Rain Man drippy

I'm a strong believer that every cent of money that was received inappropriately should be paid back. It's taxpayers' money.

That's a quote from finance minister Loyola "Rain Man" Sullivan (left, looking a tad dyspeptic) speaking about overpayments allegedly made to current and former members of the House of Assembly.

But here's the thing: while no sane person would disagree with Sullivan's comments, every sane person in the province wonders about the comment coming from the individual who sat on the House of Assembly's Internal Economy Commission for a good chunk of the overspending period. Sullivan's tenure included the time of some of the worst overspending, if we accept at face value the Auditor General's reports.

As such he knew or should have known what was going on. If he didn't, then we need to know why he didn't.

Sullivan's comments get a little more odd - if that's possible - considering that for two of the years involved he served both on IEC and as finance minister. As such he had financial reports coming to him from both the House of Assembly and from the province's Comptroller General. Some of us would like to know given that situation how Sullivan was blissfully unaware of the alleged financial improprieties.

Let's not even get into having Loyola explain how he could present grossly incorrect figures to the House of Assembly for two budgets in a row. The real figures - eventually released in the official Public Accounts - showed total overspending in members' allowances in the legislature of more than $1.0 million in 2004 and 2005 combined. Loyola's Estimates showed members' allowances as being exactly on budget.

Methinks the Rain Man is all wet.

Remember...

the talking point drafted by the premier's publicity department and circulated widely among cabinet ministers, government members and the Pitcher Plant callers that used to clog radio call-in shows?

It was the reason not to have a public inquiry into the entire spending scandal at the House of Assembly. An inquiry that would include commissioners with the power to subpoena testimony and documents and basically get to the bottom of everything likely long before the next election.

An inquiry that would stand in contrast to the one by Chief Justice Green - who only appears to have subpoena powers (I read the order in council) - or Auditor General John Noseworthy who will spend more than a year scowering the books and come up about where he already is.

Remember, they all said a public inquiry would cost too much.

I guess they never figured the Premier's approach to managing the crisis would cost more and deliver far less in the way of reliable information on everyone who has some responsibility for the mess than a public inquiry.

Payback is a mother

[Originally posted 06 Dec 06.]

Ok.

So if Auditor General John "Baubles" Noseworthy thinks that everyone he has accused should automatically pay back the amounts he has identified, let's up the ante.

Premier Danny Williams had it right. If due process - something Noseworthy clearly knows nothing about - determines facts and responsibility, then there are legal means to recover any money misappropriated. The Premier correctly said that we should all let the process work.

If Noseworthy turns out to be right, then yeah the people involved should make restitution. All of 'em, including the people on the Internal Economy Commission Noseworthy seems reluctant to discuss for some inexplicable reason.

But only after due process.

On the other hand if it turns out Noseworthy conducted as fundamentally flawed a set of audits as Bond Papers would contend - incompetent might be a better word - then let John dig into his bank account and repay to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador every red cent spent since he made his first accusation.

It's only fair.

________________________

Update [07 Dec 06]: Apparently Loyola "Rain Man" Sullivan, minister of finance and oddly enough a guy who has much to answer for in this scandal himself, hasn't consulted Danny Williams on recovering money. Sullivan told news media he already has an "office" looking into collecting the cash.

Sullivan was a member of the Commission of Internal Economy during much of the period when overspending took place. Sullivan spoke in support of changes to the IEC legislation in 1999 that Auditor general John Noseworthy has criticized. IEC is an executive committee of the legislature responsible for approving budgets, budget over-runs and generally overseeing House operations.

It is odd that Sullivan wasn't aware not only of the overspending Noseworthy found but also the half million dollars overspent by members of the legislature in each year since Sullivan has been finance and a member of the IEC.

Both Sullivan and Noseworthy knew about that overspending and approved it. Incidentally, Noseworthy only accounted for $200K of the total for '04 and '05. Noseworthy still hasn't explained the other $800K in overspending for those years.

Update Update: And then there's the rest of the cash. Not only has Auditor General John Noseworthy cost taxpayers the better part of a million bucks on his "audits" thus far, CBC Radio is now reporting that Chief Justice Derek Green and his retinue of part-time lawyers and researchers has set the public back about $600,000 for their review designed to recommend a new set of rules for pay and allowances for members.

Green is almost finished his report; he has committed to getting the paperwork handed in by the end of January. Noseworthy said this week the rest of his "audit" will take well into 2008. Noseworthy's office alone will wind up costing taxpayers more than he allegedly found in overspending by members. All told, taxpapers will be lucky if the total tab resulting from Noseworthy's allegations doesn't exceed the $4.4 million he alleges was diddlied.

In the meantime, we still don't have current Public Accounts and Noseworthy still hasn't explained the overspending that occured in 2004 and 2005.

Does the AG get paid by the hour?

Did the terrorists think of this explosive?

Snakes on a plane?

Try Farts on a Plane.

h/t to Bridget, who is sickie-poo in Taiwan.

Out in the cold

A few years ago, I used to slave in the coalmines of Confederation Building. One of my tasks was dealing with requests for people to hold protests, demonstrations or speeches in the lobby of the building's East Block.

Convention since Joe Smallwood's day was that the East Block was part of the House of Assembly or at least shared with it and as such the lobby was pretty much open to gatherings. Provided of course the stuff was non-violent. Over ths seven years I was there we had a few loud groups and more than few 20s of Lambs or Morgan got passed around at the bigger ones. By and large, though, things went off smoothly.

As much as it might have been painful sometimes, we facilitated the protests. Sometimes, we even earned a few small brownie points for respecting people's right to tell the administration I worked for that we were all the products of successive generations of first cousin intermarriage.

That wasn't a unique put-down, by the way; every Newfoundland government since the year dot is apparently composed of inbreeding the likes of which is unknown outside certain European royal families.

But I digress.

So why was it that the multiple sclerosis people - holding a small demonstration to get help for catastrophic medical costs - had to stage their protest in the cold and snow on the front steps of the Confederation Building?

As Bond Papers got the story, the whole thing was originally signed off and approved to be indoors.

That is until the wonderful crew in Transportation and Works(John "I have a signed contract on my desk in front of me" Hickey, minister) realized these protests were going to criticize the Williams administration, albeit in a polite way. The front line official checked with the powers that be - likely including the comms director -and the people with multiple sclerosis were told that unless they had a sponsoring department, they were SOL.

As it turns out, that's not far off what they have been told anyway by the Department of Health on their request for financial help, but that's another story.

But here's the thing. Departments don't "sponsor" anyone but friendly groups. So unless you are going to stand in the lobby of Confed Building and sing hymns of praise to the current administration, better think again about exercising your right to free speech in a public building anytime at all soon.

According to the department known generally as Never and Can't - never works and can't transport - the public lobby of a public building adjacent to the House of Assembly is no place for political free speech.

Scandal checklist

Scroll down the right-hand column and you will find a set of links to previous posts on the House of Assembly spending scandal.

When the story was new and hot there was plenty to scribble about.

In light of some of this week's events - including AG John Noseworthy's return to an accusation he previously admitted can't back up - it's useful to check on what happened before. You see, Noseworthy likes to accuse people of participating in a criminal conspiracy because he has forms and cheques with signatures at the bottom of them. If the name is yours, he will accuse you of fiddling the Crown out of cash.

Well, not only hasn't Noseworthy checked into the accounts themselves to see where the money went, he also hadn't even bothered to rule out fraud and forgery before he pointed his finger at anyone he felt deserved it.

Cavalier isn't strong enough an adjective to describe his attitude.

Auditor General missed about a million in recent overspending?

While everyone may have been on holidays when this one broke, here's a Bond Paper from August that notes the House of Assembly overspent members' allowances by over half a million dollars in each of fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

For those who remember, that's two fiscal years after Auditor General John Noseworthy originally contended problems with the House accounts were fixed. It's also considerably more than the amounts Noseworthy alleges were paid to two sitting members of the House during those years.

On top of that, Bond Papers pointed out in August that for two successive budgets, finance minister Loyola Sullivan misreported House of Assembly spending during his term as finance minister. The financial statement released in August also contained columns of figures that were presented in a way that suggested they had previously been released. As such, the presentation diverted attention from the misrepresentations in the spring budgets.

