Port aux Basques mayor says 'tunnel going nowhere' meant incomplete highway, not Labrador

John Spencer says when he criticized the idea of a fixed link between Newfoundland and mainland Canada he was referring to an incomplete highway, not to Labrador as a whole.

John Spencer says he was referring to Route 138 on Quebec's North Shore

Jacob Barker · CBC News · Posted: Jan 16, 2020 3:20 PM EST | Last Updated: January 16, 2020

Port Aux Basques Mayor John Spencer says when he called a proposed fixed link a 'tunnel to nowhere' he was referring to Quebec's incomplete Highway 138, not to Labrador. (Town of Port aux Basques website)

Port Aux Basques Mayor John Spencer says when he criticized the idea of a fixed link between Newfoundland and mainland Canada as a "tunnel going nowhere," he was referring to an incomplete highway, not to Labrador as a whole.

"Why are we going to spend all this money to develop a costly venture of a tunnel going nowhere?" Spencer told CBC News on Tuesday, who says he's concerned a fixed link when decimate the economy of his port town on Newfoundland's west coast.

The proposed fixed link, which was listed in the federal Liberal's election platform, carries an estimated $1.65 billion price tag and comes with many hurdles both political and geographical.

But some who took exception to Spencer's comments focused not on his opposition to the project but on his use of the word "nowhere," accusing him of being dismissive of Labrador and the population that lives there.

Newfoundland and Nowhere? <a href="https://t.co/BjBtucPkY3">pic.twitter.com/BjBtucPkY3</a>
—@LabradorWatch

This is just another public example of the growing animosity towards Labrador. It’s always been there, but Newfoundlanders have been feeling extra bold lately and are no longer trying to hide their contempt for us. <br><br>“Tunnel going nowhere”. <a href="https://t.co/UqGElmj7DV">https://t.co/UqGElmj7DV</a>
—@amybeatrice

"I might as well rename myself as the member from Western nowhere if we keep up with this attitude," Labrador West MHA Jordan Brown said.

Brown said such comments about Labrador have persisted for decades especially, when it comes to proposed infrastructure projects.

"[These comments] paint Labrador and Labradorians as nowhere," Brown said.

Labrador West NDP MHA Jordan Brown asks whether he should change his title to the member from Western Nowhere. (CBC)

"So when you go to the court of public opinion, when there is a project like that in Labrador, it always gets that opinion of, 'Why are we doing this in nowhere?'"

Clarification

But Spencer says that isn't what he meant.

Asked to clarify the comment, he said he was referring to an article he'd read on iPolitics.ca — with the headline "Trudeau's Costly Tunnel to Nowhere" — that noted Highway 138, which runs along Quebec's North Shore, is incomplete.

"It's an article that refers to the fact that Route 138 is not even started. It's started but it's 400 kilometres of vacant land upon the North Shore of Quebec," Spencer said.

"There was never any attempt to figuratively refer to the Big Land as nowhere."

Spencer says his criticism was of the economics of the proposed project and in no way was directed at the communities on the other side of the water.

The proposed fixed link would take vehicles across the Strait of Belle Isle. The most feasible option would be through an underground tunnel with vehicles loaded onto a rail system. (Hatch pre-feasibility study)

"Please don't think that I don't want to see improvements in the infrastructure of Labrador. I want to see improvements in the infrastructure right across this nation," he said.

The completion of Route 138 would connect several isolated communities in Quebec to a road and has been called, buy N.L. Transportation Minister a "nation-building initiative" that would bring with it a more predictable trade corridor.