Decima maybe not so rogue

Decima's latest poll results show the Conservatives and Liberals in a dead heat.

Maybe Decima's results the last time they reported weren't such a rogue after all.

Maybe there's something to the latest buzz from the Hill, namely that the Conservatives had a script for a year. Now the script is finished and there is no ability to improvise.

Evidence?

The Afghan story.

There likely won't be a federal election for some time, but the advantage seems to have passed away from the Conservatives. Let's see if they can get it back.

Province to leave lucrative quotas with companies

I never professed to be a business person, Mr. Speaker, have not got a business clue in my body, never paid a payroll in my life, but even my elementary sense of business tells me there was something right about that whole process, Mr. Speaker.

Fisheries minister Tom Rideout, House of Assembly, May 1, 2007.

Deputy premier and fisheries minister Tom Rideout confirmed in the House of Assembly Tuesday that the provincial government is only interested in gaining control of Fishery Products International's groundfish quotas.

The lucrative quotas for shrimp and crab will remain with the company that purchases FPI's assets, likely Ocean Choice and High Liner.

Rideout explained the rationale in a news release:

"The top priority for our government is ensuring that maximum benefits are received," said Minister Rideout. "Unlike shrimp and scallop, which are primarily offshore factory freezer operations, a substantial component of the groundfish sector involves significant onshore employment through processing. Under current DFO policy, any Enterprise Allocation licence holder is not obligated to land their catch in the province and therefore is free to freeze at sea and send this product to other countries for processing. This is a tremendous threat to our province, and our ownership of these quotas will ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador continues to enjoy these benefits over the long-term."

The groundfish quotas produce the largest number of jobs in local processing plants, hence government's interest in them, even though groundfish is considerably less lucrative than the other quotas.

As Bond Papers noted earlier in the FPI debacle, the province is looking to ensure the maximum level of employment in processing plants, irrespective of the long-term financial viability of the operations in an industry that is already oversupplied with plants and plant workers. While Bond may have been more than a bit off in some of the other projections, in the long run that much was right: the groundfish quotas are being retained to make sure that the maximum number of people have sufficient work to qualify for federal financial assistance. That's basically the philosophy the provincial government followed the last time Rideout was fisheries minister and as much as there is evidence of the need for significant change in the fishery, Rideout's plan is to keep things much like they were.

In the legislature, Rideout admitted that he had never run a business and professed to have no specific knowledge of business. Perhaps that explains Rideout's efforts to prevent FPI from exporting undersized fish and why he is so anxious for the provincial government to retain quotas for groundfish, a portion of which simply cannot be processed economically in the province.

There's no small measure of irony - or is it hypocrisy - that for all the talking of retaining what is rightfully "ours" and for all the Premier's interest in FPI's American marketing arm, that portion of the company's portfolio will be sold off to a Nova Scotia company. For all the time Danny Williams and others spent accusing the current FPI shareholders and directors of plotting the destruction of the company, in the end, it was a combination of factors, including provincial government policy that led to the dismantling of FPI and exactly the situation Williams seemed to oppose.

On top of that, consider that changes to the FPI Act made last actually greased the skids. Most observers missed it entirely, and fish minister Rideout continues to spread the myth that the legislature must approve and breakup of FPI. Yet, as Rideout well knows, the power to approve any sale of FPI and its assets was transferred out of the hands of the individual legislators and handed to cabinet.

The deal is already done. And if cabinet hasn't blessed it yet, the crowd in charge are guaranteed to approve the sale at the earliest opportunity. That's why FPI share prices have jumped lately: there's a sign that the tortures are over and the valuable bits and pieces will be sold off.

The debate in the legislature on Bill Number One, already given first reading and so far unseen by the House, will do nothing except set up a new regime for a new company called FPI as already approved by cabinet. If cabinet didn't know the details of the arrangement, they would not have introduced the new FPI bill before any other piece of legislation in the new session.