The figures hadn't been made public at all.

The finance minister knew or should have known the correct figures on actual spending. Those figures come from the Comptroller General's office which issues cheques for all departments and the House of Assembly. If accounts were overspent, the Comptroller General caught it or should have caught it and reported it to his boss, Loyola Sullivan.

Has anyone asked Loyola Sullivan why his Estimates numbers for the House of Assembly were wrong two years in a row?

Has anyone asked Auditor General John Noseworthy to explain the discrepancy between his figures and the Comptroller General's numbers?

Incidentally, Noseworthy audits and approves the Public Accounts statements normally published every year in November. So where are the audited public accounts for 2005?

The Financial Administration Act gives Loyola and John until February 1 to produce them, but surely the figures aren't so complex they have to be postponed, especially since Sullivan was able to release what amounts to Volume III of the Public Accounts back in August.

NL government breaking medicare principles

600 MS patients cannot access medically-necessary drug treatments due to lack of government support

December 6, 2006, St. John's, NL -- The Multiple Sclerosis Society took its campaign for universal drug coverage to the House of Assembly today to highlight that Newfoundland and Labrador's lack of drug coverage for MS patients is inconsistent with the principles of medicare.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in Canada that does not provide universal coverage of MS drugs. While the provincial government covers the drug costs of people on social assistance, seniors and those in long-term care, the lack of universal coverage has left over 600 Newfoundlanders without access to the drugs they need to manage their disease and slow its progression. Many others with MS have been forced to go on social assistance in order to qualify for drug coverage.

"Tommy Douglas, the father of medicare, used to say that no one should have to lose their farm because of an illness," said Sean Kirby, vice chair of the MS SociAtlantictlantic division board. "MS patients in this province should not have to quit their jobs, give up their life savings and raise their families in poverty because of their illness. Nor should they have to do without medically-necessary drugs that are available to patients in every other province. The government's refusal to provide drug coverage to all MS patients is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of our health system."

"The sad truth is that MS patients are better off in every other province in the country than they are here," said Kirby. "Patients in Newfoundland and Labrador should get the same care as other Canadians."

Margaret Rideout, a fisherwoman from Burin Peninsula who was diagnosed with MS three years ago, is one of many MS patients in Newfoundland and Labrador who have chosen to continue working to help support their families instead of going on social assistance to get government drug coverage. Ms. Rideout, who is married and has a four year old daughter, cannot afford to pay the cost of the drugs ($17,000-$27,000 per year), so she simply does without. The provincial government would pay for her drugs if she quit work and went on social assistance.

"Someone with MS basically has to be poverty-stricken to get any help from the provincial government," said Ms. Rideout. "Not only would I have to quit work and go on social assistance to get drug coverage, my husband and I would have to get rid of our investments and never save anything for retirement to meet the government's financial rules. Getting government drug coverage would mean committing my family to a life of poverty forever."

"I want to work and set a good example for my daughter. I want to contribute to the province and not be a drain on it," said Ms. Rideout. "It is wrong that the government is forcing me to choose between supporting my family and getting access to the drug treatments I need."

The lack of universal drug coverage also has terrible impacts on the provincial government's finances, the economy and communities. When MS patients cannot take their drugs, their health deteriorates and government health care costs increase as a result. When MS patients are forced to go on social assistance to get drug coverage, the provincial government ends up paying their drug costs plus social assistance payments and other related costs. In other words, it would be cheaper for the government to pay the drug costs for all MS patients than it is force them into poverty in order to meet government drug program rules.

Most MS patients are diagnosed when they are relatively young - between the ages of 15 and 40. With universal drug coverage, most would be able to contribute to the province, the economy and their communities for their entire lifetimes. Without universal drug coverage, they are forced into a life of poverty and deteriorating health.

The MS Society is urging the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to establish in its 2007 budget an MS-specific drug program that ensures every person with MS receives the drug treatments they need to manage their disease.

-30-

Contact:
Sarah Cowan
Manager of Communications and Government Relations
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (Atlantic Division)
Cell: (902) 981-4996

Sean Kirby
Vice Chair of the Board
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (Atlantic Division)
Cell: (902) 222-6930

Another N.B. Premier for Danny to fight

Enter Shawn Graham and the Conference of Atlantic Premiers' meeting in St. John's on December 6.

Will Danny respect a premier standing up for his province or pick a fight with the guy because he doesn't agree with Danny on Equalization?

Any day now

Corporate Research Associates released results of its Prince Edward Island quarterly political polling on Tuesday.

If past patterns hold, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia will be next followed by Newfoundland and Labrador on Friday or next Monday. CRA might skip NB this time since the Graham government is so new in office.

No predictions, but it is noticeable that government hasn't really been doing as much poll goosing this time around.

Noseworthy order-in-council [dated 19 July 2006]

Revised: 11:30 AM 05 Dec 06

Following is the text of the order-in-council directing the Auditor General to conduct certain reviews of House of Assembly accounts:

MC2006-0366. [Minute of Council 0366 issued in 2006]

Under the authority of section 16 of the Auditor General Act, and consistent with the Resolution of the Internal Economy Commission, the Lieutenant Governor in Council hereby requests that the Auditor General carry out the following:

i) annual audits of the accounts of the House of Assembly from fiscal years 1999/2000 to 2003/2004; and,

ii) a review of constituency allowances between 1989 and 2004 further to the Morgan Commission Report, to determine whether overspending occurred at the constituency level beyond funds which were approved, authorized, or provided for through Internal Economy Commission policy.

//signed//
Robert C. Thompson
Clerk of the Executive Council

______________________
Bond Papers Explanatory Notes

1. As with all similar documents, this one is headed: "Certified to be a true copy of a Minute of a Meeting of the Committee of the Executive Council of Newfoundland and Labrador approved by His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor on..." This is followed by the date for this MC: "2006/07/19".

2. MC = Minute of Council.

3. On the left hand, the document contains an order in council number and a distribution list.

OC2006-295 [Order in council 295 issued in 2006. This is the number cited by the Auditor General]

P[Premier; Bold is used here to distinguish the entry from the explanatory notes]]
Hon T. Rideout (A) [Indicates deputy premier Tom Rideout. (A) normally denotes someone functioning in an acting capacity]
J. Noel [John Noel, former clerk of the House of Assembly, secretary of the Internal Economy Commission]
H. Hodder [Harvey Hodder, Speaker of the House of Assembly, chair of the Internal Economy Commission]
AG [Auditor General (?) John Noseworthy]
Deputy Clerk [of the Executive Council]
File [Denotes a copy is to be retained on file in accordance with normal documents management processes.]

Latest AG report on Tuesday

Provincial auditor general John "Baubles" Noseworthy will release his latest report on spending in the House of Assembly on Tuesday at 10:00 AM local time.

True to form for Noseworthy, it is unclear from the news release whether Noseworthy will release both portions of his report or just one.

In July Noseworthy was tasked by cabinet with conducting comprehensive audits of the House of Assembly accounts for the period from Fiscal Year 1999 to Fiscal Year 2003.

To be clear, Noseworthy previously confused the dates when conducting his reviews and releasing his information. This should mean that this portion of Noseworthy's report would cover from 01 April 1999 to 31 March 2004.

Part of that period was already covered by previous reports. While it was not previously described this way by government or House of Assembly officials, Noseworthy was given revised terms of reference to offset a procedural problem with his earlier audits.

The second part of his mandate was to review any excess expenditure of constituency allowances by members of the House of Assembly beyond what was approved by the House Internal Economy Commission. This portion of the review would cover the period from 01 April 1989 to the present.

Noseworthy's release describes his report on Tuesday as being about "excess constituency allowance claims by Members of the House of Assembly."

Taken at face value, this would mean he would be releasing the larger and more complex review dating back almost 18 years and involved over 100 current and former members of the legislature. This may turn out to be the easiest to complete, though, since Noseworthy was only tasked with reviewing one of several allowances available to members of the legislature.

Furthermore, he was only tasked with identifying overspending that had not been approved by the IEC. Operating like treasury board or an executive committee, IEC has the authority to approve expenditures beyond budgeted amounts based on agreed-upon criteria. Overspending could occur, but if approved by IEC it would be beyond Noseworthy's mandate to discuss it. Former finance minister Paul Dicks made this point.

