Rectifying history

The past is whatever the Party chooses to make it....
If the facts say otherwise then the facts must be altered.

George Orwell, 1984

Apparently someone at Confederation Building read 1984 - or more likely saw the movie - and didn't get the point.

One of the major activities of The Party's Ministry of Truth was the constant rewriting of history to conform to whatever mythology The Party was spreading at the moment, especially about Big Brother.

Witness the latest Newspeak utterance from the Premier's propaganda department announcing the by-election for Labrador West.

"It is a pleasure to announce that residents of Labrador West will have the opportunity to go to the polls and vote for new representation on March 13," said Premier Williams. "The legislation was amended in 2004 to ensure a district does not go without representation for a prolonged period of time."

Seems that some Winston fouled up. He or she was supposed to go back and amend all the previous amendments to the amendments to conform to the current distortion. The factual material would then be dropped down the memory hole whence it could not escape.

A quick check of the 2004 changes to the Elections Act shows that the time to call a by-election was reduced from 90 days to 60 days. The original version was introduced by the Wells administration in 1992. Prior to that the government could wait pretty much as long as it pleased to call a by-election. That's what happened in 1987 when Clyde Wells was elected leader of the Liberal Party. The Tories decided to delay the by-election in Windsor-Buchans as long as they could. So, as premier, Wells introduced changes to the Act to prevent that kind of abuse.

Danny didn't have to wait that long to get his seat in the House.

The Williams change was a cosmetic change at worst. At best, the changes brought in by Danny Williams were inconsequential, tiny, insignificant even, at least when it comes to ensuring that the people of any part of Newfoundland and Labrador were properly represented in the House of Assembly in a timely way once a vacancy had occurred.

Only The Ministry would view it otherwise.

By the looks of it though, someone will be sent off for re-education.

Of course, he/she and his/her error will be erased as if they never existed.