Penashue was trying to shut down the low-level flying training flights out of CFB Goose Bay, which enraged the non-native townspeople who depended on the base for their employment.
Like his mother, long-time activist Elizabeth Penashue, he believed passionately that the military had no right to be overflying Innu land, threatening the caribou herds that had always been at the heart of Innu life.
The Innu of Labrador, second class citizens of the neglected hinterland of Canada’s poorest province, were among the poorest people in Canada. They had never signed a treaty, and were living in very rough conditions.
Some of the elders were born in tents in the country, and you could see the hardness of the old life etched in the lines of their faces.
Penashue fought for his people by leading protests on the runways, bringing women and children and reporters onto the tarmac to try to stop the jet fighters from taking off or landing, which the military complained was risking lives.
I got to know Penashue fairly well, and liked and admired him for his conviction and intelligence, although I wondered if he and his people wouldn’t be better off if they stopped fighting and started negotiating.
He must have thought the same thing, because in 2008 he signed a deal — over the objections of his mother — to settle outstanding claims and develop a hydro dam on the Lower Churchill, which will mean $400 million worth of work for Innu companies.
Penashue had moved from the runway to the boardroom, and in 2011 he ran for the Tories, winning a surprise upset over poor Todd Russell, who missed out on qualifying for one of those sweet MP pensions by a few weeks.
Penashue was the lone Conservative elected from Newfoundland and Labrador, and became the province’s representative in cabinet, and that was the last anyone heard from him.
His first chief of staff was Sandra Buckler, the prime minister’s former director of communications, an iron-glove-wearing expert in training potted plants to do as they are told.
Penashue’s portfolio — intergovernmental affairs — is a joke, since Stephen Harper is his own intergovernmental affairs minister. A previous minister — Michael Chong — resigned after Harper announced his plan to recognize Quebec as a nation without having consulted with him.
So Penashue kept his mouth shut, cashed his paycheques, showed up in the House, and did what he could for his long-neglected riding.
It was embarrassing to see the obvious signs of overcoaching, and it seemed sad that a man of his ability was being micromanaged by the prime minister’s flunkies, but Ottawa signed loan guarantees for the Lower Churchill development, the trans-Labrador highway was finally paved and Penashue could take pride in getting things done for the Land God Gave to Cain.
Everything went sideways, though, when Elections Canada went through the paperwork from the election. It took a while to sort out, because the campaign manager made such a mess of it, but in the end Penashue had to return $47,660 in illegal donations, including corporate money from firms that stand to profit from their connection to him and the Lower Churchill deal.
And Penashue’s campaign accepted $18,710 worth of free flights, which meant he got to fly into tiny little coastal out ports to shake hands and make promises.
He shouldn’t have won, so he had to resign, and now everybody is waiting for Elections Canada to release the compliance agreement in which he acknowledges that his campaign broke the law. (We had better see it before the vote.)
Resigning is the honourable thing to do, although it would have been more honourable to not break the law in the first place.
Still, I can’t get worked up about it, partly because of the way things work in Labrador. I’d be surprised if Todd Russell has never taken a free flight during a campaign. And if Penashue knew what was happening on his campaign, he wasn’t focusing on his job, which is winning votes, not booking flights.
But the law’s the law, and Penashue got his just deserts and must now run again. He’s already started, booking an ad boasting about all the goodies he has “delivered” for Labrador, the kind of message that works in a riding that rightly feels neglected.
It looks like he will face former provincial Liberal leader Yvonne Jones, a real scrapper. Justin Trudeau will surely go up to lend a hand.
The NDP will want to do well, to show that Justin’s coattails aren’t so long, but until Penashue won, the riding had voted Liberal in every election since Newfoundland joined Canada, so he faces long odds.
It would be a bit sad to see Penashue’s federal career end so suddenly, but it’s not like we ever got to know him up here.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Stephen Maher
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