“This is not about cutting,” Ball told reporters on Thursday morning at a news conference. “This is about where we can create new sources of revenue for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.”
It may be different from what the budget said, or what people thought it said, but in truth abandoning cuts and looking for new money is what Dwight Ball promised he would do lst year. This is Dwight Ball's fetish for consistency even in the face of changed circumstances.
This is the sequel to Continuity with Change.
This is Continuing with Continuity.
Flip ahead three weeks from the big media briefing. Ball does a bunch of media appearances the day after his political appointments' story broke. He told VOCM that - hold on - we can expect more cuts in the fall from the mini budget. "Expect service cuts" and "difficult choices" the VOCM headline warned.
Now, suddenly, there's a return to the earlier plan.
Which is it?
When Dwight Ball says something, how do we know what commitments we can believe and what ones we should doubt?
This is the sort of basic policy confusion that got Ball to 17% in the polls. This is the sort of thing that will keep him there. Ball's abysmal polling numbers will keep him mired in this sort of situation until he dunderdales* or until the caucus and party barry** him.
-srbp-
* quits long after the party can do anything to change their own political fortunes. After Kathy Dunderdale, who quit abruptly in January 2014, leaving her party another 22 months only to die at the polls in November 2015.
** gets the flick. After Leo Barry whose colleagues in the Liberal caucus ousted him as leader in 1987.