Tony Collins Bill Rowe Lana Payne Bob Wakeham Follow the pattern. -srbp-
Continue readingAuthor: Edward Hollett
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Restoring Power: destroying the monster #nlpoli
The threat from Muskrat Falls can only be removed by concerted action that addresses the project’s financial burden, restores integrity to the system of electricity regulation, and that breaks, once and for all time, the fundamentally corrupt relationship between the provincial hydro-electric corporation and the provincial government. This is the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cannabis and culture #nlpoli
Politics and policy are much more complicated things than they appear to many people. Change is possible, but effective change can only come if we see the world as it is, not as some people imagine it might be. Canada’s legal cannabis policy in most Canadian provinces is a failure. There
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Osborne whistling past financial graveyard #nlpoli
Moody’s delivered a clear and serious message to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on Wednesday night by lowering the government’s credit rating. The credit rating action came after a series of consistent warnings by Moody’s since it last lowered the government’s rating of credit-worthiness in 2016. Wednesday’s downgrade suggests
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Luncheon Speech: From Muskrat Falls to the Future #nlpoli
Your humble e-scribbler will be speaking to the St. John’s Rotary Club about getting beyond Muskrat Falls on Thursday, August 1, 2019 at the Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland. Luncheon starts at 12:30 PM with the talk at around 1:00 PM. -srbp-
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Restoring Power: The Section 92A Option #nlpoli
One of the potentially most valuable revenue sources would be a new tax on electricity production that could yield upwards of $450 million a year. The bulk of the tax would be paid by Emera and Hydro-Quebec, both of which currently profit from free or near-free electricity through two patently unfair
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Slaughterhouse Five #nlpoli
Coupled with comparable high rates of staff changes in the senior ranks of the public service, unprecedented staff turn-over in a critical part of Premier Dwight Ball’s office raise questions that need to be addressed. Premier Dwight Ball has entered the history books. He has chewed up more communications directors
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Kick in the Guts #nlpoli
Those following the Muskrat Falls inquiry last week will likely have noticed that one of the big issues not discussed during Dwight Ball’s testimony was the circumstances surrounding Ed Martin’s resignation.It bears on the inquiry since the entire episode goes to the heart of the government’s relationship to Nalcor, which
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Women in politics: women political staffers in Australia and Canada #nlpoli
Feodor Nagovsky and Matthew Kerby, “Political Staff and the Gendered Division of Political Labour in Canada,” Parliamentary Affairs, 24 August 2018. Summary: While there is considerable research on elected legislators in a variety of contexts, the academic knowledge about their advisors is very limited. This is surprising, given a considerable
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Quebec appeals court decision on Churchill Falls contract no win for Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
Media reports, political comments, and pundit opinions are wrong about the decision last week by the Quebec Court of Appeal in a case about the renewal clause of the 1969 Power Contract between Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation and Hydro-Quebec. The Court decision leaves Hydro-Quebec with virtually all of the electricity
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Critical Thought in a Technological Age #nlpoli
Some thoughts from Simon Lono on civil discourse. -srbp-
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Women in elected politics: is it a choice? #nlpoli
The number of women in elected office in Newfoundland and Labrador remains below the numbers one would expect based on changes in society over the past 40 years. Why is that? Maybe, it’s a choice. Luana Maroja is a biology professor at Williams College, a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts.Maroja
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The New SRBP
After a couple of years of irregular posting, SRBP has been back since the start of the year with at least one new post every Monday. Some of you have likely noticed this already. What you may also have noticed is the appearance of a longer form paper as well.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Jack Harris: Good Bye and Good Night #nlpoli
From 2006 to early 2010, Simon Lono wrote Offal News, a commentary on local politics, debating, and whatever caught Simon’s eye. When Jack Harris quit as leader of the provincial New Democratic Party, Simon turned his sharp eye to Harris’ legacy. Simon respected differences of opinion but he had no
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: More beige than beige #nlpoli
The Premier had a carefully rehearsed message when reporters asked him on Thursday why he had appointed everyone in cabinet back to their old portfolios despite an election that had reduced his party to a minority government. A cabinet of “experience, consistency, and stability,” Dwight Ball called them. He used
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Deficit *is* higher than previously announced #nlpoli
The House of Assembly will have to deliver a budget that keeps access to new public debt for the foreseeable future. The politicians must satisfy the bond-rating agencies, not the voters. Parties don’t matter. Ideologies don’t matter. Voters don’t matter. That is the essence of politics in Newfoundland and Labrador
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Deficit $250 – $300 million higher than announced before election according to Premier #nlpoli
In the episode that aired on 26 May 2019, Premier Dwight Ball told NTV’s Issues and Answers that the deficit for the current budget is between $800 – $900 million. “Are you prepared to make any specific changes to the budget in order to get their support?” asked Mike Connors.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Simon Lono , 1963-2019
Simon Lono – husband, father, grandfather, advocate, orator, writer, mentor, friend – died Friday, May 24, 2019. He was 56. When our friends are alive, we do not spend time thinking about the past. We do not think about how we met them, about all the things we did with
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Lowest-Common Denominator Minority Legislature #nlpoli
An inherently unstable minority legislature where the parties have a history of finding political agreement through public spending is not exactly a recipe for tough decisions. There is something seductively sweet about the idea that the minority government that resulted from last week’s general election has now solved all our
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The 1908 Election all over again #nlpoli
You will hear a lot of spin about Thursday’s election result. Doesn’t matter where it is coming from. It is all spin and all spin is bullshit. Thursday night’s election result has been coming for three years. The polls have pointed to the public mood and their views of parties and leaders.
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