A muskrat by any other name… #nlpoli
Memorial University economist Jim Feehan proposed in the December issue of Canadian Public Policy that the provincial government should change the way electricity is priced in Newfoundland and Labrador once…
Ed Hollett
The Keystone Kops Ride Again (2013) #nlpoli
We already knew that the provincial cabinet had abandoned their budget before the document had been debated in the House. That happened last week when the Premier ordered the justice…
Conservatives and Millennials #nlpoli #cdnpoli
The talk was supposed to be about the political culture in Newfoundland and Labrador. Does it ever change? What Tim Powers wound up spending a lot of time talking about…
Toward a fair and just society (2012) #nlpoli
The December 2008 expropriation bill was not the right thing for the provincial government and the House of Assembly to do.The expropriation was wrong.It was wrong, but not because it…
Debt servicing and revenue, 2013-2016 #nlpoli
There are lots of ways of looking the government’s budget. Here’s one that’s a bit unconventional. Rather than look at how much the government is spending on debt servicing as…
Torque wars: media, politicians, and the Muskrat Falls loan guarantee #nlpoli (2011)
Some people will tell you there the federal and provincial governments have a deal for a federal loan guarantee on Muskrat Falls. The provincial government has already met three criteria…
Campaign Finance Reform: shifting attention #nlpoli
Until 1996, there were no campaign finance laws in Newfoundland and Labrador at all. In 2003, the Conservatives promised to make dramatic changes to the laws governing how parties financed…
Williams announces political exit plan (2010)
Danny Williams always said that building the Lower Churchill was the only thing he wanted to do before leaving politics. He took a huge step down that road in 2006…
If only we were New Brunswick… #nlpoli
Premier Dwight Ball has talked about it. CBC’s Peter Cowan tweeted about it Sunday night. If only we were like all those lucky provinces that get Equalization, we’d be right…
Behaviour Patterns #nlpoli
January 2016. Dwight Ball tells reporters in year-end interviews that “everything is on the table” to deal with the government’s financial problem. Then, Ball took everything off the table. As…
Rumpole and Justice Delayed (2009) #nlpoli
There is no question that our system provides a great method for adjudicating questions of fact and law, but given the expenditure of public funds we are obliged to the…
Oil downturn slams petro-provinces’ jobs #nlpoli
The four provinces heavily dependent on oil and gas resources took a major hit in jobs in 2016, according to seasonally-adjusted figures released on Friday by the Dominion’s statistics bureau.…
Media Donations to NL Political Parties #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Steele Communications and its subsidiary VOCM made a combined total of $23,600 in contributions to political parties in Newfoundland and Labrador between 1996 and 2009, according to party finance information…
The poverty of "we so po’" rhetoric (2008) #nlpoli
“People need to understand government cannot write a cheque for everything,” said Williams. “We can’t be all things to all people.” “On the other hand, even in poor times, we…
Putting the sunk in sunk cost #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Muskrat Falls is basically an $800 million tax on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. That’s roughly the amount you get using numbers Nalcor chief executive Stan Marshall made public…
Williams concedes on royalties (2007) #nlpoli
As Bond Papers noted on Thursday, part of the Hebron deal will involve a change to the provincial royalty regime local media are characterising as a concession.The Telegram reported on…
Public Support for Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
Corporate Research Associates isn’t the only pollster in the universe, no matter what some people locally seem to believe. CRA released the results of a question the company asked during…
The Danny Brand (2006) #nlpoli
The defining characteristic of Danny Williams’ term as a politician – and particularly his term as Premier thus far – has been his relentless use of specific marketing approaches to…
Books, tents, fishing rods and such #nlpoli
Don’t ask why but Statistics Canada groups books in with sporting goods, hobbies, and music. The picture shows total sales in Newfoundland and Labrador each months from january 2014 to…
Taxing our understanding #nlpoli
Over the past week, there’s been a flurry of comment about gasoline prices and the fact that, as of New Year’s Day, a provincial sales tax now applies to books.…