Change is good

If you've been reading Bond Papers regularly, you'll likely notice the format changes over the past few weeks.

We've changed the masthead, colour scheme and the fonts, all with a view to making Bond Papers visually appealing and and easier to read.

The latest change is to stretch the layout so that each post is wider across the page. The whole thing should be more legible and the layout works well at the two most common display settings being used by Bond Papers readers.

The sidebar is also wider. This also facilitates reading but it also makes the content more attractive to the eye.

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The hard work of being Premier, another perspective

And while Danny is off having a bit of a lark, the province has been left in the hands of this man, right, deputy Premier Tom Rideout.

Rideout said "there is no urgent public business" facing the legislature and all of it can be dealt with in the new year.

Draw your own conclusions.

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The hard work of being Premier

Looking kinda tanned just before the election [Photo: right].

Vacation maybe?

No House of Assembly sitting until sometime next Easter because supposedly there isn't enough time to get everything ready in the six or seven weeks between election day and the usual time for opening the House in the fall.

Two television appearances after the election.

And this Saturday night?

Ottawa for the national press gallery annual dinner.

Steve won't be there, apparently, but Layton and Dion will be.

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The political road ahead

Update: Kruger machine closure and government subsidies

The official government news release came in the middle of Monday afternoon.

Turns out the provincial government has subsidized the newsprint industry to the tune of $30 million over just the past two years.

In the release, natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale notes:

"We met with Kruger officials last week and told them very clearly that this was unacceptable. We reminded the company of the support it has received from this government. In the last two years, we have provided over $30 million in assistance to the pulp and paper industry in this province. The company has revisited its plans and moved ahead with today’s action that will see the shutdown of one machine. The impact of their business decision has been lessened because of the significant support this government has provided, and continues to provide, to this industry."

Hmmmm.

The last time issues like this came up, the provincial government wound up shelling out millions in subsidies. In 2006, it was an unspecified amount to deal with a cost problem with operations on the island. Later in 2006, it was a $10 million subsidy on power costs. A bit of simple math suggests that the earlier subsidy was upwards of $20 million but the actual figure was never made public; it could be there have been other subsidies that Dunderdale or her predecessor never announced publicly.

Subsidies to private industry are nothing new for the current administration. In a failed effort to salvage the Abitibi mill in Stephenville, the provincial government was prepared to offer the company upwards of $10-12 million annually to keep the mill open. Bond Papers concluded that subsidy actually worked out to more than the provincial government's tax take from Abitibi's Stephenville operation in certain circumstances.

No one should be surprised if there is a government decision between now and next spring, while the legislature is conveniently closed, to announce further subsidies for the pulp and paper industry in the province.

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Rumpole and the Car Park

When I good friends was called to the bar... I never imagined I'd be adjudicating parking disputes."

One can easily imagine Chief Justice Derek Green being somewhat chagrined as he dutifully took the submissions of the High Sheriff of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Registrar of the Supreme Court and rendered a 14 page decision over parking spaces at the court house in St. John's.

The application made by the Sheriff sought a variance in a 2004 order on the use of court parking spaces on the Water Street side of the court house. The Sheriff was looking for two parking spaces in the lot which is controlled by the Registrar. The dispute apparently involved Sheriff's officials and others who took to parking in the spaces in such a way as to block access to some of the spaces in the overcrowded and over-permitted space.

After a recapitulation of the entire situation, the Chief Justice issued a simple order, amounting to granting two spaces to the Sheriff's officials.

[34] There is no basis for continuing the injunctive order against the two officials of the Office of the High Sheriff designated by the High Sheriff as needing access to parking on the Water Street lot. Accordingly, I will make the following order and declaration:
1. The Interim Order (Ex Parte) made on March 17, 2004 is hereby varied by adding an additional paragraph as follows:

5. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Order, it shall not apply to two persons employed in the Office of the High Sheriff and designated in writing by him from time to time as eligible to apply to the Registrar for a permit to park on the Parking Lot

2. It is declared that the Registrar has the discretion:
(a) to issue permits to park on the Parking Lot to the two persons designated by the High Sheriff pursuant to paragraph 5 of the amended order, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be appropriate to promote the overall effective and efficient use of the parking lot for the benefit of all users; and
(b) to revoke any such permits from time to time or to impose revised conditions and restrictions thereon as circumstances may dictate.

Considering the valuable time of the courts and the costs involved by all parties, including the time of the Chief Justice, surely it was possible that this matter might have been resolved more amicably, less tediously and in a far less costly way than this.

Horace would not be amused.

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Shame! Shame!

The red line: The number of sitting days, by year, in the unelected Senate, from 1996 to 2007. The last number is estimated, since the Senate is still sitting. It's current total of 54 days (as of 22 Oct 2007) will likely hit the 70 days or thereabouts which have been typical over the last five years.

