Danny Williams resigns as Newfoundland's Premier.

[algernon]

Go0d riddance you spoiled prick.

I was completely disgusted with his "ABC" antics in the Federal election. Like a needy kid who got rich, and forgot all the things he whined about when he was poor.

<insert defending Danny Williams comments>
\/

[WilsonFourTwo]

He represented his province with vigor and (aggressive) consistency. Although I think he's a real d-bag, I wish more politicians represented their constituents (and not the party) with such zeal. In my opinion, he's one of the better politicians of his era, as sad as that it.

Sorry to see him go......but barely.

[YYC in LAX]

Danny who?

[MarchHare]

How exactly was Danny Williams any different than, say, Ralph Klein when Chretien/Martin were in power? Other than the fact that he attacked the party you support, of course.

I don't agree with much of his politics, but I can't deny that he represented the people of NF with passion and vigour. If a politician can answer "yes" to the question, "is my jurisdiction in better shape now than it was when I was first elected", I think it's fair to say he or she was successful. Clearly Williams has met that mark for Newfoundland and Labrador.

[mykalberta]

I disliked him but I dont live in Newfoundland so my opinion doesnt matter.

It seemed like Newfies liked him so thats all that really matters. I do like how while we are separated by many km's - its nice to see that the dislike of Quebec knows no boundries.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Williams wasn't a push over and didn't let Newfoundland get pushed around. Something that's been happening since their time in Confederation.

Sometimes I think you need to be a prick in order to stand up for your rights, and the rights of your people. That's something Williams did. He didn't care what Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec thought of him, he was in charge of helping the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Something he, without question, did.

Albertans may not like him, may not like his ABC campaign, but he wanted to be able to have the offshore oil proceeds going to Newfoundland. Can you imagine if the federal government said "hey Alberta I understand you have oil, but since it's under land it's ours, tough". You don't think the Alberta premier would blow a gasket?

Imagine walking in and having BC say "the proceeds from Syncrude Mine come to us because of an agreement signed 50 years ago and will last for another 50". So when it comes time for development of the Suncor Mine you don't think the premier is going to hold out and screw BC in any way possible? Basically I'm making an analogy to Churchill Falls (so the parallel isn't exact but you get my point).

Newfoundland needed a premier that stood up and said "we're tried of being pushed around, go fata yourself and give us our fair share". Danny Williams was that guy. Rhodes Scholar, law school graduate, millionaire businessman, he's no slouch, he knew his role and played it well.

I have a lot of respect for the man (this coming from a guy whose province ended up on the short end of the off-shore oil agreement because of a premier that said "we'll take whatever you're willing to piss out for us").

He's like the hockey player you hate to play against but love on your team. You'd love Danny Williams if he was from Alberta, heck as someone mentioned you already had him (Ralph Kline).

The tag has "scandal coming?" I think it might have more to do with his health problems.

At the end of the day any Beatles fan has to be a big Williams fan, he got McCartney to divorce that wench Heather Mills.

[metal_geek]

He was politically the same as Ralph Kline...

80%+ approval ratings no matter what he did..

I like what he did for NL. Unlike alot of politicians, who are driven by the next election or thier "future"... Danny Williams , didn't need the money and wasn't concearned what anyone in the Federal government thought of him.
He was serving the public as an elected official who said it they way it was and if you like it great if not too bad cause he was gonna change it anyway.

The whole "anyone but conservative" was so strange to people because he was a conservative who was telling people not to vote for the federal version of his party. He did it cause the federal conservatives were pushing a policy that he felt shortchanged the people of his province and did what he could to stop it ignoring partisan politics..

He did things that I didn't agree with but i know he had what was right for the province in mind.. That's all you can ask for.

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't like the man, but he did his job well, I believe his latest stunt was to tell Quebec to get bent on a hydro project.

His conflicts with Harper were not productive in any way, but I respect the man for standing up for his constiuants.

While I doubt that he would be much good at federal politics because he doesn't have the diplomacy, maybe he's eyeing Iggy's seat of power.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Williams wasn't a push over and didn't let Newfoundland get pushed around. Something that's been happening since their time in Confederation.

Sometimes I think you need to be a prick in order to stand up for your rights, and the rights of your people. That's something Williams did. He didn't care what Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec thought of him, he was in charge of helping the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Something he, without question, did.

Albertans may not like him, may not like his ABC campaign, but he wanted to be able to have the offshore oil proceeds going to Newfoundland. Can you imagine if the federal government said "hey Alberta I understand you have oil, but since it's under land it's ours, tough". You don't think the Alberta premier would blow a gasket?

Imagine walking in and having BC say "the proceeds from Syncrude Mine come to us because of an agreement signed 50 years ago and will last for another 50". So when it comes time for development of the Suncor Mine you don't think the premier is going to hold out and screw BC in any way possible? Basically I'm making an analogy to Churchill Falls (so the parallel isn't exact but you get my point).

Newfoundland needed a premier that stood up and said "we're tried of being pushed around, go fata yourself and give us our fair share". Danny Williams was that guy. Rhodes Scholar, law school graduate, millionaire businessman, he's no slouch, he knew his role and played it well.

I have a lot of respect for the man (this coming from a guy whose province ended up on the short end of the off-shore oil agreement because of a premier that said "we'll take whatever you're willing to piss out for us").

He's like the hockey player you hate to play against but love on your team. You'd love Danny Williams if he was from Alberta, heck as someone mentioned you already had him (Ralph Kline).

