Python at 40

The first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired 40 years ago this month on the BBC.

Taped first but according to some sources aired third was the original premiere episode titled “Whither Canada?”

It seems appropriate.

Curiously enough, this was also the title of the final major assignment at the National Defence College.  Maybe there was some thus far undiscovered connection.

The first episode aired October 5, 1969.

Graham Chapman died one day shy of 20 years later, on October 4, 1989.  

John Cleese delivered what has become a legendary eulogy for his old writing partner at a memorial service held in December that year.

He very quickly manages to change the tone of the event, as can be seen by the crowd shots as he begins speaking and then hits the jokes.

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The shrimp industry explained

Derek Butler in the Telegram.

As usual there’s way more to the issue than meets the eye.

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The search for a university president: compare and contrast

At McMaster, they started hunted in January and 10 months later came up with a winner.

At Memorial,  it has already taken almost 10 months just to go through the bullshit at the front end designed solely to get people to forget the sheer sh*t-wreck made of your humble e-scribbler’s alma mater in the first go- ‘round.

The only way the Memorial University search committee will find a president before the end of this year is if John Fitzgerald  - Our Man in a Blue Line Cab, seen left, hard at it on the diplomatic circuit - tells Danny he wants out of Ottawa pronto.

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If only they’d read their briefing materials…

While health minister Jerome Kennedy busily backs off decisions he took only a few weeks ago on health care, there is something obviously haphazard and chaotic about the way the current administration is approaching virtually everything they do.

Your humble e-scribbler has noted this before in other policy areas. Equalization is the most obvious subject and, as it turned out, that was a post that was extremely popular.

But in the case of health care, word of the on-again and possibly off-again review of some services makes one want to turn back the clock to 2002.

That’s the year a provincial government with no cash to speak of - and certainly far less than the billion dollar surpluses Jerome! and his buddies have turned up – laid down a simple set of practical guides to health care delivery across the province.

Healthier Together (2002) was touted as a strategic health plan for Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s still available on the health department website. Read together Along with regional profiles produced the following year, you get a very good picture of the health issues in each part of the province and the solutions needed.

If you want to get a sense of how the document could help the government of today, take a look at the section on the organization of the health care regional authorities:

Newfoundland and Labrador is a large geographic area with a highly dispersed population where regions often have different circumstances and needs. This is partly the reason why the province has 14 health care boards.

It is not possible to compare the diversity of this province to the relative uniformity of Winnipeg or Edmonton, where populations which exceed that of Newfoundland and Labrador are serviced by a single health authority. However, if the number of health boards in this province create barriers to proper patient care, then re-examination is needed.

One of the problems both the Premier and the current health minister pointed to was a lack of accurate information they had when making decisions.

Well, the 2002 approach affirmed that decision-making authority on delivery of service belonged to the regions, not to people far removed from where the service was delivered. It also noted that the number of boards allowed gave a system that could take into account the local issues that could get lost in a larger system.

But when you turn to the section on where services would be located, there’s a simple model for health care that could work very easily today. After all, this thing was drafted only seven years and and, as it notes, the health care system currently in place goes back 20 and more years:

Primary health care sites will be the common denominator of service for the whole province. These sites will provide a cluster or network of basic services, plus public health and social services consistent with the mandates of the health and community service boards. Each site will serve a defined geographical region designed to ensure the right number of health professionals to service the population. For example, a minimum of five family physicians will be needed in a primary service site so that coverage can be provided 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week. Therefore, a region should contain no less than 6,000 people and the site should be located so that 95 per cent of the population within that region are within 60 minutes driving time to the site. Depending on the geographic shape of a region or the remoteness of some communities, additional facilities may be located outside the main primary health care site to be serviced by a small complement of staff or by providers who make routine visits to the area.

Doesn’t that sound just a wee bit like Lewisporte?

All this makes you wonder if the turn-over at the senior levels in the current administration has served to rob the government of much-needed corporate memory, the kind of memory that would serve a cabinet well in tough economic times.

That turn-over didn’t come as a result of retirements and normal job changes-over. Rather there seems to be some other force at work producing a parade of ministers in some departments and the ping-ponging of others (finance and justice) while at the public service level there is an equally high level of change. All of it must surely make it very hard to implement a coherent and sustained set of policies over time.

And when people making decisions don’t have a clue about what happened relatively recently or when it is official policy to denigrate everything that occurred before October 2003, it makes the job of running government all that much more difficult.

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Will Danny expropriate this one too?

Kruger is talking cuts and concessions at the major private sector employer in the premier’s own district.

So far, not a peep from the provincial government.

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The Alberta Deficit Fighting Strategy

Where would Albertans be without such sound guardianship of the public purse?

In 2008, give yourself a 30% wage hike.

In 2009, set spending to run a deficit of 11%, later jumping to 20%.

Later in 2009, cut your own salary by 15%.  Cut cabinet pay by 10%.

Freeze the salaries of top civil servants.

Preach restraint.

Easy enough when you are still looking at a net gain of between 15% and 20% on your own pay.

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Randy Simms can relax

So if Randy Simms can get himself into a load of hot water with some people, then we can only wait and watch to see what will happen to Gene Simmons for uttering these bon mots  - among others - about his partner, Shannon Tweed:

Look, it’s the 21st century, and the thing women have been clamouring for is finally upon us: you’re free. You’re no longer indentured slaves. You no longer have to be in the kitchen, or leave the smoking room so the men can talk. And the greatest asset Shannon has is that she’s a modern woman. Besides being stunning, six feet tall and, of course, a Newfie, I worship the ground she walks on. But part of the relationship is that it’s no-nonsense. We don’t call each other “honey” and “sweetheart” and all those clichés. That’s television talk, just a paint-by-numbers relationship. When I talk to her, it’s straight ahead, like an equal partner, and she to me.

Apparently, Gene is smitten because:

This is the hottest woman on earth. And she’s an alpha female. She doesn’t talk about whether the vacuum cleaner works or not. Doesn’t sweat the small stuff. Has a strong moral centre, no drugs, no booze. No whining. No bad hair days.

This should be interesting.

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Fuzzy Logic, cabinet ministers version

Just to recap:

So the Lewisporte health care centre started out as a chronic care and acute care centre at a cost of $22 million.

Then it ballooned to $42 million even before anything got built.

Paul Oram told us all before he quit that government – i.e. cabinet, which presumably includes Jerome and Danny – chopped out all the acute care bits and cut the building cost to $32 million.

That acute care bit included lab and x-ray.

And because the building cost of the project mushroomed and then got cut, the same people decided to slice $200,000 out of the operating budget.

So basically, even before anything got built, lab and x-ray would disappear and would stay disappeared even if nothing got built at all.

And now, even after slicing the building cost to $32 million by eliminating all the acute care stuff, one of the guys who made the cut decision in the first place is now asking the local concerned citizens community to help him find another $2.0 million in cuts so that maybe he’ll give them back the $200,000.

Uh huh.

So the whole thing comes down to finding $2.0 million in savings in a project which already went 110% over budget before anyone could blink and which is still 50% over budget.

Riiiiight.

And so when that $2.0 million disappears in further cost over-runs, what happens then?

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Prissy politics

Anyone ever see a letter to the editor from Dr. Noel Cadigan taking a politician to task for referring to someone as a traitor?

Doubtful you’ll find one.

