The townie Tories are all a-twitter over federal Dipper leader Thomas Mulcair’s endorsement of Sheilagh O’Leary for mayor of Sin Jawns in the next municipal election. On Monday, reporters asked Premier Kathy Dunderdale about Mulcair’s comments. Here’s a bit of what she said, via CBC: "I don’t know how somebody
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Zen of Political Disasters: Becoming A Hole #nlpoli
As SRBP noted in an earlier post, the first step in getting yourself out of a hard political spot is to recognise that you are in a hole. What often happens – as seen in the provincial Conservatives and the Burton Winters tragedy up to now – is that they
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Nanny State 2: Yes, Kathy. You are in a hole. #nlpoli
When you are in a whole, the old political saying goes, you should stop digging. That is wonderful advice. Many the politician could have saved himself political grief by following it. The only problem with such good advice is that it is not as easy to take as it seems.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Nanny State #nlpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale refused to meet with Burton Winters’ family to talk about the boy’s tragic death last winter. The explanation offered by both the Winters family and the Premier herself is that the family wanted to talk about details of the search effort. As such, the Premier would not
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Comprehension Constant #nlpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale seems to have a chronic problem of saying things that are not correct and also saying things she does not mean. This is not just a poor imitation of George W. Bush. Kathy Dunderdale is in a league of her own. Regular readers know some of the
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: Pots and Kettles #nlpoli
Pots and kettles are a staple of Newfoundland politics. Premier Kathy Dunderdale in the House of Assembly on Monday, May 7: We have had the Member for Torngat Mountains this morning on every media outlet in the Province talking about a cover-up of the Burton Winters tragedy, Mr. Speaker, in
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: How to make bad decisions #nlpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale sounded genuinely exasperated last week when she chatted at length with Open Line show host Randy Simms about Muskrat Falls. “Why,” she asked, “would a government want to develop a project that is not in the best interest of the province?” No government would, of course. No
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: And if she was wrong about that, too… #nlpoli
There are two things in this world. There is what actually happened. And then there is what Premier Kathy Dunderdale says. The two have very little to do with one another. Last week, it was federal budget cuts. Kathy said one thing. Reality was something else. This week, it is
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: If she was wrong about this… #nlpoli
As we told you on Monday, the ever attentive labradore caught Kathy Dunderdale in a pretty outrageous comment last week on the impact the federal budget would have on the province. ‘Not much’ was the thrust of her comment. And it was pretty much her comment to the Telegram’s James
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A fundamental lack of competence #nlpoli
One crowd can’t even successfully rig a process they set out to rig from the start. So now the Premier wants to have a debate she earlier rejected as unnecessary in a legislature she once called dysfunctional. Meanwhile, another crowd of politicians decides to frig off to Ottawa to support
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Tory and Dipper leader in approvals tie in NL: poll #nlpoli
An unspecified number of people polled online in Newfoundland and Labrador by Angus-Reid approved almost equally of the job done by e Premier Kathy Dunderdale and New Democratic party leader Lorraine Michael. The margin of error for the entire poll of more than 6,600 Canadians in nine province is given
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Kathy Dunderdale and the “full force” of her political impotence #nlpoli
Okay, so the search and rescue sub-centre was never anything to go to war over anyway. Still, that didn’t stop Kathy Dunderdale from pledging to do everything in her power to save all those really important jobs. Remember? Kathy had some kind of special new relationship with the Prime Minister
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: To Encourage the Others #nlpoli
Lots of people look to leaders in a crisis to see what lessons they can learn. Well, Kathy Dunderdale is special. She is an excellent example for any leader – political or not – who wants to know how not to handle a major financial problem. The Telegram editorial on
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Lay-offs, Noseworthy and other things the Premier talked about #nlpoli
Listen closely and you can hear the beep-beep-beep of the garbage truck of government comms as it backs up on the idea of laying off public sectors workers as a result of government’s “review” of programs and spending. Premier Kathy Dunderdale scrummed [link to CBC’s raw video]outside the House of
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: Dundernomics 101: The Cleary Factor #nlpoli
The gang at CBC shouldn’t feel sheepish. They might have been the ones who pushed it most aggressively but they weren’t the only news outlet that started talking up budget cuts and restraint based on what Premier Kathy Dunderdale told them. Here’s part of what the Premier said to CBC’s
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Response and Irresponsibility #nlpoli #cdnpoli
The premier whose government was responsible for directing the search effort for a young boy in Makkovik is now calling for an investigation into the actions of the people who weren’t responsible for the search. From CBC: Newfoundland and Labrador’s premier is calling for a review of the military’s role
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ridiculous is all the rage #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Fresh from her triumphant speech about co-operation and consultation as the way to develop the north, the potential for developing uranium in Labrador and – of course – the glories to come from Muskrat Falls, Premier Kathy Dunderdale is off to Atlanta as part of an Atlantic provinces’ trade mission.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: So haunted by ghosts #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Hear what comfortable words our Premier sayeth: For generations gone by, the undeveloped hydro-power resources of the Lower Churchill were, for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, like a treasure just out of reach, tantalizingly close but never close enough to enjoy. The gatekeepers of the natural transmission route through Quebec were denying
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