The end result of this whole FPI mess is actually quite simple to see. A once-proud company has been rent. The marketing arm, which supported the province's fishing industry as whole, has now gone off to Nova Scotia hands. A local company has picked up some of the other assets - the lucrative ones - and the provincial government is stuck holding the poorest piece of the whole pie.

But they have the one which, to an old-fashioned politico like Rideout with nary a business clue, gives them the most political brownie points. What the provincial government actually gets of course, is a prolonged headache that comes from standing in the way of the shifts and changes needed in the fishing industry. All it took was two and a half years of agony for the ordinary workers at FPI, a considerable loss for those who, like Sanford Limited had invested in FPI planning to have it make money, and ultimately the solution it seemed no one in the province had wanted. Later this month, we will be without Fishery Products International, except in skeleton, and with its most lucrative component - the one that produced value for the industry as a whole - controlled by outside interests.

It would seem that Rideout and his supporters have a political clue comparable to his business one.

Council of Federation struggles to be relevant

The Council of the Federation, essentially the provincial premiers meeting as they always have, is trying to fend off criticism that its one day meeting in Toronto on energy and climate change was nothing more than an exercise in optics.

“I’ve got to say — to say that this is a photo-op, I have some trouble with that. I actually find the comment offensive,” said the meeting’s chair, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, when asked if the meeting was seen as a chance for the leaders to bolster their green images.

“If we wanted a photo-op we would be here in front of all the flags all together and smiling. I’m here today to indicate that the premiers are extremely concerned about this problem [climate change], they share that concern with the federal government and with the people of Canada, and we want to find solution.”

According to Williams, [Photo, right: CP, Adrian Wyld] this year's chair of the Council, the meeting served as an "awakening" and gave first ministers the chance to review a 30 page document on best practices to see what each province is doing to deal with climate change.

But as with Equalization, the premiers seem to have found some difficulty achieving any concensus except on the need for further talks. As the National Post reports, the premiers did not issue a climate change action plan as the federal government has done.

Instead, the premiers will work to develop a common energy and energy efficiency strategy, according to ctv.ca. Provinces will likely move individually in the absence of any consensus on a collective approach.

"We're not developing a climate-change plan here," Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, who chaired the one-day session, said after the talks ended.

"What we're doing as a group of premiers is to try to make a contribution; to try to solve problems; to try to contribute to the national debate on what works and what doesn't work.

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Update: Two things. First, the picture is a new one of the Premier looking grumpy. Take as a n article of faith that every news shooter in the country will be looking for what will become the stock "Danny is grumpy" shot to illustrate future stories when...well...Danny is grumpy.

Second, the Globe story in the morning edition is headed "Climate change divides premiers". The lede sums up the problem for the Premiers:

Canada's premiers emerged divided yesterday over how to tackle climate change, with the leaders of British Columbia and Quebec pushing for a North American solution, Ontario pitching a plan that would be national in scope and Alberta rejecting both proposals.

Ok.

Well, realistically, how is that headline different from any headline ever written about any meeting of the Council of the Federation, let alone its predecessor meetings of premiers?

What doesn't divide the Premiers?

They can't even agree on how much money the federal government should give to the provinces through transfers like Equalization.

GCB launches Terra Nova program to explore new worlds of music

The Gower Community Band of St. John’s celebrates its 10th anniversary this month with two special performances and the establishment of new composition awards at Memorial University’s School of Music.

The first event is a horn recital by Bruce Bonnell, professor of horn at Central Michigan University, on Thursday evening, May 17, at Petro-Canada Hall in the School of Music. Dr. Bonnell will perform works by Mozart, Bozza, Neilson, Turner, Marais, and Glazunov, and will conduct a master-class for horn students on May 18.

Tickets are $10 each, available at Provincial Music, the Music Collection stores, or Gower Street Church Office. All proceeds support the MUN Music Scholarship Fund.

