Why the ABC thing might just turn out to be a farce or a ruse.

The Star, via nottawa.

The Conservative victory in 2006 was a function of a strong New Democratic performance.

Someone could reasonably conclude that an intervention that pushes votes to the New Democrats in this province, or which splits the non-Conservative vote would actually help the federal Conservatives secure the seats they have and maybe pick up a few more.

maybe that's what ABC is all about anyway. A political phoney war? maybe.

But definitely the kind of intervention that might help Stephen Harper rather than hurt the federal Conservatives.

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Don't show us your tits: the media coverage

Cheryl Cruz's sorry experience at Universal Studios Florida has turned into a bit of a media storm for the entertainment giant.

Local Orlando news has picked it up, including wftv.com which is running a poll on the question of public breastfeeding.

There's even been some chatter on an Internet discussion group.

One employee makes a mistake.

A media controversy ensures; let's see how big the controversy gets.

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Unfashionably frank, closer to home

Craig Westcott, publisher editor and just about everything at the Business Post is now blogging.

The Public Ledger

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Unfashionably frank

Until his death last week at age 92, Paul Tibbetts never expressed any regret, remorse or indeed any emotional reaction at all to what became the defining event in his life as far as most human beings were concerned.

Paul Tibbets was the pilot of Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare.

National Public Radio's website contains some of the most straightforward accounts of Tibbet's life and it includes some links to related stories. There are plenty of other commentaries out there, including a simple one by Bob Schieffer of CBS News.

Tibbetts was unfashionable in his views on the atomic bombs, but the man who died in relative obscurity was consistently frank in his views. They remained the same at his death as they were when he was handed the job of getting ready for the mission in 1944:

"I thought to myself, 'Gee, if we can be successful, we're going to prove to the Japanese the futility in continuing to fight because we can use those weapons on them. They're not going to stand up to this thing. After I saw what I saw I was more convinced that they're gonna quit. That's the only way I could do it,'" he told Morning Edition.

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Woodrow packs it in

John Woodrow has quit as the Liberal candidate in the deferred central Newfoundland election.

He didn't do it for the right reasons; he did so claiming as vocm.com put it that "he did not feel he had the support of the party executive or caucus."

The Advertiser has a more detailed version of the story:

Mr. Woodrow’s decision to withdraw from the race was also made following comments by provincial Liberal Party president Danny Dumaresque in the most recent edition of the weekly provincial newspaper, The Independent.

In the news story in question, Mr. Dumaresque stated, “Basically the people of the province have already cast their opinion and undoubtedly we would love to win it (the seat), but I don’t see it as a must-win at all as far as importance to the party is concerned.”

Dumaresque should be the next to go.

The result of the last election - which Dumaresque uses as an excuse in the central fight - rests in some measure on the head of the president. That to one side, even, Dumaresque should give up as party president since he signed endorsed Woodrow's candidacy without checking on the guy's history.

Instead of packing it in, Dumaresque seems to be quietly soliciting support for a run at the party leader's job. In light of the Woodrow mess, Dumaresque should have a very hard time convincing anyone he's the right guy to lead the party into the 2011 general election, that is, unless he plans to promise four more years on the opposition benches.

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Business Shorts

1.  South Coast Partners LP concludes takeover of Oceanex.

2. Cornerstone adds new director.

3. Vulcan Minerals Inc. has been advised that NWest Energy Inc. is being acquired on a share-for-share basis by Trilogy Metals Inc., a public company.

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CSC boss likes government focus on volunteer/not-for-profit sector

Penelope Rowe, president of the Community Services Council, told CBC that a new provincial government ministry aimed at the volunteer and not-for-profit sector is a good thing.

Well, of course.

"By working collectively with government, we can try to lay out a framework that looks at the issues across a variety of organizations," Rowe said.

The CSC news release is effusive in its praise for the new initiative, identifying the appointment of a particular individual as minister as a key aspect:

“Naming The Honourable Tom Hedderson, Minister Responsible for the Volunteer and Non-Profit Sector is a major step in recognizing the importance of this sector to quality of life in communities across the province,” said Penelope Rowe...

Rowe singled out specific initiatives from the progressive Conservative platform, namely:

• formalize a policy and program framework to strengthen and support the community-based sector and to enhance the development of social economy enterprises, especially in rural regions, as means of improving services, providing additional employment
• recognize and celebrate the work of community volunteers
• through discussions with the Community Services Council and other community organizations in the volunteer sector, produce a scope of work document to set the terms for an initiative to strengthen the relationship between the government and the volunteer sector, to improve the grants process, and to identify opportunities for cooperation and collaboration.

Odd that Rowe stopped there in the list.  The next one may give some idea as to why the CSC is quite so tickled with the new initiative for volunteers and not-for-profits:

• increase funding for the Community Services Council

But Rowe, who is obviously fairly tight with the current administration, didn't seem to feel any need to either raise a question about or even mention the next item listed in the Tory platform:

• continue to implement the recommendations of the task force on the not-for-profit sector

If Rowe knows anything about the task force, she sure wasn't letting that slip either.  If Rowe doesn't have some kind of inside knowledge on this task force, she ought to be questioning what it is and what the report says.

