The Emergency Response Disaster #nlpoli
Communities on the northeast Avalon recovered relatively quickly from the worst blizzard in the province’s recorded history. However, the recovery in the City of St. John’s was slower than that…
Edward Hollett
John Crosbie #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Left to Right: Bill Doody, Brian Peckford, John Crosbie, Jane Crosbie,and Beth Crosbie at the 1983 federal PC leadership convention The outpouring of praise in memory of John Crosbie, who…
Patronage and pork #nlpoli
Think of it as classic political news in Newfoundland and Labrador. VOCM headline: “Premier commits to fixing patronage issues in government”. At the same time, some people in Western Labrador…
15 years of The Sir Robert Bond Papers #nlpoli
Today marks the 15th anniversary of The Sir Robert Bond Papers. The first post – 03 January 2005 – described the atmosphere at its birth but, most importantly, gave the…
SRBP on VOCM’s On Target #nlpoli
For those who missed it, your humble e-scribbler appeared on VOCM’s On Target with Linda Swain twice this year. Here are links to the audio in case you missed the…
Borrowed Money and Borrowed Time #nlpoli
Tom Osborne was in Ottawa on Tuesday with his fellow finance ministers trying to squeeze some extra cash out of the federal government. The wealthiest provinces in Canada – Alberta,…
Three books for Christmas #nlpoli
Top Choice Where Once They Stood is arguably the most significant work on modern Newfoundland and Labrador political history in more than 30 years. The fact that it has been…
All three parties in NL gain in polls #nlpoli
The latest poll from Narrative Research shows the distorting effective of disregarding the “undecideds”. The number of people who didn’t pick a political party dropped seven percentages points compared to…
Transitory Records #nlpoli
In dealing with one aspect of the business of getting Carla Foote from Executive Council to The Rooms, deputy minster Ted Lomond suggested to The Rooms CEO that he delete…
Political Foote Ball #nlpoli
Since 2003, the legislature has become more about political theatre than the public interest. This past sitting of the House proves how much that is so. Public discussion of policy…
Chaulk and Cheese #nlpoli
If the members of the House of Assembly vote to accept the reports fromtwo statutory officers as presented they will have to accept that Chris Mitchelmore committed an act that…
Setting minimum wage #nlpoli
The minimum wage should be tied to the economy, predictable, transparent, and removed from political interference. One way of setting minimum wage that meets those criteria would be to take…
A mouthful of burp #nlpoli
Not one mitigation scheme. Not two mitigation schemes. Three mitigation schemes. Delivered by the end of January. All wonderful grand and all believable if you have had the sense knocked…
The Rookies, the House, and the Orchestra Pit #nlpoli
What is reported is seldom what happened even though what happened is far more interesting than the stuff that falls into the orchestra pit. Events in the House of Assembly…
The importance of what we care about #nlpoli
When we do not talk about the most vulnerable people in our society – sex workers and people in homeless shelters to name just two groups – we tell the…
The New Welfare Bums #nlpoli #cdnpoli #ableg
Lunacy is always easier to spot in other people. There is a Liberal conspiracy to rob Alberta of its precious fluids. People in Newfoundland and Labrador got a taste of…
Roger Grimes: the unlikely reactionary #nlpoli
What is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador is not merely polarization in public opinion. Polarization implies that people are within the same community or see themselves as being within the…
Politicians shirk their duty… again #nlpoli
If the Auditor General starts the investigation of wetlands capping as requested by the Public Accounts Committee, then she will be acting illegally. The Auditor General has no authority to…
The Difference between Then and Now #nlpoli
A few months ago, SRBP wrote a two-part piece that described the change in the way politicians, bureaucrats, and the public looked at management and control of offshore oil and…