The deficit for 2015 will be a record.We know that because of comments at the House of Assembly by Premier Dwight Ball and finance minister Cathy Bennett.News media are reporting that as “raising the province’s borrowing capacity” but that’s not quite …
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Evidence-based decision-making #nlpoli
James McLeod had a tidy piece in Wednesday’s Telegram on the government’s effort to find a way of out of the financial mess. it’s well worth your time.The document McLeod got through an access to information request shows the extent to which the ca…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Moody’s warns NL government on finances #nlpoli
Moody’s Investor Services is the second rating agency to give the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador a negative trending in light of the government’;s financial problems.In a release, Moody’s said that the “negative outlook for the Province …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Jerry Earle won’t retweet this post #nlpoli
Apparently the surest way to piss off a couple of university academics a.k.a the NDP policy brain-trust is to point out how their take on the government’s financial crisis is out to lunch.Short recap: Math prof and Indy columnist Tom Baird got …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Revenue problem #nlpoli
Jon Parsons has an interesting take on the provincial government;s financial mess. It’s worth taking a few minutes to go through it. Follow some of the links he offers as well. Altogether they form what you might call a differ…
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…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Enough #nlpoli
You can easily lose track of the number of former cabinets who will tell you the same thing.Ask them about the one lesson of government and budgets that stands in their minds. They’ll likely all tell you some version of the same thing.There is …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Metrics #nlpoli
Telegram editor Russell Wangersky tried on Monday to put the government’s financial mess into some shape that people could understand.The simple fact, to put a shortfall of $2 billion into perspective, is that if the provincial government wanted to c…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Consistency #nlpoli
“We need to find a way to bridge us [from] where we are currently until the commodities rebound and be [sic] the significant contributor we need them to be.” That’s what Premier Dwight Ball told NTV’s Mike Connors in an interview that will air in f…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Advice #nlpoli
New governments often wind up in a bit of a pickle.They walk into a new job where they are supposed to be the folks in charge, but they very often aren’t the people who initially know how everything works. They don’t know how to get things done but…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Merry Christmas Financial Update and other sick jokes #nlpoli
First, anyone who keeps talking about the two percent HST cut simply has no idea what the hell is going on in provincial finances.Seriously.Give it up.You are only embarrassing yourself.Second, absolutely no surprises in the latest update on provincial…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Small things and big differences #nlpoli
The Auditor General delivered his annual report on some of the provincial government’s programs and services on Wednesday. We learned, among other things that provincial government consulting contracts have gone horrendously beyond the amount originally budgeted. The worst case was a contract – presumably related to the Corner Brook hospital
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Everything will be fine. Or not. #nlpoli
This pretty picture shows a very ugly problem. Look at the point (2008) where the red and blue lines separate. The area in between represents the annual deficit the provincial government has been running. It is the difference between the amount government spent (the blue line) and the amount of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Oil Royalty and Oil Price Forecasts (2015) #nlpoli
Don Mills says people in Newfoundland and Labrador have a false impression of the state of the provincial economy. Wade Locke says Mills is full of it. To bolster his argument, such as it is, Locke released a raft of pretty charts a couple of weeks ago. One of them
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Conservatives stay the debt-building course #nlpoli
Budget 2015 offered absolutely no surprises. On major areas the Conservatives continued their policy of spending more than the provincial treasury can afford. That’s been their trade-mark since 2003 and it became etched in stone in 2009. As SRBP forecast a couple of weeks ago, the Conservatives raised a modest
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: More of the same. It’s the economy. And, … #nlpoli
Past behaviour is a good indicator of future behaviour. If that’s the case, then lots of people are getting their knickers in a very great bunch over nothing when it comes to the budget. The Conservatives set their course with Wade Locke’s prosperity plan. Here are the key elements, as
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Endless Supply of Sacred Cows 2015 #nlpoli
On the first day of the session in the House of Assembly, the finance minister tabled an interim supply bill for slightly more than $2.7 billion. Supply is the word the use in the House of Assembly for money the government will use to run things. Interim supply is an
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Elephant in the Room, the Astigmatic Seer, and other horrifying budget tales #nlpoli
Has anyone noticed a small problem in all the discussions about next year’s budget? On Point’s David Cochrane had both NAPE’s Carol Furlong and the Conservative’s pet economist Wade Locke on the show to talk about the next budget. Carol was warning against cuts. Locke was talking about a request
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Unsustainability Problem #nlpoli
The annual budget consultation farce started on Monday with a couple of sessions. This year the provincial government has turned out a budget simulator that is supposed “to illustrate the tough budget choices” the provincial government is facing and “to promote a public dialogue on how we can set a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Legacy of Faulty Assumptions: Hebron Revisited #nlpoli
Hebron is the last of the four, big, offshore discoveries from the 1980s. It’s due to come into production in 2017 based on a development agreement reached initially in 2007 with the provincial government and finalised in 2008. There’s a potential problem with current production schedule. The topsides fabrication is
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