The Sir Robert Bond Papers
The real political division in society is between authoritarians and libertarians.
Pages
(Move to ...)
About Ed Hollett
About Sir Robert
Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
▼
25 November 2015
The CRA poll in Election 2015 #nlpoli
›
Corporate Research Associates’ latest poll is in line with polls by MQO and Abacus. The table below shows CRA’s quarterly poll results si...
24 November 2015
The parties and Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
›
The mighty Muskrat Falls turned up a few times in the leaders’ debate on Monday night. Now that the project’s huge problems are plainer, ...
23 November 2015
The Debate #nlpoli
›
The only winner in the debate was David Cochrane. He’s no Paul Wells but he did a fine job of wrangling the three leaders. And that’s t...
Methylmercury and Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
›
Muskrat Falls has been the big issue in two successive elections. In 2011, the parties wanted to talk about the project, while voters didn...
20 November 2015
The Undull Election #nlpoli
›
The only people who think this is a dull election don’t know anything about politics. Seriously. On the day before nominations closed fo...
19 November 2015
Kicking ass in political coverage #nlpoli
›
The province’s major media outlets have taken different approaches to political coverage in this election from what they did last time. Th...
18 November 2015
Details #nlpoli
›
While the townie media are clamouring for details from people who don’t have the details, it’s important to look at what the people with the...
17 November 2015
The same sheet of paper #nlpoli
›
In all the elections in the 21st century, the three political parties in Newfoundland and Labrador have proposed what are essentially the sa...
16 November 2015
Fear and Hope #nlpoli
›
In his major interview with NTV on the first weekend of the formal provincial election campaign, Premier Paul Davis insisted that his part...
15 November 2015
The possible shift #nlpoli
›
If the polls are right, we could be looking at an unprecedented shift in politics in Newfoundland and Labrador. We could be looking at lot...
13 November 2015
Possible Extinction Event #nlpoli
›
A third poll has confirmed that the provincial Liberals have the support of an overwhelming majority of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. ...
12 November 2015
Invention #nlpoli
›
The provincial election campaign is barely a week old and already we have seen certain themes and interpretations emerging that are the prod...
11 November 2015
Remembrance Day 2015 #nlpoli
›
- srbp -
10 November 2015
Polls and Projections #nlpoli
›
If you want to get a sense of how accurate polls were in the last federal election take a look at the ones we have in public and compare tho...
09 November 2015
The polls must be wrong #nlpoli
›
Over the past couple of weeks, some people have been questioning the accuracy of public opinion polls. People have questioned the polls i...
07 November 2015
Downfall #nlpoli
›
On Day Two of the official provincial general election campaign, a new poll by a different polling method lines up with the Abacus Data pol...
06 November 2015
Abacus – First poll 2015 #nlpoli
›
No surprise that the Liberals are way ahead in the latest Abacus horse race poll. No surprise the NDP have fallen and the Tories have held...
Setting fire to your own ass is never a good idea #nlpoli
›
While Paul Davis and the Conservatives were launching their official election campaign, Ryan Cleary turned up in a recorded interview on NT...
05 November 2015
Media Training 101: Truth and Credibility #nlpoli
›
Last Friday, CBC’s David Cochrane asked Ryan Cleary about information Cochrane had – apparently from NDP sources - that Cleary had tried to...
04 November 2015
Admission of failure: Conservative offshore negotiations #nlpoli
›
The news release on the government’s generic offshore royalty wasn’t exactly a model of clarity and accuracy. The headline and first sen...
03 November 2015
Rumpole and the Noble Judge #nlpoli
›
The provincial justice ministry had to increase spending to put a new judge in the Provincial Court in Clarenville even though the caseload ...
02 November 2015
Blue balls #nlpoli
›
Ryan Cleary didn’t become the punchline to any New Yorker cartoon at 3 :00 PM last Friday afternoon . Peg Norman and other local New Demo...
30 October 2015
Party Finance, 2010 to 2014 #nlpoli
›
Elections Newfoundland and Labrador released the 2014 party financial reports recently. That let’s us take a look at trends over the past f...
29 October 2015
The United Newfoundland and Labrador Party #nlpoli
›
In preparation for the coming general election battle, the provincial Conservatives are digging in their headquarters within sight of the he...
28 October 2015
Real change #nlpoli
›
“A positive, optimistic, hopeful vision of public life isn’t a naive dream,” Justin Trudeau told Canadians after he won a truly historic vi...
27 October 2015
Blackmail and the Conservative dysfunction #nlpoli
›
Paul Davis and his cabinet were all smiles and chuckles last week at the election of a new administration in Ottawa. Optimistic for the fu...