Considerable confusion in Noseworthy's earlier reports suggested that the Auditor General and his auditors did not understand the House expenditures. Constituency allowances, as defined by the 1989 Morgan Commission report was one of several district-related allowances available to members of the legislature to cover costs of serving as a full-time elected representative.

In his earlier reports, Noseworthy routinely lumped constituency allowances with travel and other allowances. This occurred despite Noseworthy's including the Morgan Commission report's definition of constituency allowances in each of his reports. See, for example, the report on New Democrat legislator Randy Collins. There were also discrepancies among the reports on all four current and former legislators.

The gold standard of professional public auditing remains the Auditor General of Canada. Her most recent report included allegations against a senior public servant. The allegations were back by both meticulous research and meticulous reporting of the research. Take a look at the report at the AG website, and then compare it to whatever her local counterpart releases on Tuesday.

Kilbride Tories have a battle

Well, at least among themselves for the nomination.

Former teacher and St. John's city councilor John Dinn already declared.

Today, the Telegram reports that 32-year old Sean Hammond, scion of another BFT family in the district, is looking for the Tory nomination to replace Ed Byrne.

Hammond grew up across the street from your humble e-scribbler. He's a smart and aggressive young guy back by impressive Tory connections and credentials.

Meanwhile, the Liberal establishment seems to have already decided on its candidate. District association president Bob Clarke announced his candidacy shortly before the party announced its nomination call would be inexplicably really short.

Maybe, Bond was a little premature to congratulation Dinn. Let's revise our congrats to Dinn or Hammond, depending on which one wins the nomination. Either way, the Libs have already ceded the by-election.

The New Democrats still haven't announced what they plan to do.

So what is Potsie doing these days?

Celebrity life is cruel.

One day your saying or gesture or hairstyle is making magazine covers across the globe.

Next day, you are doing dinner theatre in Boise with the guy who played Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver while across the street the chick who played whashername on that show that didn't last too long is trying to save souls with stories about the hard life of a child celebrity.

Same thing with politicians.

One day you are hitting 97% support in the polls. (remember the Accord?)

Not so very long later, people are wondering who the frig put the sand in your Vaseline this time? Those stroke moments seem fewer and much farther between no matter how hard the publicity department tries to get your picture out there (right).

Like in theatre, taking it on the road is proof the show has had its run in the big halls. Now it's time to bring the Lard of the Dance experience to Wallingford Connecticut with the second team of dancers.

And it isn't like being a cartoon character where your catch phrases just effortlessly morph into cultural icons.

Yosemite Sam? Still funny half a century after he first sputtered after the rabbit.

Yosemite Dan? Same hair, but it's gettin' old Dan.

Really old.

Really quickly.

Congratulations, John Dinn

He'll be the new member of the House of Assembly for Kilbride.

According to the Telegram, the 62 year old retired teacher, former St. John's city councilor and former mayor (prior to amalgamation) is considering looking for the Tory nod in the district to be vacated by incumbent Ed Byrne.

Byrne departs officially January 1 with a by-election to follow at some point over the next three months.

In order to get the Tory nomination in the district, one would have to get the blessing of Bob Aylward. The former member for the area and former Peckford era cabinet minister is still a potent political force. Active, well, known and well-liked, Bob is the Godfather of Kilbride.

Dinn's already got that covered off, being one of the old Tory hands from these parts.

Jack Lee, another name being touted, might be a Danny favourite - Lee runs a hockey school - but he simply won't be able to beat Dinn and the Political Haymaking Machine that forms the core of the old-line Tory camp in the partly suburban and partly rural agricultural district.

The New Democrats haven't said boo about the district so far.

Meanwhile, a day or so before the nomination was announced, Liberal district association president Bob Clarke seems to have taken advantage of his insider knowledge of the impending nomination call and got his name in play before anyone else even knew about it.

The nomination was announced publicly the next day and is open for the suspiciously short period of three business days. Any potential candidates and supporters who spent the week working the federal leader candidates campaigns will be unlikely to reorganize for a needlessly short and early provincial district nomination fight. Heck, Clarke may well have had a hand in going off prematurely.

Congratulations, John Dinn on being almost guaranteed the by-election win.

The only thing thing stopping Dinn from being a shoe-in is the as-yet unnamed New Democrat candidate. Once we know that we can tell if there will be a real fight or if the Premier can stay away from knocking doors and walking in cow manure.

Dion!

For those of us who supported Stephane Dion from the outset, among a field of great candidates, today is very good day indeed.

Dion will likely bring new ideas and an opportunity for renewal within the party and across the nation.

For those who fear all manner of bogeymen - today is a dark day indeed. Then again, the separatists and their allies and sympathisers across Canada, may rightly feel threatened.

Today, it is especially humourous to see a local separatist scribbling in the local daily after serving as the high commissioner to Ottawa for a government that more than anything else represents exactly the dependence on Uncle Ottawa he supposedly despises.

Lower Churchill not really any closer

While the Lower Churchill project has been registered for environmental assessment with both the federal and provincial governments, the project isn't really any closer to starting than it was six months ago.

That's when Premier Danny Williams tossed aside every proposal submitted in the province's expressions of interest process and embarked on an approach which, by his own admission, had not been assessed on any level at all. There was no business plan, that most basic of business planning tools.

The environmental assessment documents are drawn largely from work completed since 1998 under former premiers Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes.

Contrary to Premier Williams' claim today, it appears that he is actually farther from developing the Lower Churchill the province was in 1991 or at any time since.

Biggest, most important issues still unaddressed

Six months after Williams embarked on his go-it-alone approach, all the major elements - market, land claims agreements and financing - aren't even close to settled.

A key point, with political implications, is securing a loan guarantee from the federal government that could run between $6 billion and $9 billion.

Williams is confident that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will come through with such a guarantee.

"I have a commitment in writing from the prime minister, for what it's worth," said Williams, referring to a letter Harper wrote Jan. 4, during the federal election campaign.

What Williams didn't say apparently is what that commitment is. In fact, the Premier has consistently misrepresented Harper's written comments at every opportunity. During the election - while Williams pretended to support Harper - he claimed that there was a commitment to a loan guarantee. At the recent provincial Tory convention in Gander - when Williams admitted he secretly distrusted Harper even as he campaigned for him publicly - Williams continued to claim there was a loan guarantee commitment.

Harper's actual comment was substantially different. All committed to do was discuss the issue further.

A Conservative government would welcome discussions on this initiative and would hope that the potential exists for it to proceed in the spirit of past successes such as the Hibernia project.

Feds would accept ownership stake

Rather than loan guarantees, the Harper administration would be interested in an ownership stake in the Lower Churchill. Putting Ottawa in a position to take a share of revenues from the project would fly in the face of Williams go-it-alone posturing. Then again, if the province was actually able to go-it-alone, Williams wouldn't need the federal government to help finance the project.

However, Williams will need outside financial backing to build the Lower Churchill. According to the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Williams tried to raise capital on Wall Street before the go-it-alone announcement but was rejected by financiers.

Williams not welcome in Ottawa

The more significant problem the premier faces in seeking financial help from Ottawa is his abysmal relationship with the prime minister's office. The dust-up in Gander between the president of the federal Conservative Party and the premier's brother is typical of the ongoing scrap. Williams' attack on Bernard Lord is symptomatic of the animosity bordering on full-blown contempt that flows freely between the Langevin Block and the Premier's Office.

The Canadian Press story refers to energy experts as being somewhat more cautious than the Premier in his enthusiasm. CP refers to transmission grid issues. Additionally, though, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is behind the curve in finding markets for the power as a direct result of the go-it-alone snap decision. Progress has also been slow on an impacts and benefits agreement with aboriginal peoples.

Great horny toads!

Premier Danny Williams [Left: not exactly as illustrated.] doesn't like any critical comment, as Bernard Lord has learned.

Even the innocuous remarks by the former Tory premier of New Brunswick got Danny to come out, guns blazing.

So what does a combative Premier do?

He launches another verbal war; which is what Lord was scolding Williams for in the first place.

How quickly we forget

As we look forward to another report from Auditor General John "Baubles" Noseworthy on spending in the House of Assembly and the fibre fiasco, let's cast our minds back to February 2006 and some of his interesting comments on financial management within the Williams' administration.

