In 2004, Danny Williams fought for three months against a federal government decision that had been settled – at least for the federal government – earlier in the year as part of the usual budget cycle. Williams got the money the federal government had allocated but won the domestic
Continue readingTag: Danny Williams Legacy
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Hyping the stock, yet again #nlpoli
Any oil company seriously interested in bidding on an exploration license offshore Newfoundland and Labrador isn’t likely to need the hyped presentation by the provincial government Thursday. Exploring offshore is expensive. Always has been. Always will be. Exploring beyond the 200 mile exclusive economic zone, in upwards of two kilometres
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Chainsaw Earle keeps austerity on the table #nlpoli
NDP leader Earle McCurdy called the province’s major open line show on Thursday and by the sounds of things he hasn’t backed off the position that the size of the government’s financial problems will mean more cuts. Sure he said he was opposed to austerity, but what Earle did say
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Moral victory: saying yes to less #nlpoli
A couple of years after his war with one prime minister, Danny Williams was locked in another war with another federal first minister. Williams was demanding compensation for yet another supposed injustice. “What I said before and I said going in, this is about principles,” Williams told reporters in November
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: More ways to lose than win #nlpoli
“What this province needs is not just someone with the brains to figure out what’s wrong with our economy,” future Premier Kathy Dunderdale wrote in 2002. “What this province needs is someone with the guts to start doing something about it for a change.” Dunderdale’s letter to the editor of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cripple you say? #nlpoli
Unnamed Conservative “insiders” have been talking about the Ches Crosbie nomination fiasco as if it was a rejection of a new Tory Jesus or something. The way they talk you’d think people are waiting breathlessly for the pictures on Jane Crosbie’s Twitter feed of young Ches taking his first steps
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: John Crosbie and the Last Crusade #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Every story told thus far about Ches Crosbie and the riding in Avalon has the unmistakeable odour of bullshit about it. The latest twist, namely that Senator David Wells was scuttling a potential rival as The Biggest Conservative in Newfoundland and Labrador, is a bit more in the realm of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: No equity? No surprise. #nlpoli
It didn’t take long for Paul Davis to get the comparison he was looking for last week. The Telegram – not surprisingly – offered it up in the editorial on June 17: “Premier Paul Davis pulled a Danny Williams Tuesday,” the editorialist wrote. Davis told the annual NOIA oil and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Never heard anyone say that before #nlpoli
“This may be our last shot at it,” said captain of industry Paul Antle this week as he set off to find other captains of industry to help him save the province. . Gotta get off the oil, see. The Tories have frigged everything up.. Not so very long ago
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Legacy #nlpoli
There is a lengthy list of political stories in contention to be the top political story of 2014. Start the year with #darnknl, the failure of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Hydro generation to supply the capital city and surrounding communities with electricity last January. It led to Kathy Dunderdale’s resignation as
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Recurring Behaviour #nlpoli
Exactly one year ago, the provincial government was in a controversy over its part in the European free trade deal. The Conservatives were heralding the great deal, including a $400 million fisheries development fund. The opposition Liberals asked for details. The provincial Conservatives and then-Premier Kathy Dunderdale wouldn’t release any
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Welcome to the bottom of the rabbit hole #nlpoli
Putting a freeze on any discretionary spending is the very least that the provincial government could do in light of the dramatic – but entirely predictable – volatility in oil prices that have made the government’s huge budget deficit even larger. The fact that Premier Paul Davis finally admitted on
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Experience and government #nlpoli
In the 1980s, local entrepreneur Craig Dobbin bought a batch of helicopter service companies across Canada and merged them with his own company – Sealand – to form Canadian Helicopters. By the time Dobbin died in 2006, CHC was one of the largest providers of helicopter support services in the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Federal Boogeyman #nlpoli
The Liberals kept poking at Premier Paul Davis in the House of Assembly on Tuesday about the European free trade deal announced last year. Specifically, Liberal leader Dwight Ball asked Davis for the second day in a row about a joint federal-provincial fund under the deal that would see the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Myths, then and now #nlpoli
You really do have to wonder how anyone could be expected to keep things straight when the people they rely on to help them understand keep changing their statements. Take, for example, the fight between the provincial Conservative administration in Newfoundland and Labrador a decade ago over offshore oil royalties
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Ego-mentary #nlpoli
Danny Williams’ hockey team tried a little marketing ploy this week. They sent out a bulletin to news media disguised as a news release. They claimed the hockey team was locked in some kind of record breaking attempt with a crowd of mainlander for the most sold-out games. While everything
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: “We are an island economy” and other nonsense #nlpoli
CBC’s On Point this weekend delivered up some all-too-familiar conversation on the budget and a political panel talking about Judy Manning but sometimes you have to look closely at things to appreciate the value in public comments by politicians and reporters. In an interview with David Cochrane, finance minister Ross
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A Greek Tragedy #nlpoli
While you are busily mulling over the possible implications the drop in oil prices might have on the provincial government’s budgets, distract yourself by pondering some of the other implications of low oil prices on the provincial economy. The Paris-based International Energy Agency thinks that about 25% of Canadian energy
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Oil and the budget #nlpoli
Lots of people are wondering what the changes to the price of oil will do to the provincial budget. It will have an impact: no doubt about that. But trying to figure out what the provincial budget numbers will look like is a wee bit more complicated. (Read more…)
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Old Twitchy versus the Telegram #nlpoli
Like clockwork, about two weeks after Danny Williams last got his mug on the news, the most thin-skinned media hound on the planet got himself a ton more ego-stroking attention. Every two weeks or so. Like clockwork. If you don’t believe it, just do some google searching. (Read more…)
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