Grab a listen to Max Ruelokke, the designated chairman and chief executive officer of the board that regulates Newfoundland's offshore oil industry and you'll start to see he is the right guy for the job.
Ruelokke was interviewed for CBC Morning Show on Wednesday.
Among his key messages:
1. Ruelokke's appointment is not a recommendation of the Steele committee; it's an appointment in the plain language of the Atlantic Accord (1985).
2. Ruelokke has a letter from the federal minister confirming the appointment.
3. Ruelokke expects that the provincial government will confirm him and that, as good professionals, everyone will shake hands and play nicely together.
4. But Ruelokke's core message was perhaps the most devastating one for the provincial government, the one most likely to persuade them to move this issue forward: Ruelokke's appointment is set out clearly by the Accord. The Accord is the way that the province's offshore is regulated. If one of the two signatories openly flaunts the provisions Accord, that sends a bad signal to the industry.
That's the sort of simple, factual information that lays low any argument put forward as the provincial government stalls on this issue.
It's the kind of simple, sensible guidance you'd expect from a seasoned executive in the public and private sectors.
So let's get on with it already and get Max in the job.
Besides, if Danny just wants Andy involved "in some capacity" as Ed Byrne recently put it in an interview with The Telegram, then let Danny appoint Andy to the open provincial seat on the board. That doesn't require any federal agreement and the seat has been vacant since this whole Andy mess started last year.
Makes you wonder why Danny is hanging up the whole affair when he has had the means to end it at his disposal all along.