Interesting too that at around the same time, the provincial estimates were being compiled showing that spending in the House of Assembly was exactly on budget for every single line item.

Odd, that.

And when you are done with that, consider the ongoing antics at City hall and remember the candidacy of one Simon Lono. The Mayor of St. John's dissed his comments on financial administration at City Hall, the folly called Mile One, the abysmal state of infrastructure in the city and just about everything else going at the downtown bunker.

Next time, Simon.

Fibre fact-checker needed

CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is carrying a story on the provincial government's conemtplation of expanding broadband access to Labrador.

Yes, it's important.

Yes, it's expensive - upwards of $80 million, according to Trevor Taylor's comments to CBC.

But it isn't like there isn't already a plan for it.

Check the link to a November 2005 news release in which former innovation minister Kathy Dunderdale announced government would be hiring a consultant to map out an information strategy. They never did; if they did, the person has never been heard of again.

Anyway, the oddly titled "Big Backgrounder" contains a breakout of projects under the federal government's Broadband and Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) project. Two Labrador projects are listed with a total project cost of over $5.0 million, financed 100% by the Government of Canada.

Trevor Taylor's department is listed as having commited exactly zilch to the project.

Nada.

Bupkis.

BRAND is a project in which the province dribbles teeny bits of cash and the feds flood.

So now, Trevor Taylor is announcing further study of extending broadband coverage to Labrador, which will, as he predicts, require provincial funding.

Trevor needs a fact-checker.

Thank you CBC

With one single hire, CBC has crippled the ego-fest known as Out of the Fog.

Officially a light entertainment show, it pretended to cover serious news. You can't do that if there is an official editoral policy that says government ministers get the kid gloves, the Premier gets an ass-kissing and everyone else gets the shaft.

Hard to be objective when The Boss is family, but at least they could make an effort to hide the bias.

Meanwhile, if Krysta's got hard news potential or hard news aspirations, she can realise it if she takes advice from the experienced news people around her at CBC. The shameless on-air boot-licking she practiced at Rogers just won't fly anywhere else.

I'd tell her the same thing if the new show was at NTV.

Let's see how it goes.

As for CBC news, Here and Now does not need more light filler. Let Krysta occupy the afternoon slot unless you need to push audience her way. But keep her appearances to a minimum; Here and Now has enough of the softer, background stuff.

Here and Now is doing better than when it retruned to the hour format but overall it needs to get its old edge back. Finding that balance between edge and everything else is difficult.

Let's just say that more Krysta wouldn't be a whetstone.

Separated at birth? Two fish guys

Maybe it goes with the job to tell me to take it or leave it.

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn to Gander airport authority:

"If the people of Gander want it, and if they don't, well then there's not much we can do."...

"Do you want to buy time or don't you? And we're waiting for an answer."





Minister of Natural Resources John Efford to Premier Danny Williams, on the Atlantic Accord:

"Let me say it, and let me say it clear: the deal is done. Do you want it, Mr. Sullivan? Do you want it, Mr. Williams? There are no more changes."

Connie staffer ID'ed as Williams' diplomacy advisor

Bravo, Aaron Hynes.

We finally know who has been giving the local Tories some bad advice on relationship management.

From da Globe:

**Whizzing back by reply e-mail an hour later, Mr. Hynes, who was a Tory candidate in Newfoundland in the last election, parried with the remark: "That's all we care about. Canadians. But I wouldn't expect you to understand the complexities of this decision. . . . You're a foreign jackass." Responded the money manager: "I'm not sure that this is how Mr. Lauzon wants to be represented." He then sent the e-mail exchange to a number of Canadian energy companies, adding dryly: "I believe his office is not serving in your best interests. As a note I am a large shareholder in all of your companies."

The final e-mail instalment? Mr. Hynes wrote to the four oil and gas companies: "If any of you Canadians have questions or concerns, we will be more than happy to direct them to the [Finance] Minister's office for a thorough reply. However, I am not here to be denigrated or intimidated by self-important non-Canadians."**

Monkey tossing for England: Placentia school "compensation"

Notably absent from an announcement today in Placentia was a representative of Voisey's Bay Nickel Company, the outfit that - according to natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale - is paying "compensation" to Placentia for building the nickel smelter/refinery in nearby Long Harbour instead of nearer-by Argentia.

But here's the thing. VBNC has been providing money just like the stuff Dunderdale mentioned today to a host of communities, including Placentia and Dunville.

The "agreement" announced by Dunderdale today consist of a payment in lieu of taxes to the Placentia town council, a small grant to the town to build a fire hall, upgrading lights at the Dunville ballpark (already committed in 2005, incidentally), and a general commitment to support local business opportunities.

That's basically the sort of thing VBNC has done or would be expected to do anyway as part of maintaining sound relationships with residents of the largest communities close to the new site at Long Harbour.

There's nothing in this announcement - not a single thing - that looks like anything other than sound business practice.

It certainly isn't "compensation" since, as we noted already, VBNC doesn't really have anything to compensate anyone for.

Dunderdale's release looks more like a case of political monkey-tossing than "compensation".

Except, of course for the provincial government's sudden commitment to build a new school in Placentia.

And that's the really big announcement here.

The government’s commitment to the people of Placentia was also clearly demonstrated today with the announcement of approval to build a new school for Grades 7-12. "I know that people of the Placentia area have been seeking a new school for some time. Government recognized that it was time to replace Laval High School. To that end, we have allocated funds to begin planning the new facility," said Minister [Joan]Burke.

It's a good decision and one that will support the workers at Long Harbour, many of whom are likely to already live in Placentia or who are more likely to locate there rather than in a smaller community somewhere else in the Long Harbour area.

Too bad the government's publicity department had to frame the whole thing around an something that has really been government's fabrication. Instead, they could have just announced the school, included VBNC's work as a good corporate citizen and heralded construction of a massive industrial enterprise at nearby Long Harbour.

Of course, doing that would mean the Premier and his ministers would have to acknowledge - even implicitly - that the agreement he trashed regularly before he was in government has actually delivered the only industrial construction project of his administration thus far.

He killed off the other biggie.

Rather than do that, the whole operation of government, and this release, become nothing more than another exercise in monkey tossing.

Shuttle to fly over North Atlantic

The next shuttle launch is scheduled for December 7 using a launch angle that it will take it over the North Atlantic.

So why isn't Danny Williams screaming about potential threats to offshore oil rigs?

Could it be that the Titan fiasco showed just exactly how hysterical concerns were that the rigs would be hit?

Yeah. Regular Bond Papers readers were never worried in the first place.

Plus ca change: Dunderdale tender blunder

For some reason the provincial government has taken to issuing news releases to challenge questions from the opposition during Question period in the legislature.

On Tuesday, it was transportation minister John Hickey who was caught in an advanced stage of pinocchiosis over federal funding for the Trans-Labrador Highway. He supposedly told someone he had a signed contract. As we have all learned this would not be even close to true since the feds are waiting on the province to get a work plan in place.

Today, it was natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale. The blunder-plagued minister was trying to explain why the Bull Arm Corporation cancelled a tender and then re-tendered.

The Liberal opposition claimed the first tender was cancelled when a local Liberal came in with the lowest bid. They argued the project was redefined so that someone else - in this case the future local Tory candidate's campaign manager could get a piece. The future candidate, by the by, is Joan Cleary; Bond Papers discussed her appointment to head the Bull Arm Corporation some time ago.

But in defending the tender, Dunderdale actually provides us with a pretty convincing example of a complete cock-up. Whether it was politically motivated - as the Opposition suggests - or just a case of mismanagement and incompetence, the whole tender should never have been handled the way it was. Around here, Bond Papers would contend it is evidence that - as we noted last November - Joan Cleary isn't qualified for the job she currently holds.

Here's why.

The original tender at Bull Arm was for the complete replacement of the existing security shack. That is a pretty straightforward project involving labour and materials together as one unit. One can logically conclude that if the first tender was for complete replacement, Bull Arm management had made a determination that the building needed complete replacement. It's an important piece of work, even if the shack is relatively small.

While Bull Arm management may have had a cost estimate in mind, they ran a tender process and a low tender duly arrived. Notice that Dunderdale does not say how much Bull Arm originally expected to see as the bids; she does claim, though, that the prices were such that Bull Arm decided to cancel the entire tender and , presumably, do nothing in the meantime.

