” [The change in the province’s financial outlook] That’s very dramatic…Some people are going to stand back and say ‘Oh yeah, that’s just because your very lucky. That’s because the oil prices have gone up.’ Well, no. That’s part of it. But we had a tough budget, a prudent budget. We’ve
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Newfoundland and Nutrition in the 1940s #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Scholarly papers seldom get the attention of the news media. When a paper combines a well-known, emotionally charged issue – aboriginal residential schools – with intimations of racism and unethical medical experiments on unwitting human subjects, it’s hard not to get noticed. Ian Mosby’s paper published in 2013 deserves attention
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: On Meaning #nlpoli
Brexit supporter and insurance magnate Arron Banks got into a tussle on Twitter late last year with Cambridge classicist Mary Beard. Banks tweeted that Rome had been done in by immigrants, with the obvious implication that western European countries should be wary of letting all sorts of people cross their
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Praying for a miracle #nlpoli
People are talking about austerity but the simple truth is the people talking that way have a vested interest in exaggerating what is going on in the provincial government. Yes, we *are* in a very dangerous financial state. But… the provincial government is doing the bare minimum to keep the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: 2016 in books #nlpoli
1. Brand Command by Alex Marland. The book that political marketing and communications academics will be quoting for a while to come. 2. Observing the outports by Jeff Webb. An accessible examination of the role the new university, its professors, and students played in the social and economic changes in
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Top 10 Posts of 2016 #nlpoli
These are the posts you read the most of all. 01. Balls digs himself deeper into hole – May 2016 and yet another twist in the tale of Ed Martin’s departure from Nalcor, Dwight Ball knew and when he knew it.02. A no-holds-barred review – Bill Rowe’s latest book, reviewed. Shoulda been
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Reality Check: gas tax and debt/deficit #nlpoli
Comment on Twitter: “If my household spends too much and goes into debt I don’t expect others too pay for my mistakes, yet govn makes us pay for theirs.” Reality Check: The provincial government is your household. It’s heavily in debt and seriously overspending. No one else is going to
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Fact-checking CBC and Food Banks #nlpoli
The headline on the CBC story just felt wrong. The kind of over-the-top exaggeration that just sounds biased. Distorted. Wrong. “Food bank need jumps in N.L., ending years-long trend.” The first sentence was the same: “After six years of near-consistent decline, food bank usage has jumped in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Tibb’s Eve Accord #nlpoli
Health minister John Haggie said that the health deal signed with Ottawa on Tibb’s Eve was the best deal that could be got. Haggie’s probably right. At least, the deal contains a clause that if another province gets a better deal, we can opt for that one instead. It’s been so
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Bullying and Bennett #nlpoli
Cathy Bennett is the finance minister. She’s one of the most powerful and influential people in the province, bar none and certainly she is among the most powerful and influential women in the province. If you just counted politicians, her role as finance minister puts her among the most influential
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Policy is people #nlpoli
Kim Keating is a member of the newly-appointed council to advise the provincial government on oil and gas issues. She’s a professional engineer, a senior official with a local company in the oil and gas business, and in the recent past she was the president of the St. John’s Board
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Canada-NL Health Deal: Warning Signs #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Late Friday evening, the provincial government announced it had signed a deal with the federal government on health funding. We don’t know what the arrangement is on the annual increase in funds but if it looks like what New Brunswick bought into, Newfoundland and Labrador won;t see anything significant. Once
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Spin, illustrated #nlpoli
Spin is a bit more than a mere biased interpretation or a clever reframing of an idea. In other words, there’s more to it than saying the glass is half full rather than describing it as half empty. Spin is deliberately deceptive. On Wednesday, the folks at Nalcor announced they
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Gender Gap – Sunshine edition #nlpoli
The House of Assembly passed a bill during the last sitting that would allow the government to publish a list every year of all the people working for government who make more than $100,000 a year. With all the fuss about the so-called Sunshine List, maybe it is worth taking
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Gender Gap, 2004-2014 #nlpoli
In 2004, the median income for men in Newfoundland and Labrador was $10,000 higher than the median income for women. By 2014, the gap in median income between men and women in Newfoundland and Labrador had grown to $16, 130. The median income for women had grown $8,810 between 2004
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