the front of the U-boat or the bow)

Here is a close-up of the snorkel raising gear on the wreck.

Here is a picture of the snorkel raising gear from a U-boat in better shape (apparatus on the left).

Here is another look at the raising gear from a model.

To get an idea of how a U-boat snorkel system works I've attached a short video from a model here


Another key piece of evidence is the snorkel itself. In this wreck the snorkel is more or less in tact, and just as importantly, if not more importantly, the radar unit mounted to the top of the snorkel is still intact. For your reference I've included some detailed drawings of the snorkel type this U-boat had on board. You will notice the two little antenna sticking out the top. That is a radar unit. More on that in a bit.

Take note of the illustration on the left. Note how the top "canister" appears like a "closed clam". Now, here is a picture from the wreck, enhanced for size is a picture of the snorkel and Naxos radar unit from the wreck.

The blue arrows indicate the radar antenna and the red arrow indicates the snorkel head. You will notice that the snorkel head has essentially been opened by the blast, so the top covering plate of it, and the bottom, have been opened like an "opened clam" as opposed to the "closed clam" in the drawing. The radar is a Naxos unit first implemented in the U-boat fleet in late 1943. The picture below shows the location of the snorkel unit in the wreck.





The next picture shows a snorkel with attached Naxos radar in good condition.

The relatively intact snorkel and Naxos radar allow us to date the U-boat from late 1943 forward. It is also a key piece of evidence, because it survived the explosions so well and is relatively easily identifiable.

Having established the U-boat wreck near Muskrat Falls was an IX type U-boat commissioned after late 1943 by the type of snorkel and radar, and by the position of the snorkel raising gear, the primary challenge became what type of IX boat was she. That part of the puzzle proved much trickier. Due to the destruction of the U-boat, many defining features which would have made this process easier were not available. Initially my conclusion was it was an IXC type. There were a few possibilities of missing IXC boats that could have qualified as the wreck. However, after a year and a half of research and detailed examinations of the sonar, including enhancing of the picture and magnification, I stumbled across a glaring piece of evidence.

During the war a "gyro copter" or FA330 was developed by the German Navy for use on U-boats. It's purpose was to spot enemy boats from a much high vantage point than the conning tower. The gyro copter was launched from the rear of the conning tower, and pulled behind the U-boat at heights of up to 300 feet. The picture below is a gyro copter on a U-boat.

The gyro copter was used exclusively on "Monsoon U-boats" that travelled to Japan from Germany. The major problem with the copter was in the case of approaching enemy aircraft the U-boat would be required to emergency dive, leaving the poor sailor in the air still attached to the U-boat - instant death. The only practical use for the copter was in seas that did not have allied air over - like the South American or Indian Ocean areas of operation.

One piece of evidence from the wreck had always stood out to me. It was well preserved and seemed to suit a particular purpose, but with my initial limited knowledge of U-boats I couldn't place it. The pictures below is of that piece of equipment.

After extensive research, and because this piece of equipment only existed on type IXD2 U-boats, I was finally able to discover what it was. It is in fact an electrical winch. Not just any electrical winch, but the winch that let out and pulled in the steel cable for the gyro copter. Below are some pictures of it on the deck of a type IXD2 U-boat.

This one piece of evidence was critical in determining that the wreck near Muskrat Falls must be that of a German type IXD2 U-boat. In addition, the post to the left of the gyro winch can also be found in the wreck. A picture of it below (circled in blue) and from the wreck:

The gyro copter winch and post were found in the wreck here (circled in red):

Another unique piece of evidence comes from the bow area of the wreck (circled in red).

The two odd protrusions at first seem out of place. However, once the U-boat was identified as an IXD2 type that piece of the puzzle was solved as well. The IXD2 had dual "jumping wires" to the bow and a single "jumping wire" to the stern. This was very unique in the U-boat designs. Here is a picture of the dual supports for the dual jumping wires on an IXD2:

The two supports protruding from the bow area of the wreck picture above coincide with those of the photo above. The wire like features joining the two in the wreck picture are likely wires.

The front deck gun, as shown in the picture above, was a 105 mm gun. The picture below shows the breach housing of the gun (circled in blue):

During the massive explosion at the centre of U-851 the breach housing was ripped from the main gun and ended resting near the bow, while the remainder of the gun sank below.

From the wreck the breach housing:

From the wreck the rest of the gun and where they rest on the wreck (blue circle = breach housing, and red circle = remainder of 105 mm gun):

The 105 mm gun was used exclusively on IX type U-boats due to its weight. Type VII class U-boats used the smaller 88 mm deck gun - further proving the identity of this U-boat wreck.

Several guns used for anti-aircraft protection are still visible on the wreck. The MG 34 was a commonly used weapon for anti-aircraft on U-boats. A picture of a MG 34 used on a U-boat:

A picture of a MG 34:

Now, from the wreck, there is a MG 34, but not in that good of condition. The butt has been either blown off or eroded in the water, and it is bent in half - in an "L" shape formation. Yet, it's distinctive features are still evident:

The MG 34 is found here in the wreck (red circle):

Along with the MG 34 the wreck has a fairly well preserved 37 mm gun - without the barrel. Here is what a 37 mm anti-aircraft gun looks like:

The gun in the wreck lies just below the deformed platform it once stood on. The platform and the Flak guard which protected the gun are still recognizable - despite the guard being twisted savagely by the explosion within the U-boat. The first picture below is the 37 mm gun (circled in blue), and the second picture is the gun platform and flack guard:

Here is a picture where they rest on the wreck (circled in red):

Here is a picture of an IXD2 with the 37 mm gun location circled in red behind the conning tower and the 105 mm deck gun in front of the conning tower (circled in blue):

The IXD2 type U-boat was powered by a series of 6 cylinder motors. One of these motors (circled in blue) appears  to be still in fair condition while much was destroyed given the central explosion at the front of the engine room:

Here's a picture of a German U-boat diesel motor. The one above from the wreck is viewed from the top of the motor, but it will give you an idea:

In addition to the diesel motor (circled in blue) still apparent, several electric motors (circled in red) are also evident on the wreck:

Here is a schematic which shows the electric motors and their normal position on the U-boat (the electric motors are well preserved on the wreck and match up perfectly to the schematics):

The U-boat's periscope (circled in blue) also survived the blast in decent condition. At least one of the handles used by the Captain to hold onto while viewing out the periscope is still attached.

Here is a close up (also circled in blue). Note the viewing handle on the right (FYI the periscope is lying upside down in the wreck):

Here is a picture of a U-boat Captain using the periscope:

The periscope lies here in the wreck:

Another well defined feature from the wreck is the bow compressed air tank (circled in blue):

Here is a plan of a U-boat showing the location of the tank:

The compressed air tank lies here in the wreck (circled in red):

The flak guard on the side of the conning tower was blown off by the explosion, and lays just behind the conning tower of the wreck (circled in red with red arrow indicating where the flak guard was installed and where it landed):

A flak guard on a similar U-boat installed (circled in red):

A torpedo door (circled in blue) also lies in the wreck - the only one to be found at the rear of the boat - which leads credence to the IXD2 identification, because many were stripped of all, or but one, in order to make room for cargo for Japan:

A picture of a torpedo tube door:

Other bits and pieces of the U-boat found:

Anchor chain:

Bow winch (circled in blue):

Anchor windless (circled in blue) with a good picture of the 37 mm breach housing directly behind it:

Schematics showing the windless (circled in red):

Rear Hatch (circled in blue):

Rear Hatch close up:

Hull water vents (circled in blue):

Front jumping wires with a good view of the anchor chain:

Rear jumping wire:

Deck railing:

Canisters, which may contain mercury, spilled out of the central part of the wreck:

The field of "canisters" that spilled from the wreck after the explosion:

Remnants of the two periscope stands on the top of the conning tower (red circle):

Here is a picture of the two periscope stands still intact on a wreck (circled in red):

(You'll note where the floor of the conning tower is on the wreck above. Now examine the same feature on the Muskrat Falls U-boat wreck, and you will note the explosion inside the Muskrat Falls boat was so violent that it drove the floor up to level with the conning tower lip)

EXPOLSIVE CONCLUSION:

Orders from German Command at the time of U-851's disappearance gave explicit instructions on how to scuttle a U-boat should it become necessary:

The U-boat wreck near Muskrat Falls had three centres of explosives: one near the bow; one near the bow side of the engine room (roughly mid ship); and one at the stern. The explosive force is still evident in the wreck (red circles and arrows):

The blasts left gaping holes at the centre of the U-boats hull, at the front of the bow, and massive tear marks to the stern of the boat (red circles).

The bow explosion ripped the entire front of the U-boats super structure off and left a massive hole in the hull (blue dotted circle):

The U-boat's superstructure surrounds the inner hull as shown in the diagram below (inner hull lined with blue):

The bow blast was so powerful it ripped the bow superstructure right off and the top half of the inner super structure ( red line represents the missing portion of the front of the U-boat from the main wreck site):

The blast was most powerful at the centre of the boat, which indicates an engine room explosion as per headquarters instructions on scuttling. In fact the blast transformed the shape of the conning tower itself. Specifically, the bow portion of the conning tower was ripped from its normal position and thrust forward so that it came to rest horizontally from the conning tower - rather than up and down as it should be. I've attempted to show the transformation with a diagram on the sonar picture. The dotted blue line represents where that piece should be. The line indicates where the piece ripped from the conning tower body. The arrow indicates the direction necessary to put the piece back in it's proper place.

CONCLUSION:

There were only two IXD2 U-boats unaccounted for at the end of the war. One was U-851 carrying mercury and other still classified cargo. The other was U-180 carrying uranium oxide. U-180 disappeared from radio contact the moment it left its base on the western coast of France in the summer of 1944. It was thought to have been destroyed in a minefield off Biscay, but that was never confirmed. According to the accounts of its escorts U-180 was at a depth where it would have cleared the minefield - as the other boats did that left at the same time as U-180 (with a similar cargo also going to Japan). Therefore, it is also a remote possibility that U-180, and not U-851 is the U-boat at Muskrat Falls. Of course, that would mean the cargo laying at the bottom of the river is uranium oxide and not mercury. Either way it's not a good result.

If U-180 was the boat that was scuttled near the Falls it would beg some potentially uncomfortable questions. Why did U-180 maintain radio silence from the moment it left its base to its final destination. Was the voyage never meant to go to Japan, but rather deliver uranium to the US at Goose Bay air force base (which had a large docking facility)? There were deals being made toward the end of the war between Nazi's looking to get out and allied forces. The US desperately needed uranium oxide to build an atom bomb before Japan could. The story of German U-boat U-234 surrendering to US forces rather than the nearby Canadian forces, whilst carrying a load of uranium oxide to Japan rings some bells. A good synopsis of that story can be found here . It begs the very real question why a German U-boat would bother scuttling far up a river in Labrador, as if to make sure the boat was never found again. However, surely that could have been done almost anywhere along the northern Labrador coast, and that would have placed them closer to any Moravian Reverend that cared to aid them for an exit. One conclusion could be that the base at Goose Bay was the intended mission destination, and an exit up the river was the shortest and safest way to exit the base (hidden from the regular air traffic going to it).

However, it seems the story of U-851 fits the bill better. An older Captain (as described as well in Sellar's Hard Aground book) who was able to navigate the river and its sandbars makes sense. The fact that U-851 was meant to be heading south to Japan, but instead did a U-turn just south of Newfoundland heading in the general northern direction of the Labrador coast on its final radio transmission. No description or account of any allied naval or air assets destroying a U-boat off the coast of Newfoundland or Labrador at that time. No mention of a U-boat spotted. No need for a dark and sinister conspiracy to aid an enemy with uranium while still at war with them. A "convict crew" that wanted nothing to do with the war no doubt. The story of the surviving members of U-234 is a stark reminder that toward the end of the war their morale was "nonexistent" and they "couldn't care less" what was in the boxes (uranium) in their hold. As far as they were concerned their mission was a suicide mission as Russian troops entered Berlin. The tale of the survivors can be found here in this video .