26 October 2015
The Conservative NDP Merger we need #nlpoli
›
The province’s largest public sector union met last week in St. John’s for its annual convention. They started out their first day with a s...
22 October 2015
Polls, St. John’s East, and the coming provincial election #nlpoli
›
SRBP told you on Tuesday morning that the federal election did not bode well for the New Democrats and Conservatives in the province. The...
21 October 2015
Scary words #nlpoli
›
From Newfoundland Power’s rate application to the Public Utilities Board. Uncertainty : The interconnection to the North American gr...
20 October 2015
The lessons from Monday night #nlpoli
›
Nick Whalen killed a giant. That’s the story of the 2015 federal election in Newfoundland and Labrador, bar none. People told Whalen he...
19 October 2015
An opportunity to feel like we’re part of the country again #nlpoli #cdnpoli
›
This is Craig Westcott’s editorial from The Pearl newspaper, reproduced with permission.. This is a tough column to write. Taking a...
Dead Meat #nlpoli
›
Two polls taken during the recent campaign showed Scott Andrews was losing in his old seat in Avalon. Decided and leanings ...
17 October 2015
DHDM 2: St. John’s East #nlpoli #cdnpoli
›
If the numbers from the Liberal campaign in St. John’s East are right, then New Democratic Party incumbent Jack Harris is in serious troubl...
16 October 2015
Dead heat = dead meat #nlpoli
›
As the federal election winds down to the last day, the result is likely going to be nothing any of the pundits expected. Okay, the elect...
15 October 2015
WTF?
›
There are times you read stuff and you just have to wonder what brought that on. There’s Telegram editor Russell Wangersky explaining ho...
14 October 2015
Consumer to pay 19.8 cents for electricity in 2020: Nalcor #nlpoli
›
Muskrat Falls will ensure consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador pay much higher electricity rates than they otherwise needed to pay. The ...
13 October 2015
The Manipulation Manipulation #nlpoli #cdnpoli
›
/What a difference 36 years makes. There’s New Democrat strategist Robin Sears in a National Post piece complaining about the way the Li...
12 October 2015
The ABCs of ABC #nlpoli
›
In 2004, Danny Williams fought for three months against a federal government decision that had been settled – at least for the federal g...
08 October 2015
The uncivil Civil War #nlpoli
›
At the heart of the ongoing civil war between Danny Williams’ provincial Conservatives and Stephen Harper’s federal Conservatives is the cla...
07 October 2015
Alternatives to the Falls #nlpoli
›
Since people are wondering if Muskrat Falls really is still the cheapest way to make electricity for local use, let’s take a look at it. ...
06 October 2015
The smallest details tell the biggest story #nlpoli
›
Last week, provincial fisheries minister Vaughn Granter held a news conference at a local restaurant known for its seafood dishes to announc...
05 October 2015
Consumer electricity costs to jump by 51% (revised) #nlpoli
›
The average consumer in Newfoundland and Labrador should expect to pay 51% more for electricity compared to their current rates once Mu...
02 October 2015
Hyping the stock, yet again #nlpoli
›
Any oil company seriously interested in bidding on an exploration license offshore Newfoundland and Labrador isn’t likely to need the hyped ...
01 October 2015
Muskrat Falls commercial power by Q2 2019 ? #nlpoli
›
The latest progress report shows that Nalcor had a productive summer, but an extrapolation by the researcher and writer JM of information i...
30 September 2015
Pride and Failure #nlpoli
›
‘”Pride is a big factor” a manager at Muskrat Falls told the Telegram’s James McLeod on Monday during the latest media junket to the Big D...
29 September 2015
Rumpole and the Family Compact #nlpoli
›
Sixteen of the province’s 22 full-time provincial court judges are either already in or are on their way to St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Th...
28 September 2015
White is the new black #nlpoli
›
2002. Stephen Harper said that his party had a program that would help change the dependence in Atlantic Canada on government spending, a ...
25 September 2015
The N-word #nlpoli
›
New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair likely never imagined that an insult he threw at a couple of Parti Quebecois politicians in the Queb...
24 September 2015
That's Doctor King to you #nlpoli
›
Not surprisingly, Darin King has decided to leave politics after only eight years. King is just the latest in a long line of pensionable C...
23 September 2015
Crossing Topsail Road #nlpoli
›
A new high school has put the better part of a thousand young people on Topsail Road opposite a raft of fast food outlets and a major mall. ...
