The Sir Robert Bond Papers
The real political division in society is between authoritarians and libertarians.
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Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
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11 May 2016
The politics of history (again) #nlpoli
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Originally written for The Independent in 2003 "The politics of history" has become a post that continues to resonate with your h...
10 May 2016
Stunnel mania #nlpoli
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Right off the bat, let's fess up to a mistake. The 2004 research into the Stunnel cost "cost a total of $351,674, with a contribu...
09 May 2016
Choices and values: ideologically-driven nonsense versus reality #nlpoli
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Memorial University history professor Robert Sweeny discovered something recent. he discovered that the finance minister's budget speec...
08 May 2016
Measuring Thick: either or edition #nlpoli
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While Des Whelan was clacking out his column for Saturday's Telegram one of the editors - B rian Jones - came at the government'...
07 May 2016
Measuring Thick: business edition #nlpoli
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You cannot manage what you cannot measure, says Des Whelan, president of the Board of Trade this year. Des gets a column in the province...
06 May 2016
Hole in ground to give Labrador "advantage of fixed link" to mainland: premier #nlpoli
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The provincial government will spend $750,000 this year to study the feasibility of digging a hole from the Great Northern Peninsula to Blan...
05 May 2016
The other side of the hill - choices and values 2 #nlpoli
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Wednesday's post - Choices and values - came from the perspective of someone outside the echo chamber of politics in Newfoundland and La...
04 May 2016
Choices and values #nlpoli
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Gerry Rogers, a New Democrat member of the House of Assembly, got a bit enthusiastic on Twitter the other night about " building [a] bu...
03 May 2016
Province to spend $750K to study feasibility of hole in the ground #nlpoli
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At a time when the provincial government does not have any money to spend foolishly, it is hard to fathom why cabinet is taxing books to rai...
02 May 2016
A cut too far #nlpoli
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There's a scene in the movie A Bridge too far where the British soldiers are trying to push down a road as part of a major attack on the...
29 April 2016
Flying the checklist - Government's comms problem Part II #nlpoli
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The Liberals under Dwight Ball have had a steady run of problems with managing issues, policies, and positions. The current mess they face ...
28 April 2016
Not fit for it, indeed #nlpoli
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Once upon a time not so long ago, you would think politics in this province was a mash up of Nineteen eighty-four and Animal Farm . The...
27 April 2016
Winston Churchill and taxes (revised and updated) #nlpoli
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You have probably seen the quote and a picture of Winston Churchill flying around Facebook or Twitter since the provincial government intr...
26 April 2016
MQO poll shows big Liberal slide #nlpoli
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Just for the fun of comparison, here's the CRA polling results for a year covering the last time the provincial government saw a change ...
The Government's ongoing Communications Problem - the political side #nlpoli
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To understand the communications problem the Liberal administration faces, look at the first and so far only decision they have taken on co...
Ring access ruling blames wrong culprit #nlpoli
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To understand why access commissioner Ed Ring's ruling issued last Monday was troubling, you have to know some back story. Ring was ru...
25 April 2016
More worrying wobbles #nlpoli
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You have to get very seriously concerned when a cabinet minister can't or won't answer a simple question that has only one, simple, ...
22 April 2016
Not just another pretty face #nlpoli
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Stan Marshall is the guy who should have been running Nalcor in the first place. Well, if you wanted to make a successful business out of...
21 April 2016
Offense and Defense #nlpoli
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If you're not on offense, you are on defense. And in politics, if you are on defense, you are losing. The Liberals wound up on the d...
20 April 2016
Getting while the getting is good. #nlpoli
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As if on cue, Danny Williams' publicist tweeted praise for Ed Martin as soon as news broke that Danny Williams' right-hand for so m...
Actions and words #nlpoli
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The provincial cabinet has known since January - at least - that the powerhouse at Muskrat Falls is only 15% completed despite a huge payout...
19 April 2016
Responsibility #nlpoli
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In the middle of all the screaming as the government unveiled its budget on Thursday, the editor of a regional business magazine asked, ap...
18 April 2016
The Austerity Budget Pantomime #nlpoli
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According to the Oxford dictionary, financial austerity means "difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce ...
15 April 2016
The Rasputisa and the 2016 Budget #nlpoli
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The speech finance minister Cathy Bennett read in the House of Assembly on Thursday was as horrible as the reaction most of the province ha...
14 April 2016
The Incrementalists #nlpoli
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Today is budget day. There's been lots of speculation flying around, most of it a confirmation that people have little real informatio...
13 April 2016
The Rasputitsa #nlpoli
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Before we even get into this, let's be clear: the EY review commissioned by the provincial government was never, ever about cancelling ...
12 April 2016
Bring out yer dead #nlpoli
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In the end there was something perfectly fitting in the way New Democrats dumped their failed leader. Every pundit around and lots of New ...
11 April 2016
The value of inquiry #nlpoli
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Information is good. Information is the basis of knowledge. Information is also power. That's why people who have information do...
