The secret of life and comedy is timing.
In this case, the secret of life in Newfoundland and Labrador would be the curious coincidence in timing of a conference to discuss ways of getting more women involved in the oil and gas industry with the leak that the provincial government passed over qualified female candidates in the industry for a job at the offshore regulatory board in favour of pure patronage.
As much as this sort of old-fashion pork may be the nature of life under the provincial Conservatives, it isn’t very funny.
What it does make clear, though, is that anyone hoping to increase the number of women involved in the province’s offshore industry is going to have a long way to go.
First you’ve got to get rid of these very old, very backward ideas about patronage and entitlements and get government to make appointments based on merit first.
- srbp -