Premier Kathy Dunderdale on a tour of the IOC mine in Labrador City, September 2012. Photo courtesy of Communications Branch, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 16 | Atlantic Business Magazine | January/February 2013 BREAKING GROUNDNewfoundland and Labrador’s first woman premier green-lights Muskrat Falls, powers past Quebec By Dawn Chafe athy laughs as she describes the fun she sometimes has with people calling the premier’s office. K“Hello, Kathy speaking.” “Is that really you Kathy?” “Yes, it’s me—Kathy with a ‘K’, short for Kathleen.” “What? Really?! I never thought you’d be the one to answer the phone. Listen, while I’ve got you on the line, I’ve got to tell you that I think you’re doing a marvelous job.” “Thank you very much. But … I’m not the premier.” This personable and occasionally mischievous Kathy is not the first woman to lead the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. No, this is Kathy the receptionist, literal gatekeeper to the premier’s inner sanctum. “I don’t think I’ve met you before,” she says, by way of conversation as she waits for someone to escort me inside. “No, this is my first time interviewing the premier in her office.” “You’ll love her,” she enthuses, not realizing I’ve met the premier before. “You don’t have anything to worry about. She is such a nice person, so easy to talk to.” Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 17 side from the fog outside, however, Athere’s no lack of transparency on this early November day when a scheduled half-hour interview edges past the 70-minute mark. After a reminder about the time from her communications assistant, Dunderdale responds that she wants to keep going. “I’m interested in this.” Hard to believe I’d deliberately delayed making this appointment for over a year. Dunderdale, unofficial second in command during the Danny Williams’ regime and interim successor until her election victory in October 2011, is Newfoundland and Labrador’s first woman premier. Despite the historic precedence of the occasion, I didn’t want to jump on the profile bandwagon. Now, with 14 months of October 11, 2012: Premier Kathy Dunderdale with (l-r) Minister of Natural Resources Jerome Kennedy and Minister bona fide leadership to answer for, seemed of Finance Tom Marshall announcing that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will collect $150 million like an opportune time. to resolve a dispute concerning in-province fabrication of a third module for the Hebron Project. Photo provided by Communications Branch, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Given the frequent comparisons to her predecessor—one of, if not the most popular premier in Canadian history— and the innumerable related comments about t’s an intriguing comment about someone legislation is to arbitrary decision-making. her having “big shoes to fill,” I couldn’t whose government has been regularly In the December 1 edition of the Telegram, help but notice the premier’s footwear: I columnist Pam Frampton shared the stylish black suede ankle boots. They were, lambasted by various media for its passage of Bill 29 this past June. The controversial head-scratching example of a request for or so it seemed to me, an unspoken dare to amendment to the province’s Access to information related to the results of a mining opponents and potential successors alike: Information and Protection of Privacy workshop offered to students in Labrador. think you’ve got what it takes to walk a mile Act, passed following a four-day filibuster Frampton reported that the Liberals’ request in these shoes? marathon by the 11 Opposition members, was granted—albeit with 19 of the report’s 20 Truthfully, it’s been a long trek from was reportedly intended to strengthen the pages either partially or totally blacked out. the Town of Burin to the premier’s office Act. Like Popeye after a double dose of “What kind of high-ranking, sensitive for Kathy Dunderdale, who turned 60 concentrated greens, the Act is undoubtedly information is it the government didn’t want in February 2012—a journey that she stronger—but not in terms of public access the Liberals to see?” queried Frampton. “Well, is on the record as having said she never to information. Rather, it has exponentially students’ answers to questions such as ‘What intentionally set out to make in the first expanded the provincial government’s ability was your favorite part of the workshop?’ place. to deny access to information. ‘What did you learn about rocks and minerals Thirty-three credits into her university In a June 15, 2012 article on J-Source.ca, today?’ And ‘Anything else you’d like to tell degree, she dropped out of MUN to get Fred Vallance-Jones—a journalism professor us?’” married to Captain Peter Dunderdale in at the University of King’s College in Halifax CBC-NL journalist Rob Antle offered 1972. Though she was a stay-at-home mom and lead of the 2011 Canadian Newspaper an even more disturbing example of the during her children’s (Tom and Sarah) Association’s Freedom of Information Audit legislation’s impact. His investigative report, formative years, she was also an avid (ATIPPA)—described it as “the biggest step released November 20, revealed that perks community volunteer. backward in access in Canada in recent paid to public sector employees over and A former deputy mayor on the Burin memory.” above their base salary (such as bonuses, town council, Dunderdale’s first attempt to In summarizing the impact of Bill 29, housing, travel and RRSP contributions), get elected to the House of Assembly was in the same article noted that “ministerial along with the justification for those perks, 1993. She didn’t offer again until 2003 (her briefings will be kept secret and requests will no longer be disclosed. Only a range of husband, diagnosed with prostate cancer, for information that cabinet ministers deem possible bonuses is now revealed. died in the mid-nineties at the age of 56). to be frivolous, systemic or repetitive can be Keith Hutchings, Minister of the Office of After defeating Walter Noel in 2003, she exempted.” Public Engagement, told Antle that nothing was welcomed into the Williams’ cabinet Despite government assertions that had changed—that pre-Bill 29 information and moved her way through a number of ATIPPA strikes a balance between the right was disclosed voluntarily by the public ministerial posts with increasing levels of of the public to access information and good servant it concerned. responsibility. stewardship on the part of government, a Antle’s research, however, came to a Now that she’s finally in the top post, number of information requests which have different conclusion. “Those comments … do having won it on her own merits in the already been denied under the provisions of not stand up to a review of the text in the old 2011 general election, she is determined to Bill 29 show just how vulnerable the new law.” see her vision for the province fulfilled. 18 | Atlantic Business Magazine | January/February 2013 8 billion barrels of potential oil resources energy comes with the territory Whether it’s hydroelectricity or wind and oil and gas, Nalcor Energy thrives off the vast energy resources in Newfoundland and Labrador. We’re leading the development to build an energy warehouse – for today, and tomorrow. nalcorenergy.com boundless. remier Dunderdale says that Issues of the day Pdescriptions of her as the daughter Kathy Dunderdale, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, speaks out on… of a poor fisherman are inaccurate. Yes, her father (Norman Warren) was a fisherman and had been since he first stepped into a …health care dory at 12 years of age. And yes, times were We spend more on health care per capita in this province hard, with her father sometimes fishing for than any other jurisdiction in the country: $3 billion for half weeks and weeks at a time without catching a million people. A lot of people believe that we ought to have enough fish to cover the cost of the food he ate dialysis in every community. We can’t afford it. It might be nice on the trip, let alone support his family. Then, and it might be wonderful and maybe people shouldn’t have to as now, the fishery was a heartbreakingly travel an hour and a half for a CT scan or come to St. John’s for an cyclical industry—the difference being that, MRI. The onus is on us, as a government, to make sure those services are available back then, there were no social programs, no to the people of the province. That they have reasonable access to those services. employment insurance. That doesn’t mean that they necessarily have those services on their doorstep. In an effort to create a more stable income for themselves and their 11 children (Kathy is the middle child), Norman and his wife Alice …sharing oil and gas wealth tried their hands at a number of different A third of our revenue in this province comes from oil. businesses. One of those businesses went People say, oil’s not doing anything for me. I beg to differ. bankrupt, putting the family $4,000 in debt. You’ve got schools and hospitals and roads, teachers and “It took them two years to pay it off,” says the doctors and nurses, funding programs … the list goes on and premier proudly, “but they paid back every on. Because of oil. cent of it.” Even though it was a particularly hard time for the family financially, Dunderdale …public expectations maintains that she came from a very rich There’s a view in the province that you’re born in a family which had enough food to eat, clothes community, you should be able to live there all your life and to wear, and lots of love and encouragement.