On Saturday evening, May 26, the Gower Community Band will present its 10th Anniversary Gala Concert at the D.F. Cook Recital Hall in MUN Music. The band will perform the World Premiere of a new work by renowned American composer David R. Gillingham, his Concerto for Horn and Symphonic Band, with Bruce Bonnell as soloist. The concert will also include new works by Newfoundland composers and arrangers as well as selections from the standard wind band repertoire. Proceeds from both events will support the GCB’s MUN Music Scholarship Fund.

The Gower Community Band has maintained a focus on the encouragement of new compositions by or for Newfoundland and Labrador musicians since it was formed in 1997. With its musical sibling, the Gower Youth Band, the GCB developed and introduced a series of manuscript concerts which presented original works by Newfoundland and Labrador composers. Last fall, the band travelled to Grand Falls-Windsor for a concert which featured works by central Newfoundland music educators Michael Carroll and Michael C. Snelgrove.

As a special 10th Anniversary project, the band developed its Terra Nova Program to explore new worlds of musical creativity. This program will provide annual awards to composition students at MUN Music, and also create funding for the commissioning of new works.

The development and implementation of this community cultural initiative has been made possible through the support of Petro-Canada. GCB director Edsel Bonnell says the band is “most grateful for this example of significant and effective corporate citizenship which will bring lasting future benefits.”

The Gower Community Band is an adult concert band which follows in the tradition of community service established by the 34-year old Gower Youth Band. The Gower band program was founded and is maintained by Gower Street United Church as a non-denominational community initiative.

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Biographical profiles

Bruce Bonnell, Horn

“Astonishing! … a truly breathtaking performer!”
Hans Graf, music director, Houston Symphony

A chamber music specialist, Dr. Bonnell has enjoyed a successful career as orchestral performer, soloist, clinician and pedagogue on the horn and natural horn throughout North America and Southeast Asia. [Photo: Vieri Bottazini]

Born and raised in St. John’s, he began his instrumental training in the beginners’ class of the Gower Youth Band in 1976 at the age of eight, moving quickly from trumpet to alto horn to French horn. His association with the GYB lasted more than 12 years, during which he served as player and soloist, section leader, instructor, and Associate Director. He received his undergraduate degrees in Music Education and performance from Memorial University and the Guildhall School of Music (London), his Master of Music from Northwestern University (Pi Kappa Lambda) in 1991, and a Doctor of Music at Indiana University in 2003. He was Assistant Professor of horn and theory at Indiana State University in 1997-98, and has been Assistant Professor of horn at Central Michigan University since 2000.

Dr. Bonnell’s orchestral experiences include Second Horn in the Hong Kong Philharmonic from 1991 to 1994, and Principal Horn in the Malaysian Philharmonic from 1998 to 2000 where he earned high praise for his playing from such notable maestros as Kurt Masur, Sir Neville Marriner, Kenneth Jean, David Atherton, Jan Pascal Tortelier, and Hans Graf.

Solo and chamber music highlights include the finals of the 1989 Canadian Music Competition, the 1998 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and recitals throughout North America and Southeast Asia. An enthusiastic performer of new works for horn, Dr. Bonnell premiered David Gillingham’s Baker’s Dozen at the 2001 International Horn Symposium, and Danza Breves for Horn and Percussion by José-Luis Maúrtura at the 2004 Sound Symposium in St. John’s.

As a member of the Powers Woodwind Quintet, he has toured and performed throughout the Midwestern states and received high critical acclaim for the quintet’s 2006 release Brementown Musicians on Centaur Records. His next recording project, a compilation of works for horn and flute with Vieri Bottazini, flute and Newfoundland-born Peter Green, piano is due for release in 2007.

Dr. Bonnell has also performed with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Ottawa Symphony, Hull Chamber Orchestra, Bloomington Camerata, Pan Asian Symphony and the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. His teachers include William Costin, Kjellrun Hestekin, Michael Hatfield, Paul Tervelt, Richard Seraphinoff and Richard Bissill.