The tag has "scandal coming?" I think it might have more to do with his health problems.

At the end of the day any Beatles fan has to be a big Williams fan, he got McCartney to divorce that wench Heather Mills.

People in the rest of Canada disliked the guy because he wanted the offshore revenue plus the equalization payments. The conservatives didnt want to honor the vote buying accord the Liberals agreed to. It was crock and only perpertuated the hand out economy that plagues the east.

[zamler]

Yea the best way to get results is to tell everyone to go eff themselves. Great leadership right there.

Danny Williams is a tool with a persecution complex. And Ralph Klein was 10 times the Premiere Williams ever was, on his worst day.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by zamler

Yea the best way to get results is to tell everyone to go eff themselves. Great leadership right there.

Danny Williams is a tool with a persecution complex. And Ralph Klein was 10 times the Premiere Williams ever was, on his worst day.

So he's Canada's version of Dick Cheney



Go F yourself Harper!!!

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Albertans may not like him, may not like his ABC campaign, but he wanted to be able to have the offshore oil proceeds going to Newfoundland. Can you imagine if the federal government said "hey Alberta I understand you have oil, but since it's under land it's ours, tough". You don't think the Alberta premier would blow a gasket?

Funny thing was, he was being a prick for asking for the same deal that Alberta has.. Nothing more... That deal being alberta not including oil revenue in its transfer payments.. All Alberta said was "No Comment". Sask was NF's biggest cheerleader cause they want the same deal Alberta has but already signed their agreement. Williams tried to team up with NS who later accepted the 50% agreement cause Stephen Harper said they were gonna stop transfer payments. All the other provinces was on the federal side cause they wanted the cut of oil revenue from NF that it wasn't able to get for Alberta... Aside from SASK he was on his own in that fight for the people of NL..

Here's a couple other national corperate/political highlights..

The Nickel mine in Voisy Bay Labrador, he left the table with INCO when they said if they couldn't ship the ORE to Sudbury they weren't gonna build the mine.. He said leave it in the ground.. 3 years later they signed the agreement, and vale is now investing 3.4 billion dollars into the province and NF has a favourable royality agreement.


Churchill Falls is the worst example of financial exploitation in the county today... He has worked for the last 7 years to change that deal. It's currently in court in Quebec and we don't know how thats gonna turn out. In the mean time the last thing he wanted to do was develop the lower churchill and he signed that agreement last week(hence the retirement annoucement today). Dispite the protest by quebec and dispite them blocking off access to the power grid in Quebec. Quebec even went so far as to try to purchase NB Power so they could force NL into using thoes power grids.. The agreement now builds a new transmission line through NL and an undersea cable to NS.. worth half a billion to NS..


Just a few of the things he's done that's garnered some national attention...

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by zamler

Yea the best way to get results is to tell everyone to go eff themselves. Great leadership right there.

Danny Williams is a tool with a persecution complex. And Ralph Klein was 10 times the Premiere Williams ever was, on his worst day.

I voted for Ralph several times, and never once voted for Danny Williams. I have a good idea of the kind of premier Ralph klein was.. The difference between them nationally is Williams was driving a politcal Lada... and Klein was drving a 300 tonne earth mover....

[algernon]

Thanks for the in-depth responses.
I still am annoyed with his antics, but now have better insight.

[T@T]

Never heard of him but I remember my Dad getting hammered with Joey Smallwood more than once!

[chris_yk]

I wish that we would have someone like him in the NWT that would stand up to Ottawa, instead of the corrupt bums we've had lately.

[MJK]

The majority of Newfoundlanders are will be sad to see him go. That speaks volumes for what he did for the province.

[redforever]

He also introduced legislation to expropriate the assets of AbitibiBowater pulp and paper company.

However, he was too hasty in passing that legislation, and along with the assets of the company, he also inherited the environmental liabilities of that company as well.

He tried to sue to get out of assuming those environmental liabilities, but lost the court case, with the courts basically telling him, you legislated the assets and liabilities to your province, they are yours to keep.

So that deal certainly was not a positive contribution by Williams to NL.

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by redforever

He also introduced legislation to expropriate the assets of AbitibiBowater pulp and paper company.

However, he was too hasty in passing that legislation, and along with the assets of the company, he also inherited the environmental liabilities of that company as well.

He tried to sue to get out of assuming those environmental liabilities, but lost the court case, with the courts basically telling him, you legislated the assets and liabilities to your province, they are yours to keep.

So that deal certainly was not a positive contribution by Williams to NL.

The Supreme Court is hearing the appeal.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/1...abitibibowater

The main reason for the expropriating was to reclaim the hydroelectric and timber rights that were given to a predecessor of AbitibiBowater in exchange for building and operating an pulp mill.

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

The Supreme Court is hearing the appeal.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/1...abitibibowater

The main reason for the expropriating was to reclaim the hydroelectric and timber rights that were given to a predecessor of AbitibiBowater in exchange for building and operating an pulp mill.

Also if it went into bankrupcy protection the courts would have decided who got the timber and hydro electric rights to pretty much the entire province. It was too important to the people of NL to let a bankrupcy judge and the corrupt bankrupcy trustees work out.. The gov only had hours to expropriate that... Abitibi was seeking creditor protection and was planning on using the hydro and timber rights sell off as a key part of their overall restructuring...

It did cost the country 137 million settlement from the federal government based on the whole way provincial and federal resources work under nafta.... but in the end it'll be a net gain for the country, just take a little bit of time..