Provincial Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador have a political philosophy that is equal parts Machiavelli, Kafka, and the Three Stooges.
For the first few years they seemed to be constantly plotting and manoevring, always one step ahead of their opponents at home and abroad.
Those days are gone, now, replaced by a surreal landscape of bizarre shapes and hideous shadows.
The Conservatives have already admitted to their continuing financial mismanagement of the province. They admitted in 2009 that what they spend of the public’s money every year is unsustainable. They continue to spend like that even though the public cannot afford it.
Yet these same profligates attack their political enemies with the accusations that the opponents are financially irresponsible. These same bankrupts defend recent cuts to education by pointing to their previous spending which they have admitted is unaffordable and which is the reason for the cuts. They censor public documents and at one and the same time, crown themselves most open government the province has ever seen.
This heady mixture now comes to slapstick comedy, courtesy of Trevor Taylor.