The blue line: Sitting days in the elected House of Assembly, over the same time period. The 2007 figure is accurate since the Williams administration has decided to cancel the usual fall sitting of the provincial legislature.

For all the jokes about the Senate being the ante-chamber to the Kingdom of heaven and the the cracks about senators not showing up for work and still getting paid, here are the bare facts. It should be an embarrassment to every legislator in Newfoundland and Labrador that the senators put in more time doing their jobs than their local elected cousins do.

Consider that senators spend considerable time outside the chamber attending committee meetings on a variety of subjects like the fishery, national defence, or federal-provincial relations. Members of the House of Assembly are not burdened by such responsibilities; they just get to show up and, if the last sitting is any guide to the future, nod their approval when the House leader gestures such that 70% of the bills presented get passed with a mere couple of hours of discussion. Legislation in the local chamber are never subjected to detailed scrutiny by the elected representatives of the province.

The men and women who fought to have responsible government established in Newfoundland and Labrador are surely spinning in their graves.

Those of us who voted in the recent general election are just plain appalled.

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Almost immediate update: Since 2003, the House of Assembly has met, on average, about the same number of days each year that Tom Rideout spent as Premier in 1989.

Kruger shuts machine at Corner Brook

Faced with declining demand and a high Canadian dollar, Kruger Inc is shutting Paper Machine No. 1 at its Corner Brook operation. The shut-down is for an indefinite period beginning November 5 and will reduce the mill's output by 80,000 tonnes annually.

No sign when the provincial government first learned of the decision, although it was far enough in advance to see the natural resources minister shipped to Corner Brook for a media availability. Kathy Dunderdale told CBC's Radio Noon that the provincial government had "invested' heavily in Kruger's Corner Brook operation in recent years. Dunderdale put the figure at $20 million. That would include a harvesting subsidy announced by Dunderdale's predecessor Ed Byrne to Kruger in March 2006, although the government didn't announce the price paid at the time. That amount would also include a power cost subsidy of $10 million Dunderdale announced last October.

Dunderdale said 83 people will be laid off as a result of the machine closure but that the figure might be reduced to 13 due to layoffs.

Kruger closed one machine temporarily in July, 2007 citing the same reasons as the ones given on Monday.

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Right-wing facebook

Thanks to Kevin for the link to this parody of facebook for Republican candidates in the United States.

For those who might be wondering, red is the colour associated with the Grand Old party, while blue is for Democrats.

Enjoy!

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Saskatchewan election blogs

Cross-posted from John Murney's blog:

I have been following a number of other blogs that are also giving some measure of coverage to the provincial election campaign. Here are some of those blogs...

Small Dead Animals

Although Kate McMillan is not blogging only about the election campaign, the stuff Kate posts is usually substantive and noteworthy. Kate has a razorsharp wit, and a keenly analytical mind. I feel SDA is the strong conservative voice in cyberspace in this election campaign.

Catprint in the Mash

Lance Levsen falls into the same category as Kate - I pay close attention to anything Lance has to say about this election. Lance is a great analyzer, and I enjoy his feedback on the daily twists and turns of this campaign. Lance's blog is a must read for anyone wishing to follow the campaign.

Giant Political Mouse

GPM is the primary left-wing blog in this election campaign. To get a good idea of what lefties think about this campaign, GPM is a credible voice in that regard. GPM is one of my daily reads in this campaign, and you should add it to your list of election blogs as well. This blog makes for a great read.

NDP Boogeyman

Since making contact with the host of NDP Boogeyman blog last week, I have been paying close attention to this blog's careful monitoring of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party in this election campaign. You should put this blog high on your list of reads.

Larry Hubich's Blog

The President of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour has an excellent overall blog, and in particular many keen and interesting insights and observations about the provincial election campaign. No list of blogs covering the provincial election would be complete without adding Larry's blog!

Birkbeck's Blog

Larry Birkbeck is a former Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative MLA and is now an independent political consultant. Larry has excellent political judgment, and his commentary on this provincial election campaign is ignored at our peril. I have never known Larry to be wrong in his assessment of the Saskatchewan political landscape, and his special insight will be invaluable in the days ahead.

The blogs I have listed above are all well written by intelligent people. Their coverage of the Saskatchewan election campaign is incisive, well thought out, creative, and credible.

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A new Beowulf movie

Coming November 16, another new movie based on the oldest story in English:  Beowulf.

The tagline on the in-theatre poster:  Pride is the curse.

Trailer 1:

 

Trailer 2 [Note:  nudity and violence]:

 

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Simms and facts

VOCM, as its own promotions informs the listening audience, is a member of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The RTNDA Code of Ethics states:

Broadcast journalists will inform the public in an accurate, comprehensive and fair manner about events and issues of importance.

