In a scrum on Friday, Premier Kathy Dunderdale decided to attack the Telegram’s editorial writer. She attacked the paper for things the Friday editorial did not say. For good measure she claimed that she would now suffer further attacks from the newspaper in retaliation for her comments. For anyone who
Continue readingTag: Kathy Dunderdale
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: NL AG: Dunderdale unprecedented doc block “not a good thing“ #nlpoli #cdnpoli
From Canadian Press: The veteran auditor, in an interview Thursday, said the government’s sweeping denial of documents on the basis of cabinet confidentiality has left him no way to trace how and why spending decisions were made. "I can certainly say it’s not a good thing," he said. "The auditor
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: ‘eavy ‘angs the ‘ead #nlpoli
Natural resources minister Jerome! Kennedy is wading deeper and deeper into the political morass called the Muskrat Falls project these days and finding that it is a sticky, stinky, mess. For not one, but two days running, Jerome has been trying to explain to VOCM’s afternoon radio call-in host why
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The real story of the Ottawa office #nlpoli
Nobody’s been in the job since since January 2010. There’s no evidence that the two people who held the job actually did anything substantive during the time from 2004 to 2010 that someone held down the position known derisively as the Ambassador or – as your humble e-scribbler preferred –
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Seven Habits of Spectacularly Ineffective Politicians #nlpoli #cdnpoli
“Run government like a business” is an old line. Some people use it as a rallying cry for success and innovation. Others think of it as a recipe for disaster. Regardless of which side of that argument you come down on, you can sometimes find value in applying ideas from
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Familiar Furrows #nlpoli
Kathy Dunderdale spent most of her time in year-end interviews lamenting her critics. No accomplishments. No vision thing. Just a lot of carping. Lots of grousing about her critics and even a reference to the problems free speech in the legislature are causing her. She said she kept the House
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: Making the world safe for sexism #cdnpoli #nlpoli
Year-end political columns and features do nothing if not go for the easy and predictable when it comes to picking the top political story. Jeff Simpson, for example, known to many as the poor man’s George Will, picked women in politics to lead off his Christmas Eve column: This being
Continue readingI told you so
For years, this corner has described the growth of spending (a.k.a. Williams popularity subsidization) over the past eight years by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador as quite simply unsustainable. Up to now, Tories (and others) have disagreed with that assessment. Fair enough. Judging by the last quote in this
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Dunderdale leads from the rear #nlpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale wants everyone in the province to get involved in the fishery debate. Doesn’t matter who you are. Doesn’t matter what you want. Get in and have your say on the future of the resource we all own. CBC’s Azzo Rezzori says Kathy is staying out of the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Stop your “more for me please” rants, Dundernomics edition #nlpoli
Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador is nothing if it is not funny. Last week, Premier Kathy Dunderdale warned the crowd running the province’s fish processing industry – and everyone else in the province too – that they can’t “constantly turn to government” to fix every problem out there. So on
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Falls Friday Trash Dump #nlpoli
The provincial government waited until late Friday afternoon to issue a bulletin that Emera had registered the Nova Scotia interconnection with the environment department for review. That’s weird because Friday is usually when you release news you want to bury. Friday is normally a crap news day since people don’t
Continue readingDecoding Dunderdale
James McLeod has a great piece in the Telegram today. It comes complete with a great headline derived from a quote the Premier provides, all of which, in its own subtle way speaks volumes about the Newfoundland and Labrador Government’s unchanged half century-long view of how things ought to work
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: She hasn’t heard? Part Deux #nlpoli
Kathy Dunderdale claims she hasn’t heard “any substantive argument that contradicts any of the analysis or research or even the process that we’ve used to get us where we are as we move on.” Truth is there are plenty of arguments against her p…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: “What is it do you want?” #nlpoli
“Do you want legislation well-prepared or do you want us to think seriously about the impacts that this is gong to have? (Like), is there is a sentence here that could be written one way and we think it means one thing but it could be interpreted …
Continue readingMeanwhile, next door…
Despite Premier Kathy Dunderdale’s best wishes to quash all legislative debate and public discussion of the development of the Lower Churchill, there will be a Standing Committee Meeting tasked specifically with examination of the project.Members of th…
Continue readingNow that the election is over…
Less than a week after her party’s re-election, Premier Kathy Dunderdale informed voters that the House of Assembly would not be re-opening until the Spring, in part because she deems it dysfunctional, and as she told the CBC’s David Cochrane:”We need …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A study in fiscal responsibility contrasts #nlpoli
Alison Redford, Alberta’s new Conservative premier promises she will deliver some long overdue attention to the provincial government’s heritage fund. That’s a stash of oil and gas cash created in 1976 as a kind of rainy day fund. Previous Cons…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: She can’t handle the truth #nlpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale is like her benefactor, Danny Williams. neither liked the province’s legislature where they could be held to public account for their actions. So they have treated the legislature – and by extension the people of…
Continue reading2015
With an unusually high number of overlapping provincial and territorial elections overlapping this year, the Fall of 2011 makes for a busy electoral season. With few fireworks in Ottawa as we settle into the normalcy of majority rule in Ottawa, the nat…
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