09 April 2016
Sun burn #nlpoli
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On Friday morning, Memorial University political scientist Amanda Bittner told a CBC Radio audience that the Telegram’s government-compiled...
08 April 2016
Bill 29 didn't go far enough: public sector unions #nlpoli
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The teachers' union doesn't want the public to know the names of public servants in Newfoundland and Labrador. The news late on Th...
07 April 2016
Joining the access fight #nlpoli
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As it turns out, the "commentary" on access from information and privacy commissioner Ed Ring is tied to a lawsuit coming from the...
06 April 2016
A mess in the government access and privacy world #nlpoli
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Two recent stories about the province's access to government information and privacy laws. Both of them are essentially nonsense. Sh...
05 April 2016
Us and them #nlpoli
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This is the story of two politicians. One is a successful business man with major land developments in the works. He got into politics to...
04 April 2016
Incompetence at city hall costs taxpayers #nlpoli
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St. John's city council is in serious trouble. They may not realise it yet. Indeed, many residents of the capital may not realise it,...
01 April 2016
Why Tom Mulcair is wrong... yet again #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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Tom Mulcair isn't alone. A lot of people have been making the extremely dangerous argument over the past few days that we ought to acc...
31 March 2016
A meritless position #nlpoli
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The new provincial Liberal administration has made the creation of a merit-based system of cabinet appointments the centre-piece of its firs...
30 March 2016
Paying for Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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To understand precisely how insane an idea we have at Muskrat Falls, think of it this way. In Quebec, provincial government policy is to ...
29 March 2016
Trump the unpopular... maybe not #nlpoli
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Apparently, Donald Trump is the most unpopular American presidential candidate since 1992. The Toronto Star's American correspondent p...
28 March 2016
Trash talk #nlpoli
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The folks at the City of St. John’s wanted to boost their curb-side recycling program. Last fall, they launched a campaign called “Blue is...
25 March 2016
Ghomeshi and a fair trial #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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The moment when Jian Ghomeshi’s lawyer established during the trial that witnesses against him had colluded in their testimony and had lied ...
24 March 2016
The Office of Steve Kent
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26 public meetings. More than 1,000 people showed up for them. More than 28,000 people used the government website that the folks at the...
23 March 2016
A simple question about residential schools #nlpoli
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According to one of the firms involved in the class action suit by residents of Newfoundland and Labrador about residential schools: Five...
22 March 2016
Resettlement story wrong #nlpoli
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Access to documents from government are one thing. Understanding what they say is quite another. CBC requested batches of documents from...
21 March 2016
How to say little in 34 slides #nlpoli
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Consultants have consistently reported that the Muskrat Falls project is well-managed and well-led. Despite that independent analysis, MFP...
19 March 2016
Kissing in the rear #nlpoli
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At the entrance to the new west-end high school, there's a sign that warns drivers that only those big yellow student transportation veh...
18 March 2016
Record deficit in 2015-16 #nlpoli
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The deficit for 2015 will be a record. We know that because of comments at the House of Assembly by Premier Dwight Ball and finance minist...
17 March 2016
Tiny pebbles in an empty washtub #nlpoli
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For the third day in a row, the opposition has asked one question over and over again, with a couple of minor variations. They’ve asked e...
16 March 2016
Simple words work best #nlpoli
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esquire.com last October. Big headline: Donald Trump Woos Republicans By Speaking at a 4th Grade Level Smaller head: His competito...
15 March 2016
The blindingly obvious #nlpoli
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After all this time, it remains an enduring mystery how a guy who held himself out to be the great seer of oil prices still gets quoted on o...
14 March 2016
Picking stuff out of the appointments hockey bag #nlpoli
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One of the provincial Conservatives’ signature new initiatives in the first session of the legislature after the 2003 election was a bill th...
11 March 2016
No change in party support numbers #nlpoli
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Despite delivering bad news about the provincial government's finances since taking office, the provincial Liberals continue to hold st...
Interim Supply 2016 #nlpoli
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The provincial government can only spend money approved by the House of Assembly. In parliamentary language, the House grants supply to th...
10 March 2016
The inexplicable persistence of nonsense #nlpoli
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“There was a very good job done … of boxing this province out [of the Equalization program] a few years ago,” That was Premier Dwight Ball...
09 March 2016
The New Approach #nlpoli
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In 2003, Paul Davis' predecessor as leader of the provincial Conservative party went to Ottawa to beg for a hand-out. Called it The N...
08 March 2016
Open Data #nlpoli
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James McLeod has released the data he compiled to produce his Saturday story on the number of people in the provincial public service who m...
07 March 2016
Chevron starts production at GORGON (Australia) #nlpoli
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SAN RAMON, Calif.--(Chevron via BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 7, 2016-- Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today announced it has started producing liq...
The Trump Phenomenon #nlpoli
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The gaggle of American political scientists at the Monkey Cage have been doing a series of posts about Donald Trump's campaign for the r...