As Bond Papers noted during the recent election campaign, there is absolutely no public record of such a task force even being created let alone issuing a report which is already being implemented.  

Maybe someone will asked Hedderson or Rowe about the apparently secret task force or consider going to someone other than Rowe for comment on this initiative. The CSC isn't the only volunteer/not-for-profit in the province and CSC is by no means an umbrella organization.

The volunteer sector is important, but when you head the only group in the province singled out in a party campaign document for extra cash from public coffers, your endorsement would be  - at the very least - taken as a given.

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Exxon confirms second Orphan Basin well

ExxonMobil confirmed Thursday that it will drill a second exploration well in the Orphan Basin offshore Newfoundland in 2008.

The well had been forecast but until Thursday, the oil giant had been reluctant to commit to drilling.

Its first well in the deep water area north of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin - site of current offshore production at Hibernia, White Rose and terra Nova - cost an estimated US$200 million.

The Orphan Basin is located approximately 390 kilometres northeast of St. John's. The area is estimated to hold as much as eight billion barrels of oil. Existing exploration parcels are both inside and outside Canada's 200 mile exclusive economic zone. Water depth ranges from 250 metres in the western portion to over 2500 metres in the centre. More detailed information on the area is contained in the environmental review conducted for the offshore regulatory board in 2003.

Also on Thursday, ExxonMobil reported third quarter profits were down 10% form the same period in 2006.

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Don't show us your tits

A woman from this province is asked to cover up while breast-feeding in public.  She was giving her tyke a meal while at Universal Studios, Florida.

Starting at about 3:10 of this clip is Bill's Maher's new rule on breastfeeding.  He ranted in September after an incident that occurred at an Applebee's restaurant.

Try it.

The video, that is.

You'll like it.

It's funny.

But here's the thing.

Breastfeeding has become a politically controversial topic in some places.

 

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Stop your more for me please rants

Danny Williams is using Loyola Sullivan's old debt boogeyman to try and frighten people away from demanding too much of a provincial government awash in petro-cash.

The problem for Williams is that while he uses the debt as a bogeyman, his own record of increased public spending and increased public debt make it clear his administration is willing to spend.

His spending and borrowing is fueled by rising oil prices that may deliver a $500 million dollar surplus to the province's treasury by the end of March.

"The people of the province also realize that we have the highest debt in the country, and still do, and will have for a long time," Williams said.

"Our debt is twice as high as the next worst province, which is Nova Scotia."

Of course, it will and of course the debt is the highest in the country.

That's because the provincial government doesn't have a debt reduction plan; it has a debt management policy of borrowing at lower interest rates and of rolling over debt to lower interest rates when it comes do.

And, if everything rolls out as the premier plans, the provincial government will increase the public debt through loan guarantees and borrowing on projects like the Lower Churchill.

Everything Danny Williams said is absolutely true.

The provincial government will have the highest debt in the country and "will have for a long time."

And in the meantime, Williams was basically warning people to stop asking for more and thereby interfering with his own spending and borrowing plans.

It's that line from the campaign song:

"Stop your more for me please rants."

People should expect they'll be hearing it a lot more from Danny Williams during his last couple of years in office.

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Throne speech and budget promised within two weeks of winning leadership: Tom Rideout, 1989

Rideout called an election, but it's interesting to see how another premier handled the challenges of governing.

Rideout shuffles, trims cabinet to get ready for election call

March 28, 1989 

ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) - With election rumors blowing through this frigid capital, Premier Tom Rideout took his first step toward government reform yesterday by naming a leaner cabinet and reorganizing departments.

Rideout appointed a 19-member cabinet - four fewer than the previous one - while assuming the duties of minister responsible for intergovernmental affairs and the status of women. The Tory premier also restructured six portfolios, turning them into three larger departments. One portfolio was expanded and one new department was created.

"I promised the people of Newfoundland a plan for the future and I mean to deliver," the 40-year-old premier told reporters. "I promised them a more efficient government and I plan to deliver, I promised them leadership into the 1990s and I mean to deliver."

The cabinet was sworn yesterday by Lt.-Gov. James McGrath five days after Rideout became the province's fourth premier, succeeding Brian Peckford. Despite his promise to fashion a new image for the governing Tories, Rideout brought in just two new cabinet ministers.

Newcomer James Hodder, 48, takes up the reorganized Department of Cultural Affairs, Tourism and Historic Resources, while 58-year-old Kevin Parsons leads the new Department of Sport, Recreation and Youth. Dropped from cabinet were Labor Minister Ted Blanchard and Mines Minister Jerome Dinn.

"A new leader, until he goes to the people, can only pick a cabinet from the people who are serving in the caucus," said Rideout when asked why there weren't more new faces in cabinet. "There's only 33 of us there and I can only pick a cabinet from them."

The big winners were those who strongly supported Rideout in the recent Tory leadership race, such as Lynn Verge, who becomes the first female deputy premier in Newfoundland in addition to retaining the justice portfolio. Rideout supporter Charles Brett moved from municipal affairs to head of the Treasury Board.