But Cadigan found a problem with the use of the word “crackie” in reference to health minister Jerome Kennedy.  For those who don’t know, a crackie is a common enough term in colloquial Newfoundland English for a small, yappy dog.  It’s also a common-enough term in Newfoundland politics.

All in all, it is relatively benign.

So benign in fact it that a letter from anyone complaining of its use – save from an elderly maiden aunt who was born in the reign of Queen Anne – stands out.

Cadigan isn’t that pompous, most likely, nor is he quite as sensitive as the letter suggests.  Rather he is using  the coded language of current Newfoundland politics.  Note the lecturing, condescending tone of the letter in the fashion of a prissy school master lecturing an errant lower form boy in a public school. 

Note as well the pointed reference to what the Telegram ought to be doing instead of offering critical commentary in an editorial.

Sound much like Paul Oram?

You get the picture.

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Another tumble coming

People may be cheering the rising loonie.

Some people may be rubbing their hands with glee at the current and forecast prices for crude.

Gold is wonderful, if you own it already.

But, note the references in those articles to “weak fundamentals” and the fact there haven’t been many “signs of a pickup in the underlying oil demand in industrialized countries”.

The same sort of underlying weakness  - particularly in the American economy  - is what fuelled the surges in oil prices before the peak in mid-2008.

Remember what happened after that, right?

Well, get ready again.

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The result of fisheries mismanagement

Once upon a time, Fishery Products International built a state-of-the-art shrimp processing plant that would have provided employment to its work force 48 weeks out of 52.

The project was contingent on the provincial fisheries minister showing some sense in handing out shrimp processing licenses.  It depended on provincial politicians not trying to shift all the displaced cod and other plants with which the province remains grossly oversupplied onto other species like shrimp.

And, as it turned out, it also depended on provincial politicians not actively collaborating with efforts to smash the company that ran the plant and then sell off the bits and pieces – including the highly successful brands and the marketing arm – to anyone who wanted to scoop up the remains.

All it needed was a plant able to complete internationally run by a local fishing company big enough and well enough established to compete successfully around the globe.

That didn’t work, did it?

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Ya got four years, Kurtis

Ralph won this one and he ain’t giving up the seat for  a second try.

Odds are extremely good, though, that this will be his last kick at the political cat.

Bide your time.  Brush up your pitch.  Get some experience under your belt.  Give it another go.

At least you aren’t recycling yourself at the school board.

Ya got four years, Kurtis: 

Use the time wisely.

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Zombieland

Fresh from his humiliating defeat at the hands of Doc O’Keefe, Ron Ellsworth is not content to be politically dead for a moment.

He is playing the political zombie card.

Ron is trying his hand at getting elected – again – to the Eastern School District board. 

He’s running in the zone that matches Ward Four in the City of St. John’s.

Lest you think this makes Ellsworth something special,  Ronnie isn’t alone in being a defeated candidate trying his hand at another elected office. 

Over in the board zone that matches Ward Two, voters can find Scott Fitzgerald.  He ran in said ward just a few weeks ago and was soundly defeated by incumbent Frank Galgay.

Meanwhile, in the zone matching city Ward Three there is George Joyce.  You may recall George ran in the last provincial election against Sheila Osborne in St. John’s West.

And, of course, the guy from Avalon West who is currently the board chair – Milton Peach – is a former Tory cabinet minister from the Peckford years.

Now for people who haven’t held elected office before, the school board can be a way of getting your name around and building up some contacts for a run at something else.

For Scott and even George, then,  there is some sense to this if they have future political ambitions.

But as for Ron, it seems a  bit odd to go backwards  - so to speak - like this.

After all, if he loses this one, where else can he go?

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When all they can offer is an E.A., Terra Nova version

Said it before.

Say it again.

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Yep. Something’s wrong.

Gasoline prices in Newfoundland and Labrador jumped by more than three cents per litre last Thursday.

Interestingly, the prices in this province have taken some wildly leaps up and down over the last while.  But they didn’t flip quite some much on average across the country.

Your humble e-scribbler has always maintained the government gas price-fixing scheme needs to be abolished.  Here’s more evidence.

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Cliffs to buy Wabush Mines

Cleveland-based Cliffs Resources is exercising its right of first refusal to acquire outstanding shares in Wabush Mines from U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittel, according to CBC.

The buy-out comes in response to a bid by Consolidated Thompson for the shares.

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Jerome’s Guarded Language

labradore does yet another commendable job on demographics and recent population increases.

He also dissects the former finance minister’s guarded language when attributing the in-migration trends to a cause.

Basically, Jerome doesn’t.

He talks instead about things that will happen manana.

Tomorrow is a very important concept in the language of Newfoundland politics.  it is when things happen.  Unlike American politics where happy days are here again, Newfoundland politics is a place where good things will come tomorrow. 

We must be ready for a better tomorrow.

Today is a chore to be endured until tomorrow.

Today there must be cuts in health care and so forth, but it will be all worth it, tomorrow.

There are lessons to be learned from here or there that will prepare us for the rapture coming tomorrow.

The Lower Churchill is on the way.  It gets here tomorrow just as it has been getting here tomorrow for 40 years now. Some people aren’t attuned to the local political argot and so get taken for a ride. It’s especially wonderful to read the post on selective perception from 2006 and note the issues that still dog the Lower Churchill three years after the most recent political resurrection of this golem.

Heck, in one sense, Tom Rideout can hardly be faulted for thinking one June that tomorrow was actually four months away.

And tomorrow as we all know is a day that never arrives anyway.  When it does get here it is actually “today”.

Yet for all that, people still wonder why Alice in Wonderland is a good metaphor for Newfoundland politics.

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66 at 6 in 2

Once it was a million dollars, but heck if there was only a half a million there are better things to do with it than give it to Rolls-Royce or any other company that could get along without it and still create jobs in Mount Pearl.

And heck, I wouldn’t be pumping cash into getting more women to have babies. 

I’d put the money into looking after the ones we have and are having. Your humble e-scribbler would support breast feeding in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It’s good, preventive health care.

It helps change attitudes toward women way better than being crude and beating the crap out of Randy Simms for something he didn’t say.

There is a campaign apparently, as this story from The Aurora notes.

"We are launching this campaign in Labrador-City Wabush to highlight the success this region has had in promoting breastfeeding," Ms. Murphy Goodridge said during the launch. "Labrador-Grenfell Health is the first regional health authority in the province to implement a comprehensive regional breastfeeding policy based on international standards. Breastfeeding rates throughout Labrador have always been higher than the rest of the province, so I am here to recognize Labrador-Grenfell Health employees and their community partners on their tremendous success and to encourage them to continue to strive to improve breastfeeding rates. Other areas of the province are looking to replicate your success."

According to the article the province-wide initiation rate is a mere 64%.  That’s up a mere 1.3% since 2006. The old article had an old link to the Breastfeeding Coalition:  here’s the new one.

And initiation isn’t the telling factor.  Three years ago only 11% of mothers who started breast-feeding were still breast-feeding six months later. Women aren’t sticking with it. The rate by 2008 was a mere 12%.  That’s basically no change.

Whatever the ponderous government agencies have been doing ain’t enough.  Maybe we need to free-up the people actually running the programs and get a lot of that health care bureaucracy and stodgie government-ish thinking get out of the way.

And lookit, nothing would work to start our children out healthier than to encourage breastfeeding.

