In the House of Commons, members can put questions to cabinet ministers several ways. One of them is called Questions on the Order Paper. Ask a sensible question. Get a sensible answer. This is a truly amazing idea given that the House of Assembly got rid of the notion 20
Continue readingAuthor: Ed Hollett
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: No Market Research Required #nlpoli
In the House of Commons, members can put questions to cabinet ministers several ways. One of them is called Questions on the Order Paper. Ask a sensible question. Get a sensible answer. This is a truly amazing idea given that the House of Assembly got rid of the notion 20
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Populism: the lesson from Venezuela #nlpoli
Born and raised in Venezuela, Andreas Miguel Rondon is an economist who now lives in Madrid. He wrote for The Washington Post last week on the lesson Americans should learn from the Venezuelan experience with Hugo Chavez. Trump may be a capitalist and Chavez may have been a socialist but
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: What is it about Quebec and mass killings? #nlpoli
Compared to the United States, there haven’t been a lot of mass killings in Canada. Period. Full stop. Canadais predominantly white and Christian and researchers tell us that across the world, men are usually the perpetrators of mass killings. That’s why what CBC’s Neil Macdonald calls an inconvenient truth is really a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Local news media in the post-factual world #nlpoli
Chris O’Neill-Yates is a veteran CBC journalist. Like most people in her line of work, Chris is on Twitter plugging both her own work and commenting on events in the world around her. Not surprisingly, Chris has been fascinated – appalled might be a better word for it – by
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Duff in the hole encore #nlpoli
Oh dear. The CBC has gone off to the mainland to get Duff Conacher to make a comment about the need for political finance reform in Newfoundland and Labrador. Three observations: 1. There is a desperate need for campaign finance reform in Newfoundland and Labrador. SRBP has been writing about
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Mean Tweets #nlpoli
In the United States, a late-night television program created a regular feature that has celebrities read the comments made about them on Twitter. The comments are – to borrow the words of Constable Joe Smyth – “rude, inappropriate, [and] hateful”. He was speaking about comments aimed at politicians but his
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Feehan, electricity prices, and the bigger problem. #nlpoli
Jim Feehan’s proposal to change the way we price electricity in the province got some media attention -over the past 24 hours. Feehan believes that we should set the base price of electricity in this province on the best export price rather than the current proposal to have electricity from
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Faroese fishermen skirting Canadian port ban via St. Pierre #nlpoli
Fishing boats from the Faroe Islands are getting around a ban on shipping through Canadian ports by unloading their catch in St. Pierre first. franceinfo reported on January 20 that a total of five trawlers would unload their catch in St. Pierre by January 25. The fish – mostly cod
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Kevin, Donald, and Danny #nlpoli
A Forum poll released on Monday showed 27% of those surveyed thought celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary would make the best leader of the federal Conservative party with Maxime Bernier a distant second at 11% and Lisa Raitt coming in at a mere seven percent. Among self-identified Conservatives, O’Leary’s support climbs to 31%,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ratings trump truth: Justified edition #nlpoli
Someone in Gander Bay has been catching and selling quantities of smelt. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans received complaints, conducted in investigation, and laid charges against an adult who they caught in the act of selling fish to a fellow who turned out to be an undercover fisheries officer.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Sovereignty #nlpoli
Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the very few countries on the planet that got itself into such a financial mess that it gave up self-government. The people gave up their right and power to govern themselves. That is, they gave up their sovereignty. They took it back in 1949,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Another premier… same health care facility #nlpoli
A gaggle of provincial politicians representing districts along the west coast of Newfoundland turned up in Corner Brook on Friday for another one of the set-piece media events that government’s uncommunications bureaucracy loves if only for their mind-numbing sameness. The headline on the news release is simple: “Premier announces New
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ratings trump truth #nlpoli
Sometimes the universe delivers you the magical set of circumstances you just can’t ignore. Danny Williams turned up at the St. John’s Board of Trade luncheon on Thursday to deliver a speech the day before Donald Trump’s inauguration as president. As much as people might like to forget, this was
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: New French anti-terror measure impacts Newfoundland #nlpoli
A group of 35 young people traveling from St. Pierre to Corner Brook at the end of the month are going to be affected by a new French anti-crime and anti-terrorism measure, according to francoinfo. The students will each need special parental authority in addition to any other travel documents.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Actions and Words (2016) #nlpoli
The provincial cabinet has known since January – at least – that the powerhouse at Muskrat Falls is only 15% completed despite a huge payout to the contractor.That’s what Nalcor reported to the committee of provincial bureaucrats named by the Conservatives to get a report from Nalcor every now and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A bail out, a bail out … #nlpoli
Conversation about the province’s financial state in the past couple of weeks have turned to talk of bailouts and threats to the province’s sovereignty. A Carlton University economist told CBC in early January that the provincial government would need a bailout to keep the province from collapsing under the weight of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Narrative War (2015) #nlpoli
The day after a massive Liberal victory in the general election, CBC’s David Cochrane posted an analysis piece on the new administration. CBC distributed it nationally. Cochrane described Dwight Ball as a man “unlikely” to be Premier: Four campaigns. Two losses. Two wins. By a combined 75 votes. Cochrane’s account leaves out
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The last man on the moon
Gene Cernan died on Monday. He was many things in his life but Cernan will be best known as the last man who set foot on the moon during the Apollo missions. Cernan’s official website contains all you will need to know about the man who went to the moon
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cognitive Dissonance (2014) #nlpoli
People like things in life to fit together. When things don’t fit together, people get upset. They get fidgety. They try to make things fit together. It’s an idea regular readers know from other posts. Take this bit from a post from 2012 as a good example of how some
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