DBRS downgrades government rating #nlpoli
DBRS issued a revised rating for the provincial government on Thursday. It remains "A" but a change to trending from "stable" to "negative" for long-term debt. DBRS' short-term debt rating…
Ed Hollett
A chasm they can’t ignore #nlpoli
That didn’t take long.The fundamental strategic political problem Dwight Ball and his senior advisors has been busily building since last year exploded on Wednesday with the leak of a treasury…
Updating the Alternative Spending Plan #nlpoli
In April 2013, SRBP ran a series of posts about public spending. The goal was to show how the government could have avoided its serious financial problems by having a…
Process Question #nlpoli
Finance minister Cathy Bennett told CBC that "everything is on the table and we have to make sure that we don't leave anything that potentially could help us move to…
‘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…
Thank you, Danny Williams #nlpoli
Rob Strong has been a key player in the local oil and gas industry pretty much since the earliest days. He knows what he is talking about.Strong pointed out to…
Clarity #nlpoli
From the announcement of "intense" public consultations to solve the provincial government's financial crisis:Question: Health care spending eats up as you were saying almost 40% of the budget, you must…
Pressure #nlpoli
A curious thing happens in societies where a huge amount of the collective income derives from outside the local economy and the local tax base.They do not see a connection…
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…
Equalization… again #nlpoli
Equalization is a really simple idea.In order to ensure that Canadians across the country have access to comparable services regardless of where they live, the federal government sends money to…
St. John’s Land Prices 1997 – 2015
An argy-bargy erupted on Twitter Wednesday involving a bunch of Danny Williams Fan Klubbers on the one side and a couple of people who have a few issues with the…
Let’s hear it for the Fraser Institute geniuses #nlpoli
A year after Kathy Dunderdale left office, the Fraser Institute said she was one of the best fiscal managers of all the Premiers in Canada.Provincial Conservatives repeated the story anywhere…
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…
The Bridge to Ottawa #nlpoli
Premier Dwight Ball said everything is on the table to deal with the massive financial problem facing his administration.And then, in a string of year-end interviews, Ball immediately took everything…
Up the harbour and down the shore, again #nlpoli
Today marks SRBP's anniversary. The first post appeared on January 3, 2005.Events of the past few weeks are a reminder of both how much has changed - we have a…
Consistency #nlpoli
"We need to find a way to bridge us where we are currently until the commodities rebound and be the significant contributor we need them to be." That’s what Premier…
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…
Do election signs work? #nlpoli
Apparently, they do.In four randomised field experiments, researchers at Columbia University found that lawn signs increased vote share by about 1.7%. They published results of their research online on Christmas…
Top SRBP Posts of 2015 #nlpoli
1. The Dunphy Shooting: Serious questions In January, we are supposed to get the results of the police investigation into the shooting of Don Dunphy. Then there'll be a public…