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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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...
31 January 2016
Junkyard wars
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Syrian rebels have been using modern technology in the simplest of ways in their war against the Assad regime in Syria. In the picture a...
30 January 2016
AG reports on suspected frauds in FY 2014 #nlpoli
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In his most recent report, Auditor General Terry Paddon disclosed alleged frauds identified during his review of the provincial government...
29 January 2016
S and P lowers NL rating, cites uncertainty of fiscal policy #nlpoli
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Standard and Poor's said on Friday that the company had lowered its credit rating for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Ne...
E.A.M.
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-srbp-
28 January 2016
Moody's warns NL government on finances #nlpoli
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Moody's Investor Services is the second rating agency to give the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador a negative trending in light ...
27 January 2016
Revelation: Labrador hydro edition #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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“I wonder how I would feel if a province or a region in another province prevented Hydro-Québec from building its transmission line. I woul...
Jerry Earle won't retweet this post #nlpoli
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Apparently the surest way to piss off a couple of university academics a.k.a the NDP policy brain-trust is to point out how their take on th...
26 January 2016
Revenue problem #nlpoli
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Jon Parsons has an interesting take on the provincial government's financial mess. It’s worth taking a few minutes to go through it. ...
25 January 2016
Turmoil tamed #nlpoli
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Few people would be brave enough to start out a book on politics in Newfoundland and Labrador with the words “Paul Lane.” Fewer still cou...
22 January 2016
DBRS downgrades government rating #nlpoli
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DBRS issued a revised rating for the provincial government on Thursday. It remains "A" but a change to trending from "stable...
21 January 2016
A chasm they can't ignore #nlpoli
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That didn’t take long. The fundamental strategic political problem Dwight Ball and his senior advisors have been busily building since las...
20 January 2016
Will DBRS re-do its rating for Newfoundland and Labrador? #nlpoli
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Premier Paul Davis was proud of the fact that a bond rating agency had confirmed the province's credit rating. Curiously, he never tol...
19 January 2016
Updating the Alternative Spending Plan #nlpoli
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In April 2013, SRBP ran a series of posts about public spending. The goal was to show how the government could have avoided its serious fina...
18 January 2016
Process Question #nlpoli
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Finance minister Cathy Bennett told CBC that "everything is on the table and we have to make sure that we don't leave anything tha...
15 January 2016
‘Engagement’ can be an excuse for avoiding action #nlpoli
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by Craig Westcott The Ball administration is off to a shaky start. Actually, it seems afraid to start at all. Tuesday’s press conference a...
14 January 2016
Thank you, Danny Williams #nlpoli
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Rob Strong has been a key player in the local oil and gas industry pretty much since the earliest days. He knows what he is talking abo...
13 January 2016
Clarity #nlpoli
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From the announcement of "intense" public consultations to solve the provincial government's financial crisis: Question: H...
12 January 2016
Pressure #nlpoli
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A curious thing happens in societies where a huge amount of the collective income derives from outside the local economy and the local tax b...
11 January 2016
Enough #nlpoli
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You can easily lose track of the number of former cabinet ministers who will tell you the same thing. Ask them about the one lesson of gov...
08 January 2016
Equalization... again #nlpoli
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Equalization is a really simple idea. In order to ensure that Canadians across the country have access to comparable services regardless o...
07 January 2016
St. John's Land Prices 1997 - 2015
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An argy-bargy erupted on Twitter Wednesday involving a bunch of Danny Williams Fan Klubbers on the one side and a couple of people who have ...
06 January 2016
Let's hear it for the Fraser Institute geniuses #nlpoli
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A year after Kathy Dunderdale left office, the Fraser Institute said she was one of the best fiscal managers of all the Premiers in Canada....
05 January 2016
Metrics #nlpoli
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Telegram editor Russell Wangersky tried on Monday to put the government’s financial mess into some shape that people could understand. Th...
04 January 2016
The Bridge to Ottawa #nlpoli
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Premier Dwight Ball said everything is on the table to deal with the massive financial problem facing his administration. And then, in a s...
03 January 2016
Up the harbour and down the shore, again #nlpoli
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Today marks SRBP's anniversary. The first post appeared on January 3, 2005. Events of the past few weeks are a reminder of both how m...
31 December 2015
Consistency #nlpoli
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"We need to find a way to bridge us [from] where we are currently until the commodities rebound and be [sic] the significant contributo...
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