The BFC has a campaign to boost breastfeeding but frankly a few posters ain’t gonna do the job.  The campaign needs to have a much higher profile.  For one thing, there could be a group of prominent local someones in addition to all the other stuff outlined in the BFC strategic plan to help reinforce the message about breastfeeding.

And rather than just talk about the need for supportive environments, people need to start initiating action.  There needs to be a concerted effort to make the workplace more tit-friendly, for example.  There needs to be a much wider effort to make more parts of society accepting of breastfeeding.

So there’s an idea.

Rather than kick Randy Simms in ‘nads for something someone misheard or deliberately misrepresented, maybe someone could have done something positive like asked him about the City of Mount Pearl’s breast-feeding policy. 

Are women councillors who are breastfeeding their children able to do so during a council meeting or a committee meeting? 

What about the provincial government?

Was Charlene Johnson able to get her little one to latch on while Danny was in full rant around the cabinet table?   Not ideal for the digestion, admittedly, but still,  you get the point.

And what was all that with her having to get back to work a mere month after giving birth supposedly – and the emphasis is on supposedly – because there was no maternity leave policy in the House of Assembly?

Pish-posh.

Talk about your unfriendly work environment for women.  Now I may have missed it but I don’t recall anyone from PACSW championing that cause at that time.  There’s one for the government appointed pseudo-bureaucrats to tackle.

But there’s an example of simple issue that directly affects the ability of women to get involved and/or stay involved in many more aspects of life outside the family once they start having children.

Simple.

Practical.

Effective.

And everyone wins in so many ways.

People in Newfoundland and Labrador need to get involved in an effort to dramatically increase the breastfeeding rates in this province.

What’s been going on already is great but it isn’t enough.  Clearly.  Not enough.

So on this thanksgiving weekend, let’s applaud the efforts of the provincial Breastfeeding Coalition.  Let’s applaud Labrador West with the highest initiation rate – 75% – in the whole province.

But let’s recognise that that 75% is still 15% below the national average.

And we need to get some kind of “66 at 6 in 2” drive going to ensure that  within two years, we have 66% of mothers in the province still breastfeeding their infants six months after giving birth.

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Some ideas for 66 at 6 in 2

-  A better website.  It’s do-able and younger families are more likely to use the Internet for information.  The current one is buried away and it doesn’t have the kind of simple stuff you’ll find elsewhere.  A good example of a BF supportive site:  the US government one.  There are lots of others.

-  Paul Daly’s shot is great but there is a need to use a much more aggressive approach with messages tailored to different audiences.  And for mercy sakes don’t post the poster as a pdf.   You can get some ideas from this approach mapped out by students in the UK.

-  Nothing work better at changing attitudes and behaviour than making it clear that the dominant attitude has shifted.  People openly supporting breastfeeding – highlighted by some prominent locals – would start the ball rolling.

-  And just do it.  Nothing will work better than having the women who are breastfeeding just doing it.

Blooms and roses

News reports about a climb in the number of jobs across the country buried a key aspect of the story, as in this example from the Globe.

But there was a catch. Much of the private sector has yet to start hiring again. The job growth was due to 36,000 positions added in the public sector, while the private sector shed 17,100 jobs, in sectors such as transportation, professional services and accommodation. Private sector employment has dropped 3.9 per cent over the past year.

That was paragraph four, long after the stuff about huge gains and ones bigger than expected.

Now this is a rather interesting revelation in light of economic developments in Newfoundland and Labrador.

You see the boom on the northeast Avalon isn’t being fuelled by the offshore.  It’s coming entirely from massive increases in public sector hiring, public sector wage increases and a huge jump in public sector spending.

The most recent round of ‘stimulus’ spending for capital works is just more cash in on top of the gigantic increases in public spending over the past four years. That would be the “unsustainable” ones for those who missed the drama of the past few weeks.

Incidentally, the guy who revelled in boosting spending beyond the levels that the economy could support is back in charge of the cash box.  He proudly noted for listeners of one local call-in show that the province currently outspends Alberta on a per person basis just as it has done for most of the past decade and a half.

Yet for all that, the province just shed 4200 full-time jobs between August and September 2009 and there are 3100 fewer full-times jobs this September compared to last.

All this should lead people to be a bit cautious about predicting the end of the recession and the quick return to happier times. 

Here in this province, the current provincial economy is sustained by huge levels of public sector spending.  But that just isn’t going to work given the anticipated drop in oil production over the next four years.  Even if the global economy rebounds, crude oil prices aren’t likely to hit levels double and triple what they are today:  that’s the sort of prices the provincial government would need to keep up its current spending.

No one should be surprised, therefore, that the premier and his new health minister – the guy who used to be finance minister – just headed out to a by-election and pulled a fast one on the locals.

Come help us figure out cuts to the building cost, they said, so you can keep lab and x-ray services.  What they didn’t point out is that the savings needed are not the $200,000 in annual operating costs but the millions in construction costs.

In Lewisporte, for example, estimated costs for the new combination seniors home and acute care clinic skyrocketed from $22 million to $42 million before they even got to thinking about putting the first shovel in the ground.  In order to contain costs, government scrapped the acute care bit for a saving of $10 million.

But do the math. 

In order to restore the acute care centre and its anticipated cost of $10 million, the locals in Lewisporte will have to cut out one third of the beds – at least – in the new chronic care centre in order to get laboratory and x-ray service back.

So where are those old people supposed to go?

That’s a very good question.

Too bad the current administration doesn’t have an answer even though the problem and a viable solution have been available  - but ignored - for over a decade.

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Darrell Dexter: sucker

From the Chronicle-Herald:

Premier Darrell Dexter had a private meeting Monday with the president of Newfoundland’s energy corporation in an attempt to have electricity from the Lower Churchill Falls hydro project go through Nova Scotia.

Dexter apparently thinks the project is going somewhere and that there is any intention to run a power line through Nova Scotia.

Danny Williams hasn’t even been able to convince Hydro-Quebec to take an ownership stake in the project currently valued – not at $6 billion as claimed by the Herald – but at more like $10 billion. Heck, he even got bitched slapped into an emergency session of the legislature after his legal drafters tried a childish bit of word-play to screw with the 1961 Churchill Falls lease.

On top of that, the province’s finances are apparently so tight they have to cut health care despite having billions flowing in oil revenues. 

There are no – that’s right:  no – customers for the project.  A potential deal with Rhode Island has been buggered up. And that’s something the Premier once described as being “very,very” crucial to the project.

The land claims deal vital to getting the project going is lost in the wilderness.

The timetable on the project has been pushed back repeatedly and there are even rumours swirling now the thing will be sent back for a major environmental overall because the first set of environmental documents submitted to the federal assessment process were grossly deficient.

And, most amazingly of all given Dexter’s efforts to get in at the front end, there just are no plans whatsoever to run a power line from Labrador anywhere near Nova Scotia. 

If the Nova Scotians is fronting any money for this thing or even thinking of dropping cash on the Lower Churchill, he is being snookered, big time.

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Coming soon: the book they tried to suppress

When you care enough to send the very best

As David Pugliese notes, the Americans are speeding up work on the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

Basically, it’s a honking great non-nuclear bomb that buries itself in the ground before exploding.

It’s purpose to reach down to the big, underground concrete shelters of the kind you might find in places like Iran or North Korea.

Let’s just say that it would f*ck up the day of the people inside.

