In anticipation of the desperate ghosting of the Novaporte project during this municipal election campaign, I contacted Mayor Cecil Clarke and asked him for a written response on the current status of his transformative vision for a container terminal on Sydney Harbour.
Editor’s Note: First in a three-part series.
I also asked if he would be making a public statement to update voters on Novaporte - his Hail-Mary pitch for re-election in 2016. Nope. Not a chance.
The mayor’s automated response on Aug. 21, 2020 assured me that the “Mayor’s Office” would review my message and take appropriate action as soon as possible. To date, that appropriate action has amounted to a flat refusal to answer my questions – an answer in itself (and a common trait in career politicians).
Contrast Clarke’s reticence with the prompt response I received from Marlene Usher, Port of Sydney CEO, confirming what most of us already know: “Novaporte cannot proceed without rail. Rail has been an impediment to the start of this project due to concerns of shipping lines who depend on rail service.”
Here’s the rub: When Devco and Sysco were laid to rest in 2001, the Sydney-to-St. Peters Junction Line almost instantly went off the rails. That fact begs the question: Was Novaporte ever anything more than a slick election prop?
CHAOS THEORY
Humour me and ponder this question if you will: What does a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world, and creating a hurricane in another part of the world, have to do with the hot air and whimsical winds that were incessantly blowing a gale around city hall and the Novaporte Project?
In the literal sense – nothing.
However, if you believe that a small and seemingly unrelated event can lead to something much bigger over time, then you’re on the right track to establishing your own opinion about the fact-based future of the Fantasy Island-styled project called Novaporte.
Time for some fact-checking.
DIVESTED INTO OBSCURITY
Between 1994 and 2000, I had the privilege of representing my coal miner buddies as president of their union in eastern Canada. One important part of my job was digging into the politics of coal and shining a public spotlight on dubious decisions made in the halls of power. Some say I was relentless in that pursuit.
That spotlight eventually illuminated a fact-based argument that the 1980s Progressive Conservative-era privatization policies targeting Crown Corporations (Devco was on the “never gonna’ happen, wishful thinking” list) so infatuated the 1990s era Liberal cabinet that, with a vengeance, they “divested” (code for sabotaged) our vital coal industry into a political black hole.
One example makes the point: In a cabinet decision dated Dec. 19, 1995 (2-0266-95RD), the Minister of Natural Resources was asked to return to cabinet with a privatization plan, and other options, to dump Devco. (The end of the 1996 calendar year was the probable dumping date). One of those other options was shut down – immediate or orderly. Many will recall that the drive-by shutdown was anything but orderly. The casualty list is notoriously long.
The evidence proves that those types of non-consultative political and policy decisions played a major role in the loss of cargo on the Sydney-to-St. Peter’s Junction line. No cargo means no traffic. No traffic means abandoned lines. Simple as that.
Of course, this is just my opinion on the impact of unilateral public policy decisions over time. Not much good unless you have some facts to back it up. Fortunately, the facts on rail versus asphalt are indelibly inked on the public record. Time to get railroaded – all aboard.
Stephen J.W. Drake is a lawyer who was born and raised in New Waterford.
FRIDAY: Stephen Drake’s three-part series will continue with ‘The Death of Rail Service.’
