Justice Richard LeBlanc’s Muskrat Falls report released today outlines a trail of missteps and misleading actions.
The report will go to the police and the Minister of Justice for their perusal from a perspective of criminality. Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady says they are not alleging criminal activity—they just want police and Justice to go over the findings as recommended by the civil servants who reviewed the report for commercial sensitivity
Ball says they haven’t been perfect by any means, and is now giving more history on the project and the inquiry.
Says it’s been costing the province about $18-million per month. @VOCMNEWS #nlpoli pic.twitter.com/DyeKFfkN5e
— Ben Murphy (@VOCMBen) March 10, 2020
The LeBlanc Commission says by the time that the Liberal Government came to power, the Muskrat Falls project was beyond the point of no return. That point arrived at the Federal Loan Guarantee (FLG) close.
LeBlanc concludes that former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin and VP Gilbert Bennett concealed information that would have undermined the business case for Muskrat.
He also found that government members put an unjustified amount of blind trust in Nalcor.
One of the key recommendations is that there be greater independent analysis in place for projects over $50-million.
Meanwhile, PC Leader Ches Crosbie is trying to distance his current caucus from his party’s predecessors who gave Muskrat Falls the green light.
Ches Crosbie says they have to digest the findings of the report and its recommendations and get to work implementing them and not repeating the mistakes of the past.
Crosbie claims that the relationship anyone in his caucus has with the project is “tenuous in the extreme.” He says their association with the project, except for the name PC, is very remote. Crosbie says he had nothing to do with it.
He wouldn’t say much more about the report, but says he will hold a media availability on Wednesday after they have had a chance to actually digest what is in the documents. However, he says there is no arguing with what Commissioner Justice Richard Leblanc says.
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Alison Coffin says she looks forward to police looking at the report further, although it was more than she expected.
She hopes that if charges need to be laid, the authorities will do the right thing and lay the proper charges.
When she spoke with media, Coffin said she had a chance to read some six paragraphs, and they were disturbing. She says there are findings that everyone should be very upset about—such as a lack of oversight, responsibility and withholding information. She says the report solidifies what’s been expected all along.
View the report in six volumes as linked below:
- Volume 1 — Executive Summary, Key Findings and Recommendations
- Volume 2 — Pre-Sanction Events
- Volume 3 — Post-Sanction Events
- Volume 4 — Looking Forward
- Volume 5 — Appendices
- Volume 6 — Exhibit Listing