As I finish this post, after three long years of research, one question still nags at my mind: why? Of all the places why take a treacherous trip up a river lined with sand bars in the middle of the night on the surface? Why has the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, or the Canadian government not had the wreck dived on to ascertain which U-boat it is and what cargo it has on board? After all, this was promised. The German Ambassador to Canada at the time was quoted in the media as saying: "We must brace ourselves for surprises". The Ambassador also said the Newfoundland and Labrador government agreed to take the lead in authenticating the wreck. The story is here . Yet nothing. It's as if the governments of Germany, Canada, and this province want to leave a sleeping dog lie. That also begs the question: why? There are just as many questions left about the U-boat wreck as have been answered. The one thing that is certain is there is a U-boat wreck near Muskrat Falls from World War II. The rest cannot be proven beyond a doubt until the wreck is dived upon. One of the best divers in the world, from the United States, has agreed to do that dive this summer. In the words of the German Ambassador to Canada: " We must brace ourselves for surprises."


UPDATE:

If you believe there is nothing to the case of the sunken Muskrat Falls u-boat, please feel free to read the letter below - response from Transport Canada to my access to information request:

NEWLY ADDED:

German U-boat Coverup in Canada

On May 9, 2016, I filed an access to information request with the federal government (specifically Transport Canada). The purpose of that request was to assist in research on the two U-boat wrecks discovered near Muskrat Falls in Labrador. It seemed straightforward enough. It's been 71 years since those u-boats made their way up the Churchill River. However, my first sign of trouble came when I received their first response. You can read it below:

The federal government wanted some serious time to prepare a fairly simple request. Well, I thought, perhaps they will do a very thorough job and we can get some answers to this deep mystery resting on the bottom of the Churchill River. Wrong again. On October 16, 2016, some six months later, I received a bunch of blacked out media emails, and generally just garbage. The release was of no value whatsoever - with one exception. Curiously it wasn't information that was released that caused any interest, but the official reasoning for not releasing the information I know they have that caught my attention. It reads like this:

"Mr. Cabana, you will note that certain information has been withheld from disclosure pursuant to:

15. (1) INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE

15. (1) The head of a government institution may refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the conduct of international affairs, the defence of Canada or any state allied or associated with Canada or the detection, prevention or suppression of subversive or hostile activities, including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, any such information."

Wow, that was a mouthful. So, in other words, the federal government cannot release any information on two sunken U-boats near Muskrat Falls, even after 71 years, because it could hurt our allies. That in itself is a huge red flag. Seriously, there are u-boats sunk all over the world. They are dived on, and in some cases they have been raised. So why are the two U-boats at Muskrat Falls so top secret?

My theory on this is quite simple. I cannot speak to the one U-boat because the diver has not shared any of his pictures or sonars of it, and the provincial government blacked out the images they had on their files of it. In other words, I can't confirm that wreck is a U-boat - although some of the provincial government emails indicated it was. However, the other U-boat I can guarantee is a "black boat" U-boat, either U-180 or U-851. I previously presented the evidence on that find in this post . If you haven't read it, then take a moment and give it a look. Furthermore, all available intelligence on these U-boats is their last missions both occurred toward early fall of 1944.

At that time, August of 1944 to be exact, Martin Bormann met with the major corporations of Nazi Germany, advised them the war was over, and instructed them to create international offshoots to hide money and resources before the Reich collapsed. Simultaneously, he was involved in secret talks with Allen Dulles, head of the US OSS (now CIA) which on it's face involves the recruitment of German scientists to the US after the war. However, and it's a big however, it seems they may have been discussing more than just post war employment for German scientists. My theory is the most pressing thing they were negotiating was uranium. Uranium the US did not have, and uranium the US needed to develop an atomic bomb before Japan and/or Russia did.

Bottom-line to my theory, and it is a theory, is the U-boats laying near Muskrat Falls secretly transported uranium to the US via its base in Goose Bay, Labrador. After delivering their load at the dock on the base they then proceeded up the Churchill River during the dark and scuttled their U-boats once there. There is really no other reason for a German U-boat to be that far inland. If the crew simply wanted to be out of the war, as folk lore has it, they would have scuttled their boat right on the Labrador coast where they could be sheltered by the Moravian communities, and where almost no allied presence to speak of was available. It would make no sense militarily to take the risk of crossing Lake Melville, and traversing the Churchill River, right next to the largest allied air transit base in North America during WW II. In fact, it would have been fool hardy.

My theory goes one step further. Why would the Germans be sending uranium to help the US build an atomic bomb while still fighting the Americans in Europe - albeit in Germany at that point? Logically they were striking a not so conditional surrender - secretly of course. The quid pro quo was uranium, technology and scientists for post war protection of German corporations assets and Nazi brass - including more than likely Hitler. A deal with the devil no question, but a deal that suited several purposes. The Americans got their nuclear and technology resources that place them well for after the war. The German elite got a promise of essentially exile in South America - free of foreign intelligence interference. In coming to this agreement they both became allies in one thing - fighting the Soviet Union. The Germans realized the Soviets were about to militarily dominate them, and the Americans didn't want post war competition in shaping the world. Getting the US to nuclear status first suited everyone's interests.   

Both u-180 and u-851 were carrying secret cargos to Japan: in u-180's case it was uranium; and in U-851's case the payload remains unconfirmed as to whether it was uranium or mercury. Both U-boats are the only ones left in their class that remain unaccounted for. Both disappeared in late summer and early fall of 1944 in the Atlantic. U-180 maintained radio silence the moment it left its French base in mid August. U-234, the U-boat that deliberately surrendered to the US and not Canada at the war's end (also carrying uranium) maintained radio silence its entire voyage across the Atlantic. There is an excellent documentary on U-234 called "Hitler's Last U-boat" which is available on You Tube.

In any case, as with most mysteries, some questions can be answered by a process of elimination. The official records say U-180 left with three other U-boats - all destined to Japan with uranium and technology. The other two U-boats maintained contact with Germany. The escorts that took them all  through the Bay of Biscay maintained the U-boats all made it through the mine fields as they were at the appropriate depth. There were no explosions from underwater mines detonating, nor any debris field from a stricken U-boat. The French government has never attempted to locate and raise or contain a U-boat wreck right off its shore that was full of uranium. Why not would be a good question. The Norwegian government had a similar situation with the sunken u-864 which had the dubious honour of being the only submarine sunk by another submarine in World War Two. It was also full of mercury. The story is here . Yet, no word of France looking for a similar situation off its coast... It's as if France knows U-180 is not sitting on the bottom of its coast leaching uranium into its waters.

Sometimes words say something. Sometimes the lack of words say something. It's for all of us to decide what is the truth that lays below the waves of the Churchill River near Muskrat Falls, and the secret role they played that altered the course of World war II and the post war era.

NEWLY ADDED:

The Muskrat Falls U-boat cover up - emails

The best way to start an article like this is to just come out with it: we have been mislead. After numerous appeals by a "third party" my access to information request for any maps, drawings, pictures or communications regarding a German U-boat wreck at or near Muskrat Falls from the provincial Department of Natural Resources has been granted. What it discloses, despite the government not being fully forthcoming in its disclosure, is a web of secrecy and deceit regarding the U-boat wrecks at Muskrat Falls.

That's right I said "wrecks" as in plural. Government emails disclose their are actually two U-boat wreck sites at Muskrat Falls. One site, directly at the foot of the falls, being explored by Ray Tremblay of "Bomb Hunters" fame, and the other about 900 meters from it (the one I previously wrote on and that was first pictured in sonar image by Mr. Corbin). In an email from Natural Resources Assistant Deputy Minister Paul Scott in July, 2012, the provincial government acknowledges there may be two U-boat wrecks at Muskrat Falls and nearby. However, and perhaps even more importantly, the email proves Nalcor new of the one U-boat wreck as early as 2012, and had its exact location on a map.

Then in later 2012, provincial archeologist Martha Drake fired off an email to Mr. Tremblay which questioned whether he was focusing on the u-boat wreck or "... on the reported bunker site on land." That was a first for me. A bunker site on land? A German bunker site? This just keeps getting stranger and stranger. And all of it is well known by our provincial government. Here's that email:

However, the big bomb comes when, in July, 2012, Nalcor's Senior Communications Advisor Karen O'Neill sends an email to Paul Scott, copying in Nalcor's senior management team, which admits to the U-boat wreck and its exact location. The government wouldn't release the sonar scans or maps but gave a big "redacted" square instead. In the email O'Neill states:

" Attached is the side-scan of the submarine and the exact coordinates of the wreck."

Here is the complete email:

Ray Tremblay indeed sent a picture of the U-boat wreck to the provincial government in August of 2012. However, the provincial government blackened out the picture for my ATTIPA request:

What seems quite strange is that an email from Diana Quinton, Director of Communications at Tourism, Culture and Recreation which details written responses to the provincial CBC for a request on details of the U-boat. In the response Quinton clearly states:

" It has come to our attention that two groups have reported the discovery of wrecks near Muskrat Falls in the Churchill River. One group made their discovery in 2010 (and reported it to Transport Canada's Receiver of Wreck this week), while the other group made their discovery in June, 2012. The coordinates for the two wrecks are different. Therefore, we assume there could possibly be two wrecks involved."

No such mention of two wrecks was ever reported by the CBC or any other media outlet. The question remains why not? They were clearly informed of two possible U-boat wrecks in 2012. The one they reported on is about 900 meters from the Falls. The one they didn't report on was Ray Tremblay's discovery right at the foot of the Falls. That is clearly a question the CBC must answer. Given the Muskrat Falls construction very nearby the wreck it would seem logical that it might be the bigger story then the other wreck they did cover. Here's the email:

The email records, particularly between Mr. Tremblay and the provincial government departments, show that Tremblay has been doing scientific scanning and diving on the wreck site every year since 2012 to the present. For those that aren't familiar with Mr. Tremblay he is a retired Canadian Forces combat engineer - an expert in demolitions. His company is featured on History Channel's "Bomb Hunters", and he has access to a wealth of all modern scientific technology for scanning below the waters surface. In an interview with me today he detailed a number of scientific, but classified methods he and his team have used over the last three years on the U-boat wreck. They'll stay confidential here, but suffice it to say he is very well qualified in what he and his team do. During his exploration he has been in constant contact with both the Canadian (more on that later) and the German governments giving them updates as detailed in this August, 2014 email:

Later in 2014, Mr. Tremblay conducted actual dives on the wreck site, but encountered wild currents and conditions (being that the site is at the foot of the Falls). He and his team did manage to film 60 hours of video though. This email gives a good description of their work in October, 2014:

In the lead up to the October, 2014 dives Mr. Tremblay requested a member of the provincial government's archeology team dive with his team given the province's interest in the matter and its historical significance. The province declined the initiation given the government had forbid Tremblay's team from removing any dirt or objects from the site, or even the touching of them:

In May, 2015, things really start moving along - especially in the email department. It's here when Mr. Tremblay first notes that the federal government is quite quietly involved with the u-boat wreck. In fact, Mr. Tremblay actually met with the Prime Ministers Office and the Department of Canadian Heritage in Ottawa. Furthermore, Mr. Tremblay states the Prime Minister (Harper) is personally interested in the wreck site. Also, at this time the German Embassy are involved with the project. In the same email though the dark side of the U-boat wrecks is revealed. Divers are highly zealous in keeping U-boat wrecks secret until they have established their name to the discovery. Of course with that established name comes lucrative contracts from media like the History Channel. To be fair though, discovering a wreck is expensive business and all out of pocket for the diving company. The email details spying by one group on the other group during exploration. In any case, here's the 2015 email detailing the PMO's involvement, and the rest:

A June 29, 2015 email from Mr. Tremblay details further contacts he has had with the federal government and advises the provincial government on his plans for a mid August, 2015 confirmation dive as well as press conference to announce the confirmation of the U-boat wreck to the world. According to the email, Tremblay states the Canadian War Museum wants to raise the wreck and place it in the museum in Ottawa:

On that same day June 29, 2015, Nalcor Senior Communications Manager fires off a rather panicked and confused email to Martha Drake stating she thought the U-boat would be left an undisturbed wreck. The more interesting response is Ms. Drake's:

"... In the meantime, the vessel belongs to the German government".

