When it comes to transparency and accountability for megaprojects, the New Democratic government in Nova Scotia is light years ahead of the Progressive Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador “These are…
One of the rationales the provincial government has used to justify Muskrat Falls is the idea that the island will have electricity shortages starting in 2015 and by 2020 there’ll…
Jerry Bannister’s paper “A river runs through it: Churchill Falls and the end of Newfoundland history” is now available in the latest issue of Acadiensis. This paper was the basis…
Since May 8 was the 25th anniversary of the announcement that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador were going into the cucumber business, it seemed fitting to give a link…
“Government does not work on logic,” a wise man once told your humble e-scribbler. “It works on the basis of history.” When faced with a new problem, people tend to…
Pots and kettles are a staple of Newfoundland politics. Premier Kathy Dunderdale in the House of Assembly on Monday, May 7: We have had the Member for Torngat Mountains this…
You’d think that someone who approves laws, including this amendment to the Highway Traffic Act in 2010, would understand what the words mean: Cellular telephones and other communication devices 176.1…
The CBC’s John Gushue has a tidy analysis of Premier Kathy Dunderdale’s recent suggestion that government employees could work from home in the future as a way of cutting down…
As these things go, George Murphy’s two days of news about compliance with the province’s ban on pesticides was a tidy and effective bit of political theatre. The provincial government…
Natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy in the House of Assembly on Thursday: It breaks that geographical stranglehold of Quebec. I do not have time today to address Ed Hollett’s theory…
Another week and another fish plant closes permanently. This time it is one of the plants that should have been the basis of a vibrant fishery. The Burin plant did…
It doesn’t matter if you are a Telegram editorial writer, a local blogger or even municipal affairs minister Kevin “Fairity” O’Brien on CBC’s St. John’s Morning Show (not online). You…
Natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy explained it all in the House of Assembly on Wednesday: …let’s be clear on why we are developing Muskrat Falls, if we develop it. It…
Almost half the money (46%) spent on ministerial travel by the municipal affairs department between December 2010 and November 2011 went to cover travel by minister Kevin O’Brien from his…
Paul Oram was a colourful politician. Well, colourful in the sense that he flamed out very quickly. Regular readers of these scribbles will remember him as the guy who had…
Premier Kathy Dunderdale sounded genuinely exasperated last week when she chatted at length with Open Line show host Randy Simms about Muskrat Falls. “Why,” she asked, “would a government want…
Dean MacDonald, the undeclared leader of the provincial Liberal Party spoke to a crowd in Port de Grave district on Saturday night. There’s an account of his speech in the…
In an interview on The Current last week, Anthony Germain asked Premier Kathy Dunderdale why she wasn’t trying to sell Muskrat Falls to people in Newfoundland and Labrador as Danny…
The local Tories were all twitterpated over the weekend with Jim Prentice’s comments about the Lower Churchill. One suspects, of course, that they were loving it all up for the…
Let’s get something clear up front. The provincial government will build a new hospital in Corner Brook. That much shouldn’t be in doubt. The existing Western Memorial Hospital is long…
