In September 2008, four cabinet ministers went to Harbour Grace to announce that the provincial government was giving the company $8.0 million in public money, interest free. The provincial government communications people circulated a picture of the four at the time – from left, Jerome Kennedy, Danny Williams, Paul Oram,
Continue readingTag: Fragile Economy
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Vibrant Unsustainable Super Energy Debt Warehouse #nlpoli
The Conservatives used to say that Newfoundland and Labrador was eastern North America’s energy warehouse. Once Danny Williams ran for the hills and left Kathy Dunderdale in charge, she kicked everything up a notch. Energy warehouse was too plain for Kathy, whose party ran on the slogan “New Energy” in
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Decline of the Forest Empire #nlpoli
While an official with Corner Brook’s municipal government understandably has to say wonderful things about the economy in the west coast city, a look at some numbers shows the city is feeling the effects of a larger problem in the province. SRBP took a look at newsprint production levels and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Edging #nlpoli
Over at cbc.ca/nl, John Gushue has an excellent column on the recent prosperity, in particular the apparent contradiction between a supposedly booming economy and the government cuts or the sense some people have that they aren’t part of the boom. Take some time and go read John’s observations, if you
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: GovSpeak Translator #nlpoli
A “forgivable loan” is another way of saying that a private-sector company is getting a free gift of public-sector money. -srbp-
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Some help for the St. John’s Board of Trade #nlpoli
…who have suddenly discovered that the provincial economy is in serious need of diversification: a 2010 series called the Fragile Economy. Staying the course (March 2010) Reductio ad argentum (April 2010) …and two steps back (April 2010) Now three steps back and loving it (April 2010) If they really want
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Brand Failure #nlpoli
In another great service to Newfoundland and Labrador, the country’s leading shit-disturber has translated poll results by Abacus Data into a nice table. It shows the results for each province across a range of topics. This is the results in a survey of Canadians. There’s no reason to believe that
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Perfect Storm #nlpoli
“In the fishery of the very near future,” SRBP wrote in February, “fishing subsidies like federal employment insurance wage subsidies, state-sponsored marketing schemes and the stalinist political control of the economy… will all go by the wayside. International trade talks are already laying the groundwork for massive change.” The very
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The politics of logic and history #nlpoli
“Government does not work on logic,” a wise man once told your humble e-scribbler. “It works on the basis of history.” When faced with a new problem, people tend to do what they did before, not what might make sense in the new circumstances. You can see that the preference
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Why People in Corner Brook (and elsewhere in NL) are Worried #nlpoli
About four years ago, your humble e-scribbler pointed out a fundamental strategic problem with the way the provincial Conservatives spent money. The premise was pretty simple: at the same time that we knew – as a matter of irrefutable fact – that provincial costs for things like health care were
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: No truer words #nlpoli #cdnpoli
“When you wage an ideological war,” wrote Lana Payne this past weekend, “lies are necessary weapons.” Payne, for those who don’t know, is president of the province’s labour federation and a major player for the provincial and national New Democratic Party. She has a column in the weekly Telegram, for
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Dundernomics 101: Public Sector Employment Numbers #nlpoli
In an interview with CBC’s David Cochrane, Premier Kathy Dunderdale said that the public service has grown by more than 2,100 jobs in the past eight years and that total employment in the public service is about 9,000. Well, not exactly. That depends on what you consider to be public
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Fragile Economy: addictions management #nlpoli
The provincial government in Newfoundland and Labrador spends more per person on delivering services for most things than does any other provincial government in the country. Health care is the one the Premier highlighted a couple of weeks ago. There are others. This is not something new. Here’s a snippet
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Busting the boom in central #nlpoli
Headline: “Grand Falls-Windsor growing without mill”. Sounds marvellous. Then you read the story. Turns out that the central Newfoundland town is doing well without its major private sector employer because people are shifting there for the public sector jobs and services. There’s a passing reference to mining, and then this:
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The reality of her world #nlpoli
Some people are trying to make a controversy out of Premier Kathy Dunderdale’s recent comments that public sector unions should “expect a more modest increase” than the salary rises they’ve been used to from the Conservatives since 2003. Look at “the reality of the world”, Dunderdale admonishes everyone. Well, a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Labour crunch coming
Only the naive or the demented would portray the looming labour crunch in the province as a “tremendous opportunity”. A report released on Wednesday by the provincial human resources department forecasts that by 2020 – less than a decade fro…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Public sector job growth outpaces private in NL
From labradore: In the five years since the recent-historic low, in early 2006, of about 55,600 public-sector employees, the public-sector labour force has increased by about 11,500 or over 20%. As a share of total employment, the public sector has…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: 15 ideas (and more) – Setting the Table
Our economic vision for Newfoundland and Labrador is that of an enterprising, educated, distinctive and prosperous people working together to create a competitive economy based on innovation, creativity, productivity and quality. Strategic Econom…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Harris Centre economic forum: the media coverage
The Telegram’s James Macleod had a decent front page summary of the Harris Centre’s discussion of economic issues facing the province and the subsequent discussion. The CBC has a super short version that is already bumped off the front page of its…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The looming debt problem
The government’s favourite economist is sounding alarm bells about the provincial government’s financial health. The finance minister, on a local talk radio program, sounding stressed as more and more people start talking about what has been obvi…
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