David Gillingham, Composer

Concerto for Horn and Symphonic Band

David Gillingham earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in instrumental music education from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Music Theory/Composition from Michigan State University.

Dr. Gillingham has an international reputation for the works he has written for band and percussion. Many of these works are now considered standards in the repertoire. His commissioning schedule dates well into 2009.

His numerous awards include the 1981 DeMoulin Award for Concerto for Bass Trombone and Wind Ensemble and the 1990 International Barlow Composition (Brigham Young University) for Heroes, Lost and Fallen. Klavier, Sony and Summit Records have recorded Dr. Gillingham’s works.

His works are regularly performed by nationally recognized ensembles including the Prague Radio Orchestra, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble, The University of Georgia Bands, North Texas University Wind Ensemble, Michigan State University Wind Ensemble, Oklahoma State Wind Ensemble, University of Oklahoma Wind Ensemble, Florida State Wind Ensemble, University of Florida (Miami) Wind Ensemble, University of Illinois Symphonic Band, Illinois State Wind Symphony, University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble, Indiana University Wind Ensemble, and the University of Wisconsin Wind Ensemble. Also, internationally known artists Fred Mils (Canadian Brass), Randall Hawes (Detroit Symphony) and Charles Vernon (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) have performed works by Dr. Gillingham. Over 70 of his works for band, choir, percussion, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments are published by C. Alan, Hal Leonard, Southern Music, MMB, T.U.B.A., I.T.A., and Dorn.

Recent works by David Gillingham include Sails of Time for massed band and soloists which was premiered at the inaugural Premiering Sydney Festival in the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, a Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble, and a double concerto for cello, viola and orchestra. He is currently working in his Second Symphony for Band.

Dr. Gillingham is a professor of music at Central Michigan University and the recipient of an Excellence in Teaching Award, a Summer Fellowship, a Research Professorship, and the President’s Research Investment Fund grant for his co-authorship of a proposal to establish an International Centre for New Music at Central Michigan University. He is a member of ASCAP and the recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award for Composers of Concert Music in 1996 to 2005.

The Concerto for Horn and Symphonic Band, commissioned by the Gower Community Band, is Dr. Gillingham’s first concerto for horn. His other horn solo works include Baker’s Dozen, which had its premiere in the United States with Bruce Bonnell as soloist.

Domain check

The province's health promotion website, gohealthy.ca.

Great concept.

Great execution.

Who owns the domain?

Not the provincial government.

The domain was registered in early 2006 by The Idea Factory, the company that designed the site and the health project. The registration was updated in January 2007.

The site is linked from the provincial government home page.

Of course, it is. The whole thing is a provincial government initiative.

Looks like someone forgot to the change the registration.

Fair deal of bureaucratic gobbledygook

Update: Sometime after the original post went live, the according2.ca crowd wiped out the website entirely.

There's now just a white page with some black text about a rally at noon on May 11.

The budgetary process thingy is gone (see below) and instead, we are all being encouraged to "Stand-up for Newfoundland and Labrador."

Let's see what happens in the next 10 days.

**********Original post begins:

The Giant Rally in Support of the Great Leader is taking its own sweet time getting off the ground.

If the website is any indication, the whole thing is going to die a slow and painful deal. Tons of pages aren't even up as dummys with an "under construction" note.

Including the "Rally" page itself, which, as of May 1 leads to a "page cannot be found" warning.

Then again, if you look at the objective of the whole thing, then maybe it's just as well. Someone please put the whole thing out of our misery.

Apparently, the Giant Rally is designed "to prove it's place in the Canadian budgetary process."

The "it" in there is Newfoundland and Labrador. While Bond Papers is given to its fair share of typos, it's a one-man affair. The steering committee for the Gumball Rally has produced enough typos on the front page as to be painful to the eyes. Like the objective which is "to prove it is place...".

