A sweeping report with recommendations to rebuild the struggling economy of Newfoundland and Labrador has suggested the elimination of Nalcor, the province’s energy corporation and the entity that oversees the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.

Moya Greene, chair of the premier’s economic recovery team, has delivered a plan – named The Big Reset – that proposes a wide range of reforms from tax increases and deep spending cuts to the development of a green economy that would be built, at least partially, on oil and gas revenues.

The main focus of the recommendations, released on May 6, is the need for fundamental change in the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“What happens when we can no longer borrow? What if interest rates rise? What if we have to quickly and chaotically shut down services? What is the future like under these circumstances?”

Greene posed these questions while describing the contents of her report to the media.

Among the energy recommendations is the abolishment of Nalcor which is described as too expensive and too big.

“The organization’s size and complexity does not reflect the small size of this province,” she said.

Greene called for the creation of a fund with some 50 per cent of oil and gas revenues and carbon tax revenues being funnelled into it. She said the fund should be used exclusively to transition to a green economy and pay down debt.

“The province must build a greener, technologically advanced economy,” the report states. There are frequent references throughout its hundreds of pages to how and why the world is shifting. The phrase “green economy” occurs dozens of times over the course of the report’s 338 pages.

While the Greene report envisions an economy in which Newfoundland and Labrador functions without having to depend on oil, it doesn’t foresee that happening anytime soon.

One of its recommendations is to “ensure competitive oil and gas regulation,” which calls on the government to “streamline regulatory processes” to speed up development and “adjust regulatory approaches.”

It says the government should direct the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board so that “development of the offshore area is a priority function.”

Nevertheless, the report is firm about not just accepting a green economy as the goal, but embracing it.

The full report is available online.