According to Premier Dwight Ball, Kelvin Parsons was never going to stick around for long as the Premier’s chief of staff.Okay. Let’s think about that for a second.If that’s true, why didn’t Ball already have someone on tap to replace Kelvi…
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: 11 minutes and 11 seconds #nlpoli
Dwight Ball was at Memorial University on Thursday morning to represent the provincial government in a joint announcement with Judy Foote on some capital funding to finish the new science building on campus.The announcement is good for the university, …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The ‘eart of Darkness #nlpoli
No one would be surprised if a cell phone video turned up in the next few days on youtube showing Dwight Ball before he broke his silence and talked to reporters on Wednesday.The video would be Dwight himself, in his office in the middle of the night, …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Anger Ball
Premier Dwight Ball got angry on Tuesday.He’s angry at the suggestion that he approved paying severance to Ed Martin.Well, really he’s angry at is how much Martin wound up getting now that the amounts are becoming known and unpopular but we’ll get back…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Running Man #nlpoli
With questions swirling about what Premier Dwight Ball knew about severance payments to former Nalcor boss Ed Martin and when he knew it, Ball has asked the province’s auditor general to take a look at whether or not it was appropriate to pay sev…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Last Rites #nlpoli
This week Premier Dwight Ball became the punchline to a joke.Ball spent yet another day not giving straight answers to simple questions about what they knew and when they knew about Ed Martin’s severance. For good measure, the opposition Co…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Alarums and Excursions #nlpoli
Dwight Ball is hiding details of his involvement in the decision to give an enormous and unwarranted severance package paid to Ed Martin despite the fact Martin had quit as Nalcor’s chief executive.That became plain in Ball’s responses to repeated ques…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ball digs himself deeper into hole #nlpoli
Dwight Ball’s latest version of Ed Martin’s departure from Nalcor only deepens the political quagmire into which the Premier and his staff have worked themselves with diligent effort and persistence.Here’s how.Ed Martin told Premier Dwight Ball on…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Red Flags #nlpoli
If you want to understand the depth of Dwight Ball’s political problem, understand that as of Victoria Day, Paul Lane – never the sharpest of political knives in any drawer – has gotten the better of the Premier politically for the second t…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Offense and Defense #nlpoli
If you’re not on offense, you are on defense.And in politics, if you are on defense, you are losing.The Liberals wound up on the defensive yet again Wednesday with the resignation of Ed Martin and the entire Nalcor board.To be sure, Williams-era appoin…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Actions and words #nlpoli
The provincial cabinet has known since January – at least – that the powerhouse at Muskrat Falls is only 15% completed despite a huge payout to the contractor.That’s what Nalcor reported to the committee of provincial bureaucrats named by the Conservat…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Rasputitsa #nlpoli
Before we even get into this, let’s be clear: the EY review commissioned by the provincial government was never, ever about cancelling Muskrat Falls.Not even remotely or theoretically.Dwight Ball said so in December: “cancelling this projec…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Nick Bunker points out that there’s much more to an economic recovery than nominal GDP – with labour’s share of growth serving as a particularly important indicator as to whether anybody is benefitting beyond t…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Picking stuff out of the appointments hockey bag #nlpoli
One of the provincial Conservatives’ signature new initiatives in the first session of the legislature after the 2003 election was a bill that supposedly set fixed election dates. Changes to the House of Assembly Act also triggered a general el…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The inexplicable persistence of nonsense #nlpoli
“There was a very good job done … of boxing this province out [of the Equalization program] a few years ago,”That was Premier Dwight Ball talking to reporters on Tuesday after the Throne Speech that set the agenda for his new administration. He w…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Things are THAT bad #nlpoli
David Thompson is an independent economist in the same way that Jerry Earle and Wayne Lucas are independent human resource consultants.But the problem isn’t that CBC couldn’t make a factual statement in the first three words of a news story. Nor is…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Using his words #nlpoli
Politicians are usually very careful about the words they use.That’s why it’s important to notice the words Premier Dwight Ball used this weekend in an interview with Tom Clark for Global’s current affairs show The West Block.Ball said there was …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Get the message: get a grip #nlpoli
Two former Premiers sent a very pointed message to Premier Dwight Ball this week about the way Ball has been handling the provincial government’s massive deficit problem.Brian Tobin was in St. John’s to present a cheque on behalf of the Bank of Mon…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A chasm they can’t ignore #nlpoli
That didn’t take long.The fundamental strategic political problem Dwight Ball and his senior advisors has been busily building since last year exploded on Wednesday with the leak of a treasury board directive to departments, agencies, boards, and Cro…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: ‘Engagement’ can be an excuse for avoiding action #nlpoli
by Craig WestcottThe Ball administration is off to a shaky start. Actually, it seems afraid to start at all. Tuesday’s press conference announcing 15 months of public consultation on how to handle the deficit is another indication that this administr…
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