Arrrgh.

Just think about that goal for a second.

It isn't to secure Newfoundland and Labrador's rightful place in the universe.

Nope.

It isn't aimed at getting the prime minister to fulfill his commitment to this province and to Canadians from coast to coast.

Nope.

Apparently, the steering committee's goal is nothing quite so emotive, quite so edifying.

This bunch of fellows has decided we must all band together to secure our place in something called the "Canadian budgetary process."

Are you getting all tingly yet?

Didn't think so.

Even government's own financial accountants wouldn't get misty-eyed at that idea. Talk about words sucking the life out of something.

Here's a suggestion, if the steering committee is intent on steering this whole thing for a few more days or weeks.

Just set the goal for what it is: "securing Newfoundland and Labrador squarely on the fore-tit of Sow Ottawa."

Meanwhile, while these guys are busily promoting the independence in growing more dependent on federal hand-outs, the rest of us will be figuring out how to get the province's oil and gas industry back on track.

And Steve Harper?

He's likely quaking in his boots just like he did when Sue started the Recall Harper campaign.

That one lasted...what was it?...a month, before it folded under the weight of its own uselessness.

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Update: One of the Gumball rally organizers called Bill Rowe's Crap Talk shortly after this post appeared. Peter Whittle chatted at some length with the host.

Here's a clue Peter. By excluding politicians you have denied the premier his sopabox and the chance to lead the crusade. Therefore, the Pitcher Plants have taken a dim view of your efforts. In case you haven't noticed, Peter, Bill Rowe is a pipeline straight into the Premier's inner circle. If there's a line to be spread, odds are good Bill has it.

Therefore, he is branding your idea silly because it doesn't showcase his patron.

Now the rally is still a waste of time, but at least if you listen to the Premier's unofficial spokesperson, maybe you'd get a clue as to why the whole Rally hasn't been getting much support.

People would come to see Danny.

Would they come to see you, Ward and Ron?

Chavez seizes last private oil fields

Shortly after midnight Monday/Tuesday, Venezuelan soldiers moved in and state oil company workers in hard hats raised the Venezuelan flag over four oil fields in the Orinoco Basin.

In Orinoco, Chavez says the state will take a minimum 60 percent stake in the operations, but he is urging the foreign companies to stay and help develop the fields. They have until June 26 to negotiate the terms, including compensation and reduced stakes.

The companies appear to be taking a tough stand, demanding conditions - and presumably compensation - to convince them that Venezuela will be a good place to do business.

In a related development, Venezuela will be leaving the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as part of Chavez's efforts to move the country away from capitalism. Chavez is also nationaliizing electricity production in the country and has threatened to seize private hispotals if health care costs continue to rise.

There are some limmits to Chavez's nationalisation. The state-owned oil company reportedly needs the continued involvement of private multi-natyions such as Chevron and ExxonMobil since the company lacks the expertise to fully exploit Venezuela's oil fields.

Mercopress, an independent news agency in Latin America, describes Tuesday's developments this way:

But in spite of the bombast, this “nationalisation” is in fact the start of a renegotiation of contractual terms that will more than likely leave PdVSA with a majority stake.

The international oil companies – ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, BP and Statoil – are being faced with several key issues: whether they will retain a sufficient stake to make staying worthwhile; how they are to be compensated for their reduced share; and whether they have a hope of exploiting reserves technically owned by Venezuela.

The market value of the companies’ assets in the Orinoco Belt is about $15bn (€11bn, £7.5bn) meaning $4bn-$5bn is at stake, although analysts say compensation is likely to be less given Venezuela’s threat to pay only book value.

Americans open new offshore leases

The United States interior department announced today it had open lease sales on 48 million acres of offshore land in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Alaska and the central Atlantic continental shelf off Virginia.

Interior secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the 21 parcels could yield as much as 10 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The total estimated potential oil reserves offshore Newfoundland and Labrador is 10 billion barrels.

