“Muskrat Falls has been the No. 1 issue facing Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, now for well over a decade,” he said. The deal, he joked, “will finally get the muskrat off our back.”
True enough, though it will do so by landing it squarely on the backs of federal taxpayers, who are already burdened by the Trudeau Liberals’ unprecedented spending and borrowing spree. Having pushed the federal debt to unparalleled levels, Ottawa is now adding responsibility for provincial borrowing binges to its list of liabilities.
Even with more help for Muskrat Falls — Ottawa agreed to provide $5.2 billion towards costs now calculated at $13.1 billion — Newfoundland’s books remain in alarming shape, with debt servicing costs swallowing more cash than anything outside of health care. A poll in January found that more than half the province’s residents expect it to go bankrupt within a few years.
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