Since 2003, the legislature has become more about political theatre than the public interest. This past sitting of the House proves how much that is so. Public discussion of policy issues in Newfoundland and Labrador takes place inside an echo chamber. It tends to stay inside arbitrary, artificial boundaries. Participants ride
Continue readingAuthor: Edward Hollett
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Chaulk and Cheese #nlpoli
If the members of the House of Assembly vote to accept the reports fromtwo statutory officers as presented they will have to accept that Chris Mitchelmore committed an act that does not rise to any reasonable definition of gross mismanagement. If they accept that he has committed such an act,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Setting minimum wage #nlpoli
The minimum wage should be tied to the economy, predictable, transparent, and removed from political interference. One way of setting minimum wage that meets those criteria would be to take half the average hourly rate for non-unionised employees for the previous fiscal year and increase it by the annual provincial
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A mouthful of burp #nlpoli
Not one mitigation scheme. Not two mitigation schemes. Three mitigation schemes. Delivered by the end of January. All wonderful grand and all believable if you have had the sense knocked out of you by the endless string of promises Dwight Ball has made about mitigating the impact of Muskrat Falls
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Rookies, the House, and the Orchestra Pit #nlpoli
What is reported is seldom what happened even though what happened is far more interesting than the stuff that falls into the orchestra pit. Events in the House of Assembly are the result of decisions by members of all three parties. Any analysis that ignores the simple realities of the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The importance of what we care about #nlpoli
When we do not talk about the most vulnerable people in our society – sex workers and people in homeless shelters to name just two groups – we tell the world that our community does not care about them. Last week’s spectacle in the House of Assembly showed the world that
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The New Welfare Bums #nlpoli #cdnpoli #ableg
Lunacy is always easier to spot in other people. There is a Liberal conspiracy to rob Alberta of its precious fluids. People in Newfoundland and Labrador got a taste of lunacy a few weeks ago when Albertans – including people originally from Newfoundland and Labrador – blasted them for returning
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Roger Grimes: the unlikely reactionary #nlpoli
What is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador is not merely polarization in public opinion. Polarization implies that people are within the same community or see themselves as being within the same community. What we are seeing increasingly is the tendency to fragmentation. People do not listen to differing opinions,. They do
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Politicians shirk their duty… again #nlpoli
If the Auditor General starts the investigation of wetlands capping as requested by the Public Accounts Committee, then she will be acting illegally. The Auditor General has no authority to conduct a review requested by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly under any provincial statute, regulation, or
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Difference between Then and Now #nlpoli
A few months ago, SRBP wrote a two-part piece that described the change in the way politicians, bureaucrats, and the public looked at management and control of offshore oil and gas resources. It’s worth looking at this again in light of a couple of recent developments. In broadest terms, the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Regional Parties from another Region #nlpoli
The 2019 federal election in Newfoundland and Labrador is the tale of one of the most uncompetitive elections in recent memory. The advance poll numbers make the point. Newfoundland and Labrador Number of Electors Electors Percent Avalon 7,024 86494 08 Bonavista–Burin–Trinity 3,185 74116 04 Coast of Bays–Central–Notre Dame 4,317 77680
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: No change in the weather? No change in we. #nlpoli
The problem we have is not a lack of options and opportunities to sort out the government finances ourselves. The problem facing Newfoundland and Labrador is that the leading people of the province, not just the politicians but all the leading people, don’t have the stomach for making the kinds
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Disconnects and Infection #nlpoli
The handful of people who pay close attention to politics in Newfoundland and Labrador are probably scratching the barely-healed-over scabs on their head in the latest round of bewilderment. Tory leader Ches Crosbie announced last week he had named a philosophy professor at Memorial University to head up a task
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Perceptions of Racism in Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
VOCM’s Question of the Day is not a reliable gauge of public opinion. But the three times that VOCM asked about race in the province over the past five years, the answers stand out in light of events in the province in the same period. Here are the polls and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Dippers go home #nlpoli
The latest quarterly poll from Narrative Research shows that a gaggle of folks who were likely New Democratic Party supporters returned to the fold in the past quarter and are now happy to identify as New Democrats once more. So while this is good news for Alison Coffin and the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: More to the Trimper Affair #nlpoli
The most important implications of the Trimper Affair escaped notice. _____________________________________ In the midst of all the public commentary about the Trimper affair last week – strikingly racist as it was in some respects – even the people ostensibly supporting the Innu missed the most obvious and most meaningful aspects
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Finding a family doctor #nlpoli
Holyrood is the latest place in Newfoundland and Labrador to go through what is, in many parts of the province, a regular event. One of two family doctors in the community is leaving practice and so people are left without a family for a period of time. According to Corporate
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Political Doldrums #nlpoli
Last week, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians got a few reminders of the magnitude of the political problem they face in addition to the financial and economic problems already lurking. The most obvious was word that one of the longest-serving members of Dwight Ball’s inner circle has decided to leave for the private
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Balancing the Economy #nlpoli
Both Delia Warren and Dwight Ball believe that we need to diversify the provincial economy and reduce our dependence on oil. They both believe that our future should lie with more renewable energy. Delia thinks there is room for things like wind farms. Dwight, an original and enthusiastic Muskrateer, thinks
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Captain Dildo, Dwight Ball, and the New Approach to Old Stereotypes #nlpoli
Last week, the Premier’s Office sent out a picture of the Premier standing next to the mascot of a town in Newfoundland and Labrador. Nothing odd about it until you realise the mascot is called Captain Dildo and the Premier named Ball is standing to the left of the figure,
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