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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01 July 2016
On came the Newfoundlanders...
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"On came the Newfoundlanders, a great body of men, but the fire intensified and they were wiped out in front of my eyes." Pri...
30 June 2016
Interprovincial migration for morons #nlpoli
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Some people got really excited on Wednesday by a report from the Fraser Institute that claimed this province had seen its first population ...
29 June 2016
The little savory details #nlpoli
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Nalcor chief executive Stan Marshall said so much last Friday about Muskrat Falls, it's probably true that most people couldn't poss...
28 June 2016
Friends and enemies #nlpoli
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Craig Westcott tells a story from his short stint as communications director for the Liberals in opposition in the last days of Danny Willia...
27 June 2016
A foundation of lies and deceit #nlpoli
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You could feel the shock among the local media on Friday as Stan Marshall carefully dissected the insanity that is Muskrat Falls. Didn...
24 June 2016
11 minutes and 11 seconds #nlpoli
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Dwight Ball was at Memorial University on Thursday morning to represent the provincial government in a joint announcement with Judy Foote on...
23 June 2016
The truth behind the key message #nlpoli
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Paul Lane, lef t (not exactly as illustrated), says both the Liberals and Conservatives trained him to deliver scripted messages. People...
22 June 2016
Foundations #nlpoli
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Natural resources minister Siobhan Coady was the latest in a long line of energy ministers from this province who have done the annual pilgr...
21 June 2016
Public interest served by contract disclosure #nlpoli
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There's no small irony that NAPE is fighting to increase public disclosure of government spending while other public sector unions are b...
20 June 2016
Developing a sustainable, diverse economy #nlpoli
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When it comes to developing a successful economic development strategy, Edsel Bonnell has advice worth heeding. He co-chaired the team tha...
17 June 2016
Core Public Service Numbers #nlpoli
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Somebody requested the number of public servants through Access to Information and the folks in the department answered only half the questi...
16 June 2016
The Budget and the Economy #nlpoli
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The Conference Board of Canada says the recent budget has tipped the provincial economy into a recession next year. Finance minister Cathy...
Making the best of a bad deal #nlpoli
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Here's the short version of the implications flowing from Nalcor's announcement on Wednesday: 1. Continuing Muskrat Falls is a ...
15 June 2016
Cash Debt and GDP #nlpoli
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For those who find this stuff interesting, here are some numbers to mull over. You may have heard of comparing the net debt to the gross d...
14 June 2016
Marc "Two Engines" Garneau and Bad Decision-Making #nlpoli
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Cast your mind all the way back to the last time Canada bought new fighter jets. Ooop. Lost most of you already. No memory...
13 June 2016
What's wrong #nlpoli
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As with a lot of things in local politics, the most interesting thing wasn't the fact that Steve Marshall barred Roger Grimes from a ho...
10 June 2016
Turning Point #nlpoli
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The Great Filibuster of 2016 came to an abrupt end on Thursday afternoon as the two opposition parties decided to pack it in, having gaining...
09 June 2016
The 'eart of Darkness #nlpoli
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No one would be surprised if a cell phone video turned up in the next few days on youtube showing Dwight Ball before he broke his silence ...
08 June 2016
The Fan Klub, Churchill, and taxes - update
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As the provincial Conservatives and New Democrats filibuster the levy bill in the House of Assembly that Winston Churchill quote about taxes...
07 June 2016
The House and Twitter #nlpoli
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Guest post by Simon Lono The latest House of Assembly Twitter flap raises more issues that it first appears. Leaving aside the wisdom of...
06 June 2016
Entitlements and examples #nlpoli
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Canadian income tax law requires that all people over the age of 71 must take payments from their registered pension plan. Lorraine Michae...
03 June 2016
What's next for Nalco? #nlpoli
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Just so that everyone is clear on this, it has taken Dwight Ball every single day from May 23 until June 2 to admit that he knew Ed Martin...
02 June 2016
Priorities #nlpoli
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While everyone has been pre-occupied with Dwight Ball's psycho-drama this past couple of weeks, odds are most people missed a little bil...
01 June 2016
Anger Ball
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Premier Dwight Ball got angry on Tuesday. He's angry at the suggestion that he approved paying severance to Ed Martin. Well, reall...
31 May 2016
Martin continues to set provincial political agenda #nlpoli
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On the surface, Ed Martin's statement on Monday confirmed what we already knew. Dwight Ball knew about and approved of Ed Martin'...
30 May 2016
The Running Man #nlpoli
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With questions swirling about what Premier Dwight Ball knew about severance payments to former Nalcor boss Ed Martin and when he knew it, B...
29 May 2016
The Oracle of Brunei and The Prophet of Boswarlos #nlpoli
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You know that the local news media are hard up for stories when they post the musings about the current budget of somebody from Newfoundlan...
28 May 2016
The Oracle on the Parkway #nlpoli
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Crude oil was trading north of US$50 a barrel for about 30 seconds this week. What with the government's cash deficit being $3.0 billi...
27 May 2016
Last Rites #nlpoli
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This week Premier Dwight Ball became the punchline to a joke. Ball spent yet another day not giving straight answers to simple questions a...
26 May 2016
Alarums and Excursions #nlpoli
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Dwight Ball is hiding details of his involvement in the decision to give an enormous and unwarranted severance package paid to Ed Martin des...
25 May 2016
Ball digs himself deeper into hole #nlpoli
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Dwight Ball's latest version of Ed Martin's departure from Nalcor only deepens the political quagmire into which the Premier and hi...
24 May 2016
Red Flags #nlpoli
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If you want to understand the depth of Dwight Ball's political problem, understand that as of Victoria Day, Paul Lane - never the shar...
23 May 2016
How government decides - From Bow-Wow to Basenji #nlpoli
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The Liberals' signature policy initiative is Bill 1 . It is so important that it is the only piece of new legislation the Liberals hav...
20 May 2016
How the other half pays #nlpoli
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Brian Jones. Statistics Canada can be your friend. CANSIM 204-0001 to be precise. You don't have to manipulate numbers. There a...
A different kind of P3
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Paul Lane won Mount Pearl-Southlands in 2015 by a mere 241 votes. In 2011 , he won a seat in the House of Assembly by 700 votes. Anyone...
19 May 2016
Did you hear the one about the Lane and the Ball? #nlpoli
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Paul Lane has taken Dwight Ball's measure. How Ball and the Liberals respond to Lane's challenge will determine the fate of the a...
18 May 2016
A dose of reality for Lorraine and her friends #nlpoli
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During Question Period in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, Lorraine Michael asked the finance minister for the information that showed that...
17 May 2016
Six Rationalisations Pretending to Be Policy #nlpoli
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Policy solves problems. At it's simplest level, policy answers a question. Cancelling Muskrat Falls is a good example. We are faci...
16 May 2016
Responsible Government #nlpoli
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Many of you may not have heard of Jerry Dean until this past week. Jerry is from Botwood. Last fall the people on Exploits district electe...
12 May 2016
Up the harbour and down the shore... once more #nlpoli
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Here's another one that started life as a column at the old Independent . And, as with "The politics of history" it can ...
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...
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