That is a big statement. It acknowledges the provincial government knows the wreck is that of a U-boat and that as such the wreck "belongs" to the "German government". Otherwise, the German government would have no claim on the wreck at  Muskrat Falls, let alone have the province's archeologist admit that Germany has ownership over it. Here's the email exchange:

On August 11, 2015 Mr. Tremblay notified provincial and federal officials of the plan for the dive (blackened out) and the date he expected to conduct his big press announcement - August 28, 2015:

In a somewhat panicked tone, Martha Drake informs other involved officials that: "..there is something in the river. I expect we can all agree on that..." She goes on to state she will craft a letter to prohibit any touching of the wreck by Mr. Tremblay's team and that she will inform Foreign Affairs of the situation:

And here is the hastily prepared letter Ms. Drake sent to Mr. Tremblay regarding the dive. It is interesting to note her cautioning of underwater unexploded munitions that may be on the site from the U-boat - especially given Mr. Tremblay's world class experience in unexploded munitions... She is very emphatic that: " ... the wreck and debris field shall not be disturbed, touched on manipulated ..." I find that a very curious instruction for a team of divers attempting to identify a U-boat. Here's why: I know of no U-boat dive that didn't require divers to touch, move and surface with articles in order to identify a German U-boat wreck. It's standard practise. Of course removing human remains is strictly forbidden (if there are any), but articles such as knives, breathing apparatus, etc are routinely removed from U-boat wrecks to identify them. For instance, in many cases U-boat numbers are on the backs of china used on the boat, or names are placed on individual escape breathing apparatus. Boat numbers are also found on torpedo doors or the ship's batteries. Most of which have to be extensively cleaned to remove decades of sea growth before they give up their information. Whether Ms. Drake's instructions are from a point of ignorance, or otherwise, they doomed the identification of the boat before the operation started.

Ms. Drake then sends an email to Nalcor and government senior staff letting them know that her letter to Mr. Tremblay was sent to Foreign Affairs. Odd that she should make that distinction if the touching of the U-boats debris field etc was for safety reasons. it is hard to see what interest Foreign Affairs might have in such a topic. It seems as though a number of people were quite determined to tie Mr. Tremblay's hands in actually identifying the U-boat, or perhaps its cargo, and that included the federal and German governments. Indeed, Reneta Lambreva, Senior Policy Advisor at Foreign Affairs responded to one Dan Mackenzie, federal government, Inter-governmental Affairs Secretariat:

"... To prepare the ground on our side, I have notified the desk for Germany as a heads up for the potential announcement involving a foreign vessel that might come out by August 28th. Keeping the desk informed will speed up things in case an action needs to be taken. "

Mr. Mackenzie then disseminates the details of the wreck that Foreign Affairs has supplied (which aren't included in the ATTIPPA release). He emphasizes the need for a coordinated approach:

Then on August 22, 2015 Mr. Tremblay fires off an excited email to Ms. Drake that confirmation diving will start on the wreck the next day. He states that the team saw a propeller with an underwater camera the day before:

Then, like a balloon that burst, a final email from Mr. Tremblay on August 31, 2015 to Ms. Drake:

" No announcement this time again..."

Given the big buildup to the dive in August, 2015, which included 10 divers, I was left somewhat dumfounded at the sudden end of email exchanges and the pronouncement of "no announcement this time again". Clearly it was a message of frustration (understandably) by Mr. Tremblay, but the reasons weren't detailed in an email. They came by way of a phone conversation he had with Ms. Drake. I contacted Mr. Tremblay to clarify what happened. His response was the sand had completely covered the wreck. Given the restrictive measures placed on him by the provincial government (my words not his) there was never any hope for identifying the U-boat number, but not being able to remove sand to expose the wreck now meant the announcement to the world had to be postponed for yet another year. Mr. Tremblay states that when the Muskrat Falls River is diverted (hopefully it won't be) his team will be able to work much better in the environment around the wreck as the currents and volumes of water will be dramatically reduced.

It's hard to visualize the U-boat wreck Mr. Tremblay has discovered as neither he nor the government will allow any pictures of it to be released. He told me the wreck is approximately 68 meters long and he believes it to be an intact type VII German U-boat. He remains completely committed and determined to be the one that exposes it once and for all, and given his work and financing of the project that should never be denied to him. that being said, as a point of history, the government and or Mr. Tremblay should release the images of the U-boat wreck so that the people of the province, and Germany, can see it once and for all. In addition, those of us with experience in identifying these sort of things may well be able to identify the boat's type by its distinctive structures. I don't believe that would in any way take away from Mr. Tremblay's exclusive claim to having discovered the wreck - it would simply share the images of it with the rest of us. For history's sake.

Of course, the other side of this story is that Nalcor, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Canada  and the Government of Germany have kept total silence on the ongoing explorations and discoveries since the initial sonar picture of the other wreck hit the media in 2012. They have left those of us trying to expose the truth, for history's sake, on the sidelines like a bunch of crazed conspiracy theorists. Now the truth is coming out, and these emails (there are more I haven't published) prove that the U-boat wrecks at Muskrat Falls are not ghosts of the fanciful, but very real hulks of history. The question remains why? Why are these governments and Nalcor trying to cover them up?

NEWLY ADDED:

The Tragic Truth About the Muskrat Falls U-Boat Wreck - U-180

It was August 20, 1944, Bordeaux, France - at the U-boat pens. The Allies had broken out from their foothold in Normandy, and the USSR had crushed the German army and began its invasion of Romania. Five days earlier the US had invaded Southern France in an operation codenamed "Anvil". The German occupation of France was at its end, and the remnants of the German forces were desperately fleeing for Germany, or in the case of the U-boats - the sea. It was under these dangerous and chaotic circumstances that the Captain of U-180 prepared to take her out to sea on his maiden mission as the U-boat's commander.

Rolf Riesen, the commander, was not a fervent Nazi, but he was a very patriotic German. He was also a family man who loved his family dearly, but saw them very rarely since joining the German Navy in 1938. He considered joining the navy his patriotic duty, and was very committed to the "higher cause". His served as a junior officer on the German heavy cruiser Lutzow until the end of 1941. He then transferred to the destroyer and torpedo boat holding division. Deciding to take a different tact, Riesen undertook U-boat training until September, 1942, and then served as a watch officer on U-198 until February, 1944. He then undertook U-boat commander training for three months, and on April 2, 1944 he took command of U-180 - his final command.  This story, although of major historical import, is dedicated to the memory of  Oberleutnant zur See Rolf Riesen, the last commander of U-180.

Rolf Riesen as a watch officer in 1942

Rolf Riesen just before leaving on his final mission 2 years later

Riesen supervised the loading of his beloved first command before going to sea. However, there were a number of wood crates in his boat that he had no idea of their contents. He was a very meticulous officer, keen on details, but a very superior officer gave him the "it's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know" speech. As a loyal and dedicated officer he did not question his superior. Little did he know the crates contained u-234 - uranium. What he did know was they were stowed below, with other cargo stored upon them. He also knew his orders had him sailing for Japan, which was not an uncommon destination for the "black boats" of the German U-boat fleet.

"Black boats" meaning U-boats involved in transporting special cargos of uranium, mercury, weapons technology etc to Japan, and often bringing gold bullion back as payment to Germany. U-180 had been used in a well documented secret mission to transport Indian nationalist politicians to a Japanese sub for delivery to India earlier in the war, but her Mercedes engines were too loud and left an oil trail to be used again. She was mothballed, but then brought back having her engines pulled, new engines added, a state of the art snorkel and radar installed, and other modifications which improved her operations significantly. As he left Bordeaux on that August day, Riesen had no idea of the horror and betrayal that lay in wait for him from members of his own crew - many of them had no idea either.

U-180 left port with three other U-boats bound for Japan. They had an escort ship on the surface to protect them from sudden air or naval attack. Shortly after they submerged the escort ship reported that all U-boats had cleared the minefield and were en route. So far so good. However, just as the voyage started Riesen was confronted in private by MtrOGfr Helmut Hantschel. Riesen had befriended Hantschel, as much as a U-boat Captain would, he trusted the young man. They were all young men to Riesen as he was considered an old man in the U-boat service. What Riesen didn't know was young Hantschel was not a naval officer. His real name wasn't even Hantschel. He was, in fact, an SS officer acting under direct orders from Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler. His mission: take control of the U-180, and its cargo of uranium, and deliver it to the Americans at the Goose Bay Air Force base in Labrador, Canada. A grand plan to resettle Nazis after the war had been launched by Hitler's number one man, Martin Bormann. Bormann gave the order to Himmler, and Himmler gave the order directly to Hantschel.

Hantschel, for his part, was a fanatic Nazi with an almost psychopathic obsession with power. This was a dream mission for him, and he gladly accepted even though he had never been on a U-boat before. The confrontation between Riesen and Hantschel was nothing less than the deliberate killing of the Captain. Hantschel took a large knife from the sub's galley and plunged it in one single stroke through Riesen's heart. Riesen died almost immediately. As only a portion of the crew were aware of the plan to take over U-180, the killing needed to be kept secret to maintain order on the boat. To do this Hantschel used his experiences as a medic with the SS to carve Riesen into pieces. His remains were then placed in the rear torpedo tube and the Captain was expunged into the sea. And so begins the deliberate mutiny of U-180.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the absence of the Captain was kept under guard for days afterward. Days later three crew members suffered the same fate as they challenged the mutineers over the Captain's disappearance and the ship's mission. Most of the crew was unaware that the U-boat was heading for Canada rather than Japan. That was the way Hantschel and his mutineers wanted it kept. It was impossible to operate the U-boat over the trans Atlantic voyage without the various expertise of those on board, and complete discipline and control was absolutely necessary for success. It had to be a well oiled machine.

However, just a day before U-180 was to arrive at its destination in Labrador, a major battle broke out between the crew that was loyal to the mutineers and those that hadn't realized their mission had changed. In this one altercation, approximately half the crew were killed. Of an original crew of 56, only 24 were left now. Given the close proximity to the Goose Bay base, and wanting to remain submerged, the dead crew were left on the U-boat. Shortly after this final battle among the crew, Hantschel happened across a Canadian destroyer fishing with dynamite off the town Rigolet. read the media story here Years later, a then renamed Hantschel ( now Ernst Oscar Henschel) would relay to a sailor on that boat how he watched them fish with dynamite through his periscope. At that time Hantschel, or Henschel as he was then known, was a doctor in the Saskatchewan community of Prince Albert. Having been refused entry into the US after the war due to his "service" in the SS, Henschel emigrated to Canada at first.

U-180 then made its way up Lake Melville to a predesignated position just out to shore from the Goose Bay Air Force base. It was nighttime, and pitch black. The U-boat surfaced, and dispatched a dingy, with wooden crates, to a small supply/maintenance dock just south of the base (the dock no longer exists). There it was met by armed US servicemen. In the confusion and tension of the moment, 2 of the German U-boat men were shot to death by a US soldier when they made sudden moves he wasn't expecting. The uranium was eventually completely transferred. In accordance with the original plan given to him back in Germany, Hantschel and the remaining crew took the U-boat up the Churchill River on the surface. They used only their electric engines to power the boat to remain quiet in transit. However, even with these precautions they were heard and spotted by two Innu hunters in the area.