The official news release described the five year outer continental shelf exploration program as follows:

There is no leasing proposed within 125 miles of the Florida coast or east of the military mission line in the Eastern Gulf. The program includes a Central Gulf sale in 2007 that involves a portion of the Sale 181 area and, as mandated by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, one lease sale in the Eastern Gulf in 2008.

The Act, signed by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006, requires oil and gas leasing in a portion of the area known as the “Sale 181 Area,” consisting of 2,574,823 million acres, of which 2,028,730 is in the Central Gulf and about 546,093 acres is in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. The proposed sale area “181 South” consists of 5,762,620 acres. The total of new areas in the Gulf offered under the proposed program is 8,337,443 acres.

The leasing program schedules eight sales in Alaska: two in the Beaufort Sea; three in the Chukchi Sea; up to two in Cook Inlet; and one in the North Aleutian Basin – in an area of about 5.6 million acres that was previously offered during Lease Sale 92 in 1985. There are currently no existing leases in the North Aleutian Basin. These areas would be subject to environmental reviews, including public comment, and extensive consultation with state and local governments and tribal organizations before any lease sale proceeds.

The release included a backgrounder and fact sheet.

While some of the areas included in the interior department program would be new to exploration, the Gulf of Mexico lands are adjacent to a well-established oil and gas producing region with considerable infrastructure. As well, the Gulf Of Mexico is close to some of the largest refineries in the United States.

All of this increases competition for exploration attention in comparison to the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore. The local offshore holds and estimated 0.4% of the world's estimated oil and gas reserves.

An analysis of global trends in exploration were linked in this post on Australian energy development. The new head of Chevron discusses his company's global plans in the story and the podcast linked from this post.

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March-ing toward oblivion

News that former ombudsman Fraser March might run for the Liberals in the next provincial general election should leave the party brass cold, especially in light of this story from Monday's Telegram.

Liberal Party president Danny Dumaresque is quoted in the Telegram saying, among other things, that polls don't bother him at all especially in light of the 1989 general election. He also claims there are a "number of prospective candidates of 'significant stature' who are coming forward for the next election".

Well, if Fraser March is an example of the candidates Dumaresque is turning up, better he focus his attention on something other than media calls. Apparently, the only thing Dumaresque has done so far is cause people to wonder who is actually leading the Liberals.

Normally, the party president is a back room job, a behind-the-scenes organizer. You know. The kind of thing a political party needs a scant five months before an election.

But Dumaresque appears on the airwaves and in the papers seemingly as often as party leader Gerry Reid. In the meantime, no star candidates have emerged. No prospects have been rumoured.

There's a convention coming up in June. So far little has been heard of it. Perhaps Dumaresque could have talked about that as another key step in the road to the fall election, rather than chat about the government's budget. Maybe there was something could have talked about instead of his skill at whistling past the graveyard.

Is March the sort of top notch candidate Dumaresque has in mind? Sadly, there isn't anybody else that Dumaresque has been able to offer up, so most voters will draw their own conclusions.

Bottom line is that Dumaresque talks a lot but his claims produce nothing good.

Results count.

Better for Danny Dumaresque to keep himself out of the news media. Better for him to stay in the back room and sort things out. Let results be the measure of his ability.

So far the combination of Dumaresque's unsubstantiated claims and stories like the March one make people wonder why we are even bothering to have an election in the fall anyway.

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Caped crusader considered for new Quebec LG

At least one report has it that Marcel Masse, a former Progressive Conservative defence minister under Brian Mulroney, has been kicked around as a potential candidate to take on the job of Quebec's Lieutenant Governor.

Masse was known for his love of maple syrup and opera music, as well as his penchant for wearing a cape to work on occasion.

Masse was the minister of national defence when a contract for more than a billion dollars was awarded to Bell Helicopter of Montreal for acquisition of the Griffon helicopter. Numerous, serious deficiencies in the purchase and in the helicopter were noted by the federal auditor general in a 1998 review.