And that's where it gets hinky. If the existing security shack was in such a state that it needed to be replaced, there simply isn't any reason to cancel the tender and not do anything about it. This approach suggests the original tender was bogus.

According to Dunderdale, Bull Arm only went to a second tender once some harsh weather caused damage to the shack. Nice try as excuses go, but if the original tender had been let or if the project had been re-tendered right away, Bull Arm Corp would likely have avoided the situation caused by weather. There would be no emergency since proper action was taken from the outset.

Instead Bull Arm Corp now had an emergency on its hands, albeit one that evidently resulted from its own poor management practices.

Rather than go to tender - as normally required under the Public Tender Act - now called the situation an emergency. For some completely unfathomable reason, Bull Arm split the project into two tenders: one for materials and one for labour and then went to three specific bidders for quotes.

Under the Public Tender Act, that is permissible - in a genuine emergency. But the legislation's exemption for emergencies is intended to cover real emergencies, not ones caused by dubious management decisions.

Interestingly enough, the original low bidder didn't get the work and the whole project was completed for over $50,000 less than the original tender's lowest bidder. We don't know if the whole shack was replaced, as originally intended, or if the thing was patched up and repaired. We'll never know since the people involved in the process would never make public all the documents and records to justify the situation.

Instead, we should be suspicious of the facts as described by the minister. On the face of it, the minister describes incompetent management of a relatively small project. On top of that the minister provides excuses for the mismanagement by claiming the proper process was followed. Clearly it wasn't: the cancellation of the original tender suggests something was amiss.

And if that weren't bad enough, we see once again the most familiar of all excuses trotted out by the Williams administration when it is accused of something: the rules allow it.

As Offal News put it last month, in another story related to Bull Arm Corp:

That does not mean it's right, correct, proper or ethical; he merely means it's legal. Legal is a long way from appropriate.

In the case of the security shack, it doesn't matter if Joan Cleary was involved in the decision or not, or whether the inning bidder was her former campaign manager or even that the low bidder on the cancelled tender call was a Liberal.

What Dunderdale has described is a classic example of shoddy management that led to damage to government property, followed by a clever - but all-too obvious - abuse of the Public Tender Act to divert attention away from poor management. They failed to exercise due diligence, to use a phrase the former InTRD minister herself was fond of abusing.

To make it worse, Dunderdale, as minister responsible for Bull Arm, is effectively endorsing the blunders made by Bull Arm Corp as well as condoning the abuse of the spirit of the public tender statute.

We were all told to expect better from our government three years ago, indeed to expect better from this government.

The case of the Bull Arm shack shows just how little changed in local politics in October 2003.

Who will fight for you?

It's like Danny Williams never left the legal and monopoly cable business.

First, it was a fibre deal that even he doesn't understand.

Next it will be cabinet ministers announcing "compensation" wrestled from some corporate wrongdoer.

Wait, a minute.

What's this?

Kathy Dunderdale and Joan Burke will be in Placentia on Thursday (psst, Thursday is the 30th, not the 29th) "to announce compensation for the area from Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company for the loss of the commercial processing facility at Argentia, as well as school infrastructure plans for the Placentia area".

Compensation from VBNC for the "loss" of a commercial processor?

Hmmm.

I don't see anything from VBNC saying they'd pay compensation. Their contractual obligations are merely to build a smelter/refinery in the province and they are doing that. At Long Harbour. Argentia and Placentia couldn't lose what they never actually had locked up.

So is this just a poorly written news release or did Danny and his team of crackies wrestle some kind of cash from VBNC? One news outlet is reporting it already as VBNC shelling out. If the cash was from VBNC, then the company should be getting the credit or at least sharing it.

Maybe it's just the tail end of a polling period and someone is getting desperate to goose the numbers.

So who will run in Kilbride?

With Ed Byrne's resignation as member for Kilbride, effective January 1, 2006, the question now comes as to who will carry party banners in the district.

The district has had some strong representation over the past decades in the form of both Bob Aylward and latterly Byrne, both Tories.

For the New Democrats and Liberals, the question of a candidate is wide open. The Liberals must contest the seat with a strong candidate. Even if they come in second, they will have to put on a solid performance to hang on to any credibility.

No names have surfaced for either party.

On the Tory side, Bond Papers has suggested - somewhat facetiously - that Danny will be pushing Leslie Galway, currently business deputy minister. We'll see what happens.

Another name has cropped up as being interested, but Bond Papers won't through it out until there is some confirmation. This guy has the advantage of being a hockey player which would automatically put him in Danny's good books.

Unlike Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, there isn't a high profile candidate in play yet.

Let's see what happens.

CANARIE in Trev's credibility coalmine

Earnest innovation minister Trevor Taylor is fighting a losing credibility battle.

No matter how hard he tries, someone keeps putting out information that undermines Taylor's arguments that the Persona deal is a good investment of public money and had nothing to do whatsoever with helping out political friends.

Even Trevor can't keep out of the contradictions act...

Like, f'rinstance, last week in the House, on 22 November, Taylor said that one third of the cost of the national network connection for Memorial University to participate in a research computer network - one third of the cost for that - had gone into the line between St. John's and Halifax.

Memorial University is the Newfoundland hub for a series of projects, like CANARIE that ships data around among researchers, albeit not along the public Internet per se.

But notice that comment: one third the cost.

Flip ahead to this week and in the course of debate, Taylor said the cost of CANARIE (paid for by the federal government apparently) at MUN was something around $400,000 annually. Public Internet costs were about the same.

Ok.

The budget for CANARIE's CA*Net4 service for 2006 is $22 million. Now even an old artsman like your humble e-scribbler can tell that $400,000 is not 33% of $22 million.

Maybe Taylor misspoke in the heat of debate.

Maybe we misunderstood him.

Maybe, his comments are - to be exact - wrong.

Like the Premier's claim, backed by his ministers, that this Persona deal will put Memorial University on the research map.

Apparently it isn't connected to any computers now, not even the Internet, if you listen to the Premier.

But of course it is.

With a connection that shunts data at 1 gigabit per second.

That little tidbit is important if you recall one of the Premier's justifications for the Persona deal was the need for people at the university and elsewhere to ship data in one second, versus 16 minutes via dial-up.

Premier Danny Williams, Hansard, 21 November 2006:

The previous speeds that can be talked to, you would have to look at about sixteen minutes for a conversation to take place on a dial-up modem. On high-speed, it can take place in one second. So, I would say a word on a dial-up and I wait sixteen and two-third minutes for an answer from the research analyst who is on the other end. When you put this in place, we can talk simultaneously....

The Premier - or should we say Gunny MisInformation Highway - is either freeze-dried or been doin' hard time.

Ain't been no dial-up round the university for centuries, man.

Oh yeah. and that's not the only time where Trev said one thing and Gunny Highway said another.

What will the savings be for Memorial on its public Internet service? Taylor pegged the annual costs right now - using 2800 baud modems Danny? - at $400,000.

According to Taylor last week in the House, the savings would be 15% annually.

According to Danny Williams last week in the House the savings would be 50% per year.

That's a pretty big discrepancy. And it isn't a Hansard transcription error. They double check these pesky detail-type thingies.

It gets even worse when you realise that the Premier's number is based solely on a verbal comment by someone from Persona, duly documented as such by EWA-Canada in its hasty assessment of the Persona deal.

That 50% comment and the entire $400 million benefit Premier Dan has claimed will flow from this deal has never been subjected to any independent scrutiny. The original estimate - and the Premier's massive benefits number - were pulled from the same bodily orifice.

The credibility canary laying dead at government's feet should stop us from mining this little deal before it goes any farther.

Aliant Animus

A snippet from the files:

March 10, 2006

Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan says Aliant's decision to become an income trust will mean the loss of corporate tax revenues for the province. Some reports suggest the four Atlantic provinces could lose as much as 49 million dollars. Under an income trust, taxes are paid by shareholders who could live anywhere. Sullivan says he knows how much the province will lose, but he can't disclose the figure publicly. Sullivan says they don't know yet when the income loss will be felt.

A check with some other sources suggests that the GRAP cable deal may have been kicking around the Confederation Building but it didn't get to cabinet before Rain Man Sullivan made these comments.

