The people of The Barbados, however, apparently hold no animus toward foreign felons:
Dean Del Mastro and his cousin David are establishing a $26-million solar technology manufacturing plant and solar farm in Barbados, according to a report Thursday in the online newspaper Barbados Today.Out of either politeness or ignorance, the online newspaper, Barbados Today, made no reference to Del Maestro's criminal conviction. You can read their story here by going to page 2 and 3 of the publication.
The Del Mastros' company is called the Deltro Group, and Barbados Today states that David Del Mastro is the president and Dean is company director.
The article states that Deltro Group is expected to represent “stiff competition” for Barbados Light and Power Company.
“We are not just excited for ourselves,” Dean Del Mastro told Barbados Today. “We are excited for Barbados because we believe it has potential to really transform the economy in Barbados.”
The plant is expected to hire more than 160 people by next June, the article states.
Dean Del Mastro is Peterborough's former MP. He is currently free on bail after he was sentenced to a month in jail for electoral fraud.
He spent one night in jail in June, and then was released on bail pending an appeal. The appeal is going to court Jan. 4 and 5 in Newmarket. He was convicted of having overspent on his electoral campaign in 2008.
David Del Mastro is the owner of Deltro Electric in Missisauga. He'll be on trial in February over allegations of wrongful contributions to his cousin's 2008 campaign.
He allegedly had 22 of his employees and their friends each contribute $1,000 to his cousin's campaign, and then reimbursed them with cheques from Deltro Electric for $1,050.
But Barbados Today doesn't mention any of that. It is reporting that the Del Mastros' solar plant will be operating by March or April, 2016.
It's expected to include a solar farm that will produce electricity for sale at rates less expensive than Barbados Light & Power Compan
David Del Mastro told the newspaper that Barbados was chosen as a location to establish the plant because the government there was “dedicated to incentivize us to come here.”
But, but, but what about the invisible hand of the market?
ReplyDelete"the government there was “dedicated to incentivize us to come here.”"
Like his other principles, Northern, this one appears to be mutable to Dean.
DeleteNova Scotia Power spawned EMERA, its owner, which has gone on to own utilities in Maine, Florida and the Caribbean, including Barbados Light and Power.
ReplyDeleteThere is already a solar project underway based on an RFP from BLP (soon to be renamed Emera EC), and seems to be being supplied by a Spanish company, Grupco.
All this Deltro stuff sounds a bit like a con game to me. Solarbarbados is already established by Act of Legislature, and rules for interconnection to the existing grid are already in force.
At the same time, Emera is also building a brand new dual fuel gas/oil thermal station, since existing generating plant is ancient and inefficient.
How Deltro is going to sell solar power direct to customers without power lines and no clue how to run an electric utility in the first place will be a sight to behold, if in fact anything ever happens.
I read the two papers there and of course, everyone hates the power company, as usual. Solar and wind seems like the way forward to stabilize prices, but to have an ex-automobile dealer type and convicted twit suddenly pop up as saviours of Barbados seems a bit thick. I see that readers have cottoned on to who Del Maestro is, so that's a start before they all get fleeced.
Thanks for your input here, Anon. I was not aware of any of this, and it certainly provides the basis for further research.
DeleteDean Del Mastro was on bail after spending one night in jail in Canada when he flew to Barbados and signed to sweetheart deal with this Government. This shows that they didn't check on his credentials. No Government should be signing contracts with any felon!
ReplyDeleteAfter the story appeared in Barbados Today, Anthony, I sent a message off to the reporter who wrote the story. He responded by saying he was aware of the conviction, but chose not to write about it because he didn't deem it relevant. I invite you to draw your own conclusions about that 'judgement call.'
DeleteFROM THE TIME THIS GOV'MENT CAME TO POWER, THEY HANDS NEVER, NEVER CAME ABOVE BOARD, ALWAYS UNDER DE COUNTER FIGITINGS, SHAKING, MOVERS, THEY ARE AH NASTY BUNCH OG UNDESIREABLES
ReplyDeleteEVERTHING ABOUT THIS GOVMENT IS BAD, BAD, NEVER SEEN THEY HANDS OVER THE COUNTER FOR THE 8 YEARS IN POWER, ALWAYS UNDER DE COUNTER FIGITING, SHAKING,BAGGING ETC ETC
ReplyDeleteWhat you describe here seems to afflict many, many governments, recoanthony.
Delete