As labradore documents yet again, the Premier can deny all he wants that things like paving is apportioned on a partisan basis, with the most money going to districts that vote the “correct” way.
The facts tell a complete different story.
When it comes to Danny Williams’ claims that he doesn’t do political retribution, you might say that nothing could be further from the truth.
The first set of tables show the simple distinction of Tory versus Grit and Dipper.
The second set of tables colour cabinet ministers in a darker blue.
Here’s the 2008 figures:
There’s only one quibble. Labradore claims that the minister of pavement, as he calls it, is the transportation minister.
As the people of the province discovered during the Rideout resignation fiasco, the whole pavement program is supervised by a political staffer in the Premier’s Office. Some people described this sort of thing as “normal” at the time.
Oh, yes, one more thing:
As labradore also notes, the provincial government no longer gives dollar amounts for road paving done in each district. They hype the heck out of the cash but they hide the amounts involved.
Purely coincidentally, they stopped giving the dollar figures last year after labradore’s analyses started making the rounds.
Transparent and accountable sounds like “Canada’s New Government”.
-srbp-