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coughsoundsfamiliarcough

Jeff Simpson sayeth:

In Alberta, swimming in oil and natural-gas revenues, the Conservatives after Peter Lougheed (an old-style conservative) put next to nothing into the Heritage Fund, spent like drunken sailors (as conservatives often do, rhetoric notwithstanding), handed out tax rebates and left the province on its fiscal knees when commodity prices fell.

Boy.

That sounds mighty familiar.

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The Yiddish of Newfoundland Politics: the chutzpah of political hackery

Tory MHA Ed Buckingham reads a prepared talking point on CBC Radio praising Jerome Kennedy and attacking – of all people – the politically deceased John Efford for his comments about recent events in the province.

And Buckingham calls Efford a political hack?

That’s chutzpah.

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The Yiddish of Newfoundland Politics: the chutzpah of monkey-tossing

According to CBC, health minister Jerome Kennedy is saying the by-election in the Straits is bringing to light issues and concerns about health care.

Kennedy says this like he never heard of the issues and concerns before.

But it’s the job of the elected member and his political staff – in this case former cabinet minister Trevor Taylor and his constituency assistant Rick Pelley – to make sure the issues and concerns were known by people like Kennedy.

So basically, Kennedy is saying that Pelley – now the Tory candidate – wasn’t doing his job before now.

Nope.

Kennedy and his boss may have decided to chop health service as part of the budget process but the fact people didn’t like that is really something he never heard tell of before.

And so it took a by-election for Kennedy and his boss to  discover  - oh my Gawd, they’re upset? - that their decision to cut health service Flower’s Cove might cause a bit of consternation for the people in the area.

That’s chutzpah for you.

A result of a  financial decision Trevor and Rick didn’t make is actually is Rick and Trevor’s fault. And no one mentioned this local anger to Trevor before.

Didn’t he read the letter from Labrador-Grenfell?

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Simms in PACSW’s gun sights

Popular and influential talk show host Randy Simms is now firmly in the gun sights of the provincial government’s official advisory organization on women’s issues.

The Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women is planning an opinion piece for the province’s newspapers and is encouraging people on the PACSW e-mail listserv to join in by writing pieces of their own for local papers and calling both Simms and Bill Rowe on air to voice their opinions.

The controversy centres on remarks Simms made Tuesday to Long Harbour deputy mayor Ed Bruce which didn’t make a headline until Simms was challenged on Wednesday, on air, by newbie St. John’s councillor Sheilagh O’Leary.

An e-mail Thursday from PACSW communications director Elaine Condon described her having the “unfortunate task” of listening to Simms’ show Thursday and hearing what she described as “blatant sexism rear its head over and over.”

The e-mail also included the text of a front-page Telegram story by Alisha Morrissey. That’s not online but an earlier BP post linked to an shorter version of the story that appeared yesterday.

What the Telegram story on either day didn’t make clear is that O’Leary was working on the basis of a half-baked version of Simms’ remarks posted on a local blog. 

But as it turns out, the Signal writer also got a half-baked version of events:

I didn't hear it myself and heard it from a third party I trusted. I had never done that before, even for a blog, and I definitely learned my lesson.

Anyway, the transcription is up on Signal now, with a little apology.

And indeed the correct version and an apology has been posted.

The only question that remains is whether or not the half-backed version of Simms’ remarks fed to Signal and O’Leary was an honest misunderstanding in the first place or a deliberate misrepresentation to advance some unknown political agenda.

Simms may well have earned the hatred of some locals for criticising an event featuring only women municipal candidates in the middle of the election. He pointed out that such an event gave an unfair boost some candidates based solely on gender during the campaign and was clearly not in keeping with an effort to encourage more women to come forward as candidates.  Simms might now be targeted for payback as a result of his earlier criticism.

The 11 members of the PACSW governing board are appointed by the cabinet under the Status of Women Advisory Council Act. Under the Act, its permanent staff are covered by the Public Service Pensions Act.

The minister responsible for the status of women is natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale.

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But what does Get to Half mean now?

h/t to I.P. Freely.

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A political object lesson

Not-yet-sworn-in city councillor Sheilagh O’Leary got off to a very rocky start to her political career on Wednesday as she called Open Line Show host Randy Simms to give him an on-air lecture for comments he supposedly made yesterday.

Right off the bat, O’Leary displayed some questionable judgment since she effectively embarrassed Simms on the air.  Had he done something, she could have taken the route of calling him off air.  Simms would have then had the chance to offer a mea culpa on his own, thereby saving a huge amount of face.

As it is, O’Leary put Simms in a corner and he responded according.  The exchange was heated with Simms at one point referring to O’Leary’s comments as bullshit.  O’Leary evidently wasn’t prepared for any push-back and as the thing went on her voice got evidently more tight.  In places she came across as condescending and, contrary to her denials, as an advocate for political correctness of the worst possible sort. 

It’s not where she’d want to be at all politically, as many of the comments on the Telegram story would attest.  Outside of a very small and very narrow group in this town, O’Leary’s attack on Simms will seem to many to be off base and poorly handled.  Most of those those who voted for her may wind up wondering what they got for their efforts if this is the way she goes off right at the start.

And they’d be right.

Those of us who heard Simms’ comments initially could not have taken offense at them.  Anyone who has listened to Simms would understand his sense of humour.

But you don’t have to take the word of your humble e-scribbler.  The Telegram was good enough to give the entire exchange:

“There are two men and five women. Oh, my son you have my sympathy (laughter). You and Gary are not going to get your way on anything, you know that don’t you (laughter). It’s just going to be like being at home, buddy (laughter). We’re being nasty to your lady councillors aren’t we (laughter). No, you’re going to have a good crew out there.”

The problem for O’Leary comes from the fact she got her version not from the horse’s mouth but from a local blog.  They didn’t link it but here’s the post from Signal:

“Five women and two men on your town council? My sympathies go out to you, buddy. You’ll never get anything done; it’ll be just like home”

Big difference when you make the edits, isn’t it?

Sheilagh didn’t take the minute to double check the information or to call Randy and give him the chance to back down on his own.

She launched into him live, on the air and without warning.

Bad move.

It’s a political object lesson for the newbie councillor in how to handle issues and political relationships.  This is especially the case, as here, where the thing involves someone who is potentially a very influential and supportive ally in provincial politics. 

You see, the couple of people who gave O’Leary this story may have been heartened by her call but in the long run this sort of thing can damage the chances of achieving their goals.  An experienced politician might have handled it differently. 

An experienced politician would have recognised that it is far more effective and far more desirable to have Randy Simms promoting – for example  - getting more women involved in the elected side of politics.  There may be other issues on gender or access where Simms’ support would carry a lot of way. 

It isn’t a question of compromising principles but rather of sacrificing a first blush and admittedly amateurish impulse in order to achieve a larger goal.

O’Leary  - understandably – made the noob mistake.

The sensible thing for her to do would be to call Randy publicly and sort the thing out quickly.

And the next time think before picking up the phone to a call in show.

Oh yes, and here’s a big one.

Find someone she trusts who has more experience in politics who she can rely on for advice.  She’s at the start of what could be a long and promising political career.  If she settles in, that will be the case.

O’Leary’s voters were looking for a Shannie. If she does more of what her voters heard on Wednesday, they might wonder if they instead got a politician more along the lines of …shall we say… the opposite of Shannie.  And Heaven knows St. John’s had enough of that kind of politics before it got a better paying job.