VOCM is also a member of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. The Council’s Code of Ethics states:

It is recognized that the full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, comment and editorial is the prime and fundamental responsibility of each broadcaster. This principle shall apply to all radio and television programming, whether it relates to news, public affairs, magazine, talk, call-in, interview or other broadcasting formats in which news, opinion, comment or editorial may be expressed by broadcaster employees, their invited guests or callers.

Randy Simms is a VOCM on-air personality. On election night, he provided colour commentary on the results for CBC TV. During the course of the night he made assertions of fact which elicited this response on CBC’s Your View website feature:

I just cannot understand why Randy Simms is on tonight commenting on the election as he is far from an expert! For one thing, his comment that "the province's MHAs want what federal members get - they get a pot" is incorrect. If he had looked into this matter, he would have been told that federal politicians do not have a pot and are actually prohibited from giving donations, money to sports groups, charities, individuals, etc. - that's been the policy for years. When he makes remarks like these, he loses all credibility on his other comments. Otherwise, I have been enjoying your coverage. Lynn Tucker Torbay Posted October 9, 2007 10:13 PM

Lynn Tucker is right.

Randy Simms was, and is wrong.

And, in repeating the same assertion recently, on his own VOCM program, regarding federal members and their non-existent “pots”, he didn’t become any less wrong.

In fact, he became wronger, if that is even possible.

It is bad enough that certain members of the House of Assembly used the non-existent federal “pots” to justify their own spending practices.

They do not need Randy Simms, contrary to the radio industry’s own standards, to flog that falsehood for them.

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High Priestess of the Cult

Personality Cult, that is.

Pam Frampton, Telegram story editor.

Her column could scarcely be more wrong factually, it could have easily been written for the recent Tory campaign.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the news media is the New Opposition.

The Danny-approved, new style opposition.

No opposition at all.

Just breathless support.

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Who ya gonna listen to? Me or your friends?

Adios, Bill Rowe.

After what seems like an eternity, Rowe won't be writing his weekly column in the Telegram any more.

Have a nice trip, Bill.

At least you can still serve as a divining rod for the backsides of the politically powerful every afternoon for a couple of hours.

There's lots of whinging from Rowe about how tough writing a column can be. Having to find something to say once a week takes such a huge amount of time apparently. One must keep abreast of current affairs, read newspapers and magazines, discuss issues with people, carefully weigh options for topics and then finally, put fingers to keyboard for the chore of banging out the words.

All tough stuff apparently, for a fellow hosting a current affairs talk show, for a guy who has been active in political life since he was accepted into the cabinet of the fellow who became a key character in Rowe's first book almost 40 years ago.

If Rowe wasn't serious - and so self-important in the process - one would take his references to writing his two novels as something of a joke. Writing a column in the Telegram apparently set back the completion of his second book by two years. Rowe's literary agent warned him at the time that writing a column "drain your creativity and dull your cutting edge."

Writing Victor Galanti was affected by a column?

Adversely affected too.

Wow.

Writers will appreciate that expression of astonishment.

Clearly, the woman had no experience with good columnists or creativity, despite being employed as a literary agent.

The Telegram, you see, has been home to some of the finest writers the province has ever produced. These were people who could string together a few simple words to express an idea others could only get across with enough words to expand the OED. They wrote columns and articles and books.

At the same time.

And won awards for their work.

That they wrote at the same time they wrote a column.

and a book or two.

You get the idea.

Think Horwood.

Think Ray Guy.

Think Wangersky, even.

Rowe is leaving the Telly pages, apparently to give us the benefit of a memoir of his time in Ottawa as the Premier's personal emissary to Hy's, the original man in a blue line cab. Six months time, in total, to be exact. He figures it will be a series of columns in some unnamed publication. Oddly, this is a subject Rowe ignored - for some totally inexplicable reason - as potential material for his Telly column. A serial account of his time among the untermenschen or as Rowe puts it in his farewell scribble, "powerful and largely uncaring Ottawa."

Now he'll be giving up the writing of a column so he can devote time to writing a column on a subject he could have already written a column or two on, all the while moaning about how hard it is to write a column and recalling how a friend of his who just happened to be the literary agent for his two novels said writing a column makes you dull, as in thick, as in stunned, as in uncreative.

Doesn't make sense, does it?

Damn Right.

Anyone who has been reading Rowe for any length of time will be far too familiar with that concept.

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Show us the details, Walter

So Walter Noel wants the Liberal nomination in St. John's east for the upcoming federal election.

And he's indignant at the Auditor General's recent report on inappropriate spending by members of the House of Assembly.

better to suck it up, Walter, and stop whining about reporters showing up at your house.

Settle the whole matter toute de suite and without hiring an expensive solicitor.