22 September 2015
Three things about Hurricane Igor #nlpoli
›
hard to believe but it has been five years since Hurricane Igor ripped through Placentia Bay and into Trinity Bay. What stands out most ab...
21 September 2015
No race in Avalon, except for the truth #nlpoli
›
Tom Mulcair will not be coming back to Newfoundland and Labrador again during the current federal election. He certainly won;t be coming b...
Les vrais newfies #nlpoli
›
Sometime late in the last century, Bloc NDP leader Tom Mulcair said something in the Quebec National Assembly about Newfies. Mulcair apolo...
18 September 2015
Cabinet control of Crown corporations #nlpoli
›
Hearings at the pubic utilities board revealed that senior executives at Nalcor received hefty bonuses again in 2014 as they have in other. ...
17 September 2015
Political Calculations 2 #nlpoli
›
The next provincial general election finishes on November 30, 2015. Not the way you are used to thinking of it, right? You think the ele...
16 September 2015
Political Calculations #nlpoli
›
As you look ahead to the fall election, the bigger political addicts among you are likely trying to figure out different aspects like how th...
15 September 2015
Putting the questions about the debate #nlpoli
›
The Liberals have decided to skip the provincial leaders debate sponsored by VOCM and the St. John’s Board of Trade. The reason, according...
14 September 2015
The state of federal politics in Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
›
There is a problem, apparently. A very big problem. In the current federal election, none of the federal party leaders have visited the ...
11 September 2015
Near the bottom of a very big rabbit hole #nlpoli
›
Thursday was one of those days where you felt like you had dropped down the rabbit hole with Alice. Or maybe had indulged a bit too heavil...
10 September 2015
Three months later … #nlpoli
›
In June, SRBP used the CRA poll from the second quarter of 2015 as the basis for a bit of “what if” thinking. Consider that the Liber...
09 September 2015
Finding the voice of the next generation #nlpoli
›
“My Government will harness the desire among Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to cultivate greater cultural, financial and moral autonomy vi...
08 September 2015
Senior appointments in 2015 #nlpoli
›
Orders in Council up to the end of August 2015, show that the cabinet has made on 13 appointments at the rank of deputy minister and assist...
07 September 2015
Adios to another one #nlpoli
›
Clyde Jackman is the latest provincial Conservative to quit politics. That’s not surprising. He was supposed to go in 2011 but hung aroun...
04 September 2015
Timeliness #nlpoli
›
The federal and provincial governments need to sort out a royalty regime for the areas of the seabed outside the 200 mile exclusive economic...
03 September 2015
Leadership and opportunity #nlpoli
›
On Tuesday, the provincial Conservatives launched their election campaign. It was to be built solely on the image of Paul Davis as a great...
02 September 2015
Omega Man #nlpoli
›
The word that comes to mind when you look at the new provincial Conservative party website or the davis165.ca site isn’t fresh, new, reboun...
01 September 2015
New Englanders know you’re bullshitting ‘em, Paul #nlpoli
›
The New England governors and eastern Canadian premiers were in town on Monday for a quick meeting. The only thing that seemed to make loc...
31 August 2015
Ferry Tales #nlpoli
›
There are times when you have to wonder if provincial cabinet ministers actually realise how moronic they sound to everyone else. David Br...
28 August 2015
Chainsaw Earle keeps austerity on the table #nlpoli
›
NDP leader Earle McCurdy called the province’s major open line show on Thursday and by the sounds of things he hasn’t backed off the positio...
27 August 2015
NL NDP boss admits deeper “austerity” on the table as gov cash situation worsens #nlpoli
›
“All options are going to have to be considered I guess, from both the revenue and the expenditure side, to make the best of a challenging s...
26 August 2015
We should put up a statue or something #nlpoli
›
There’s something a bit surreal about the news this week. Well, not really the news itself, so much as the way people are reacting to it. ...
25 August 2015
The Uri Geller of MUN Economics Strikes Again #nlpoli
›
Does anyone really take Wade Locke seriously anymore? Really? Do they? Seriously. Go back to last October to see why. The next t...
24 August 2015
Honouring Newfoundland Writers #nlpoli
›
Most of you have probably never heard of a fellow named Alonzo John Gallishaw. John Gallishaw is best remembered in his native land for ...
21 August 2015
Moral victory: saying yes to less #nlpoli
›
A couple of years after his war with one prime minister, Danny Williams was locked in another war with another federal first minister. Wil...
20 August 2015
Mr. Williams Goes to Hell #nlpoli
›
The story of the 2004 war with Ottawa is the story of disconnects, mismatches, incongruities, of things that just didn't add up. Octo...
