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16 January 2009

Busy Work (3)

Newfoundland Hardwoods is a Crown Corporation established in 1950 to manufacture liquid asphalt and sell chemically treated poles and lumber to meet local needs.

The corporation was privatized in 1995  - that is the assets were sold off - but a board of directors was retained to deal with issues arising from the sale of its assets. The directors are all senior public servants in the innovation department.

Those issues have all been addressed save for one storage tank which has been sealed since there is no means of disposing of the contents within the province. The tank is inspected regularly.

In 2008, the directors issued a six page activity plan for the corporation for the period 2008-2011.

Newfoundland Hardwoods – the corporation with nothing else to do but keep an eye on a lone tank of chemical sludge somewhere in the province – is committed to supporting the innovation department’s mission to “foster regional  and provincial prosperity.”

It will do that by - you guessed it – keeping an eye on the sludge tank.

You could not make this stuff up if you tried.

-srbp-