Ontario Premier Doug Ford pleaded with Ontarians to get tested for COVID-19 on Sunday, even if they were not showing any symptoms. He repeated the call on Monday after a weekend gathering saw thousands pack a Toronto Park and the number of new COVID infections climbed for the eighth straight
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: In front of your nose #nlpoli
Orwell, c. 1940Colourised by Cassowary Colurization A truly free and democratic society must be based on fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals may enjoy and that are restricted rarely and only to the extent necessary to protect other rights. In Canada, 38 years after the proclamation of the Charter of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Authoritarian Impulse #nlpoli
Special Measures Enforcement Jim Dinn used to be a teacher. As head of the provincial teachers’ union, he spearheaded a drive against the public’s right to know how politicians spent public money. And now he is a member of the provincial legislature. “Let’s talk about rights,” said Jim Dinn on
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Terra Nova field production halted for up to two years #nlpoli
No one should be surprised that the partners in the Terra Nova field are planning to lay up the production platform and will likely stop production from the field until 2022. There are five perspectives we can bring to bear on this one event. FPSO: The pandemic knocked the planned
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ferkakte #nlpoli
In the past 36 days, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has reported no new cases of CVD-19 on 21 of them. Three weeks worth of zero. More than a month in which the reproduction rate for the virus is well below the level in which the disease would be
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Bow Wow Parliament creates a Kangaroo Court #nlpoli
The Bow Wow Parliament The first casualty of the current pandemic in Newfoundland and Labrador was democracy and on Tuesday, the pandemic added to its draconian toll. A handful of members of the House met with the permission of a government official and passed without much discussion a measure that
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The trouble with bubbles #nlpoli
Another type of Bubbles Stay in your bubble. A cute, clever little phrase that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have been hearing for weeks. We all assume it means something like protect yourself as you go about your daily life. Or stay at home unless you have to go out. And if
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Troubling travel ban may be illegal, unconstitutional #nlpoli
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador guards atCOVID-19 Border Check Point(not exactly as illustrated) No other province in Canada has banned travel into the province by non-residents in the way Newfoundland and Labrador has done during the current public health emergency. Under Special Order No. 11, issued on 29 April 2020,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Bursting bureaucratic bullshit bubbles #nlpoli
The daily average for new CVD cases has been declining since late March. In one of the provinces hardest hit by COVID-19, Ontarians got a roadmapon Monday on how the provincial government will loosen restrictions on their daily lives. One of the indicators used to make the judgment will be
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The three CVD19 pressures the NL government will face #nlpoli
Last week, SRBP raised the likelihood that declining numbers of active cases of CVD19 in Newfoundland and Labrador will put pressure on the provincial government to ease the current restrictions on daily life and the economy. Officially, government officials like the Premier and health minister blew off the idea of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Trends #nlpoli
How do you keep in place the very necessary and successful restrictions on public life needed to combat the spread of CVD19 when the success of those measures reduces the local daily number of active cases either to zero or to a handful and hence the threat appears to have
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Doctor Aggie’s H’Answer #nlpoli
“What do I have to do to get you to listen?” health minister John Haggie asked rhetorically and with considerable exasperation at Monday’s daily COVID-19 briefing. Haggie was ranting once again about people across the province who he claims are flouting the restrictions on public comingling during the current health
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Number of active COVID cases in NL declines dramatically #nlpoli
Newfoundland and Labrador is already emerging from the first wave of the COVID-19 infection. The data from the provincial government’s daily COVID-19 media briefings is clear. Starting on April 6, the number of new cases detected was less than the number of recovered cases. As the week progressed, the number
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Financial Fustications #nlpoli
If we had Equalization, we’d have a budget surplus. On Friday, 20 Mar 20, Premier Dwight Ball wrote to the Prime minister to say that the financial arse was out of Newfoundland and Labrador. Ball included in the letter not a shred of financial evidence nor did he include any
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Bollocks #nlpoli
Kill the wabbit? Moody’s has changed its outlook on the provincial government’s debt from stable to negative while sustaining the A1 rating it gave the province in July 2019. That, by the way, was a downgrade. In a statement issued Wednesday, Moody’s said the change in outlook reflects the company’s
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: All around in circles #nlpoli
Going around in circles must be frustrating. Plummeting crude prices have dropped refining margins to negative numbers and so it isn’t surprising that Come by Chance refinery announced Sunday it is shutting down operations for upwards of five months. The official excuse is the pandemic but the real reason is
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Facing the financial wall, again #nlpoli
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro makes money by making and selling electricity. In 2018, the last year for which we have statistics, Hydro made about 40 gigawatt hours of electricity and sold it for slightly less than a billion dollars. Most of the electricity went to Quebec and most of the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Bank of Canada to help GNL make payroll #nlpoli
Bank of Canada234 Wellington St, Ottawa The Bank of Canada announced today that it will purchase up to 40% of money market securities with terms to maturity of 12 months or less that are issued directly by Canadian provinces. The Bank of Canada will make the first purchases on Wednesday,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The doctor is out… of the province #nlpoli
Health minister John Haggie announced on Friday that doctors in the province could now start seeing patients remotely either by telephone or using video conferencing. Kinda bizarre, though, given that some doctors in the province have already been doing this. In any event, using technology to see patients remotely is
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Experience Counts – COVID Economic Balls-Up Edition #nlpoli
On Friday Premier Dwight Ball took a question from reporters about the Liberal leadership that is still underway. In a moment of egotistical boasting, Ball said it “takes experience to get through this crisis that we’re dealing with. Someone said to me this morning it takes experience to do that job,
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