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Kremlinology 6: the curious last days of Paul Oram

On September 10, 2009, then health minister Paul Oram gave a version of the health care cuts decision that contradicted what his boss was saying.

On September 21, 2009, then health minister Paul Oram said that his own administration had boosted spending to levels that were unsustainable.

That was an amazing admission that the province’s finances were in such a horrendous state.  Until then virtually every cabinet minister had claimed the opposite.

Paul’s talk of cuts prompted your humble e-scribbler to remind the universe of a previously unsuccessful health minister whose daughter now works for the Premier and of the current Premier’s own phrase when talking about a previous administration.  But that was just fun.

On September 29, 2009, then justice minister Tom Marshall turned up on a local call-in show to discuss the province’s finances.

Marshall said a whole bunch of things that tended to affirm Oram’s statement, although Marshall – who had been finance minister for the highest of the high-spending years never actually said the word “unsustainable.”

But notice that it was Marshall delivering the message.

Not Jerome Kennedy, the guy actually holding down the title of  finance minister at the time.

But Tom Marshall, the former finance minister, calling from his ministerial office in Corner Brook.

This was the day Danny headed off for a gigantic swan hobnobbing with the international environmental hoi-polloi that ran from the 30th of September to October 2.

On October 1st – and despite his previous insistence that the cuts at Flower’s Cove and Lewisporte were carved in stone - Paul restored at least some of the previous cut in Flower’s Cove.

Danny got back on the weekend.

On Monday, Paul told Danny he was leaving.  That’s by Paul’s own version of  the timing.

Paul heads off to Buchans for an emergency town meeting, called very hastily by the provincial government Tuesday morning.

The next morning, Oram ends it all, politically, in front of the House of Assembly.

Of course, Oram has some cock and bull set of talking points about health issues and the pain his family suffered and the evils of the CBC none of which explained why he was not only bailing out of cabinet but hauling ass out of politics altogether.

Oram was slitting the wrists of his own political body and yet he was blaming someone else for wielding the blade.

One of the examples Oram cited as painful was having his wife’s name on the television news in connection with the family business.

Odd that Paul Oram backbencher had no trouble with his wife’s picture and name being in a Labrador newspaper when she and her husband travelled to Labrador west talking about opening a new personal care home in the area.  Anyone got a picture of that to share for posterity?

But that’s to get away from the real oddity here namely the appearance of the former finance minister a week or so before he got the job back again to tackle a finance issue when there was a perfectly serviceable finance minister more than capable of sorting out the whole issue.  And to really add to the oddity, the formerly serviceable finance minister has now become the health minister.

The timing and the comments all seem a little curious.

One of the Premier’s most loyal foot soldiers leaving politics so quickly is highly unusual in itself.

The context might make it more unusual.

And if that’s the case, then Paul’s reference to Danny Williams as having been a father figure to him? 

Well, that’s just likely to give a body the heebie jeebies. 

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Jerome! gets his dream job

Jerome Kennedy is the new health minister.

There was talk a year or so ago that Kennedy was anxious to move into the high pressure job as a way of proving himself on the way to the Eighth Floor.

He didn’t get his wish at the time, what with the Premier stuffing him in finance instead.

Well, a short while later Jerome got his dream job.

And he won’t have quite the same commute as his predecessors did when cabinet meetings were on.

Interestingly enough, the Premier didn’t take the opportunity to replace Trevor Taylor who quit last week.

Instead, the acting minister of transportation will carry on.  Tom Marshall will go back to finance and Felix Collins will get the minister’s job in justice.

There won’t be a permanent replacement for Trevor until some unspecified time later, apparently.

Curious.

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No slack for Oram from reporters

Paul Oram left politics entirely today blaming ill health and the news media who apparently hounded him and his family.

That second one never lasted a second as reporters quite rightly pointed out that oram himself and his boss have said far worse about their political enemies than any reporter ever said about either one.

Watch the scrum down the right hand side of the cbc.ca/nl website.

The reporters cut him no slack, in other words and nailed his bullshit about the media for what it was.  He mentioned the coverage of his conflict of interest, in particular during the scrum. 

There are still many questions left by Oram’s sudden departure.

Why did he leave so hastily, leaving the Premier so little time to lash together a replacement scheme that he couldn’t even replace Trevor Taylor properly?

Why did Oram opt to quit entirely when he could have asked for a temporary leave from cabinet until he got his blood pressure under control?

Why did Oram leave politics altogether?  The back bench is not a hard spot and Oram could have taken the pause to get his health in order. 

As with Trevor’s departure there is much more to this than meets the eye.

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Breaking: Oram to commit hara kiri?

Embattled health minister Paul Oram is holding a newser in 15 minutes to discuss his political fate.

That’s usually code for announcing his resignation.

If he resigns quickly that would cause another by-election before Christmas but it would certainly be the second high profile cabinet minister to resign unexpectedly within the space of two weeks.

 

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Tom Hedderson, Time Lord

Ever the eagle eye, labradore has noted that Tom Hedderson is the latest provincial cabinet minister to have problems with time.

Tom Rideout thought tomorrow was a day months in the future.

Tom Marshall thinks that half a day of cursory mentions of a bill in the legislature in 2007  is widely debating something.

Now Tom Hedderson’s make-work project for fishermen announced just within the past few days has an application deadline last July:

  

And Tom issued a news release just yesterday claiming this was the best make work project in the province’s history.

Sure.

It could be.

If people can travel backwards in time to get the application in.

You just cannot make this stuff up.

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The Deader Sea Scrolls

A mere six years ago this month, the Provincial Conservatives were on the campaign trail promising to bring a new approach to the province’s affairs.

In light of recent events, it’s useful to recall what they promised way back then if only to see just exactly how much they haven’t accomplished. For the record, here are the Tory fishery commitments, found stuffed in a bunch of old Kraft Cheez-Whiz jars in a cave somewhere along the coast. Contrary to rumour it wasn’t in Tors Cove.

This is the batch of Tory promises on the fishery from 2003, word for word as they appeared in the Blue Book.  The notes in Italics are comments by your humble e-scribbler.  In some cases, it’s pretty clear what happened but in others there may well be things that slipped by unnoticed.

If someone can update or correct the information, by all means do so.  Credit should go where it is due, if it is due.

FISHERIES

A healthy fishing industry must play a leading role in Newfoundland and Labrador's long-term economic well-being. It is the Province's largest private-sector employer. Entire regional economies are based on the sustainable harvesting and processing of fisheries resources, and transportation, fuel, technology and service industries rely on the business the fishing industry generates.

Sound and Scientific Fisheries Management

The industry must be restructured and managed to avoid the disasters of the past and adapt to the opportunities of the future. In particular, a shared fisheries management structure should be developed that will merge federal-provincial policy and management responsibilities into a complementary process for better conservation and management of the resource. It also requires fisheries policies based on the best available scientific evidence, enforcement of Canadian conservation measures, and monitoring by Canada of all fishing activity on the continental shelf.

A Progressive Conservative government will pursue a Canada - Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries Agreement for a decision-making process in which the federal and provincial governments work in partnership for the sustainable management of the fisheries.

[BP Note:  Did they even try for that one?  Bitching doesn’t count since they also promised a better relationship with the feds based on rationality not  and name-calling.]

