Told you so: Williams wrong on Inco from start, ex-Liberal premier says

Roger Grimes: 'It was a good deal for Newfoundland and Labrador from start to finish, regardless of what the Opposition was trying to say.'(CBC)

A former Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal premier says Vale Inco's decision to proceed with a $2-billion processing plant for Voisey's Bay proves he was right — and Danny Williams was wrong — about the company's intentions.

"I just think it is such a great thing," Roger Grimes told CBC News, responding to news this week that the mining giant will build a hydromet processing plant at Long Harbour to refine concentrate from its nickel mine in northern Labrador.

Grimes and his Liberal government came under heavy fire from Williams — at the time the leader of the Opposition — over a 2002 development deal, which allowed Inco to ship concentrate from Labrador to other Inco facilities.

In return, Inco committed to build a processing plant in southern Newfoundland and ultimately import an equivalent amount of nickel from other sources.

Williams frequently attacked the agreement, calling it a giveaway.

This week, Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale said while the governing Progressive Conservatives still have concerns about the deal, the government is pleased with Vale Inco's decision.

Grimes said the advent of the massive plant, which will start construction next year, is proof that he was right and that Williams was wrong.

"It was a good deal for Newfoundland and Labrador from start to finish, regardless of what the Opposition was trying to say," he said.

"Mainly, Danny Williams [was] trying to suggest it was full of loopholes and so on, which has proven so far definitely not to be true," Grimes said.

Williams and the PCs defeated Grimes in an election fought just a year after the Inco deal was reached.

Grimes said the hydromet plant, which will use a water-based technology to refine nickel concentrate, secures his legacy.

"It's everything we hoped for. [As] a matter of fact, it's a template the Williams government is trying to use in their deals," Grimes said.

"For some reason, this current government doesn't like to talk about it, because they criticized us so much when they were in Opposition."

That view, though, is not entirely shared by government ministers. Dunderdale earlier this week said the government is still watchful over what it sees as ongoing problems with the 2002 Inco agreement, and that its success to date is due partly to pressure that the Tories applied in opposition.