If one of the self-described moving forces behind the Vic Young mythology committee wants to re-enter elected politics, he's only got to pass a simple test:

Reveal the names of all the people who received gifts - both in cash through donations and in the various items described by Noel and the AG - which Noel claimed from his public expense accounts both as a minister and as a member of the legislature.

Tell the voters what he bought, where he bought it, who he gave it to and how much it cost.

Noel's original story was that he had handed out gloves and scarves. Now it's supposedly women's golf shirts and jackets. See, if there had only been a couple of gifts, it's hard to imagine how gloves and scarves could be confused with golf shirts. Since Noel served as a cabinet minister for much of his time in the legislature he had access to two expense accounts. Maybe he was getting the two confused when he made his original comment, but since he was able to tell CBC radio on Friday what the invoices said that accompanied his expense claims, that tell us that Noel has a set of copies. So let's see the whole schmeer, Walter.

Send the information to bondpapers at hotmail dot com, Walter, and we'll be happy to tell taxpayers how you spent their money.

Better still, make photocopies of the receipts and claims available and Bond Papers will gladly post scans of them.

Under the circumstances, when you've already spent public money, Walter, and want another shot at spending it, you have an obligation to disclose exactly how you spent the money of a half million other taxpayers the last time you sat in a legislature.

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Remember, remember the month of November?

labradore demolishes with facts the claims of the provincial government and some reporters as to why the House of Assembly cannot hold a fall session this year.

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Watch this guy

An economist who can discuss economics concepts in plain English.

Scary thought from the dismal science corner - just kidding - but one we should all take time to consider.

Take for example, this simple observation about rising oil prices and the relative price of the United States dollar.

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A facebook launch?

Other candidates have already announced intentions to seek the Liberal nod in Avalon.

Scott Andrews hasn't.

Yet.

But he has a facebook group.

And a campaign sign.

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Enjoy the phone booth, Yvonne

While it had plenty of time to get ready for a fall sitting, the Williams administration announced on Thursday that the House of Assembly would not be called into session until an unspecified time in early 2008.

The table at left demonstrates that the sitting days of the provincial legislature have been declining dramatically under the current administration.

The last session of the House also demonstrated the increasing tendency for government to rush important legislation through the legislature without thorough and proper debate.

The official excuse for the missed fall sitting - repeated approvingly by CBC's provincial affairs reporter without any analysis - is that there simply isn't enough time to get everything ready.

Sheer bunk.

A properly functioning government would normally be developing legislation in anticipation of a second sitting of the legislature. During the campaign, the premier indicated that several ideas in his party's platform, including the bootie call policy, were already being considered well before the election date. On top of that, in the current context, there are several issues that could stand with public scrutiny in the one place where any government can and should be held properly accountable for its actions, namely the legislature. These issues would include the Hebron negotiations, development of the Lower Churchill, the energy plan, health care (including the Burin radiologist case) and education funding.

There is no legitimate excuse for cancellation of the fall sitting.

Of course, there have been persistent problems with the current administration functioning on a smooth, orderly and timely basis. It took four years to proclaim its own accountability legislation and then gave an additional two years for full compliance once the act was proclaimed. A story in the Thursday Telegram (not available online) reported that privacy protection sections of a piece of legislation passed five and a half years ago have still not been proclaimed. Speaking on VOCM Night Line, justice minister Tom Osborne said that some government departments are still not in a position to comply with the privacy provisions and so implementation will be delayed until such time as all departments are ready. Osborne gave no timeline for implementation yet insisted - as with all issues facing the current administration - that the privacy provisions of the bill in question remain a "priority" for government.

As an ominous portent of the future, a Liberal party spokesperson had no problem with keeping the legislature closed for an extended period, saying only that perhaps the government might consider calling the House into session a little earlier in the New Year. New Democratic Party leader Lorraine Michael expressed some consternation.

However, if the re-elected members of the opposition parties continue their past practice of co-operating fully with government's efforts to speed passage of legislation, then the legislature might well wind up sitting for only a handful of days each spring.

The situation is reminiscent of the one in the late 1980s when the Peckford administration opened the House only when necessary. It severely restricted the budget of the opposition and, by keeping the legislature closed, forced the opposition to submit costly access to information to requests in order to find information that would have otherwise been available.

Given that Premier Danny Williams has such evident lack of regard for the legislature as an institution, it wouldn't be surprising if one of his caucus repeated the immortal words of a Peckford- era cabinet minister, saying that he couldn't care less if the opposition party met in a telephone booth.

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Okay, Len. Holiday's over. Back to the teat.

So what exactly did Len do during his brief vacation that coincided, oddly enough with the period of the election?

No surprise at all.

He left the job to run the Tory campaign and now takes his patronage reward back for another four years.

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