Eye on Labrador -
He's back.
Danny Williams, armed with his new heart (and, apparently, a much better hair style), certainly didn't waste any time re-entering the public fray last week.
First there was his hilarious appearance on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where he laughed as Mark Critch did his best to cash in on the surgery-in-Florida story. It was great. By playing along, Williams showed his recent health scare certainly didn't hurt his funny bone, and it also probably helped begin mend a fence between the premier's office and the CBC, who have been having their own little battle in recent weeks.
But boy oh boy, Williams was just warming up. After starting the week off with a joke, Williams launched into one of his legendary rants, this time aimed squarely at the Quebec Innu and their reprehensible decision to slaughter 250 caribou in a closed hunting zone as a way of making a point. Apparently the Innu told the Quebec media on Monday that "This is a war that starts now."
However, Williams' response to that statement just doesn't stand up to any logical kind of scrutiny. Here are some of the best bits, as reported by the CBC: "Statements made this week by elected officials within the Quebec Innu, coupled with their recent illegal hunt of the Red Wine Caribou herd, are completely unacceptable to our government and must be exposed as rhetoric and activity with a goal of inciting violence.
"Real McKenzie, chief of the Matimekush-Lac-John Quebec Innu community, stated that 'This is a war that begins as of now.' These words, which conjure up images of violent behaviour, are completely unacceptable to me personally and to our government. Furthermore, threats to economic development activity, such as the Lower Churchill and mining projects, will not be taken lightly by our government."
"The provincial government will use any legal resources required to ensure that violent and illegal activities are addressed head-on while ensuring the protection of law enforcement officers and the safety of the public at large."
So where did he go wrong?
Williams' argument about the use of language conjuring up images of violent behaviour - and, specifically, how "unacceptable" to his government they were - was way over the top. Using Williams' logic, we can say he did exactly the same thing when he said this, in regards to the Eastern Health workers, in 2009: "It's disgraceful. They should be shot over there."
Was he trying to incite violence with his use of "violent" language? Did he really think the public believed he would like to line up the Eastern Health workers and blow them away?
Of course not - and the Quebec Innu don't really think they're going to war, either. They're mad because they think they should get a cut of the Lower Churchill action and that they should be allowed to hunt wherever they want. Of course, they're wrong on both counts, but Williams shouldn't have interpreted their words quite so literally (unless, of course, they have an army that we don't know about or are particularly skilled in guerilla warfare).
The second place where Williams went wrong was his statement about the province using "any legal resources required" to address things "head-on". Nice, tough words, but really, when you think about it, pretty hollow. What's he going to do - put another 300, 500, 1,000 law enforcement officials in Labrador to stop these kinds of things from happening? Fly in helicopter gunships? Bomb them?
Again, of course not. St. John's isn't going to commit the necessary resources to stop these kinds of illegal hunts, and even if they did, the likeliest outcome would be a bloody battle between the Innu and wildlife officers that would only serve to stoke the fires of hatred even more.
What's needed is for the Quebec government to step in and reason with their Innu people, instead of maintaining a silence that can only be interpreted as complicity. Unfortunately, until St. John's and Quebec negotiate a Lower Churchill transmission deal and the Upper Churchill court fight goes away, that's not likely to happen.
Andrew Waugh, former editor of the Labrdorian writes from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
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