At the predesignated location, just south of Muskrat Falls, the crew scuttled U-180 in accordance with standard operating procedures of the German U-boat fleet. Charges were placed at the bow, rear, and centre of the boat. The dead crew members from the battle amongst the crew the day before, and the newly killed members from the supply dock, were left on board the U-boat as she sunk. However, even the scuttling didn't go well as two men were killed and two injured during the scuttling process. By the end of the mission only 15 crew members of the original 56 had survived.

The survivors of U-180, with the exception of Hantschel and a few others, were forced to stay in North America. Hantschel and the others were transported back to Germany to confirm the mission was successful. Ironically, Hantschel is shown graduating from Charles University of Prague, medical school, just six months later. He ended his career in medicine back in the United States as professor and chairman of the Medical College of Wisconsin, and has an annual award named after him. read here (notice the brief reference to his service in the German Navy) His wife, who he met in London in 1950, also became a well known doctor in the area. Today only two survivors of the horror and treachery that was U-180 are still alive. Both are now old men in their late 90's. One still has a keen mind, but the other unfortunately does not. The keen minded survivor was a fellow officer who loyally served under Captain Riesen, but as a young officer he was terrified to turn against the mutineers - with good reason as the history shows. He now lives with deep remorse and nightmares about his experience on U-180.

In the end, although the seizing of U-180 was a preplanned operation by the highest levels of the Nazi Party and the SS, the attempt to use the uranium as a bargaining chip with the Allies was apparently unsuccessful. The US double crossed their German partners, but got the uranium in any case for the Manhattan Project. U-180 remains unexplored on a sandy river bank near Muskrat Falls as a ghostly reminder of human tragedy, the ruthlessness of the dark world of Nazi Germany, and almost the last bit of evidence that the Germans and the Americans had cut a deal for uranium while still at war with each other in Europe. Meanwhile, the families of the men lost in U-180 have no idea what really happened to them on that dark voyage during the dying days of the war. Perhaps it may have been better that way, but for the necessity to observe the significant historical moment the wreck of the U-180 represents. It is the truth of the matter that counts now. It has been 75 years since U-180 sunk in Labrador's waters, yet the Government of Canada will still not release what documents they have on the matter. The grounds for the refusal - "releasing the information may cause harm or embarrassment to an ally." It was always hard to fathom how such an old story, and a forgotten wreck, could cause injury and/or embarrassment to an ally, but given the truth of what really happened to U-180 and its uranium cargo, well, perhaps it should.

UPDATED Nalcor Has Sold Bull Arm

UPDATE:

Both Nalcor and Irving Oil (just answered inquiry today) have stated there is no deal on Bull Arm sort of. Irving Oil's response was "Hi Brad, thanx for asking, but we have no involvement at Bull Arm". There you have it.

Insiders report the buyer of the Bull Arm site is Irving Oil. This, as the rest of the story, has yet to be confirmed or denied by the Government or Nalcor despite requests for the same.

In the latest of now a long list of insider info being leaked to this blog, apparently Nalcor has sold (privatized)  the Bull Arm site. Details are still coming in and I will update this post as those details come in. The leak is that Nalcor and the government have sold Bull Arm to a ship building company. The news of the sale has been held back from the public due to the scandal involving Nalcor, Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady, and Premier Ball.

New Leaks from Insiders on Muskrat Falls

We all know things are going badly with the doomed Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam project on the Churchill River, but just how badly are they going? Well, according to insider leaks to this blog things are getting very bad. Very bad indeed. In fact, the installation of Stan Marshall seems to have made things worse up there than better. The leaks in this blog have to do with scheduling. It appears instead of taking a cold eyes look at the project, and seeing if the project is even viable any more (it never was) Marshall is trying to ram through the schedule and creating a complete mess of the project. At least that's what the insiders are saying.

Several weeks ago I received a leak that there was no room left at the camp for workers to stay. Instead, Nalcor was offering workers $117.00 a day tax free to stay in Happy Valley Goose Bay, with the added bonus of being bused in and out of the site each day. When I received that information I thought it may be an attempt to reduce costs. Perhaps it was cheaper to pay them the $117 a day and bus them in and out. Perhaps the cost per occupied bed were so expensive it made some sort of sense.

However, the most recent leak from the project tells a different story. The insider tells me the camps at Muskrat Falls are full. Completely full and there is just no room left to accommodate anyone. That's part of the story, but there is more. Last week 100 people were flown into the site to work, but there were no accommodations for them at the camp, so they were turned around. There were also 250 people called out to work at the dam site, but they had to be cancelled because there was no place to house them. Now the big plan is to fly people who live in Lab City to the site every day, and then fly them home at the end of their shift. This plan is apparently not approved yet, but is actively being considered.

What is the problem you ask? According to my insider it is a change in Nalcor's scheduling priorities. Nalcor has ranked the three main contractors in a priority triage: first priority Pennecon; second priority Pomerleau; and last priority is now Astaldi (the main contractor). In fact, it is so bad for the prime contractor Astaldi that they have been reduced to 140 bunk beds at the camp and have had to lay off 30% of their workforce on site. This at a time when they are being hammered for being behind schedule.

All of this gives a bit of context to the new lawsuit filed against Nalcor this week by Andritz Hydro Canada Inc, an Austrian company. According to the lawsuit Nalcor demanded Andritz get on site and install the gates to the water ways at the Falls. Andritz explained to Nalcor, and Nalcor must have known, that Andritz could not install the gates until Astaldi had completed the cement works the gates were to be attached to. Andritz went to the Falls, inspected the work, and found the work to not only be incomplete, but also a large number of deficiencies with the work. Therefore, they informed Nalcor they couldn't proceed until the work by Astaldi was finished properly. According to the lawsuit Nalccor then threatened to call in Andritz's $20 million performance bond - so Andritz sued Nalcor.


Given this lawsuit, and the insider leaks coming from the project, it seems quite obvious that Nalcor's project management is desperately trying to drive the project ahead rather than fixing the issues at hand first. In doing so Nalcor is creating a real nightmare out of the scheduling and therefore cost process. Andritz's lawsuit is a result of that. Given Nalcor's decision to deprive Astaldi of the camp space needed for their staff it won't be long until we see a major lawsuit against Nalcor by Astaldi. Logically, how can Astaldi be expected to cure its scheduling issues if it can't get space to house its workers and has to lay off 30% of its staff at the project? In other words, due to very serious mismanagement of the project by Nalcor, contractors are now piling up against each other on the site and any efficiencies of the project's construction are out the window.

The news on Muskrat Falls just keeps getting worse all the time. Thank-you to the insiders at Muskrat Falls, good Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are troubled by what they see where they work and the impact it will have on all of us, for emailing me and getting the information out there. If you are up at Muskrat Falls, and you see something we should know, please email me right from this blog page. I'll keep your name out of it, I promise, and we'll let the people know what's going on up there.

FROM ASTALDI TO ITS STAFF:

The NL Liberals Vietnam

There are no good options within the Liberal Party in this province. That is the basic truth. Now that is becoming more and more obvious by the day. Newfoundland and Labrador was sick and tired of the secrecy and shady dealings of the PC Party, and in the last election the people turned to the Liberals to put an end to that kind of politics. Just like the Liberal leadership process that saw a lackluster, even boring, Dwight Ball selected as the party leader, so the electorate settled for a lackluster but seemingly less dangerous option when they voted in the Liberals. Surely the Liberal would have gotten the message that the sleazy, corrupt, secret type of politics practised by the PCs would no longer be accepted here. Now, it is very obvious they didn't get the memo.

The truth is that behind the scenes within the Liberal Party powerful elements of the old guard and backroom boys were not supporting Dwight Ball as leader, but rather their sweetheart was Cathy Bennett. In fact, she was not even considered a Liberal until she threw her name in the race claiming to have always been there, and that her "coming out of the closet" was simply a coincidence as it coincided with the leadership race. A strange place to be for a woman who wrote cheques every year to the PC Party, and not the Liberals. An odd place for a woman running in a party that was at that time anti-Muskrat Falls considering her Chairmanship of the Board of Nalcor Energy. The woman who hired Nancy O'Connor to come to Newfoundland from Nova Scotia to set up the pro-business lobby group for Muskrat Falls - including paying for the websites etc of that group.

As Bennett money poured into her leadership campaign instant Bennett fans started appearing out of the wood work. Many "young Liberals" suddenly appeared lobbying for her on social media, and organizing for her on the ground. Yes, the darling of the likes of Danny Williams was about to take the party by storm. Just one problem: older Liberals didn't trust her. They didn't accept her pro-Muskrat Falls business position. So despite her money, Bennett lost to the compromise candidate Dwight Ball. Bennett and her powerful friends in the business community weren't prepared to accept that, and a covert movement began to overthrow Ball from the leadership. They had a problem though. The election was too close at hand, so the plan was scheduled for once the Liberals were in power - sort of. In reality Bennett and her minions became very involved in district association nomination meetings trying to get pro-Bennett/business types in as Liberal candidates and thus Liberal MHAs.

I was approached myself by such a person a month and a half before the election, and during a nomination race in one district. This old time Liberal had a serious issue in over throwing a Liberal candidate who had managed to get nominated, but wasn't marching to Bennett's pro-fracking band wagon. A local wealthy businessman was putting up the funds to beat the candidate during the election. As part of their approach to me the person emphasized that Bennett was going to take over the leadership after the election. That she had all the cards already in place. He also mentioned that Paul Antle and Siobhan Coady may be involved as well. If this person hadn't been a long time Liberal with deep roots I may have dismissed it out of hand, However, they were. They also had invested in shares of Shoal Point and the goal was to get Bennett in so that fracking would be approved in the province, and of course those shares would become very valuable. So, as you can see, the sleaze and secrecy was oozing from the seams of the Liberal Party even before the election had officially begun.

Fast forward to today, and it becomes even more obvious - albeit much more public. Ball struck a deal for Martin to leave Nalcor, and put in place Stan Marshall. Marshall's plan will be to privatise NL Hydro - which includes the 65% of CFLCo that NL Hydro owns (and that also necessarily means the Upper Churchill which CFLCo owns). Bennett and her St. John's business boys are all for selling it too, but they want it to go to Emera. That's what the big business boys bet on, and that's what they want. Those are the dividing lines within the Liberal Party today. I say Liberal Party, but it's more like the Chameleon Party - elements of the old Liberal party controlled by the boys and girls of the St. John's business community that are suddenly Liberals having just been PCs.

In any case, that is the war. Not whether or not to sell NL Hydro, but to who. The peoples' interest in all this... you're kidding right? So now Ball has put forward his plan. He gave  Ed Martin an "offer he couldn't refuse": leave or be fired. He also promised to give Martin his full severance and $160,000 in bonuses - or just under $1.6 million dollars. Designated fall guy in all this? The Nalcor board. Pass the resolution to fire him without cause so he can get his bonus and severance, and then resign yourself. No loose ends. Nice and tidy for Marshall to come in. Emera is out, Fortis is in. Not surprisingly, just days after Marshall was named as President of Nalcor he returned to his home in Belize with a number of senior officials of Fortis who stayed with him at his house for a week. Then came the nuke from David Vardy's access to information request that saw Ed Martin's employment contract released - which in itself is bizarre - and "highly suspect". An employment contract is a privileged document. Those kind of documents aren't released ever. Go figure, this time it was. It just so happened to prove Ball was lying. In other words, the ambush of Ball was on.

