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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10 August 2016
Water Rights, Muskrat Falls, and the Muskrat Falls Disaster #nlpoli
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Forget everything else that you know about Muskrat Falls. The entire project hinged on Nalcor's ability to control water flows on the ...
09 August 2016
OCI dumps troubled shrimp plant on taxpayers #nlpoli
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Ocean Choice International is in better financial shape today, having successfully dumped a surplus shrimp processing facility on the people...
08 August 2016
Afraid of a second moratorium #nlpoli
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During the filibuster in the last session of the House of Assembly, education minister Dale Kirby reminded everyone of why the current admin...
05 August 2016
Fernando 2: Liberals start Tory-style poll goosing #nlpoli
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It's August and Corporate Research Associates is in the field. On Tuesday, Ed Joyce t old the people of Holyrood, Isles aux Morts, an...
04 August 2016
Whitbourne, schools, and democracy #nlpoli
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Parents in Whitbourne took the provincial government's English School District to court over the closure of the local school. They won...
03 August 2016
Trump and Proto-Trump and babies #nlpoli
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Speaking about his popularity and the loyalty of his supporters: "They say that I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoo...
02 August 2016
Gandhi, Mandela, and a guy in a chicken suit #nlpoli
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If the provincial New Democrats had sent a garden gnome around the province, odds are that the photos he'd have brought back would be ...
01 August 2016
CF(L)Co v. Hydro-Quebec (Court of Appeal) #nlpoli
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The full text of the Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation v. Hydro-Quebec: pdf Sucks to be you Upda...
Continuing continuity #nlpoli
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In the face of thousands of well-informed people telling Dwight Ball that the provincial government must change direction to survive, in the...
29 July 2016
The Unhappy Gang #nlpoli
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The provincial cabinet ended a "retreat" at The Rooms by holding a news conference on Thursday using as a backdrop posters comm...
28 July 2016
Reforming the courts #nlpoli
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The numbers in Tuesday's post showed all the time spent in the court in each seat, totalled up for the month, averaged, then divided b...
27 July 2016
The truth about Danny Williams, Hydro-Quebec, and the Lower Churchill #nlpoli
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Danny Williams promised he would never cut a deal on the Lower Churchill with Hydro-Quebec unless it included redress for the 1969 contract....
One Danny does Two Ronnies #nlpoli
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In an exclusive interview, VOCM's Fred Hutton caught up with Danny Williams to talk about Williams' latest project. The former pre...
Good-bye John #nlpoli
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In their last year in office, the provincial Conservatives went on a patronage bend on top of the patronage bender they started in 2003. Th...
26 July 2016
How many days does a Provincial Court sit? #nlpoli
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If you listen to some people, Provincial Courts in the province are seriously overloaded such that with the loss of a couple of court house...
25 July 2016
Justice and the budget #nlpoli
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The latest in a string of little budget dramas ended on Friday afternoon. A group of lawyers that included former Conservative party preside...
22 July 2016
In-house and cheap #nlpoli
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Provincial government communications consists chiefly of making up vacuous comments for ministers to recite. They are called key messages....
The future of the information commissioner #nlpoli
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Donovan Molloy will be the n ew information and privacy commissioner . He'll do a fine job, to be sure, but there is something about th...
21 July 2016
The New Approach in Uncommunication #nlpoli
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There are times when you look at a government news release and just laugh . Apparently, people who catch fish illegally are now called &qu...
No qualified candidates? What nonsense. #nlpoli
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Let's make two things clear at the outset. First, the Globe and Mail is a rag. It's reputation has more to do with snobbery than...
20 July 2016
The historic franchise decision #nlpoli
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Tuesday was one of the most important anniversaries in our political history. As labradore reminded everyone, July 19 was the 70th annive...
19 July 2016
Apologise for what? #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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The Government of Canada never operated a single residential school for aboriginal people in Newfoundland and Labrador. Not one. That...
18 July 2016
The right decision on shrimp #nlpoli
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On the surface, it looks like a classic political compromise . The federal government caved to political pressure and reallocated the shrim...
15 July 2016
Donald Trump is a bad role model
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One after another, folks who'd posted this Clinton ad to youtube either took it down or made it private. Well, here is is from Hilary ...
14 July 2016
If Jesus understood public relations... #nlpoli
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Jesus understood public relations. John 10:25 (Authorised Version) Are you the Saviour? Tell us plainly. "I told you, and ye...
13 July 2016
Being there #nlpoli
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Thursday is July 14. Bastille Day. It's also another anniversary. Dwight Ball has been in office seven months. In the latest e...
12 July 2016
Delivery #nlpoli
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Michael Barber headed a group of officials for then-Prime Minister Tony Blair that was responsible for getting Blair's major comm...
11 July 2016
If Kelvin's departure was no biggie... #nlpoli
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According to Premier Dwight Ball, Kelvin Parsons was never going to stick around for long as the Premier's chief of staff. Okay. Le...
07 July 2016
labradore's Labrador #nlpoli
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For your summer reading enjoyment, here are five books on Labrador, courtesy of the always helpful Wallace McLean at labradore : Elizabeth...
06 July 2016
More Newfoundland books you should read #nlpoli
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Yesterday you got Jerry Bannister's five books on Newfoundland. Today you get an eclectic list from your humble e-scribbler: 1. J...
05 July 2016
Emails, government business, and ATIPPA #nlpoli
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During the Ed Martin fiasco, an email turned up from Ken Marshall - then chair of the Nalcor board - to Premier Dwight Ball and natural res...
The "new" Newfoundland #nlpoli
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Every once in a while, SRBP has featured a list of suggested books either for summer enjoyment or as in April 2006 , for anyone interested...
04 July 2016
Two Solitudes #nlpoli
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"Newfoundland and Canada , separate countries for so long, exist as two solitudes within the bosom of a single country more than 65...
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 ...
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