Former premier didn't agree with delaying Muskrat Falls — despite recommendation from bureaucrats

A former Newfoundland and Labrador premier — who also served as finance minister — told the Muskrat Falls public inquiry he did see a note from mid-level bureaucrats calling for the megaproject to be delayed, but he disagreed with that viewpoint.

Tom Marshall, who was the finance minister when the project was sanctioned in December 2012, also served as premier for less than a year, from January to September 2014.

He said there was pressure to provide the public with reliable power.

"This all started with us being told there was a need for power. And if we didn't get the power by a certain date, then there were going to be outages," Marshall said Tuesday.

"So to wait two years to allow a further assessment of alternatives, if we didn't do something, and we had the outages, then people would be saying, 'You knew we were going to have outages, why didn't you do something about it?'"

On Monday, the inquiry heard that a January 2012 "information note" prepared by three officials raised serious concerns about Muskrat Falls, stating government was "abdicating its responsibility" to the people by limiting the scope of a review by the Public Utilities Board (PUB).

The trio also recommended that sanction of Muskrat Falls be delayed one or two years to "allow a full assessment of alternatives and a complete analysis of the potential burden to taxpayers if development of Muskrat Falls has substantial cost overruns."

Terry Paddon, deputy minister of finance from 2004 to mid-2012, said he never became aware of that note until he was interviewed by inquiry co-counsel Barry Learmonth this past summer.

Least-cost option

Marshall said that at the time the project was sanctioned, he thought it was the least-cost option.

"I thought it was a great project ... and they were going to get it done on time," he testified.

Marshall said he was satisfied that there wasn't a need for the independent financial analysis since the review was going to the Public Utilities Board (PUB).

The PUB filed an inconclusive report, saying it didn't have enough time and information to conclude that Muskrat Falls was the least-cost option for the province's future electricity needs.

Marshall admitted it was a mistake to deny the PUB the extension it asked for to review the Muskrat Falls proposal.

"It would have been better to grant the extension but that wasn't the decision of government," he testified.

The inquiry continues Tuesday. 

With files from Mark Quinn and Terry Roberts

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