Obviously, M. Masse would be an inspirational choice.

Sask NDP in expense claim flap

The Saskatchewan Party is calling for the resignation of a New Democrat cabinet minister amid allegations a caucus staffer admitted to inflating expense account claims 15 years ago.

NDP caucus chief of staff Jim Fodey resigned Saturday after admitting that he had given NDP House Leader Glenn Hagel incomplete and inaccurate information on the matter. An NDP caucus staffer was accused of pocketing $6,000 by altering expense claims. According to the Globe and Mail,

Mr. Hagel said last week that the party had turned over all of its information to police regarding the investigation.

But Regina Police Chief Cal Johnston says his department wasn't given important documents, such as the cheques or an alleged confession note, until 1994.

"It would appear from our files that we were told in 1992 that there was no cause for concern," Chief Johnston told a news conference Friday evening.

Adult sudden death syndrome?

Apparently it struck a judge being held in jail in China.

Hmmm.

Adult sudden death syndrome?

Bullet to the back of the skull.

Is that a cause, if not in this case then in others?

Falling down a flight of stairs, while handcuffed and shackled?

That would likely cause it, too.

Turns out ASDS is not an usual idea. But it usually manifests in young people and is linked to a previously undiagnosed cardiac condition.

Then again, ASDS could be a clever way of describing an old truism: it's not the flying through the air that kills someone falling off a building.

It's the sudden stop at the end.

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Budget Fibre Questions

Listed in the Estimates for Innovation, Trade and Rural Development (InTRD), is a $10 million line item to "provide for the purchase of fibre optic strands forming part of a new, fully redundant fibre optic telecommunications link along two diverse routes which will connect with national carriers in mainland Canada."

The original estimate for this project was $15 million "over the next two fiscal years", so this line item raises a few questions:

1. Has the amount been reduced to $10 million from the original $15 million? If so why? One of the points raised in the consultant's assessment for this project was that price quoted for the quantity of fibre-optic cable didn't seem to mesh with current market prices.

The consultant recommended increasing the amount of fibre. Buuuuut, the provincial government might have elected to reduce the quantity or bring the price paid in line with the quantity purchased. At the same time they might have opted to increase the quantity of fibre-optic cable being purchased.

2. Has the amount been raised so that the investment will be $10 million this year and an unknown amount next year?

3. Will there be a $5.0 million appropriation next year? It's likely the project is still on track with the original estimate, with two-thirds being committed the first year and the remainder in the last year.

With a tip of the hat to e-mailers

From today's Telegram editorial:

Cheers: to stacking the deck. Kudos to Internet blogger Ed Hollett, who spotted this Reuters story in April. "The Russian official whose role is to act as an impartial umpire in elections said in an interview published on Monday that President Vladimir Putin is always right. Kremlin critics have raised doubts about the impartiality of Vladimir Churov, a former colleague of Putin's who was last month chosen as chairman of the Central Election Commission. In his first major newspaper interview since he started his new job, Churov told the Kommersant daily that 'Churov's Law No. 1' is that Putin is always right. Asked by the newspaper what would happen if it turned out the Russian leader was mistaken on a certain issue, Churov said: 'How can Putin be wrong?' " That's certainly democracy at its best, and an honourable answer, indeed.

The original post is here.

A tip of the hat must go to the e-mailer who raised the subject in the first place.

FPI sold

Several news stories on Sunday and Monday report that Fishery Products International (FPI) is being sold. The Newfoundland assets are reportedly being sold to an arm of the Penney Group while a secondary processing facility and the American marketing arm are going to Nova Scotia-based High Liner Foods.

A new FPI Act was introduced in the House of Assembly last week, although details of the bill have not disclosed.