Despite the roll that Finance and Justice would have to play in these contracts, and severance negotiations, suddenly Cathy Bennett has disappeared from the scene. Ditto Siobhan Coady. Their two Deputy Ministers sit on the newly appointed Board of Nalcor. Both Bennett and Andrew Parsons have a direct ear into the Nalcor transition and on what happened with the severance negotiations, etc. Yet they've two stepped back from the limelight on this affair, just as Coady has. Coady was in the US until May 5 and claimed she knew nothing. Apparently she can't be reached by telephone or email or skype or what have you. Apparently Texas is now the third world without any such services. The lies are palpable, disingenuous, but meant to do one thing - leave Ball on the gallows by himself. Just as the plan before the election promised to do - get rid of him. That doesn't mean Ball didn't lie. It just means he thought everyone had his back in the deal, and found out that they were gunning for his back instead. As Minister Gamble-Walsh said to me two days ago: "Ball will very likely fall, but caucus is united". United for what you may ask? Good question. She never filled in that blank, but given the moves before the election was even called, it could well be said that the caucus is united in knifing their own leader, falling into line with Bennett, Coady, and possibly Antle, and all those business boys and girls sitting in the shadows and watching the game unfold.

As the Russian army found out in Afghanistan, and the US army found in Vietnam, it's easy to get into a war, but hard to get out. In the last 5 years Newfoundland and Labrador has had 5 Premiers or Premier designates fall. Soon to be 6. The place has become a frenzied feeding zone. It's become a guerrilla war here in a sense. The establishment vs. the people. Social media vs main stream media (sometimes holding hands when it suits the backroom boys). In this frenzy, for the lust and race for power and wealth, very few bases have been covered well. Political and business bodies keep piling up everywhere you look. Social media has morphed into the people's voice. The political "establishment" finds itself largely talking to ... well itself. Nobody else is believing or listening. Easy to get in, hard to get out. Welcome to the jungle baby.

Premier Ball caught in a big Lie

Some people say that you know a politician is lying when you see his or her lips moving. I like to think that isn't true, but today's news is shaking that faith. David Vardy filed an access to information request to gain access to the employment contract of former Nalcor president Ed Martin. What a bombshell that was.

Premier Ball, and Ed Martin himself went public, speaking to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and claimed Ed Martin resigned. It was subsequently released that his severance package was just under $1.4 million dollars. Weeks later it was revealed that he was paid just under $200,000 in bonuses as well. As Ball slashed jobs, and severely increased taxes, he made the case that Martin's excessive severance was required by his contract, and there was no choice in the matter. However, with Vardy's release of Martin's contract, that was not true. In fact it was a boldfaced lie that was spoken to the public as if it were the truth.

Here is Martin's employment contract . You can see for yourself that the only circumstances that require a severance for Martin is dismissal. That makes sense because if Martin quit he would be the one breaking the employment contract, and therefore would not be entitled to compensation. In any case, he is not entitled to a severance package if he quit according to the terms of his employment outlined in the contract. So did he quit or was he fired and allowed to save face? Right now we don't know for sure. The bottom line is that either way Premier Ball lied, and now he's caught in it. If Martin was fired, then he was entitled to a package - but Ball said he quit for "family reasons". Now if he did quit, then Ball is lying when he said that the contract required him to receive a severance package. So, either way Ball lied to the people of the province. In case you don't recall his exact words, here are some of the stories that covered the severance storm that Ball addressed publicly: Telegram story ; and CBC story .

Ball needs to resign now for his deception - hell let's just call it what it is: boldfaced lie to the people of the province. The people already consider themselves betrayed by Ball's broken promises made during the election, but this takes things to an all new level. A level where people know their own premier has lied to their face and been caught in the act. It's a disgrace to his office, to the province and to democracy. Resign, Mr. Ball. Do the honourable thing if you're capable.

Minister Foote attacks Veteran

It didn't take long for the Liberals to get arrogant beyond belief did it? Last week the Liberals announced they were resuming the lawsuit against disabled veterans. Despite having passed a resolution in the House of Commons recognizing Canada's "sacred" duty to its injured veterans, a motion passed unanimously in the House, the good old Liberals just renewed the lawsuit against those same vets in the courts in BC. Among the points of contention - should veterans have to prove they are still disabled every 2 years? One of the vets in the suit points out his lost two legs are not going to regenerate themselves... and so it goes. The Liberals broke their word.

As one of those vets I was deeply angered at the betrayal. My local member of parliament Judy Foote, who also happens to sit at the right hand of the Prime Minister in Parliament, posted a few pictures of herself with provincial and federal politicians on Facebook a few days ago. It was the usual pomp and circumstance - flags, podium, smiling politicians - you get the idea. Ms. Foote captioned the photos with self-congratulatory commentary about $35 million the feds were putting into Newfoundland to help with roads, etc. Your typical political stuff here. However, given the absolute anger and borderline hatred displayed recently against the newly elected Liberal provincial government here, it was inflammatory at the least for Foote to be sitting with those same politicians extolling all that they're doing in the province. In other words, it was typical Newfoundland politics of "look at us, we're giving you money for a road, aren't we awesome". The flavour of politics here isn't going down well anymore.

My anger and disappointment at the Liberals renewal of the veterans lawsuit overcame me, as did the obvious attempt by Foote and her other Newfoundland and Labrador federal Liberal MPs to boost the provincial Liberal government, that I had to comment. As a disabled veteran, and as a member of Foote's riding, I thought it was my right to let her know my opinion on these issues. Wrong. Judy Foote, in her righteousness and arrogance decided that wasn't the case. Here's how it went down on Facebook:

Me: " Putting lipstick on a pig (the provincial Liberal Party)  doesn't help. They are tattered.    You should be convincing Trudeau to settle the lawsuit with injured veterans before you (the federal Liberal government) end up the same way."

This is how she responded:

"Well a happy 24th May long weekend to you too Brad. So now you've turned your sights to finding fault with initiatives I am taking as a Member of Parliament to help the people of NL. Why am I not surprised that I have ended up on your long list of those who just can't get it right and you say that without any idea of the work I do behind the scenes on many federal issues to make a difference in the lives of others including our veterans. It is so easy to find fault - having a positive impact takes effort and desire to effect real change and in some circumstances takes longer than in other cases."

Now, in case you can't find any logical connection with her response to me on Facebook and the comment posed to her, well let's just say you're not alone. Minister Foote in fact chose a public forum to marginalize, if not gently smear, a permanently, severely injured veteran - the kind she professes to do so much for. It is true that as a writer, commentator, and as a political scientist I do push for democratic change in this province. I push for fundamental change to the political culture of this province that Ms. Foote's commentary so richly illustrates. As part of that push for change I've written this post so that others can see not just the challenges seriously injured veterans must put up with in pushing for our rights, and those of our brothers and sisters, but also the contempt for which we are held in for doing so. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees us the right to freedom of thought and expression. Apparently Minister Foote disagrees.

Veterans Liberally Betrayed

                                               Kent Hehr, Liberal Minister of Veterans Affairs
                                                                          Canada


As an injured vet I was really hoping against hope that the Liberals would live up to their promises made toward injured veterans during the election. Hope against hope. Fighting that inner voice that warned of disappointment after disappointment with politicians associated with Veterans Affairs - and in many cases the department itself. A vast bureaucracy that eats so much money that it would probably be cheaper to give every seriously injured vet a million dollars - it would cost far less and be far quicker - and just get rid of the department. Wishful thinking I know, but you have to go through the process of trying to deal with Veterans Affairs to understand the hell it is to deal with. It is not uncommon, according to studies, that some vets actually get PTSD, or severely acerbated cases of it, by simply dealing with Veterans Affairs for periods of 5-9 years simply to be looked after from their injuries.

So, the Liberals got in and made a big splash in their first budget about everything they would do for vets. They increased the Income Loss Replacement program from 75% to 90%. That's a monthly payment program to fund injured vets who can't work due to their injuries. Up until now the monthly payment has been based on a basic Corporal's pay. When they increased from 75-90% they reduced the basic payment to that of a senior Private. That's pretty hard for a guy like me to wrap my mind around considering I was a Captain - Major qualified - when I left. Getting paid as a Private is a wee bit of a demotion. Beyond the personal though, the Income Loss Replacement program is essentially all that is left of a "disability-like pension" that's there for vets anymore. It's only like a disability pension in that it is all you can receive as a monthly benefit anymore - there is no disability pension for us. A major difference: disability pensions are tax free, as are workers compensation programs. Not so for us broken soldiers. We pay tax on that monthly payment - a lot of tax. That was one of the issues that the lawyer for the six Afghan veterans suing Veterans Affairs was fighting for. That leads us to the latest betrayal of vets by this rather new Liberal government.

The Liberals promised to recognize the social contract the country had with those of us injured by our service. They were outraged and indignant that the Conservatives were denying a social contract existed with the veterans and their country during that lawsuit. Former Minister Erin O'Toole, Tory, a veteran himself, managed to have the lawsuit put on ice for a year to negotiate a settlement that would see these serious veterans issues addressed with honour. There was some optimism. However, for what ever reason, O'Toole did not reach an agreement with the vets and their lawyer before the election. The Tories lost, and the Liberals promised to fix it. They even passed an all party resolution in the House of Commons that recognized the social contract between the country and their injured soldiers. Things appeared to be going as they should be. There was calm in veteran land - so to speak. Then came this week.

There is no greater betrayal than the betrayal of hope. Veterans watched in horror and dismay as the new veterans minister threw us to the wolves by resuming the lawsuit in the BC Court. Now, as if a bad nightmare has been revisited, Hehr is using the very same argument in court - that there is no social contract between Canada and it's fallen and injured troops. It is a cut so deep for an injured veteran that it's hard to describe. It strips us of the dignity and honour of our service. It says we owe you nothing. You will get the crumbs we feel you deserve, when we deem it, and as much as we deem. You will be greatful. A soldier by definition has to be a proud person. Pride is drilled into you, and so is honour. You associate that with your comrades, your unit, your country and even yourself. Hehr, and his boss Trudeau, have just ripped that from us yet again. It hurts deeply and it is unforgiveable. To know betrayal you must have your Prime Minister and your national government stick the cold steel blade of political betrayal into your heart. That is what Hehr and Trudeau have done. They have Liberally betrayed us.

Jerry Dean and Accountability

I'm sure Jerry Dean is a fine fellow and all that. You don't get to be elected as a Mayor of your community without the respect and support of that community, so it goes without saying the man has, or had, that. However, Dean's comments in the House of Assembly this week likely did a lot to damage that reputation.

In the wee, dying hours of the House of Assembly this week Dean stood up and began speaking off a prepared script. Yes, a prepared, written script. He made constant reference to it as he spoke. What does that have to do with anything? Well, a prepared script from a back bencher in our politics means the party in charge of the government crafted it for him to say. That's normally for several reasons: to fly a trial balloon by someone who is expendable (ie: don't use a Minister to do it); to start the spread of a message the government wants out there; and to change the channel and focus of discussion. Likely, in this case, all three were at play.

Here is exactly what Dean said in the House in the late hours of May 11, 2016:

"Despite the squandering revenue and resources by the PC administration, they don't, you people don't (points to the PCs across the House) deserve shouldering all the blame either. So, now who can we blame? ... (suggests Clyde Wells, Brian Peckford, or Joey Smallwood could be too blame then says) No, they don't deserve the BULK OF THE BLAME either. Everybody here tonight, and everybody at home throughout the province, it's time for all of us to take, take the blame. The unfortunate truth is that WE COLLECTIVELY, the CURRENT POPULATION and the PREVIOUS POPULATIONS, ARE TO BLAME. Nobody likes to say it, but there persists a culture of ENTITLEMENT in this province in which we demand jobs, benefits and services from government that our province simply cannot afford to continue enduring. At the rate. Decades of borrowing and spending by our governments, to pay for our CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT, because we demand it."

( link is here for the speech - around the 2:40 mark - differs on different systems)

If you watch you will notice that Dean reads that little diatribe word for word off the prepared speech he was given to say. So, it wasn't just his position, but in fact a Liberal government message he was putting across. Now he clearly states: the people "collectively are to blame"; the people past and present deserve the "bulk of the blame"; the people have a "culture of entitlement"; and absolves the political parties of the "bulk" of the blame as entities. That's a fact of the record.

