That projection is based on the latest CRA poll results.
As an aside, does CRA poll results actually qualify as news any more? The numbers have been roughly the same for so long, it hardly seems to be new information to say that they are the same as they have been for over a year.
Anyway...
labradore wonders about the state of the current opposition and likens the whole thing to the 1966 general election. Joe Smallwood's Liberals swept all but three seats and interestingly enough, the 1966 election marked the entry to provincial politics of both Clyde Wells and John Crosbie.
Do you still think it's smart politics not to be vocal and unrelenting in your criticism of, and opposition to, Danny Williams?Strong opposition parties are not necessarily a feature of Newfoundland and Labrador politics and the post-1966 House of Assembly might well be a good thing to look at.
The Tories at the time weren't renowned for opposing the Premier and on the Churchill Falls project, the whole thing received unanimous support of the legislature. Now times change and perspectives change.
Even people who sat at the cabinet table in the late 1960s will scarcely acknowledge today what they backed at the time.
Eh, Bill?
The pattern in local politics seems to be the emergence of a caudillo around whom virtually all rally. Smallwood. Peckford. Tobin. Williams.
In between are leaders of a different character and style.
The strong opposition suggested by labradore supposes that the members of the opposition are capable of developing or want to develop a position which is different from what the majority appears to want. This isn't a specific comment about one party or another or even the individuals involved.
Rather it is to point out that all too often the opposition members are inclined to present the sort of comment heard yesterday in the House of Assembly. The discussion was on the new energy and hydro corporation bills. The opposition parties were looking for a background briefing from the government side on what was contained in the bills. Even if a facetious comment, this line gives a clue to the fundamental problem:
"I learn a lot better if I have someone to basically point it out."The opposition parties apparently cannot figure out what a bill means without help from the people drafting it.
Have they no staff at all?
Have they no telephones capable of reaching the assorted experts across the province who could give an analysis of the bill, gratis or for a modest sum? Do the names Bill Wells or Vic Young mean anything to anyone?
We can only expect that whatever the opposition parties manage to come up with, it will be whatever the government briefing slips them. What an amazing position for any government: to be capable of directing not only ones own members but to direct the opposition as well.
The tableau presented is breathtaking in its implications.
labradore may well be right.
If Danny Williams doesn't take every seat, he may well take all but three. For most of us pondering yesterday's events in the House, though, we may well wonder what difference that fall election would make.
The opposition today may well go the way of their predecessors from 1966.
And what difference would that make? After all, some 41 years later, some people can't even remember that they sat in cabinet at the time. Does anyone remember - or even care - who the Tory Three were?
[WJM you are out of this little trivia quiz]
-srbp-