A continuous disclosure statement issued by Sanford Limited in mid-April stated:

Proposals to sell all the major assets in (15% owned) Fishery Products International Limited (TSX: FPL) in Canada are under final consideration by the FPL board. If these sales are concluded and approved by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador the company will have a value well in excess of share trading prices over the last three years. Recent volume sales of shares in the company have occurred at C$15. This is well in excess of our present carrying value of C$7 per share and if this value is realised will result in a one-off gain of approximately NZ$20m.

Bond Papers has previously discussed Sanford Limited and FPI here, here and here.

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Another perspective on raises

This bit of silliness in political strategy and communications was apparently worth this much money to the Premier.

Political and public relations consultants in the province will be definitely revising their fee schedules as a result.

But here's another question: which of these people looks after the astroturf and the astroturfing?

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Video round-up

1. Would Trevor give grants for this potential local industry? Making guns, by hand, in the Northwest Frontier.

2. Darwin Award nominee from Autonomous Quebec. It's a decade old but it's still hysterical. There is no truth to the rumour this guy is a failed ADQ candidate.

3. Evacuating an Airbus A380 in under a minute and a half.

(h/t to a retired barrister)

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The other Stephen Harper

Where did this Stephen Harper go?

"The broad lesson of history," he notes, "is that Canada's natural governing coalition always includes the federalist option in Quebec, not the nationalist one" -- as was true of the Liberals for much of the 20th century, and of the Conservatives in the 19th. The Alliance's Quebec strategy, in case anyone missed his point, should be to make itself "acceptable to a significant number of Liberal as well as anti-Liberal voters." Mr. Harper's leadership, then, would herald a historic shift -- not only in conservative politics but in the politics of the country.

...


And while generally rendering unto the provinces what the Constitution assigns to the provinces, he says he wants to see "a stronger federal government" within its own fields of jurisdiction. Is this just lip service? Mr. Harper drops this tantalizing hint: "Our economic union is too weak because Ottawa has failed to use the powers it has under the Constitution to ensure that goods and services can freely flow across provincial borders." Is Mr. Harper saying he would use those powers? Paris was worth a Mass. An economic union would be well worth a firewall.

(h/t Andrew Coyne)

Harper appeals to Quebec nationalists

In a speech to approximately 400 Conservative and Action democratique supporters on Saturday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper quoted former Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis to call on Quebeckers to support Harper's Conservatives in the next federal election.

"Two parties is enough," the prime minister quoted Duplessis saying. "A good one and a bad one."

...

He said a re-elected Conservative government would lead a Canada that was "strong, united and free, with a Quebec (that was) autonomous and proud."

Harper appeared to align himself strongly with the conservative, ruralist Union Nationale which, under Duplessis, ruled Quebec for 15 years beginning in 1944.

"There is nothing more precious than the family farm, which represents so well all the values on which our country has been built,'' he said to rapturous applause.

From a 1956 speech archived by CBC, Duplessis describes Confederation as a pact between Quebec and English Canada.

A reminder from Doug House

In light of the nationalist (populist) rhetoric in the recent throne speech, consider these words from Doug House on what's needed in Newfoundland and Labrador politics.

When you're done with the quote, go back to the post from a little over a year ago and consider the question posed at the time. The answer might be clearer today than it was 12 months ago.

Ever since it became self-governing in the mid-nineteenth century, political leadership in Newfoundland and Labrador has rotated between representatives of the dominant social class and populists who appeal directly to the "people" directly, with party labels meaning very little...

What Newfoundland and Labrador needs, however, is neither populist nor merchant. It needs a leader - or leadership if you include the whole of Cabinet [sic] - who can transcend both the exaggerated rhetoric of the populist and the restricted conservatism of the merchant. It needs men and women who exhibit statesmanship, by which I mean leadership that both transcends the interests of a single class and is grounded in a deep understanding of the issues, problems and potential rather than superficial rhetoric. [Italics in original]

J.D. [Doug] House, Against the tide: battling for economic renewal in Newfoundland and Labrador, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), p. 239.

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