Now go to Dean's recorded interview with the CBC (the audio of the interview located in the story is what you need to listen to here . Here is what Dean said 3 days later to the CBC:

The CBC reporter asks: "So Mr. Dean, why do you think the population is to blame for the deficit?"

Dean answers: " Well, uh, I don't think that's exactly what I said."

Yet that is exactly what he said.

Then he said: "If some people want to take that, and misconstrue it, that I was laying the entirety of the blame at the people, at the general population, both current and previous, excluding Jerry Dean, and Dwight Ball, and Cathy Bennett and previous finance ministers and previous premiers and cabinet ministers and the list goes on then that's not what I said and it's there on the record... and if one were to take the time to take it, not from second hand news from someone else out.. you know I believe... there was quite a bit of cherry picking going on there, but I'm where I'm to on my reputation of being open and honest...."

So, when Dean refers to "someone out there" he is referring to me, because I watched as he said it, and put the info out immediately on social media - which caused a fire storm of indignation amongst the people - as it should. Then, Dean accuses people of "misconstruing" what he said. But, as you can see above, it is exactly what he said. He then relies on his reputation of being open and honest, yet it is quite clear he is not being honest at all.

The CBC reporter goes on and asks him:

"It's not second hand news. We heard your voice there in the House of Assembly and you did say the general population and people listening to that would say how is the general population to blame when they don't get to make the decisions?"

Dean answers:

"Ya, well... but ... I'm looking at what I said here now... that collectively the current and previous populations ... now, you know ... what ... what that encompasses is everybody... so ... if ... again somebody wants to take something out of context that... that I can't control that.."

Dean stumbles so badly he has to read the same prepared statement he read in the House to buy himself some time to answer the question. He then stammers to make his answer sound palatable, and ends with people twisting his words. Yet, he admits in the same breath he was referring to everybody - ie: the people of the province.

The CBC reporter isn't buying that and follows up with this:
"If you're including everybody, how are those of us not elected responsible?"

"Why... this is ... unfortunately... like I say this is something that inadvertently... I guess has been brought upon inadvertently, uh, not in a mean spirited way... uh just be the harsh reality of the ...that the populations of the day uh... have...I guess...you know...like listen and follow the lead of ... of a consecutive government, whether they be Liberal or PC,  and we've all had a ... probably ... a ... oh um...how can I put this ...we're all guilty as politicians and sitting governments... so um ... unfortunately... uh...ah of promising things to people... and in a lot of case delivering to the people...the people themselves...everyone of us collectively, couldn't afford to begin with... and ...so inadvertently and stuff...like we've ...like we've a ... unfortunately just found ourselves in this mindset."

If you think that answer was a complete run around by a scared politician, trapped by his own words in a corner, you aren't alone. The CBC reporter comes right back at him:

"So...I'm trying to understand this in a clear way, does that mean those of us that are the electors, or the voters or the citizens are responsible for where we sit right now, because we expected things from the government or that we accepted what the government was promising?"

Dean: "Well.. I'm saying collectively in part...." and the dribble just goes on from there. I really encourage you to listen to the taped interview at the link for the CBC story. The reporter did an excellent job of holding him to account. And therein lies the purpose of this post - accountability. That one word every politician in Newfoundland and Labrador is scared to death to hear. Anything but that! The truth is the people don't suffer from a sense of entitlement - not at all. The simple truth is they want roads and services that are accepted as routine in the rest of the country, but for some reason here they depend on how you vote as to what level of service you'll get - if any. Successive generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians haven't suffered from a sense of "entitlement". Quite the opposite is true. Successive generations have been brainwashed to believe they aren't entitled to the basics of all modern societies of the world, and to complain about that is to be a "whiner". To demand services before spending on mega projects is to be a "naysayer". To demand basic services is to have a sense of "entitlement".

It goes back a long way here. The Merchants. The small number of business families in the province that were the Merchants and are now the Corporations have a long history of keeping people "in their place". Keep them hungry so they'll work. Keep them uneducated so they won't question. Keep them poor so they'll be grateful for the crumbs of the natural wealth they rightly own. The key to all these things for them is not to be held accountable for it. That's why they have ingrained into the people the principle "don't trust outsiders" and "don't have outsiders coming in and telling us", because "outsiders already know what is basic human expectations in the modern world. That the interests of people take priority over the wealth of a few families. That holding people down isn't acceptable. All dangerous philosophies here to the ruling elite, but the standard everywhere else in the country. Like my neighbor who moved away 20 years ago, came back, and after one year is selling to move out, Newfoundlanders that have gone afar know now what should be expected of our government and are incensed at the mentality of "keeping people down". They won't accept it, and they leave.

We don't live in a culture of fat cat citizens with a "sense of entitlement". We live in a province of hard working people, fighting just to get by, with low expectations and strong family values who have been conditioned to believe that demanding what is normal elsewhere is somehow being greedy here. That's why Jerry Dean's statements are so offensive. Make no mistake, this was a prepared statement written for him to read word for word by the Premier's office - as is the case everywhere else for backbenchers. this is the position of the government. Like all the governments before it. It's aim is to invoke that item from your memory. Your conditioning. Don't ask for anything. Sacrifice for us. It is how you've been and how you must remain. Don't hold us to account. Yes, in this province there is definitely not a culture of "entitlement". Instead, we have a "culture of excuses". The culture of "it wasn't me" to quote the Caribbean singing star Shaggy. But, it doesn't apply to current and past generations of the population. No, it applies to current and past political elites as they spend  the fruit of the land and sea on themselves, and toss the crumbs to the population as if they should be grateful they got that. The "culture of the Merchants".

The Big Muskrat Falls Lie

Here's a trivia question for you: Who said "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." Answer: Adolph Hitler. I get it. The first one to invoke Hitler's name loses the argument. It's just that a better quote can't be found for the die hard proponents of Muskrat Falls dam.

The most recent Muskrat Falls "story" was published today by CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. The CBC here has been as big a proponent of Muskrat Falls as anyone since 2010. It's almost as if there is some official policy to support the project over there. The story here is from an access to information request, but almost sounds as if it's a leak - which the reporter involved quickly pointed out it was not. Nevertheless, the story gives six reasons why Muskrat Falls cannot be stopped or postponed: the province needs power; a lot of money has been spent; the feds could take the project over if we stopped it under the terms of the loan guarantee; we'd still owe Nova Scotia power; it would put a lot of people out of work; and the province wouldn't be weaned off fossil fuels. No advantages were identified in the heavily redacted briefing paper. There you go. Can't be stopped. Oh well. The big lie get's repeated yet again to the public.

Here is the truth:

1. All contracts signed to build Muskrat Falls were signed by Nalcor, not the provincial government. That is significant because the province passed legislation in 2012 that designated Nalcor as essentially a private corporation for the purposes of contracts to build the project. It pulled their "Crown Agent" status. That means only Nalcor can be sued for breaking the contracts. Critically, that also means that the government can halt Muskrat Falls and Nalcor can claim a Force Majeure event. A Force Majeure event in contract terms means an event outside the control of the parties to the contract that puts the terms of the contract on ice until the event is resolved. Nobody can be sued, and no monies or penalties can be levied. So, the government could stop the project without getting sued by the contractors building and supplying Muskrat Falls.

2. The federal government does have the right to invoke the default clause in the federal loan guarantee if the province halts construction. It also has the right to do that if the project becomes over indebted as well. So the federal government takes over the project? The permit to construct the dam itself is a provincial permit authorized by the provincial government. Our provincial government can simply revoke the permit which means the river can't be dammed. So the federal government is left with a huge pile of concrete that can't produce a single watt of electricity. That is really no threat. There is no real threat to us until the dam across the river itself is built. Then we couldn't cancel the permit to alter a waterway, and that would be more troubling. Bottom line is though we are no where near that now.

3. Yes there would be jobs lost if the project were cancelled, but look at the jobs- permanent jobs, being lost now due to budget cut backs as a result of spending on Muskrat Falls. In addition, many of the jobs at Muskrat Falls are employing people who aren't from the province in any case. And, all those jobs they keep talking about are over when the project is over in any case. Short term gain for long term extreme pain.

4. Yes Nova Scotia is entitled to power from Muskrat Falls - 20%. When I say Nova Scotia I really mean Emera - a publicly traded corporation. Emera's contract for the supply of power is not with the government here - it's with Nalcor. Again, Nalcor can exercise the Force Majeure clause and Emera is out of luck, that's why the Nova Scotia Premier has been frantically calling our Premier to make sure Muskrat Falls is still a go.

5. The argument about the need for power is just a three way circus. For starters, the new Maritime link could import power into the province if we needed it. There are also many wind options that could cover many anticipated shortages. There are policy changes that could be made to preserve the power here - too many to mention. The argument that a dam in Labrador is needed to do this is frankly intellectually lazy at best. On top of all that, consider that the province has the quickest aging population in all of North America. There aren't going to be as many around in the near future. Our population will be shrinking. So what kind of power consumption will we really need in 10-20 or more years down the road?

6. The argument we aren't weaning ourselves off fossil fuel for power is almost laughable. Ok, it is laughable. The amount of oil used to power Holyrood in a year amounts to four days of production from the oil platforms off our coast. In other words, you foolish hypocrites, you can't beat your chest for becoming 98% green when you're harvesting every bit of black grease you can get off the ocean floor, and will until there isn't one drop left. In any case, wind, solar and tidal are options that would ease our conscience about exporting oil everywhere else in the world.

Be aware of the big lies that the government and Nalcor have been putting out there, and which are essentially being repeated in the media without question. Beware of the big lie.

Newfoundland and Labrador's Class Revolution

It's been weeks now since the provincial government here laid down its budget. A budget designed to touch the lives of every man, woman and child in the province. A budget that severely hurts the poor and working class, but spares the middle class, and up from equal severity. Whether it be the taxes on insurance, or the hated levy, the less fortunate and working class are being nailed to the cross in a way they can't compensate for. Their way of life is at stake. Not so much for the middle and upper classes here. It's a hit for them as well, but ever so slight in comparison.

The targeting of the civil service here, which makes up about 25% of the working people in the province, has also cast a distinct class flavour to the mix. Closure of 60% of the province's libraries - all in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Closure of Courts - also in the rural. The message is clear: if you are an upper income earner in St. John's and the Avalon you'll be fine, but otherwise you will suffer the economically suicidal policies of former Premier Williams and his class of upper class types. They caused the pain, but aren't willing to pay the piper. That's the job of the "great unwashed" apparently - us.

That is where the class comes into the revolution. I get that sounds a bit Marxist - it isn't meant to be. It's just a fact on the ground here. Big business leaders in the province, and especially their lawyer buddies, are taking care of their own. The people that directly benefitted from the oil boom are making sure they're not the ones who pay now that it's collapsed. That isn't going over well. Several large demonstrations now have pointed, even indirectly, at this underlying conflict. Sure unions have been involved, but so have social justice groups and plain old taxpayers. The theme: this is becoming class warfare.

A warfare that can best be described as a revolution in the making. A revolution of thinking. A revolution of perception. There is a real sense of "revolt" in the literal sense of the word. An anger that permeates from a deep sense of betrayal. A betrayal of the working class and poor by the upper class. A squandering of wealth that had not been had to squander before, and may never again. A deep betrayal of the futures of the working people now, and their children yet to come. The immensity of the conduct of the PCs is just starting to sink in, but the anger is already quite evident every where you turn. There is not an acceptance of the inevitable. There is instead an absolute resolve to change things up - hence the revolt.