19 August 2015
From agreement to disagreement #nlpoli
›
On June 4, 2004, Danny Williams delivered a keynote speech to delegates at the oil and gas conference organized annual by the association th...
18 August 2015
S’truth #nlpoli #cdnpoli
›
New Democratic party candidate Linda McQuaig caused a bit of a stir in the first week of the federal election campaign when she said that in...
17 August 2015
The 2004 war with Ottawa revisited #nlpoli
›
The 2004 “war” with Ottawa over a version of federal Equalization payments to Newfoundland and Labrador is an early episode in the provincia...
14 August 2015
Diversity #nlpoli
›
Labrador economy must diversify to survive, say opposition parties. There is a CBC headline to conjure with. Pure political magic for t...
13 August 2015
Essence #nlpoli
›
The Telegram has been running a series this week on the number of communities in the province where people can’t drink the water supplied b...
12 August 2015
Sucks to be us #nlpoli
›
Not so very long ago, provincial Conservatives were crowing about how they would be running all sorts of mining projects in Labrador using ...
11 August 2015
Lions or jellyfish: a review
›
Historian Ray Blake’s new book Lions or jellyfish: Newfoundland - Ottawa relations since 1957 is likely to be be on many reading lists. ...
10 August 2015
The name they fear #nlpoli
›
Cast your mind back to April 2007 In his ongoing penchant for fighting with everyone and for small-mindedness, Newfoundland and Labrador ...
07 August 2015
Debate Quickies #nlpoli #elxn42
›
The first English debate is over. Here are some quick observations to help you cut through the huge amount of noise coming from the conven...
PQ hung up over Old Harry #nlpoli
›
Pierre Karl Peladeau won’t say yes or no to development of Old Harry, according to ledevoir.com . Le Devoir interviewed the Parti Quebeco...
06 August 2015
Figuring out what the parties are doing in #elxn42 #nlpoli
›
Updated If you want to get a really good summary of the contending election strategies at this early stage of the federal campaign, re...
05 August 2015
Minority rights in education #nlpoli
›
It’s one of those persistent comments. You don’t hear it or see it every day but, once in a while it comes back. Like in 2013 . Some g...
04 August 2015
Half and half #nlpoli
›
On the first working day during August, 2015, the provincial government issued four news releases. Two announced funding from the spring b...
03 August 2015
This is your political life: Ross Wiseman #nlpoli
›
Anyone surprised by the news isn;t paying any attention to local politics at all. Ross Wiseman has his pension. It cannot get any fatter. ...
31 July 2015
The Friday before it starts #nlpoli
›
There are plenty of signs that the federal Conservatives will start the official campaign for the fall election earlier than scheduled. Ear...
30 July 2015
More ways to lose than win #nlpoli
›
“What this province needs is not just someone with the brains to figure out what's wrong with our economy,” future Premier Kathy Dunderd...
29 July 2015
As Karl’s mom would say… #nlpoli
›
The Conservatives came to power in 2003 promising to do things a new way. People thought that meant the Tories would do away with the prac...
28 July 2015
The Grecian Formula and mineral rights #nlpoli
›
In the late 1990s, the provincial government faced some tough financial times. The debt and the size of the economy were the same number. T...
27 July 2015
Smoke, mirrors, and Harper’s senate moratorium #nlpoli #cdnpoli
›
Heading into an election and with the three major federal parties within five or six points of each other in the opinion polls, the Prime Mi...
24 July 2015
The Line They Didn’t Need #nlpoli
›
For some time now, Nalcor has needed an extra line from Bay d’Espoir to increase the capacity across the Isthmus of Avalon. They just kep...
23 July 2015
Gull Island? Dead duck. #nlpoli
›
From the Financial Post , Tom Adams and Ed Hollett take a look at three issues that will hold up any development of Gull Island: While...
22 July 2015
Reality check for the Ontarians, please #nlpoli
›
If nothing else, media coverage about energy talks between Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador shows just how much people don’t know about...
21 July 2015
Always ready for a better tomorrow #nlpoli
›
Ontario and the faltering Conservative administration in Newfoundland and Labrador are talking about the possibility of developing Gull Isl...
20 July 2015
Maternal mortality #nlpoli
›
Black women in the United States are twice as likely to die as a result of complications of pregnancy and childbirth as are white and Hispan...
17 July 2015
Seven with one blow #nlpoli #cdnpoli
›
Seven companies in Newfoundland and Labrador have reached a deal with Elections Canada in the Penashue illegal contributions case. Accordi...
‹
›
Home
View web version