Nope.

It might have been a few weeks later and it might be sheer coincidence but the correlation is interesting.

Maybe there are some cabinet meeting notes - only to be released decades from now - that document the Premier's endless rantings about the evil Aliant empire and how it must be destroyed.

Maybe, there is a reason some people report seeing sheets and sheets of drywall moved to the 8th Floor after hours and only garbage bags with broken plaster coming out. (Lots of ceilings to replace as The Furor's head goes through them more often than usual these days, methinks.)

Don't underestimate the power of commitment to a petty insult to an old monopolist. Go back over the explanations offered by the provincial cabinet, notice the lack of concrete details being used to support the $15 million in spending, notice the curious timelines and then consider the Sullivan comment.

It all starts to make sense.

and The Lover in Spanish is El Amador

What means this word "Quebecois"?

From Paul Wells at Macleans, comes this transcript of a q & a with reporters involving Lawrence Cannon and Marjory LeBreton that demonstrates M. Cannon has some difficulty understanding his own point. Like his problem with understanding what is a "federal spending power." Cannon even manages to mangle the explanation in both official languages, virtually simultaneously.

While normally we'd just link, let's give the whole thing and hope Paul is too busy moving his book that he will forgive your humble e-scribbler. [BTW, buy the book.]

Bien, in English the Quebecer is a Québécois

Good figuring this crap out, ladies and gentlemen of Canada:

Question: Why did you use the word Québécois in English? I think we're all wondering why did you use the word Québécois in English and not Quebecer? And my question, especially for Ms. LeBreton, and I guess that's why people are suspicious. Is that a reference to some sort of ethnic identity of what it is to be (inaudible)?

Hon. Marjory LeBreton: Well, I'm an English-speaking Canadian and I refer to -- I call -- I say Québécois. I believe -- I believe that in the country and certainly we've seen evidence over the past few days as cabinet ministers have been around the country there's a wide degree of acceptance for the prime minister's leadership on this issue.

Question: (Inaudible) with all due respect people (inaudible).

Hon. Marjory LeBreton: Well, I know Anglophone Quebecers who call themselves Québécois so you know —

Question: They call themselves Quebecers. I'm sorry, with due respect, I live in Quebec and English people talk to themselves about Quebecers, not Québécois. Why did you use this French word in an English motion? Explain to us the rationale for that. There's a word in English for that and please explain to us why you're not using it.

L'hon. Lawrence Cannon: Non, écoutez, c'est bien clair là, bien clair la motion qui a été présentée par le Bloc québécois parlait de Québécois et de Québécoises dont ne référait pas à autre chose que des Québécois et des Québécoises.

Question: Why in English?

Hon. Lawrence Cannon: Bien, in English the Quebecer is a Québécois. Alors il faudrait que vous demandiez à monsieur Duceppe parce que nous on sait —

(...)

Question: Can you — to follow up on Hélène's question, just to make it very, very clear, especially to my readers at The Gazette, when you talk about les Québécois does it include every resident of Quebec regardless of which boat their ancestors came over on?

Hon. Lawrence Cannon: No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Let's be clear on this. Four hundred years ago, four hundred years ago when Champlain stepped off and onto the shores in Quebec City he of course spoke about les Canadiens. Then as the debate went on on parlait des Canadiens français. Et au Québec on parle des Québécois maintenant qui occupent cette terre-là, Amérique. Il est fort possible — non seulement il est fort possible, il est tout à fait évident qu'il y ait des Canadiens français qui demeurent à l'extérieur du Québec, qui demeurent en Ontario, qui demeurent au Nouveau-Brunswick, qui demeurent partout au pays. Et donc dans ce sens-là nous on a répliqué à la motion que le Bloc québécois a mise de l'avant, une motion qui a dit singulièrement les Québécois et les Québécoises forment une nation. On dit, oui, ils forment une nation et à deux reprises, plus à quatre occasions, à l'occasion d'élections ils ont manifesté leur attachement au Canada. Ce soir, cette résolution-là, après 40 ans, est en train de reconnaître les décisions qui ont été entérinées à plusieurs occasions par des Québécois et des Québécoises de dire nous on fait partie du Canada. Nous on continue de construire le Canada. Et c'est ce que cette résolution-là formellement dit ce soir.

Question: Je ne suis pas une descendante de monsieur Champlain et tous ceux qui n'ont pas des noms canadiens-français ne sont pas des Québécois selon votre définition.

L'hon. Lawrence Cannon: Non, pas du tout, madame Buzzetti.

Question: Il y a plein de gens qui sont arrivés (inaudible).

L'hon. Lawrence Cannon: Non, non, mais pas — et moi aussi parce que ma famille est débarquée en 1795. Est-ce que je me considère comme étant un Québécois? Oui, je me considère comme étant un Québécois et ceux qui se considèrent comme étant des Québécois ils peuvent bien le porter. Mais je ne pense pas qu'il y ait question de forcer quelqu'un qui ne se sent pas comme étant un Québécois qui doit être nécessairement lié à cette chose-là et ça c'est le dilemme dans lequel le Bloc québécois s'est toujours trouvé. D'une part faire reconnaître par l'Assemblée nationale l'intégrité du territoire et d'autre part dire que les Québécois ou les Quebecers comme vous dites font partie de ce territoire-là c'est faux parce qu'il y a des gens qui fondamentalement ont opté pour le Canada et c'est ce que nous reconnaissons ce soir. Quand on a demandé au Bloc québécois d'accepter cette chose-là c'est ce qu'ils acceptent tacitement, que les Québécois font partie de la nation canadienne dans un effort d'unité nationale et c'est ce qu'on reconnaît.

Question: (Inaudible) Montrealers why they're not Québécois.

Hon. Lawrence Cannon: I didn't say that.

Question: Well, you said that it doesn't — you said it doesn't apply to people that aren't French.

Hon. Lawrence Cannon: I didn't say that they're not Québécois. What I'm saying here, and the reference that the Bloc Québécois has made is that they've made the Francophone pure laine. That's the intention. The intention is to be able to divide. We are taking the same words and we are saying no. On two separate occasions - and I'm repeating myself - on four provincial elections Quebecers have said no, we are voting for a federalist government, we are voting no to your proposal, we are part and parcel of Canadian unity and that's what we are indicating here. We're not playing semantics with the words. We are saying that that is a formal decision that was taken by Quebecers years ago and here's the first, first group of sovereingtists that are admitting this fact of life. Mr. Duceppe got up in the House the other day and you heard him talking about il faut reconnaître la réalité. On reconnaît la réalité. Les Québécois vous ont dit non à deux occasions. Et maintenant les Québécois vous ont dit — non seulement ils vous ont dit non, parce que la proposition ne se sépare pas, les Québécois vous ont dit formellement depuis qu'on est ici on chemine à l'intérieur du Canada. On est non seulement partie du processus, we are also making the country and that's what they've been saying to us.

What mean this...how you say... "Quebecois"?

Nation-hood is, it seems, a moveable feast of meanings.

And in Quebec, with predictable accuracy, media are portraying the results of a recent polls as meaning that the country rejects Quebec once more.

When you're in a hole, stop digging

A few days ago, Trevor Taylor admitted government handled communications on the fibre deal badly.

Then someone in the Premier's publicity department must have taken offense at the idea.

So the message shifted to the latest version of the story being used by The Katzenjammer Kids.

Offal News puts it in perspective nicely.

Trevor: put down the shovel.

Tory Broadband Timelines

Just to help keep track of the fibre story, following is a timeline of broadband-related announcements since October 2003. Some additional comments related to the GRAP deal announced on 02 November come from comments made by the Premier or innovation minister Trevor Taylor since then.

A few points leap out. Further information would clarify some of the discrepancies or unexplained gaps.

1. This project may be a lot younger than we have been told. If the Persona proposal was made to government 18 months before it was approved, it seems to have been largely ignored until June/July 2006. It was then met with a flurry of activity, rejected twice in the space of two months and then lay idle until the Aliant fire. EWA noted the short time-span it was given in which to assess the proposal.

According to Trevor Taylor in the House of Assembly, there were only eight meetings, in total on the project over 18 months that involved some representatives of the companies making the pitch. The Premier never met with anyone on the proposal, according to Taylor, nor did Taylor's predecessor Kathy Dunderdale.