04 March 2016
Jim Thistle, 1954 - 2016 #nlpoli
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Most of you have likely never heard of Jim Thistle. Jim passed away on Thursday after a brief illness. He was only 61 and until he was di...
The Walking Dead #nlpoli
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In China in these days of hard economic times, none are hit so hard as the people who work in zombie industries. These are industries that...
03 March 2016
Serendipity do dah #nlpoli
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Some people on da Twitter were talking about verbal tics like saying “ya know.” One of ‘em asks if the other had counted Danny Williams’ p...
02 March 2016
The persistence of uncommunication in government #nlpoli
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For some interesting insights into the way government works, take a look at an access to information request someone submitted for document...
01 March 2016
A tax to build a tax #nlpoli
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A tax to pay a tax. Interesting idea, no? Well, that’s what Jim Feehan suggested last week. He told a luncheon meeting of the St. John’...
29 February 2016
Lions, jellyfish, and a quotable Italian fascist #nlpoli
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American media circles were all abuzz this weekend about a little episode on Twitter featuring Donald Trump and a quote he liked. Gawker ...
26 February 2016
Things are THAT bad #nlpoli
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David Thompson is an independent economist in the same way that Jerry Earle and Wayne Lucas are independent human resource consultants. Bu...
25 February 2016
Sheilagh fits right in #nlpoli
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What exactly is Sheilagh O’Leary? Did she get elected to Council in the Ward 4 by-election or is she a re-elected councillor? Well, neve...
24 February 2016
Exit Reality on the Rock #nlpoli
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Last fall, Conservatives, New Democrats, and assorted political watchers attacked the Liberals for the lack of detail in their election plat...
23 February 2016
Uncle Ottawa's cash #nlpoli
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The federal government would run a deficit this year three times larger next year than the one the Liberals expected during the election cam...
22 February 2016
Cabinet documents and no brainers #nlpoli
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Years ago, a couple of enterprising reporters at CBC submitted what was then a request under the Freedom of Information Act for informatio...
19 February 2016
Muskrat Falls electricity prices... again #nlpoli
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The infamous JM is at it again. "Top 10 Muskrat Myths" (via Uncle Gnarley ) rebuts 10 of the arguments in favour of Muskrat Fall...
18 February 2016
Evidence-based decision-making #nlpoli
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James McLeod had a tidy piece in Wednesday’s Telegram on the government’s effort to find a way of out of the financial mess. it's well...
17 February 2016
If we dither, we die. #nlpoli
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by Chuck Furey ________________ "Indecision becomes decision with time" someone once said. The current fiscal nightmare in N...
16 February 2016
Fraser Institute, National Newswatch, and other fools #nlpoli
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If the issue wasn't so serious, it would be funny. Newfoundland and Labrador is up the financial creek, according to Charles Lammam,...
15 February 2016
Stepping on rakes: #nlpoli version
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Premier Dwight Ball has changed his position. That’s the first thing. Here’s the way James McLeod described Ball’s position on cuts to...
12 February 2016
Clowncil should try honesty, not more secrecy #nlpoli
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The problem at St. John's city council isn't the recent budget. Council is a nest of ego and ambition. Not so very long ago, cou...
11 February 2016
Nalcor: Generations #nlpoli
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Telegram editor Peter Jackson took a hard look this week at the implications of Nalcor’s effort this week to jack up electricity rates. A...
10 February 2016
Politicians and Public Debt #nlpoli
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Remember the debt clock? Finance minister Tom Marshall went around the province during that year’s budget consultation – now “rebranded” a...
09 February 2016
Decision-Based Evidence-Making #nlpoli
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The government’s “renewal initiative” is supposed to be guided by something called “evidence-based decision-making.” It’s right there, rig...
08 February 2016
Using his words #nlpoli
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Politicians are usually very careful about the words they use. That’s why it’s important to notice the words Premier Dwight Ball used this...
05 February 2016
Old whine still sour #nlpoli
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"I'm concerned that we have an aging asset,” natural resources minister Siobhan Coady told CBC in explaining the most recent brea...
04 February 2016
Get the message: get a grip #nlpoli
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Two former Premiers sent a very pointed message to Premier Dwight Ball this week about the way Ball has been handling the provincial governm...
03 February 2016
Fiscal Stabilization Program #nlpoli
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On the one hand, it’s great to live in a country that has a program to let the federal government shunt money to provincial governments that...
From a decade of prosperity to $2 billion deficits: What happened?
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By Roger Grimes Reflecting upon becoming the eighth Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador 15 years ago this month, I found myself chatting ...
02 February 2016
Using data aggressively #nlpoli
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These days campaigns are about collecting information on voters and using the data. The Ted Cruz campaign has been especially aggressive ...
01 February 2016
Newfoundland government finance, 1832 to 1949 #nlpoli
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Before Newfoundlanders stopped governing themselves in the early winter of 1934, they’d run a sometimes arduous course. Newfoundland gaine...
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