Wednesday March 12, 2025
Financial Post —
Thomas Kierans was stopped by a reporter in St. John’s, Nfld., on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Regarded around town as somewhat of a local treasure, he was dressed in a tan winter coat, a colourful knit scarf and a newsboy-style cap, and he was asked about some of his equally colourful and yet never realized ideas for mega-scale infrastructure projects.
For example, there was the Rock Arena, which the one-time engineering professor conceived of being built inside St. John’s iconic and rocky Southside Hills, as well as the fixed-link tunnel he imagined would connect Newfoundland to Labrador. Arguably, his most ambitious idea was conceived in the 1950s and was inspired by the Dutch method of dykes.
The Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal called for damming off James Bay and allowing the fresh water from seasonal runoff and the surrounding rivers to transform a saltwater body into a huge freshwater source.