Taylor himself acknowledges having met once with Persona president Dean Macdonald on the proposal and twice with Persona's chief operating officer Paul Hatcher.

In addition, government officials met three times with Macdonald, four times with Hatcher and once with representatives of MTS Allstream.

Even allowing for Taylor having a faulty memory this is not a large number of meetings over 18 months; some of the meetings may be duplicates (i.e. did Taylor meet with Macdonald and Hatcher at the same time and along with other officials?) It is extremely odd that Dunderdale did not meet at all with any of the proponents despite having this proposal in her department for over a year. As well, it is extremely unusual that no action took place on this proposal until after Dunderdale was moved to another department.

The subsequent communications cock-ups - acknowledged by Taylor and the lack of specific benefits documented by third parties would be explained by a proposal that either was submitted and approved quickly or that was left laying about and hastily approved.

Note that the estimate of 50% savings used by the Premier to arrive at the $400 million figure is identified by EWA as being a verbal estimate by Persona. It has not been verified.

Add it all up and one can only conclude either that the proposal was not received by the provincial government until some time in mid-2006 (contrary to government claims) or that it was received, ignored for over a year and then hastily (sloppily?) reviewed and approved in less than four months. Either way, the implications do not speak highly of government's management processes.

2. Provincial and federal financial involvement in the project is larger than revealed. The $30 million project referred to by Persona's Paul Hatcher after the Aliant fire appears to be the joint federal/provincial/Persona initiative to expand broadband access under the CDLI program. As such, the provincial government has actually committed a total of $20 million to this, while the federal government has added $5.0 million to the $82 million total.

While Hatcher's comments seemed to indicate Persona had invested $30 million of its own, the company's actual involvement was on this portion was $19.9 million.

3. How convenient! The flurry of comment critical of Aliant seems to be convenient and involves a number of public individuals closely associated with the current provincial administration.

4. The missing strategy. The consultant RFP announced in November 2005 would have provided the strategic basis for any future broadband initiatives. What happened to it?

The Timeline

A. 31 March 2004: Budget 2004 includes $5.0 million for the department of Education's initiative to expand broadband access in schools. Another $1.2 million under Innovation, Trade and Rural Development (InTRD) to be used to leverage federal funding.

B. 15 June 2004: $50,000 from InTRD to help EXCITE Corp leverage funds from the federal BRAND initiative to expand broadband availability in Grand Falls-Windsor area.

C. 20 July 2004: Education issues request for proposals seeking a corporate match of $10 million funding from the federal and provincial governments to expand broadband in schools. RFP closes 30 April 2004.

D. 15 June 2004/09 November 2004: InTRD announcement, Witless Bay. $4.0 million to expand broadband to 19 communities in Irish Loop region. Of the $4.0 million cost, 63% provided by Government of Canada. InTRD provided $285,000. [Note: This money was announced in June by the province and at a second announcement in November. The southern route of the GRAP deal covers a portion of the Irish Loop project. The only communities in the southern GRAP route not covered by existing broadband expansion initiatives are on the south coast. ]

E. 02 July 2004: Unspecified level of provincial government support for SmartLabrador operations.

E.1. 22 September 2004: Premier Danny Williams announces appointment of Dean Macdonald and Ken Marshall to Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro board of directors.

F. 31 May 2005: Business minister and Premier Danny Williams announces Business Advisory Board. Members include Paul Hatcher and Dean Macdonald.

G. March-May 2005: Persona submits proposal for broadband connection to mainland, subsequently to involve Government, Rogers, Allstream and Persona. [Note: The timeframe on this is not exact. In several interviews and in the House of Assembly since 02 Nov 06, innovation minister Trevor Taylor referred to the proposal having been submitted about 18 months before it was approved.]

H. ??? 2005: Premier's chief of staff writes Minister InTRD (Kathy Dunderdale) assigning responsibility for the Persona proposal to InTRD. [Note: Based on comment from Taylor in House of Assembly. This suggests that the proposal was originally made to or received by the Premier either in capacity as Premier or as Minister of Business.]

H.1 15 September 2005: $29.9 million announced by Government of Canada ($5.0 million), Government of Newfoundland and Labrador ($5.0 million) and Persona ($19.9 million), representing the results of RFP issued 20 July 2004.

I. 10 November 2005: Innovation minister Kathy Dunderdale announces "that the provincial government is reviewing all government telecommunications requirements with the intention of creating a province-wide advanced computer network." Announcement includes reference to national call for proposals for a consultant to "recommend an advanced network model that meets government's existing and anticipated future technology needs."

No results of this process are ever announced.

J. 21 June 2006: Electronic Warfare Associates contracted to provide assessment of GRAP/Persona proposal. [Note: This comes from a comment by EWA in the pages released by Taylor in the House of Assembly. Date on documents is 21 June 2006.]

J.1. 05 July 2006: Cabinet shuffle. Taylor appointed innovation minister; Dunderdale appointed natural resources minister; Kevin O'Brien replaces Danny Williams as business minister.

K. Late June or early July 2006: Premier Danny Williams rejects proposal based on concerns about connection between Premier and Persona senior officials. [Note: Both Williams and Taylor made reference to the proposal twice being rejected over issues of how the relationship between the Premier and some proponents would be perceived. Initially, Taylor indicated cabinet had rejected the proposal twice. On 14 Nov 06, the Premier claimed responsibility for these two decisions. The date estimates for K. And L. (below) come from comments by Taylor in answer to questions in the House of Assembly.]

L. Late July or early August 2006: Second rejection. [See note above]

M. 20 October 2006: Fire at Aliant causes temporary loss of telephone service.

N. 23-24 October 2006: Public criticism of Aliant including Premier Williams, St. John's mayor Andy Wells, emergency measures boss Fred Hollett and city commissioner Ron Penney.

O. 26 October 2006: Cabinet approves GRAP proposal. [Note: Confirmed in House of Assembly by Trevor Taylor. Premier Williams gave several interviews the day before indicating cabinet would be reviewing the proposal. Existence of the proposal was made public by Persona immediately after the Aliant fire and generally coincidental with the public criticism by the Premier, Mayor Wells and city commissioner Penney.]

P. 02 November 2006: GRAP deal announced by innovation minister Taylor and business minister Kevin O'Brien.

Chong's good sense

It wasn't in resigning from Harper's cabinet today.

Nope.

Former Connie cabinet minister Michael Chong is married to Caroline Joan Davidson, a descendant of William Whiteway. He had the good sense to fall in love with - and marry - a woman from the most sensible part of the country.

For mainland readers, Whiteway is a former prime minister of Newfoundland and a staunch Confederate. He was defeated as a Confederate candidate in the 1869 general election, but was returned to the House of Assembly in 1873, representing Trinity.

In 1875, Whiteway sponsored a bill to fund a survey for a cross-island railway.

Whiteway formed an administration in 1878 and won a general election that year. He was re-elected in 1882 but Whiteway's premiership was dogged by concerns about his railway-building project. He left office in 1885 in the wake of the so-called Harbour Grace Affray.

Sir Robert Bond, later prime minister of Newfoundland, was first elected to the legislature in 1882 as a Whiteway supporter.

Whiteway was re-elected in 1889, and formed an administration with Bond as Colonial Secretary. While he was ousted in 1894, Whiteway returned to the prime ministership in 1895. His administrations were marked by controversy over railway financing and the 1892 fire that devastated St. John's.

His morning headlines

Premier Danny is on the Wet Coast today to deliver a speech to the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce on the joys of oil.

He was greeted this morning to the following story in the Vancouver Sun, on the heavy snowfall, traffic snarls and a power outage in parts of greater Van.

Note the speech is sponsored by one of the province's greatest business tax losses in recent years.

Cannon-ball stunned: "What is a federal spending power?"

Federal transport minister Lawrence Cannon was his inarticulate self on CTV's Question Period.
Among his memorable comments was this one on federal spending power:

One of the biggest impediments to making this country work functionally, as the fathers of confederation had thought, is to be able to thwart or curb or better control federal spending power, because what is a federal spending power?

Something Cannon doesn't understand at all, obviously.