Now people have to witness a new government, this time Liberal, looking after the interests of the law firms and big business here. It is as if there was no change in government. Instead, the perception is of a tag team of wrestlers - one taking over from the other to pummel the people. That isn't surprising t those of us that study the debauchery known as politics here. The new Premier is a businessman. He is good friends with Brian Tobin who set up his Toronto political dinner  at $10,000.00 a plate. Tobin is also good friends with Williams. We all know Williams. So there you go. Fat cats looking after fat cats. Law firms making sure it's all "scrupulously" taken care of. Newfoundland and Labrador politics in the nut shell. Also, now, the target of a new class revolution forming against them by average Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Get ready to rumble.

Is Stan the Man?

Ed is out and Stan is in. The bell rings. The King is dead, long live the King. No one ever learns here. There was the blind faith placed in Danny Williams. "If Danny says it's so it must be so". Years of it. Now the province languishes on the door steps of insolvency. The caucus all rallies around Dunderdale as Leader and Premier. No one must challenge. We are on the same path. Push forward, and ask no questions thy nay-sayers. Vote Liberal! Dwight Ball will lead us to a stronger tomorrow. Look at his team. Look at its IQ. These are wondrous business people. Dwight and his team will sort it all out. It's a landslide. No point in opposing. We need an opposition - just not in my district. On and on it goes.

Now it's Stan Marshall's turn. Time to be the saviour and absolve us of our sins Stan. We can see you are so concerned about your fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians being buried in the Muskrat Falls mess, and the overwhelming financial crisis that you sacrificed a short period of your retirement for a mere $650K a year. It doesn't matter that you are one of the wealthiest people in the province, we'll gladly bend at the waste to pay you the same as the last guy. We know your intentions are as pure as the driven snow - right?

Now you see, there's a problem here. Good old Stan is the largest shareholder in Fortis. He may be retired, but he has a significant interest in seeing his old corporation, that he created, is taken care of. Looking across the pond he can see his old arch rival Emera challenging his beloved Fortis in the vast US electric market. On the other hand, he can see that the Nova Scotia Liberals are deregulating Nova Scotia's market - allowing his other arch foe into the fray - Hydro Quebec. How to stop Emera?  How about deregulating their cash pot market Nova Scotia, and then stripping them of all that free power they're meant to get from this province - after Emera's full in on the link of course. Wouldn't it be ironic if Emera took a bite too much and became a takeover target, for, let's say, Fortis?

Bottom line, there isn't one bone in my body that thinks Stan suddenly burst upon the scene at the pathetic begging of our illustrious Premier. There isn't one bit of me that believes Stan is not in a conflict of interest - a very obvious one. Hence the Premier of Nova Scotia's phone call to our Dwight.

But hey, let's not leave the new Board of Directors at Nalcor out of the fun. John Green, our new Chairman, was also Fortis's corporate go to guy lawyer up until at least 4 weeks ago. Yep, good old John supervised the last two major US takeovers Fortis completed. Kind of gives you the creeps thinking the Fortis take over lawyer is now the Chairman of the Board at Nalcor doesn't it? Sounds like a Fortis takeover of Nalcor almost - doesn't it? I'm sure Stan and John are as pure as the driven snow, and the fact they could destroy one of  their main competitors in the US market never crossed their minds - surely not.

As one who opposes the Muskrat Falls project I hope it is put on immediate ice, but does that mean I'll give Stan and John a free pass from scrutiny? Not likely. Liberal governments have a habit of jumping into bed with Hydro Quebec. Just look at who will enter the Nova Scotia market that Emera had a monopoly on. The big question is will the Liberal government here try and ink a deal with Hydro-Quebec that sorts out the Lower Churchill? Is it perhaps a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Fortis takes out Emera and takes it over, Hydro-Quebec get's Labrador, and Newfoundland get's to shake its collective head and ask "what the hell happened". We'll have to keep a very close watch on our new saviour Stan. I don't believe in lilly white saviours anymore.

Racism in Newfoundland

Racism is always a tough topic to talk about, because it speaks to the ugly base emotions of the human condition. It is tribalism. It is virulent, and it is widespread here. Of course, Newfoundland is not alone in that department, but it takes a particularly nasty bent here - especially when money is involved. A fairly recent example was the case of Randy Simms, mayor of Mount Pearl and previously a radio show host on the provinces number one radio show. While having a debate with an Innu chief, over caribou herds, Simms referred to Innu people and aboriginals in general as "you people" and that they were "stupid". If you can stomach a tirade. that ought to turn your stomach, I've included two of the rants here . That was the most recent and publicly available example here in the province - until now.

Last week the Nunatsiavut government, representing the Inuit people of Labrador, presented a study conducted by Harvard University, which very specifically stated the Muskrat Falls hydro project would result, among other things, in a 400% increase in methylmercury in Lake Melville. Lake Melville is a massive lake at the bottom of the Churchill River where the Nunatsiavut people hunt, fish, and drink. It's been a critical part of their lives for thousands of years. The report states that under the high (worst case) scenario that once the Muskrat Falls reservoir is filled, with only partial clearing, that up to 66% of Rigolet residents would exceed the USEPA guidelines for safe mercury levels. Currently there are 20% of Rigolet residents that exceed the USEPA standards. Furthermore, the study found that among people living off hunting and fishing may see a rise in methylmercury levels of 1500%. These are some of the points from the study. I've included it here.

Under normal circumstances Newfoundlanders would be lightening quick to denounce the poisoning of woman and children. There would be outrage. There would be screaming and condemnation in the House of Assembly - if for no other reason than to score political points. Case in point the fracking fiasco at Corner Brook. Community outrage at having fracking drilling conducted near their watershed caused the development to be stopped in its tracks. An example of the outrage is a quote from a local opponent:

"When the health of the community is at stake, when mothers have to give their children water near fracked wells, there should be a scientific consensus that the practise is safe... Why would you experiment with the health and safety of our children and not your own?

Great words and sentiment, but one problem - the government never reacted when the Inuit said the same thing after the monumental Harvard study. In fact, the public never reacted either. In fact, not one word or one question was raised in the House of Assembly about the study be the world's foremost expert on the effects of methylmercury from Harvard. There were a few short stories in the media that covered the Nunatsiavut press conference. Then nothing, except the three daily radio shows whose hosts tried to enlighten people on the issue.  However, the three open line shows were almost devoid of any talk from people calling in about the poisoning of the Inuit. By the way, the Innu would also be poisoned in a similar if not worse fashion as they live closer to the dam site.

I was shocked, ashamed, and embarrassed at the members of our House of Assembly. Ordinarily, such a report would provoke a furor. The only reasonable explanation is they just don't care enough to even bring the matter up. Why don't they care? Because it's just a few "natives" up in Labrador. Racism. Pure and simple. there is no other explanation. Even the NDP, in their third party status, couldn't muster up a single question. No outrage. No questions. As if it never even happened. There is currently a petition on line requesting Labradorians separate from the province. Is it any wonder? The Inuit, Innu, and Nunatukavut (Metis) peoples form a good portion of Labrador's population, and an even greater share of its landmass. Yet this is how they are treated by the white folks down in the pearly gates of the House of assembly in St. John's. Is it any wonder they may want to leave so they can protect themselves from the townies? Newfoundlanders would be no different, and the Newfoundland government would scream bloody blue murder if the federal government did the same to them, and have. Racism is ugly. Racism justified by nationalistic dam projects is even uglier. It's evil, and it's unforgiveable.

EPILOGUE - Randy Simms, the man who made the racist tirade, ran for the Liberal Party here in 2015, lost, and word is he's been hired by the Liberal Party as a policy strategist...

Where we're at

There is no question that Newfoundland and Labrador is in the "hurt locker". A self-inflicted hurt locker. During the period of 2004-2014 oil gave the province a sense of invincibility - fueled by the nationalist oratory of then Premier Danny Williams. He had massive, overwhelming public support. The kind of support I often refer to as the pied piper of Newfoundland leading the children into the sea. Over the last five years I have done my best through the open waves and the courts to stop the damage his agenda was going to inflict, but to no avail - a personal failure on my part. The people here simply, and blindly followed him into the sea. Now they are underwater. The betrayal will last as long as this place lasts.

But where does that leave us now? Now that the oil-fueled potential has been frittered away ($25 billion in 10 years), and the normal revenue brought in by taxation, etc has been similarly blown ( about $60 billion in 10 years), the window for making Newfoundland and Labrador a place we can all live in with ease has gone. That leaves us with the aftermath. Those of us that remain. People like David Cochrane of the CBC, who regularly trounced those of us that tried to stop the government from  building the suicidal Muskrat Falls project, will probably leave. Cochrane was gone off to Ottawa's CBC office before the ink dried on the Liberals devastating budget. Expect to see a lot more of that.

Here is where we are at today. The government is borrowing another $3 billion this year - for normal operations and capital projects ($1.3 billion of it going to Muskrat Falls). In addition, they are looking at borrowing similar amounts for at least the next five years. If that transpires as planned, Newfoundland and Labrador will have a gross debt of $33 billion by the end of 2021. Now, that's not the end of it, because that doesn't include Nalcor's debt. Nalcor right now owes just north of $10 billion. That puts the gross debt at $43 billion. That's not the end of it either. Our population was already on the downswing as the fastest aging demographic in North America. That means a lot less people to pay for this new massive debt.

That's not the end of it either though. Within the next three months the Quebec Superior Court is about to hand down a decision on who has the right to operate the Upper Churchill and how much power Nalcor is entitled to take from it. We are going to lose on both counts. Not because it's a Quebec court as all the nationalistic types will proclaim. No, the language of the Power Contract is very clear - very clear. This is simply another Williams/Nalcor bid at the high stakes gambling department with our money, and, as I've said in Court and on public media, we will lose. What happens when we lose? Our Water Management Agreement, which is basically a hostile takeover of the Upper Churchill, will be null and void. It will be unlawful to "bank" power. Without that provision, and the provision to force the Upper Churchill to run at full capacity, Muskrat Falls can only operate at 20% firm capacity. That means in order to break even power bills in this province will have to triple at  a minimum.

Think that's far fetched? Well it isn't. The math has already been done. That math by the way used the original cost figures for Muskrat Falls, and as we know those figures have grown from $5 billion to now over $9 billion including construction interest on the debt.

The point is that we are now on the edge of insolvency - bankruptcy. The same people who called us nay-sayers and alarmists, even dangerous zealots, will say this statement is similarly untrue. However, they were wrong then and they would be wrong now. At some point in time people must look past the spin and recognize the people who have been right all along. Not with parades, but with their ears and minds. Realize that a combined debt of $43 billion renders a population of 500,000 (or less) bankrupt. In default. That is the truth. You won't hear it come from the lips of the lying politicians in Confederation building, but do the math for yourself. Read the annual budget estimates. Understand the debt we have accumulated already and the debt the government intends to accumulate. Understand that failing to stop Muskrat Falls, with serious damage already caused by it, is a death sentence to the province. That is the fact and the truth.

The Liberals are already spinning in the press that we would default on the federal loan guarantee if we stopped the project. So be it. At this point defaulting on the federal loan guarantee is preferable to provincial bankruptcy. That being said, how many of you believe a Liberal government in Ottawa, who owns all seven seats in Newfoundland and Labrador, and which contains a Newfoundlander as Trudeau's right hand woman (Judy Foote) would place this province into a position of default? With a Liberal provincial government? It is do or die time Newfoundland and Labrador. We either stop the bleeding with emergency surgery or we die on the operating table. It is that simple and clear cut. Recovering from our current debt is almost impossible for a population this small to sustain. Recovering from the combined debt of Muskrat Falls and government operations over the next 5 years is impossible - period. Don't be fooled by what the politicians say about it. Don't be led by any more pied pipers. Do the math. Stand up. Be counted. Don't be a sheep to the slaughter. Fight. Be a fighting Newfoundlander and Labradorian.

Who is to blame?

