Paul Davis fired Judy Manning from cabinet on Wednesday. He didn’t meet with her in person. Davis called her on the phone. Short of sending her an e-mail or a text message, Davis couldn’t have shown less class, tact, or respect for the job he holds and for Manning herself
Continue readingTag: paul davis
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Acting Like a Leader #nlpoli
In his first major public appearance since cutting public representation in the House of Assembly last week, Premier Paul Davis flatly rejected the objections of the province’s municipalities and a gaggle of academics. The cuts will go ahead. When another government asked a commission to go out, ask people and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Anti-democratic, regressive, and unprincipled #nlpoli
The idea of reducing the size of the province’s legislature because the provincial government has a massive financial crisis didn’t get any smarter when the provincial government announced its plan on Thursday to slash the House from 48 seats to 36. People who want to start government cutbacks at the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Fishing for support #nlpoli
When the going gets tough, the tough go fishing. In this case, a bunch of politicians in a tough spot with voters are fishing among a small bunch of politicians in Ottawa for support in their campaign to turn a deal achieved in 2013 into something else entirely. This isn’t
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: Decisive Moments in Politics #nlpoli
The NDP are down five points, the Liberals are up two and the Conservatives are up three, according to the latest Corporate Research Associates poll. Voters are abandoning the New Democrats who are down by one third from 15 points to 10. The Liberals and the Conservatives picked up those
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A chilling non-answer #nlpoli
The fact that Premier Paul Davis refused to give a simple answer to a simple question should send a chill up your spine. MR. J. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, at least thirty-five children have died while receiving service from this Province since 2009. I ask the Premier: Has he been briefed
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A Biblical finish #nlpoli
Paul Davis wasn’t around on Tuesday night to talk to reporters about the by-elections. He had a family medical problem to deal with. So the job of speaking for the government fell to Steve Kent, the self-promoting wonder from Mount Pearl whose fan club makes Danny’s look like a bunch
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 Apprenticeship of Constable Davis #nlpoli
People are looking back a century to the start of the First World War so, on the political side, it’s interesting to take a trip back and see what things were like then. The Prime Minister was a guy named Edward Patrick Morris. He was a lawyer, popularly known as
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Take a closer look #nlpoli
Premier Paul Davis hasn’t delivered any speeches, issued any news releases, or done anything else to explain who he is and what he wants to accomplish as Premier. The guy has the job. But he hasn’t told anyone anything about his plans. On Wednesday, Davis had the perfect chance. He
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Mind-Numbing Sameness #nlpoli
The Conservatives were looking to the by-election in Conception bay South to break their losing streak. As it seems now as voters in the district head to the polls on Wednesday, Premier Paul Davis is already conceding that CBS is heading Liberal. He spoke to reporters [CBC Here and Now,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Public Service and Bad Judgment #nlpoli
Shortly after she was appointed to cabinet, Judy Manning told CBC that she was taking a significant cut in pay from her solo law practice to take the new job as an unelected minister. “I’m doing this from a public service perspective,” Manning said at the time. That was part
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: What’s in a name? Justice edition #nlpoli
Premier Paul Davis changed the name of the justice department to “public safety”. The local chapter of the Canadian Bar Association wrote a letter to Davis. They complained that the government had changed the name of the department without making clear what the new department would do. So after a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Madness #nlpoli
The day after she took the oath of office, Judy Manning, the province’s new attorney general and minister of public safety, and Premier Paul Davis, her boss, are facing intense public criticism. It’s hard to tell whether people are more upset by her evident, and admitted, lack of experience practicing
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Usual Suspects #nlpoli
The Conservatives who said Premier Paul Davis was going to doing nothing more than shuffle the cabinet that was already there got it absolutely right. On Tuesday, Davis announced his new cabinet and the names and jobs are all very familiar. To give the illusion of change, Davis re-organized a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: All our yesterdays #nlpoli
Someone in Paul Davis’ campaign has a quirky sense of humour. They picked Bill Clinton’s 1992 election theme music for Davis to use as his walk-in music during the convention. Let’s leave aside the eventual Bill Clinton of stains on little blue dresses and just look at the 1992 presidential
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Premier Davis and the Dead Children #nlpoli
Paul Davis will get a lift down to Government House this afternoon and swear the oath of office so Tom Marshall can finally get out of politics. It’s been about two weeks since Davis won the Conservative Party leadership and that’s a fairly typical period of time between election and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Edges #nlpoli
The Premier’s Office issued a couple of news releases last week about what someone they called the Premier-Designate would be doing. The first release was a curiosity. The second one made the whole thing very strange since it was plain that Paul Davis would be attending these events as a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Insider baseball, again #nlpoli
Paul Davis delivered one of the shortest victory speeches Saturday night of any person elected to lead a party in power. Davis said very little but what he said might reveal much: This weekend we started down a path, a path to rebuild the PC Party of Newfoundland and Labrador,
Continue reading