Let's leave aside for a moment Cannonball's bizarre constitutional history lesson. Try as one might, one would have a hard time coming up with a lengthy treatise from say - William Carson or Sir John A. - ranting at length about how the federal government was the source of all fiscal evil through its overwhelming spending powers.

One can find several really good essays by Pierre Trudeau in the 1950s and 1960s, but something suggests Cannonball is not a big fan of reading Trudeau.

To get back to the subject, the idea to restrict federal spending is an interesting one, if for no other reason than so many provincial premier's are really addicted to federal cash. Sure they like to puff and posture and, in some cases, their minions will scream about this being Danny-land. Cannon's proposal is like calling for a ban on illicit drugs in a downtown crack house. The addicts aren't likely to be much in favour of such a suggestion.

And yes, there is a good reason to curb the tendency of federal governments, like say the Mulroney one, to introduce programs in a provincial area, develop a dependence on it and then - in good form - frick off back to Ottawa. On the retreat of course, said feds cancel the funding leaving the provinces to deal with both the financial demand and/or the political piss-off that results.

But, as we have already shown on several occasions, many of those same premiers who talk about sovereignty and independence or a whole bunch of other things have absolutely no interest in giving up federal transfers.

To the contrary, some of them - like the head of Danny-land - use federal cash as their standard solution to every single provincial demand. So effective has Premier Dan been at this that in a scant three years in office he has set back 10 years of progress towards reducing provincial dependence on federal hand-outs.

But we digress.

The Harper administration's proposal to reduce federal spending in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction is a laudable one.

It won't work since all but a couple of provinces are unwilling to go along with it in any form.

Harper likely knows that; otherwise he'd have sent someone else out to talk about it, someone other than the almost laughable Lawrence Cannon.

A decade in the making...and counting

The provincial natural gas royalty regime - already a decade in development - will soon be sent to the industry for "consultations", according to natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale.

Dunderdale apparently didn't tell vocm.com that the industry has already been informally consulted at least once already. She couldn't say when the regime and the province's energy plan - also a decade in the making under four different premiers of two political parties - will finally be made public.

One clue to what the plan may contain can be found in a resent presentation by a senior Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro official to a Harris Centre symposium on oil and gas resources.

Half-time legislature

Newfoundland and Labrador's legislature sits about half the number of days it did in the early 1990s. The total number of hours has dropped but not quite as dramatically.

Between 1990 and 1993, the House sat a total of 274 days or a minimum of 822 hours. Each year the legislature sat at least 90 days, or a minimum of 270 hours. The figures available don't include night sittings.

By comparison, the House sat 45 days in 2005 (180 hours) and will sit around the same number of days in 2006. In 2004, the House sat for 59 days (236 hours); that's a total of 149 days (596 hours), averaging just under 50 days a year (196 hours).

The first year of the Williams administration is typical of the number of sitting days since 1996.

Other provincial and territorial legislatures have not shown such a consistent decline over the past decade.

Astroturfing in politics? I'm shocked.

The federal Liberal leadership campaign is buzzing - albeit faintly - with allegations that a Quebec-based advertising firm employee was using company internet access to run a pro-Rae/anti-Ignatieff blog site.

The marketing firm has reportedly done contract work for the Rae campaign and the blog was run by someone under a pseudonym.

As the Globe and Mail story puts it: "Electronic footprints show he was blogging through an Internet server belonging to BCP, a Montreal-based advertising firm that received tens of millions of dollars in contracts under the Chrétien government."

The company's response was:

1. Employees are not permitted to blog on company time;
2. The company didn't know anything about this until contacted by the Globe; and,
3. The company did only three thousand bucks worth of paid of work for Rae and provided no strategic advice.

On the third one, the answer would be "who cares?" This excuse - and that's all it is - doesn't even pass the proverbial sniff test from a hundred miles away. The company did work for Rae; it looks guilty even if it isn't. If all this ad agency does is produce geegaws, then Rae's people could get the whole thing done more effectively through some outfit like CafePress. We'd all have to start questioning Rae's strategic comms advisors.

On the second one, the company gets a wash since there is no solid evidence one way or the other. Maybe they knew, in which case they are just plain dumb. Maybe they didn't in which case they are just bystanders. Doesn't matter really since the bullshit answer to their third excuse sorta takes the credibility out of anything else.

On the first one, the blanket ban on blogging suggests a firm which is - in the ad world - a complete dinosaur. No blogging on company time? Sheesh. Try entering the 20th century, let alone the 21st.

But let's just wrap this thing up as neatly as we can:

Most people in the ad business are aware of the recent controversy over a series of blogs created for or influenced by Wal-Mart's marketers in the United States. That's a well-known political technique called astroturfing. That's the creation of fake supporters who make it appear as though there is a groundswell of backing for your guy. Instead of grassroots, it's the pastic alternative.

With the obvious influence of blogging, and the history of astroturfing, some bright advertising bunny thought the two would go together. And they can. But only for the few nanoseconds it takes some guy or gal fueled on nothing other than intravenous RedBull, Xena DVDs and cases of Hotpockets to track the IP addys.

The controversy will not doubt give Iggy's camp a chance to fake their outrage at the alleged fakery. The Rae guys will be on the defensive.

Most of the world will yawn.

But here's the thing.

If the allegations are true, then it means the other candidates can point to Rae, his team and their Quebec tchotchke boys and say legitimately that these guys truly are yesterday's men.

Fake bloggers and an astroturfing campaign?

That is so over.

West NL oil exploration prospects grow

Houston-based Tekoil (OTC: TKGN) is one step closer to conducting 3D seismic exploration off Newfoundland and Labrador's west coast. The project cost is estimated at $8.0 million.

The company issued a news release on 21/22 November stating its application for the seismic program had been released by the provincial environment deaprtment from further review.

While two environmental bulletins were issued by the province this week, the provincial government website contains no news release announcing the Tekoil decision.

Tekoil is also reported to be looking at Stephenville as a possible site for a rig refurbishing facility. Two news stories - one from The Georgian and another from vocm.com in June 2006 - describe the company's interest both in exploration and in establishing the rig facility.

Tekoil's Newfoundland and Labrador operation is headed by Donna Parsons, a former petroleum engineering technologist and industrial benefits officer with the provincial natural resources department.

On the leading edge of corporate online presence, Tekoil's chief executive officer Mark Western maintains a blog.

LeBlanc "plying his trade": NB judge acquits blogger

In a 20 page decision delivered today, New Brunswick Judge William McCarroll acquitted blogger Charles LeBlanc of obstruction charges saying LeBlanc was merely "plying his trade" when he was arrested.

As CBC reported the decision:

"There is such a discrepancy between the evidence of Sgt. Parks and the CBC video [entered into evidence], that I find it unsafe to convict Mr. LeBlanc," he [McCarroll] wrote. "I am not even satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that if Mr. LeBlanc was in fact ordered to leave by Sgt. Parks, he heard or understood the order."

McCarroll also said the officers had no right seize LeBlanc's digital camera or delete his photo without a search warrant.

Telly-torial: Playing to the crowd

When it comes to the CRA [Corporate Research Associates] poll, it's clear that something's afoot. During the period when the pollsters are calling people in this province, the provincial government becomes a virtual cornucopia of riches, offering up two or even three chickens for every pot.

And therein might lie part of the answer to a troubling question: how can a government have stratospheric polling numbers - like the Williams government did this fall - and still get thumped in a byelection, like it did in Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi?

Perhaps the answer is that things aren't always what they seem, and that numbers can and do lie.

Find the whole thing at thetelegram.com.

Good news for IOC

Defending the fibre optic deal on VOCM Open Line, Premier Danny Williams said his government has an "obligation to lower costs to business".

IOC can now rest easy.

Danny Williams will not be trying to screw the company out of power the company invested in and paid for itself.

Of course, the Premier will have to flip-flop in order to do that, but he made the blanket statement of government's policy.

And after all, what is fair is indeed fair.

Military drug screen shows 5% failure rate

Pre-deployment drug screening of troops slated for the next Afghanistan rotation showed 5% had used illicit drugs, according to the Globe and Mail.

The figure is significantly lower than the 18% rate previously reported by some media and Bond Papers, based on media reports.

Those who tested positive are being handled by administrative review. According to a National defence spokesperson, the review may lead to counseling and probation or release from the Canadian Forces.

A similar story was carried by the Chronicle-Herald.