By the end of the week, the provincial Conservatives will have the leadership race they deliberately avoided the last time out. That’s the one that ended with the Coleman fiasco. It will be different in at least two ways: first, there will actually be a race, in the sense that
Continue readingAuthor: Ed Hollett
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Commemoration Day, 2014 #nlpoli
Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow! You let your soul go down upon its knees And with bowed head, and heart abased strive hard To grasp the future gain in the sore loss! For not one foot of this dank sod but drank Its surfeit of the blood of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Paying everyone but ourselves #nlpoli
Nalcor boss Ed Martin told everyone in the province last week that his pet project has increased in price by almost another billion dollars. It’s now more than $8.0 billion, when the 2010 price was $5.0 billion. That wasn’t news. Martin and the provincial government knew that last December, as
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Falls costs break $8.0 billion #nlpoli
$6.99 billion is the new cost estimate for the Muskrat Falls dam and the link to the island. With that much money and with such a record of inaccurate forecasts, giving a cost estimate to two decimal places could only be a terribly cynical attempt at humour by the highly
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The ATIPPA Review Round-Up #nlpoli
Tuesday’s video is available at parcnl.ca. Your humble e-scribbler is Number 2 on June 25. At the front end of the Number 1 video is Vaughn Hammond of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. he made some really solid comments about a problem some of his members have been running
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: parcnl.ca #nlpoli
If you want your SRBP fix this Wednesday morning check out the Privacy and Access Review Committee hearings at 11:00 AM. They are streaming it live at parcnl.ca. -srbp-
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Summer Political Reading List #nlpoli
If you are looking for some political reading over the summer, here are a few books worth checking out. Tragedy in the Commons by Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan. Here’s the whole Random House blurb: In Tragedy in the Commons, Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan, founders of the non-partisan think
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Grassroots #nlpoli
You’ll likely hear a lot of talk from Conservatives over the next few weeks about their “grassroots.” Trevor Taylor, for one mentioned them twice last week when talking about the aftermath of the Coleman fiasco. The Conservatives need a contest that will “mobilize” the grassroots, according to Taylor. They need
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Welcome Back, Cochrane #nlpoli
If you are needing a political fix this weekend you can get two of the better variety online. David Cochrane is back from an extended absence and to celebrate, he’s clacked out a synopsis of recent going’s on in the Conservative leadership fiasco. He’s got all the details of stuff
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Nothing was further from the truth #nlpoli
A decade ago, the offshore regulatory board reduced its estimate of the recoverable reserves in the Terra Nova field from 405 million barrels to 354 million barrels. Danny Williams was trying to squeeze additional transfer payments out of the federal government in the guise of getting provincial oil royalties that
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Taking nothing out #nlpoli
Sometimes a comment is so profoundly revealing you just can’t let it slide by. This one came from Milly Brown, the Premier’s communications director, in an exchange with Simon Lono on Twitter on Wednesday. And just so everyone knows up front, this is not from Milly’s personal account, if she
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Wednesday Quickies #nlpoli
As your humble e-scribbler spent time on Tuesday finishing off a presentation to the ATIPPA inquiry next week (11 AM, 25 June), here are a couple of quickies you might find interesting: In light of the chatter about polls in the Ontario election, here’s yet another commentary on the general
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Premier Mulligan #nlpoli
The news on Monday was not Frank Coleman’s announcement. The news was in the reaction of provincial Conservatives to word that Coleman wouldn’t be Premier after all. They skipped past the obligatory expressions of concern over Coleman’s unspecified family problem and quickly went on to talk up the chances the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Understanding election polls #nlpoli
If you want to get a decent discussion of the Ontario election results and the way polling research tracked the campaign, take a look at a piece from The Star on Sunday. The piece talks about different ways of conducting a poll – Internet panel, live calls or automated calls
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Criticism #nlpoli
Take a gander at this letter to the editor of Overcast by someone using the name Samuel Wilkes. It’s about a problem in the arts community with criticism. We’re shit at giving it, we’re shit at getting it, respecting it, promoting it. Criticism in Newfoundland is bad. (Read more…)
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Sometimes a cigar … #nlpoli
“Fundamentally, the [Conservative Party leadership] process works,” former Conservative cabinet minister Shawn Skinner said on CBC’s On Point last weekend. “It’s been proven in the past. The party would have been better served if there’d been more candidates, but it is what it is.” It’s a variation on what Skinner
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Pollyanna Peek-a-Boo And Economic Unboom #nlpoli
Premier Peek-a-Boo took time out of his long, slow wander to the Premier’s Office this week to do an interview with the Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser. Check it out. Frank Coleman thinks everything is fantastic in Newfoundland and Labrador. (Read more…)
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: “Out-sourcing” social programs and policy #nlpoli
The incredible story from Ireland about the remains of 800 babies and children found in a discarded septic tank caused your humble e-scribbler to think a bit about local history. Then this post at the Monkey Cage put it in a bigger perspective. (Read more…)
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Air Canada to London: back again #nlpoli
How times change. Last week, industry minister Susan Sullivan attended an announcement by Air Canada that they would be bringing back year-round direct flights between St. John’s and London. Starting in the fall, Air Canada will offer three direct flights a week to London. Next summer, they’ll offer daily service.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A farewell to Tom Marshall #nlpoli
Tom Marshall spent his last few hours ever as a member of the House of Assembly on Thursday, as the spring session drew to a close. Tom’s already handed in his notice and will be out of the Premier’s Office and politics around this time next month. Marshall is decent
Continue reading