Research and Development

The fishery is undergoing dramatic changes. Cod and other ground fish have collapsed. Stocks of snow crab and shrimp have expanded dramatically. Changes of such magnitude require precise, up-to-date scientific information on the marine ecosystem, the sustainable harvesting of fish stocks, and efforts to restore naturally reproducing populations.

Scientists and economists also play a leading role in establishing new directions for fisheries management through research into underutilized species and new value-added marine products, innovative harvesting and processing technology, successful marketing strategies, aquaculture, and the use of marine genetic resources for pharmaceutical and commercial applications.

A Progressive Conservative government will establish a Fisheries Science and Management Research Institute at Memorial University that will provide scientific, technical, and economic support for the sustainable development of Newfoundland and Labrador marine fisheries and aquaculture. The multi-disciplinary Institute will:

• Undertake research and establish links with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, other federal and provincial agencies, fish harvesters, and experts around the world to provide decision-makers with the research-based information they need to develop sound fishery management policy.
• Supply the industry with product, technology, market and economic research and information needed to diversify and improve value-added production.
• Find out how resource management decisions affect people and communities.

[BP Note:  This was such a great idea they made essentially the same commitment again in 2007, albeit in a much more modest form:

• provide $6 million for fishing industry research and developmental work over the next three years, which will include work associated with the development of new species, new products, new markets and new techniques to harvest, handle, process and market our marine fish resources. [Emphasis in the original]

Foreign Fishing on the Nose and Tail of the Grand Banks

For the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, the fish stocks on our continental shelf could be fished indefinitely with proper management, while foreigners see them as stocks to be harvested intensively until they are no longer economically profitable, or are fished to extinction. These conflicting values underscore the need for Canada to extend its management over the entire continental shelf and to regulate both the domestic and international fishery for sustainable development.

• A Progressive Conservative government will carry out nation-wide public information campaigns aimed at persuading Ottawa to take custodial management over the Nose and Tail of the Grand Banks, and to undertake whatever regulatory and enforcement activities are necessary to manage sustainable fisheries on the entire continental shelf.

[BP Note:  nation-wide information campaigns?  Anyone recall seeing anything that looked like that?]

A Sustainable Seafood Processing Sector

Seafood processors have to deal with resource scarcity, different species, and markets that are more oriented to value-added products than ever before. Consumers clearly prefer a variety of products that require a minimum of time and effort to prepare and retain as much of their original appearance and taste as possible.

For today's consumers, value-added not only means further processing of raw materials but also consistent quality standards in handling, packing and transporting seafood products. Added to these trends are new applications for marine products in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, and many other new and useful biochemical commodities.

Workers in our processing plants are plagued with low incomes and inconsistent employment. Part of the solution to this chronic problem is in doing more with what we have and finding new uses for that which we have not utilized in the past. A Progressive Conservative government will implement a comprehensive strategy to improve the viability of our industry and increase employment levels in the Province by:

• Requiring value-added processing where it is economically feasible and putting greater emphasis on retail packs where possible. [BP Note:  This look familiar to anyone?]
• Promoting utilization of a variety of marine species in food processing, as well as new industrial uses of marine products in pharmaceuticals, biomedicines, and other chemical products.
• Forming partnerships with industry to implement an international procurement program to secure primary seafood products for local seafood processing plants. [BP Note: How about this one? Finding raw materials overseas to push through local plants.  Did they even try that?]
• Encouraging local investment in fishing enterprises and related industries, and requiring fishing enterprises to register and maintain their head offices in the Province.  [BP Note:  Does breaking up FPI count as the complete opposite of this?]
• Restructuring the harvesting and processing sectors of the industry around the principles of resources sustainability, adjacency, quality assurance and economic viability. [BP Note:  Just going out on a limb that this never got out the door.]

Quality Assurance and Marketing

Quality control is important for the fish processing industry, which is heavily export-oriented. Maintaining high standards of food quality and food safety is necessary to retaining access to international markets, and adds millions of dollars to the value of our annual seafood production.

A Progressive Conservative government will upgrade the Quality Assurance Program to include a mandatory quality control system for handling fish and seafood products intended for export that meets the highest international standards for food quality and safety.

As international markets become increasingly competitive, we must ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador seafood is at the forefront of the global marketplace.

A Progressive Conservative government will work with industry to develop and implement a comprehensive, long-term marketing strategy aimed at promoting the Province's seafood industry with a goal of increasing sales in world markets. Promoting the quality of our seafood product is key to successful marketing, and must play a pivotal role in the strategic plan. The strategy would also include the following:

• Providing processors with the marketing expertise required to successfully promote and market products.
• Developing effective techniques for promoting the quality of seafood products in national and international markets through trade missions, product promotions and trade shows.
• Facilitating the sharing of ideas and experiences in the interest of enhancing the marketing of Newfoundland and Labrador seafood products. [BP Note: Again, just thinking here that the destruction of FPI and the sale of the marketing arm to a Nova Scotia company, along with all the well-established and recognised international brands would be pretty much the opposite of this policy plank.]

The Province will also acquire the necessary expertise to participate in Canadian trade negotiations through NAFTA, the European Common Market, and Asian countries to ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador seafood products have fair access to markets in the United States, Europe and Asia.  [BP Note:  Seeing this commitment in 2003 just makes the whole thing about European trade all the more whack-o.]

Aquaculture

Many of the Province's wild fisheries are either fully- or over-exploited, and those remaining have to be harvested on an ecologically sustainable basis, which means the volume of wild fish landed around the world will be well below the market demand for seafood products.

Aquaculture offers the main prospect of filling this gap, and will be a significant contributor to the economy of coastal regions in the future. Farmed products are rapidly replacing declining wild species on the international seafood market. Since 1990, values have doubled to over $75 billion.

Although this Province is an important player in the wild fisheries, it accounts for only a tiny fraction of world aquaculture production. Considerable development will be required over the coming years to establish Newfoundland and Labrador farmed fish and shellfish as a viable addition to wild fishery supplies in domestic and international markets.

Aquaculture can be a financially viable industry in this Province and operate within environmentally sound parameters. We have the site capacity to become the largest producer of aquaculture products in Canada, which would bring related economic activity and thousands of jobs to dozens of communities along our coasts.

A Progressive Conservative government will facilitate the expansion of profitable and sustainable aquaculture enterprises in the Province through:

• Support for scientific research to identify potential new locations, develop technologies, investigate potential environmental problems, and cultivate robust stocks of existing and new species, so that the industry can produce better quality products and receive better prices.
• Incentives to promote long-term venture capital investments in aquaculture enterprises.
• Development of high levels of skill and knowledge in the technical, business and marketing aspects of the industry.
• Working with the industry to raise standards and improve efficiency so as to secure a profitable and sustainable future for aquaculture enterprises.

[BP Note: Here’s the one place where the current administration has done fairly well.  They’ve dropped large chunks of cash into aquaculture and managed to lure a major player into the local scene.  Then again, this was the easiest thing to accomplish.  It only required throwing money into it and that’s pretty much the one thing they had plenty of.

-srbp-

Vacuous, 2009 edition

Political media commentary in Canada is usually funny.

Lately, commentary on federal politics is even funnier.

Example The First:   Winston Smith makes several cogent observations which should  - among other things - put to death that always laughable Connie excuse that the news media are biased in favour of the Liberals.  Read Winston.  He’s always sharp as a tack. he’s not the funny stuff;  the people he’s writing about are funny, albeit not meaning to be laughable.

