Same Old New Energy! #nlpoli

Thanks to the Telegram’s James McLeod and his Twitter feed from Gander, take a look at two of the resolutions from the Progressive Conservative.

Pots and Kettles #nlpoli

Pots and kettles are a staple of Newfoundland politics.

Premier Kathy Dunderdale in the House of Assembly on Monday, May 7:

We have had the Member for Torngat Mountains this morning on every media outlet in the Province talking about a cover-up of the Burton Winters tragedy, Mr. Speaker, in the face of the correction put out by the RCMP, propagating incorrectness for political advantage, I suggest, Mr. Speaker, instead of a pursuit for the truth. It is very offensive, Mr. Speaker, and then he wants an all-party committee.

Pay attention to those words:

“Propagating incorrectness for political advantage…instead of a pursuit for the truth.”

Okay?

Got the image?

Then there’s Kathy Dunderdale talking with Randy Simms about her Muskrat Falls megadebt project:

…the expertise that's at Nalcor, one of the finest companies, state-owned companies, in the world I would submit to you, the best brains, the expertise, built the Upper Churchill, running the Upper Churchill for 50 years without a hitch, …

None of the people at Nalcor built Churchill Falls.

None of them.

Not a one.

And strictly speaking Nalcor’s predecessor  - Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro – didn’t build it either.

So Dunderdale’s comment there would be pretty firmly in the category of “not true”.

It gets worse for her.

The Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation commissioned Churchill Falls in 1971. That would be 41 years ago. 

Not 50. 

The date people use for the purposes of the figuring out when the 1969 contract expires is 1976, though, which is, 36 years ago.

Again:  not 50.

And at the end of her little rant, Dunderdale said this about the people at Nalcor these days:

…these people just get dismissed...

That would be another entry in the “not true” category. 

People don’t dismiss the lovely people at Nalcor and all their expertise.  Some of us just don;t agree with them when they make certain unsubstantiated claims about Muskrat Falls .  There’s a none-too-subtle difference.

On the other hand, Kathy Dunderdale dismisses the opinions of people who disagree with her just because they disagree with her.

And, of course, she has a record of getting stuff wrong.  Call it “propagating incorrectness” if you wish.

Whether or not she does this stuff for political advantage, political gain, to support her political agenda or just because she thinks she is doing the right thing – like Randy Edmunds likely does – it all pretty much comes out to the same thing in the end.

-srbp-

The old victim ploy #nlpoli #cdnpoli

In a scrum on Friday, Premier Kathy Dunderdale decided to attack the Telegram’s editorial writer. 

She attacked the paper for things the Friday editorial did not say.

For good measure she claimed that she would now suffer further attacks from the newspaper in retaliation for her comments.

For anyone who read the editorial, she was full of crap.

Obviously full of it.

Painfully, blatantly, obviously full of it.

Just like the editorial painfully skewered the Premier and her administration for stuff they did and the implications of it.

Since the Premier was so obviously full of crap in her scrum, there are only a few possible explanations:

• She didn’t read the editorial but relied on a summary by the best experts available..
• She read it but didn’t understand it.
• She didn’t read the Auditor General’s report but relied on a summary prepared by the best experts available.
• She read the AG’s report but didn’t understand it.
• She didn’t read the letters that went to the AG but relied instead on what the best experts available told her they said.
• She read the letters but didn’t understand them.
• Stung by the truth of the editorial and the damage she’s done to her own credibility, she decided to play the victim card and make herself out as the aggrieved party.

That last one is a rather calculated, cynical ploy but at least it is the only explanation that doesn’t make the Premier out to be lazy or stupid.

Take your pick.

The only thing we know for sure is that the Premier wasn’t right.

- srbp -