1. Roger Pike offers some insightful comments on why the central Newfoundland community is currently in the grip of a major political crisis.
2. The mayor and council have a plan to deal with the closure of the paper mill. Well, not really a plan. More like a list of things.
3. One town councillor thinks there’s too much negativity.
She [Janice Eisenhaur] added that she wondered if the "vultures'" behaviour was for political gain, self-gain, or if just because they were chronic complainers.
The councillor says she isn't referring to the people who are looking for answers, but to those who she says make unfounded statements and publicly announce them, with no facts and figures in front of them.
…
Councillor Eisenhaur says council and other people are working on initiatives that will hopefully lead to more jobs and increased economic growth.
"Is it going to replace the jobs that are going to be lost in the mill? No. Will it employ some of those people? Perhaps."
Would those vultures - people who, for political gain, self-gain or some other reason, make unfounded statements and announce them publicly - include people who claim there is a plan to offset the loss of a 1,00 jobs in the region and the town’s major private sector employer but who can’t provide any concrete details?
She did not go into detail about the initiatives she mentioned, though Mayor Rex Barnes talked about them in this past week's Exploits Regional Chamber of Commerce dinner (see related story on page one of today's Advertiser), such as cranberry farming, IT and health care.
"This are things are going to come to fruition. It's not going to happen overnight and it is going to take public and private investment, so we're going to have to wait for this to happen."
There are plans but Janice can’t say what they are other than that they involve a few of things that have already been going on and which really can’t replace the mill anyway.
Sounds pretty much like something that is unfounded and said by somebody without facts and figures in front of them. Don’t be surprised if someone wonders if Janice’s comments are for political gain, personal gain or a need to complain about the people she gets paid to listen to and work with.
God save us, from mainland reporters who spend a few hours in a local hotel in St. John’s and presume to understand this place they love to call “The Rock.”
God save us, to, from local politicians like Janice Eisenhaur.
4. The Advertiser takes a poke at the vulture idea.
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