Example The Second:  the bevy of comment in many quarters prompted by the Prime Minister’s recent tickling of the ivories at the National Arts Centre.  Again, unintentionally risible.

You got your American bloggers of the conservative variety.

You got your locals of the something variety, including the line “I am growing more and more impressed with Stephen Harper.”   Now just note that for what it’s worth.  If that comment is coming from that source, be sure that there will be no ABC campaign in the next federal election.

But anyway…

There are news stories and columns all over the place.

Only one journalist so far has nailed the point about the whole NAC thing and she did so this morning with a pithy line to the effect that the piano is the latest version of the sweater vest.

In other words, it’s a contrivance.  Sure the guy plays the piano but the entire episode was designed to create exactly the commentary it is generating.

As great as that is, it is a sure sign of just how vacuous is the political landscape that the biggest national story is that the PM can bash out a Beatles tune on the nearest Yamaha.

It’s as irrelevant to the universe as the claim the Liberals are on a campaign to bring the government down or any protest that Jack Layton and his Dippers propped up Stephen Harper just recently because they could score some dough for their peeps.

All three federal political parties are suffering from a gross leadership problem the proof of which is the fact that the big news out of Ottawa is about Denis Coderre, a non-election scare and a guy who took music lessons.

In the meantime, just think about the stuff that none of them are actually talking about.

Anyone been following economic news lately, for example?

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Oh, how far the mighty have fallen

In 2003:  a bevy of promises designed to restructure and rebuild the fishing industry.  Heady days were those:  “The industry must be restructured and managed to avoid the disasters of the past and adapt to the opportunities of the future.”

In 2009, the provincial fisheries minister can only defend his government’s policy by saying they have come up with the best make-work scheme ever:

This is the first time that the province has provided a CEEP program for harvesters and it is the best program the province has ever provided for plant workers. [Emphasis added]

Could there be any more astonishing an admission of the abject failure of the provincial government to deal with the fishery?

Well, that would be the laundry list of subsidies, money and other spending on the fishery in lieu of that restructuring and management promised in 2003.

Hand-outs are – by their nature – evidence of a government that has run out of ideas and/or political ability.

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R’uh R’oh, the people version

it took a bit but labradore has laid waste to the latest bit of silliness coming from some quarters about the Glorious Growth of In-Migration.

There’s even a nice little graph that shows that since 1961 upticks in in-migration coincide with recessions.  Not surprisingly, the most recent uptick is the biggest and coincides with what the late lamented Tory Trevor Taylor described as the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The diaspora returneth not to the homeland after all, it seems.

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An admission of abject failure

A quarter of a century ago, Doug House and the Royal Commission on Employment and Unemployment heard time and again of the the need to get rid of make-work programs. 

Qualifying people for federal employment insurance benefits promoted a culture of dependence and destroyed innovation and self-reliance.

Some 17 years ago, the province’s Strategic Economic Plan introduced a bold, new approach in order to bring about fundamental changes within Newfoundland and Labrador.  There’d be no more make work and government free gifts to businesses.  Neither one worked to produce sustainable jobs.

Less than a decade after the Royal Commission – with the change of administration in 1996, in fact -  things were heading back to the old ways of megaprojects and make-work schemes.

In 2003, there was a new crowd, who supposedly had a plan called the New Approach.  Some of it seemed familiar.  Doug House came back and then left again.

Nothing changed.

It’s still megaprojects,  make-work and more make-work and handouts to business, hand-outs to business, hand-outs to business, hand-outs to business and hand-outs to business.

Oh, and let’s not forget hand-outs to business.

And hand-outs to business.

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The race is on in the Straits

We can all know for sure because not only did the leader of the provincial Tory party announce it, the former president of the party “confirmed” it.

Did Paul Reynolds think we didn't trust Danny or something?

This should be an interesting race.

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Innovation?

A 10 minute video from the provincial government’s energy monopoly corporation is titled “Innovation in Renewable Energy”.

So what’s so innovative about damming off a river to generate electricity and running transmission lines to market?

Why nothing at all, of course, and in the case of the Lower Churchill project, the ideas from transmission line running around Quebec to the entire project itself have all been around for about 45 years.

There’s even the highly unimaginative and incorrect claim that running a power line down to Soldier’s Pond will “displace” the diesel generators at Holyrood.

And the project is a heckuva long way from starting if the current trends continue.

The only real innovation mentioned is in the discussion of the Ramea wind-hydrogen-diesel test project. 

But that’s one project, it’s a small project and it’s more than five years away from anything significant.  Meanwhile, the rest of the world is much farther along in developing alternative energy technologies.

Maybe what the provincial government should be doing is figuring out a way to turn bullshit into energy.  If that was the case, videos like this show they’ve already got a powerhouse that could displace the entire global output of greenhouse gases until the end of time.

At least when it comes to the Lower Churchill, the current administration has shown it is highly adept at recycling  even if it’s complete lack of planning beyond what was done 20 years ago is painfully obvious.

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When all they can offer is an E.A.…

There’s something about the life of provincial political parties that gets to be a bit predictable.

Like you can tell how healthy the party in government is by how successfully it attracts high quality, high profile candidates into its ranks after the first general election when it takes power.

You see one of the jobs the leader of a party gets to do is find candidates.  They get to pick the people or approve of the people who run for the party.  Leaders of parties in power usually have an easier time, but the leader still has some work to do in spotting talent and bringing it forward. 

Now some people like to think otherwise.

You’ll see comments in the local media lately that Hisself would not work with some of the current governing crop if this were his own private business.  But the thing is that Hisself actually did pick ‘em all.  And even if there were a couple he didn’t recruit to run or approve to run and work to get elected, he certainly picks the people who serve in his cabinet.

And it’s not just the health of parties in power that shows up in candidate selection.  Take a party like the provincial New Democrats during the leadership of the fellow now in Ottawa helping  Jack Layton keep Harper and the Connies in power.  Every by-election and general election seemed to come like a total surprise to them. The party never seemed to grow and never seemed able to capitalise on a couple of noteworthy successes in the 1980s.

Ditto the Liberals in the aftermath of 2003 or for that matter in Trinity North before the fellow changed teams.

Take a look at the pending by-election in the Straits and White Bay North. Just ignore the fact that the seat is vacated with unseemly haste by a fellow Danny Williams has come to rely on as a bit of an attack crackie alongside John Hickey.

Just notice that even though the seat used to be held by a Tory big-wing and even though said big-wig was looking to bail about six months ago and even though he made a firm decision a month ago, the best the Tories could come up with to replace Trevor was the guy who was Trevor’s constituency assistant.

You won’t see much mention of that in media stories on Rick Pelley but that’s who he was until today.

Now some executive assistants can wind up being superlative politicians in their own right.  But there’s something about a guy bailing out and his EA being the  one to get the nomination that makes you scratch your head.  Maybe what’s really so noticeable here is that Pelley is running a mere six years after these guys got to power.

Maybe it’s because the first Tory EA to run and get elected was in 2007, a mere four years after the party took power.  back in the 1990s, the Liberals got through two terms before the first executive assistants started turning up as candidates.  Before that there were fresh faces.

Now maybe there’s nothing to this at all beyond the original questions raised by the way Golden Boy Trevor Taylor bailed in the first place.

