Williams had a genuine desire to lift Newfoundland out of its second-class morass when he was first elected. Having encountered all the usual obstacles along the way, however, he has become increasingly volatile. This is regrettable, since it gives the ever-present gallery of negative nellies ample opportunity to shift focus away from the issues and onto the person.There are those of us who would contend that the volatile and hostile rhetoric has been present from the outset. As for the personal, well, that's what the man himself chooses to make the focus of everything. Those who have criticised him personally simply fall into the trap of the Premier's own rhetoric, which is calculated to avoid a discussion of the issues themselves and more particularly whether or not the Premier's approach is the appropriate one.
-SRBP-
Update: Once you've finished with Peter's dilemma, above, consider the silliness offered up as a self-described "brilliant" suggestion from Bill Rowe. For those who don't know, Bill is a non-practising lawyer who recently received his Q.C. and for a brief period was Danny Williams' personal emissary to Hy's.
Rowe suggests in his most recent column that Danny Williams should take a shot at becoming leader of the federal Liberals.
This is funny - fall-down laughing funny - for the following reasons:
1. The job of leading the federal Liberal Party is already taken, by a federalist. Williams' autonomist ideas wouldn't really fit.
2. Williams himself has made savage attacks on the Liberal Party in the past and continues to do so as circumstances warrant. Witness his recent speech in Toronto and the completely fictitious account of the Churchill Falls deal he gave.
3. This is the same Bill Rowe who, not so long ago, seriously proposed that Newfoundland and Labrador should abandon federal Canada and instead merge with an independent Quebec. Rowe didn't think the new state would be federal.
Nope.
Bill thinks it's a brilliant idea to have Newfoundland and Labrador ruled from Quebec City in a unitary state, undoubtedly in which French was the only official language.
Rowe's French is passable but apparently prevented him from reading a biography of Trudeau before writing a column on it. Thank goodness a Globe columnist printed her views two days before Rowe's appeared in print. Otherwise, all we'd have gotten was Rowe's personal reminiscences of the 1968 federal Liberal leadership convention.
Of course that was before Williams became a Progressive Conservative. Odd that Rowe didn't see fit to suggest Williams should revive the old PC party on a national basis. That's something well within the Premier's grasp and, ya know, there might even be a seat for Rowe to run in, if that's what he wanted to do.
It might be nice to see the two Rhodes amigos running as a tag-team of sorts.
Rowe suggests in his most recent column that Danny Williams should take a shot at becoming leader of the federal Liberals.
This is funny - fall-down laughing funny - for the following reasons:
1. The job of leading the federal Liberal Party is already taken, by a federalist. Williams' autonomist ideas wouldn't really fit.
2. Williams himself has made savage attacks on the Liberal Party in the past and continues to do so as circumstances warrant. Witness his recent speech in Toronto and the completely fictitious account of the Churchill Falls deal he gave.
3. This is the same Bill Rowe who, not so long ago, seriously proposed that Newfoundland and Labrador should abandon federal Canada and instead merge with an independent Quebec. Rowe didn't think the new state would be federal.
Nope.
Bill thinks it's a brilliant idea to have Newfoundland and Labrador ruled from Quebec City in a unitary state, undoubtedly in which French was the only official language.
Rowe's French is passable but apparently prevented him from reading a biography of Trudeau before writing a column on it. Thank goodness a Globe columnist printed her views two days before Rowe's appeared in print. Otherwise, all we'd have gotten was Rowe's personal reminiscences of the 1968 federal Liberal leadership convention.
Of course that was before Williams became a Progressive Conservative. Odd that Rowe didn't see fit to suggest Williams should revive the old PC party on a national basis. That's something well within the Premier's grasp and, ya know, there might even be a seat for Rowe to run in, if that's what he wanted to do.
It might be nice to see the two Rhodes amigos running as a tag-team of sorts.