Stagg Editorial-May 1994

The Newfoundland House of Assembly resumed sitting on April 18. The Bill authorizing the sale of Newfoundland Hydro to private shareholders is up for third reading. This means that once the Bill passes third reading it becomes law and the sale of Newfoundland Hydro to private shareholders can go ahead.

Actor Greg Malone of CODCO fame, among with many others, has been organizing surging grassroots protests which are presenting opposition to Premier Wells' attempt to sell off the Hydro Utility.

Malone is even putting forward the radical proposal of a march against the Toronto Stock Exchange. The purpose of this is to bring home to those in other parts of Canada the fact that Newfoundland's public resources are about to be placed in the hands of investment bankers and shareholders who operate around their principal temple of business at the T.S.E.

The sense of unrest in Newfoundland over the sell-off of public property harkens back to a similarly chaotic time during the last administration of Sir Richard Squires in 1932 when public disgust with the Squires Government led to widespread demonstrations and even a riot in downtown St. John's.

Greg Malone and others of similar dedication are leaving no doubt that grass roots democracy and the power of the ordinary citizen in this age of mass media is alive and well and quite powerful in Newfoundland. These are interesting times.

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