But still, maybe you only have to look at the stark contrast between what Taylor said back in 2001 and how things turned out to find out why the Tories got the candidate they got in this case:

I want to ensure The Straits & White Bay North is poised to ride the wave that's about to wash over this province. This is no time for backroom silence and backbencher obedience. Now is the time for the district to take a bold step in a new direction. It's a time for someone who will speak up loudly and effectively for this district, and people know that's exactly what they'll get in electing me.

Electing Trevor’s EA hardly would seem like a bold step in a new direction.

And as for that bit about backbencher obedience, well, these days everyone pretty well knows how much of a joke Trevor’s words turned out be.

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And you think Hisself has it bad

As much as some people like to moan about The Racket, there were a couple of things this past week to show that that self-serving load-of-crap bit of whinging for what it is.

First, Arnold told an audience at the Governors’ climate conference in California that it was worth putting up with all the shit he takes as governor because he wants to give something back to the state that has given him everything. 

Yes, there are people looking for more government money and people complaining about him and people poking into his life, but darn it, everything he has – from his success as an actor to his family – are attributable to California.

Yes people, real leaders don’t bitch about a job they volunteered for six years ago.

Second, not a single person during the entire period since 2001 has dared ask Hisself a question even vaguely as outrageous as the one faced by Gordo Brown earlier the week:

Heck they have a hard time putting a real question to Ole Twitchy sometimes let alone getting an answer.

Even people asking simple stuff like how many people went with him on the swan to California and how much it cost taxpayers get told to file an Access to Information request.

At least the crowd that surround Hisself have a sense of humour.

And trucks keep on rolling

Fire truck month is turning into a regular occurrence.

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A modern method of deciding

For all those people who find it a little silly to be picking a winner out of a hat, labradore notes that the current municipal elections law passed the House of Assembly at high speed in May 2001.

As to the charge of antiquity... the Act was shepherded through the Bow-Wow Parliament as Bill 7 in 2001. It received First, Second, and Third Reading, Committee Stage, and Royal Assent, in the present, 21st, century.
So, what did the Members have to say about the tie provisions when it came before them for their measured and serious examination?

Hansard records the eloquent and passionate debate for posterity; reproduced here in its entirety:

“On motion, clauses 55 through 96 carried.”

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Of course he’s unbiased and non-partisan

From the 2003 Progressive Conservative Party news release launching their blueprint campaign platform:

The plan has also been vigorously studied by Wade Locke, an independent economist and Memorial University professor, who endorses the plan as a positive step for the province.

In a letter to Williams, Mr. Locke stated, "I find the ideas contained in the Blue Book 2003 to be progressive and encompass a vision that holds great promise for the economic future of Newfoundland and Labrador. I find the balance between the business/economic initiatives and the social/cultural approaches to be encouraging.... Should you be successful in implementing your vision, current and future Newfoundlanders and Labradorians stand to gain significantly."

Musta been a smelter in there or a can opener?

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Americans look to home-grown hydro

The United States can generate an additional 70,000 megawatts of electricity by upgrading existing hydro facilities according to U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu.

The juice would come from newer, more efficient turbines and other technologies that would goose more energy without having to undertake megaprojects and risk additional environmental damage.

This further dims the prospects for the Lower Churchill as the Americans are looking at a wide range of ways to meet future energy needs. 

It also reinforces the idea that megaprojects like the Lower Churchill just aren’t considered to be green anymore.

The Americans are developing real energy plans.  That is they are developing ways of meeting their energy needs in environmentally friendly ways and by encouraging ingenuity. 

By contrast what is called an energy plan locally is nothing more than justifying a bunch of decisions already made to produce a megaproject called the Lower Churchill and create ways of stymieing any development that isn’t controlled by a large, ponderous government monopoly.

h/t RenewNewEngland.

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Dear Ralph: resign

Ralph Wiseman was screwed either way.

On election night, the veteran politician lost his seat as mayor of Paradise to a 19 year old up-start.  he lost by a mere three votes.

So Ralph asked for a recount.

If the recount affirmed his loss, he was out of a job.

If the recount put him on top, then Ralph could only stay in office dogged by the knowledge he had pissed off enough of his residents that they would rather see a kid run the place before him.

He’d be the lamest of lame ducks for four years.

But now Ralph Wiseman has found a way to screw himself in a whole new and even more politically painful way.

After today’s recount, Wiseman and challenger Kurtis Coombs were tied.

So someone drew a name - no shit; that’s what they did  - and Wiseman is back.

Holy Dead Duck, Wise-man.

Ralph is foolish to be grinning and claiming he won fair and square.

Maybe he did, but there’s no mistaking the fact that right now Wiseman does not have the comfortable support of a majority of the people of  the town called Paradise. His election lacks legitimacy.

Wiseman got the job because someone pulled his name out of a hat.  What’s next, election at the local amusement arcade?  Break the balloon with this blunt dart and you could win a cheap stuffed toy or be mayor of the fastest growing town in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The only thing for Wiseman to do if he wants to govern is  resign.  Resign and cause a by-election to take place for the mayor’s seat.  Call it a run off.  Maybe someone else will come forward.  Maybe no one will.

But at least at the end of the contest Wiseman can say the choice was unmistakeable and democratic.  In a healthy  democracy, only the voters get to make the choice. 

As it stands right now, Wiseman stands to have nothing but political trouble for the next four years.  At the very least he’ll be a laughing stock across town and across the province.

And frankly, having  accepted this ridiculous way of settling the tie, Wiseman deserves every ounce of grief, every snicker he gets.

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Lahey on the lam

A Roman Catholic bishop accused of possessing and importing child pornography is still at large.

Raymond Lahey resigned abruptly last week as the bishop of Antigonish. Turns out child porn had turned up on his laptop when it was examined by border services agents when Lahey returned to Canada via Ottawa.

There’s a Canada-wide warrant for Lahey.

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Anderson cops to 90K; Walsh files for bankruptcy

Another spending scandal player has copped a plea.

Wally Anderson, the former Liberal member for Torngat Mountains admitted to fraudulently receiving about $90,000.  That’s a fraction of the total he was accused of obtaining and there is no admission he engaged in bribery like former Tory cabinet minister Ed Byrne.

There’s another difference.  Anderson claims he never pocketed any of the cash himself.  Byrne funded his party with the illegal gains in addition to funnelling the money to his own benefit.

Anderson will be sentenced on Friday.  The Crown is seeking up to two years less a day, a sentence on par with the Byrne plea agreement.  The Crown’s rationale for sentencing is interesting:

"Mr. Andersen is clearly a respected individual in the area he represented," said lawyer Frances Knickle. "But that's what makes this so troubling. We are not talking about a crime of impulse but something that was done deliberately over many years."

That’s interesting because in Byrne’s case, he was the leader of the party and leader of the opposition at the time of the crimes. Some of his activity involved illegally funded his party, and the scope of Byrne’s illegal activity isn’t known.  How much money was directed to his party simply hasn’t been revealed and may never be known.

Meanwhile, former Liberal cabinet minister Jim Walsh  - another one of the spending  scandal accused - has filed for bankruptcy in an Alberta court.  Walsh apparently now resides in Alberta.  Bankruptcy would frustrate efforts to recover any of the money in the event Walsh is found guilty.

During his trial, Walsh has acknowledged receiving thousands more than permitted by his allowance limits but is claiming he isn’t responsible.

His trial continues in November.

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