Whose to blame for the state Newfoundland and Labrador is in? Former premier Danny Williams? No question he carries a lot of the blame. He has to. He had an iron grip on his government, and from what I can see over the years he had to - rarely has an entire caucus been so devoid of judgement and intellect that a first minister had to keep that much control over their every move. So sure, Danny Williams carries the blame for spending the vast majority of the $23 billion in oil wealth and the $50 billion of normal governmental revenue without paying out our debt or at a minimum saving a fair portion of it for a "rainy day". Irresponsible in the extreme.

But, and it's a big but, over zealous governments are often reigned in within a free and democratic society by a vigilant media and an engaged public. The truth of the matter is that the media in Newfoundland and Labrador is so utterly unprofessional that Williams and company simply did as they wished with almost no accountability. Whether it be the expropriation of Abitibi assets, which was so obviously a grab for the hydro assets of that company, or the far more catastrophic Lower Churchill project, Williams spun the move and the media lapped it up with little or no investigative reporting.

The media,  especially reporters like James MacLeod of the Telegram and David Cochrane of the CBC (now promoted out of Newfoundland) constantly berated and marginalized critics of the Muskrat Falls project for years - primarily on social media, but also in printed media. Whether it was me, Con O'Brien, Sue Kelland Dyer, Danny Dumeresque, or others the treatment was the same - "wack job". Those opposed to the spending and the Muskrat Falls project were officially classified by the government as "known critics", "nay-sayers", "merchants of gloom and doom". The media did nothing to counter that, and in fact perpetuated it, and still do.

So consumed are they by their own egos and their "place in the place" that they can't admit that they were the ones who were wrong. That they failed to properly investigate the facts surrounding the project. No, they loudly proclaimed that the "experts" knew what they were talking about and the "known critics" were but a joke - appropriate for mocking.

In a free and democratic society an informed and professional media is a necessity as it informs the public who may otherwise be too busy surviving to study and analyze topics of significant complexity - like over finances and the Muskrat Falls project. That's the same all over the world. Yet, for some bizarre reason, the media in Newfoundland and Labrador are essentially organs of the political backroom here. It's easy to see. Every election the media dutifully publish poll after poll on which party is ahead in the polls. They curtail any serious examination of the parties platforms, etc. They become like a newsmaker instead of being a news reporter. They don't investigate, but simply regurgitate what lines are fed to them by the "winning side". In other words, they lose their independence and become players in the game to stroke their own egos and sense of importance. By doing so, people like Williams simply played them like fiddles. Over and over and over.

Then came the day of reckoning. No mention in the media that the people fighting the spending and Muskrat Falls were right all along. Some, like Russell Wangersky wrote a column giving a passing mention to those who opposed what was happening, but no names. There is a reason for not personally acknowledging the critics who were right. The reason goes back to ego. The media were wrong to marginalize and personally discredit critics in the very first place. Now that everything the critics stated would happen is happening the media frankly look like the ones without credibility. They can't have that, so they leave the critics buried in the spot they left them in.

And, that's why the blame for the province's state today lies squarely with the media. They could have investigated the facts thoroughly when they had a chance to influence public opinion properly, but didn't. They acted as the PR agency for people like Willliams, glorifying him at every turn, even after he left office. They dog piled on the Liberals in the election of 2011, and then did the almost exact same thing to the PCs in 2015. They helped create the massive swings in governing parties that cause bad legislation and almost no opposition. Now the media will say: "don't blame the media", but the reality is that only serves to shield them from just criticism. Very convenient at times, especially times like today.

The truth is the media is to blame for where we are at today. They failed to hold a control freak premier to account. They failed to do research of any kind. They supplanted their opinions rather than the facts in the minds of the public. The public must be able to trust that the media is reporting the facts to them - after all, gossip is something we do at the corner store. We have to trust the media is independent and truthful, and informed. We rely on it. All democracies do. The media in Newfoundland and Labrador failed to hold a tyrannical government to account when it was needed, which gave the people the impression that all was well and the critics were loonies, and that's exactly the way the public responded. Now they have to pay the price of an egotistic and unprofessional press. For that, the press win the award for "who is to blame". Wear it well and learn.

Fire Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr

I'll be the first to admit it - I liked Erin O'Toole, the Veterans Minister under the Conservatives. He came in like a breath of fresh air into a dump. Before he arrived Veterans Affairs was a nightmare to deal with. He didn't have time to clean up all the trash, but he certainly made as big a dent as he could. There was no question who he was minister of. He was a retired air force officer looking after veterans - his troops if you will. He was minister full-time, all the time,  sincerely, and unapologetically so. I miss Erin O'Toole.

Trudeau gave us Kent Hehr. Why I wondered when I quickly noted the guy had zero military experience. Trudeau did have several veterans in his cabinet he could have chosen, but no, he gave us a Calgary lawyer. It seems that Hehr's real qualification may come from the fact that he's disabled (in a wheel chair) and the thinking was he would understand what veteran's are going through. Bit of a misnomer there though. For starters, not all vets are disabled in any way. In fact, the vast majority are not. So, unless they're now lawyers, he has nothing in common with them. Those of us that are disabled due to our service could theoretically relate to a minister in a wheel chair and visa versa. That's only in theory though.

As time has marched on since Hehr became minister I've grown more and more disillusioned by his performance. In the very beginning he seemed to be quite interested in veterans, but now he refuses to converse with them on social media. Instead, he goes to the odd dinner here or there with the Royal order of this, that or the other thing and shakes hands. Mostly, though, he likes to take selfies with himself and just about everyone - other than veterans. I follow him on Twitter, and he followed me back. We exchanged a few private messages. I gave him some ideas on how to better help injured veterans. He thought the ideas were good and promised to have his staff contact me to follow up. That was nearly five months ago. Never heard from his staff, and he no longer answers on social media. He's entered the Ottawa bubble. As I follow him on Twitter, I'm amazed at just how much he tweets about that has nothing to do with veterans affairs. In fact, if you didn't know better, you wouldn't know he was minister at all.

I became so agitated by his lack of a veteran presence I decided to count his Twitter broadcasts (Tweets). Not so shockingly I discovered of the 772 tweets he's made since January 1, 2016, only 159 have been military related in some way - that's a measly 21% of his social media activity. Most of his public presence is apparently consumed with meeting movers and shakers, and doing absolutely nothing for veterans. Here's an example of a recent tweet - many are similar in nature:

FYI, this one is from the Junos.

Apart what I'm going through as an injured veteran, another incident recently highlighted my concern with Hehr. Robin Brentnall, former airbourne soldier and severely disabled veteran has just been forced to undertake a hunger strike in Gander, Newfoundland. Why? Well, Veterans Affairs Canada refuses to qualify him for a $70,000 payout that he's qualified for under the new critical injury program. In fact, Robin has even had a stroke. He is severely disabled, although he does keep his fighting spirit. But here it is, the man is on a hunger strike because Veterans' Affairs are up to their old tricks - delay, deny, die. Minister Hehr was notified of the situation and his office sent a standard reply letter saying there was nothing the Minister could do as the Appeal Board had made their decision. That's simply a lie. In fact, the Minister has the power to make any award at his discretion according to the Act. When Hehr's office found out that Robin was going on a hunger strike they sent him a letter requesting he not do it as it could make his health worse... like they care. More like, "don't do it, we don't want the bad publicity - especially if you die". Disgusting.

Here's Robin with a chest full

In my opinion, Kent Hehr doesn't have the right to shine Robin's boots. He's a hand shaking, baby kissing, elbow rubbing, selfie taking,  do-nothing politician - who happens to also be disabled. He didn't keep his promise to veterans over their life-time disability pensions, nobody knows when the Liberal's budget promises will come into effect - least of all the veterans. Just really, really disappointing. It seems like the new minister is really nothing more than a Fantino without the arrogance. He certainly is no Erin O'Toole, and he most definitely should at least come to the aid of fellows like Robin Brentnall - wounded warriors that amde a real difference.

BRIC this.

BRIC, the Brazil, South Africa, Russia, India, China economic alliance is under assault - major assault. Not in the military sense per se, but rather the clandestine, less in-your-face type way. It seems that the US is not at peace with BRIC's idea of a multi-polar world and is making it known.

Argentina is a case in point. Although not in the BRIC name, Argentina was an important part of BRIC's South American equation. In May, 2015 Russia consummated that relationship with a vast set of agreements that included funding for hydro dam and nuclear projects, oil and gas exploration agreements, and a memorandum of defence cooperation (read supply of advanced military weaponry). Argentina was even granted status as a food supplier for Russia. Then, in Nov, 2015, Mauricio Macri, leader of the "Let's change" Party, won the presidency against Christina Fernandez de Kirchner's (the one who signed the Russian deal) hand selected replacement.

Brazil is a second case in point. Brazil is a founding member of the BRIC alliance - hence the "B" in BRIC. In July, 2014 Russian President Putin and Brazilian President Rouseff signed strategic agreements in energy development, gas, health care, science and technology and defence cooperation (read arms sales to Brazil). In 2015 Rouseff initiated free trade talks with the BRIC countries to solidify their alliance. In July, 2015 Eduardo Cunha, House Speaker was implicated in a bribe scheme and immediately turned on Rouseff and her Worker's Party by calling for her impeachment. The scandal threatens to engulf Rouseff, who was re-elected in 2014 as President of Brazil.

South Africa is another case in point. South Africa is not in the name BRIC, but it is an important foot hold for the Russians and Chinese in Africa. In 2014 South African President Jacob Zuma signed an agreement with Russia to supply his country with a number of nuclear reactors. Officially that nuclear development is up for tenders now, but unofficially the close relationship with Russia seals the deal. Furthermore, the two have signed agreements in general trade and strategic military and defence cooperation agreements. In 2014, the Opposition in South Africa accused Zuma of using millions of dollars to upgrade his rural home with a swimming pool and theater among other things. Just 15 hours ago he apologized to the nation saying he did not believe the upgrades constituted a fraud and that he would repay the money. So far he is surviving, and is commonly known as a great "escape artist".

Now, in the latest move, a death threat letter to Chinese President Xi was posted on a Chinese language website in the US that is read by many Chinese. It found its way onto many domestic Chinese websites before the authorities took it down altogether. The letter states he should resign:
"Out of concern for the party's endeavors, out of concern for the future of the country and its people, and out of concern for the personal safety of you and your family." There is currently an investigation under way in China with 20 people detained - including at least one journalist. The letter refers to its writers as "we" and amounts to a challenge to the leadership of China.

All in all there seems to be a trend for BRIC countries from 2014 to present. There are only so many coincidences in politics, and even less so in the game of international intrigue. Adding up the events of the last two years it is clear that Russia and china are spear heading a Eurasia with global reach, and whose intended goal is to challenge not just American economic dominance, but also that of its currency and military. The creation of a bipolar world of the West and Eurasia is not something the US wants and considers it a threat to its "national interests". It appears the intended weapon to fight the battle, at this time, is covert political operations - not dissimilar to the events that led to the Ukrainian revolution. The larger, and as yet unanswered question, is how will Eurasia respond? Will India get cold feet and back away from its growing and cozy relationship with China and Russia? More importantly, will China use its vast and fatal economic arsenal to retaliate? Will Russia use its growing and strong military forces to respond - as in Syria? Perhaps all of the above? The old saying is don't awaken the Chinese dragon. Perhaps the same can be said about the Russian bear. In any case, watch to see how these so-called unrelated events in the countries of the BRIC play themselves out, and what if any reaction toward the West will transpire for its "BRIC this" stance.

o sign cooperation agreements in the areas of defense, education, energy cooperation, gas, healthcare, science and technology.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: 
 "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-and-Russia-Sign-Trade-Agreements--20140717-0206.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

o sign cooperation agreements in the areas of defense, education, energy cooperation, gas, healthcare, science and technology.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: 
 "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-and-Russia-Sign-Trade-Agreements--20140717-0206.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english