The four cabinet ministers who opposed Rideout during the leadership race also received senior posts. Former finance minister Neil Windsor takes over a revamped Energy and Mines Department. Len Simms, former head of the Treasury Board, was named development minister, Hal Barrett is finance minister, and Loyola Hearn retains the education portfolio.

With cabinet ministers just sworn in, Rideout also announced that he's canceled plans to call the legislature into special session this week to pass an interim financing bill. Instead, he intends to convene a regular session in mid-April which would include a throne speech and a budget. But Rideout, who represents the rural riding of Baie Verte-White Bay, left the door open for a snap election call.

"An election could be called at any time," he said. "The present government will begin its fifth year on the second of April and a new leader will obviously want to seek a new mandate at an early opportunity."

Asked whether he's made up his mind when to call an election, Rideout smiled and replied, "I have a plan."

Rumors of an impending election call have been fueled by recent meetings between Rideout and Tory organizer John Lashinger of Toronto. Lashinger ran Rideout's slick leadership campaign and helped Peckford win three consecutive electoral victories.

The Liberals and New Democrats are holding nomination meetings so that candidates will be in place when the election is called.

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Could call legislature sitting less than a week after taking leadership: Tom Rideout, 1989

Ah, if only Tom Rideout was in charge:

 

Thursday, March 23, 1989,

Rideout takes office as Newfoundland premier 

ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) - Tom Rideout became Newfoundland's fourth premier yesterday. The straight-talking son of a fisherman was sworn in as Conservative premier by Lt. Gov. James McGrath during a brief, simple ceremony in the lieutenant-governor's residence.

"We are embarking on a journey which requires a captain on whom the people can depend," said a sombre Rideout, as his family of four proudly looked on. "We have survived and grown in number and prospered so we no longer believe it is a fantasy for us to be masters of our own destiny."

Rideout, who dreamed of being premier as a teenager in his hometown of Fleur-de-Lys, Nfld., succeeded Brian Peckford who held power for 10 years. Peckford announced his resignation in mid-January, saying he'd lost the ruthlessness to make hard political decisions. The 40-year-old Rideout is the province's fourth premier since Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949. Tory Frank Moores and Liberal Joey Smallwood held office before Peckford.

Only hours after the pomp of the swearing-in, the new premier got down to business, telling reporters he could call the legislature into session as early as next Tuesday to pass an interim financing bill. If the opposition doesn't agree with that scenario, he would begin the session in early April with a new budget and speech from the throne.

But the former fisheries minister could be on the election trail before members of the legislature are long in their seats. "We could be very close or we could be far away from an election," he teased reporters. "But April 2 is the fourth year of this government and a new premier would want to seek his own mandate as soon as possible."

Before an election, Rideout said he wants to honor several promises such as setting up a premier's task force on family violence and sexual abuse against children. Rideout hopes to announce his new smaller cabinet Monday as the first phase of a reshuffling of departments aimed at producing a leaner, more efficient government. The premier said he is thinking about taking on a second cabinet position as part of his duties.

While Rideout met with reporters, his staff moved from a hotel suite into the rambling eighth-floor premier's office. Only three of Peckford's 20-member staff have been asked to stay on and most senior people, including Peckford's bodyguard and press secretary, will leave.

"I want to bring new faces to the premier's office. . . . I want to portray to the people of the province I intend to lead, to take a new direction as we spring into the 1990s." The government, however, will follow established policy and provide the outgoing premier with money to operate an office with a secretary for up to three years.

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Danny's long slow good-bye

Did anyone else notice the relaxed, jovial Danny Williams on election night?

No?

How about the post-election vacation?

Okay.

Well, did anyone notice that he came back to St. John's - where he lives - to celebrate his second majority government rather than celebrate in Corner Brook which is in his district?

Hmmm.

Well, those are clues that Danny Williams was serious when he said last year that he wouldn't be hanging around for a third election.

The world has changed a lot since last Christmas. Williams worked diligently and managed to get the oil companies back to the negotiating table so he could make concessions and get a Hebron deal. 

The energy plan is done. Well, sort of done, since both the oil regime and the gas royalty regime are still in draft form.

And then there's the Lower Churchill.  The crowning achievement of Williams' tenure secured, as it likely will be, with government loan guarantees backed up by the offshore oil deals, pretty much as Bond Papers has maintained. those are the things Williams will be focusing on in the next three years and that's basically what he said to reporters in a scrum after the cabinet swearing in ceremony.

The big clue of his departure, though, has been Williams' claim that he is loosening the grip on the cabinet he re-appointed, with minor changes, on Tuesday morning.

"As we mature as a government, I want to see an increased role for the ministers," Williams said after the cabinet swearing-in ceremony.

"I've been criticized on the one hand for being a one-man show. On the other hand, if you don't show up for something ... I get criticized for that, so we've got to strike that happy medium."

No one likely missed the curiosity of a guy claiming he doesn't run a one man show while at the same time saying that he wants to see an "increased role" for cabinet ministers. Not showing up for something is a reference to criticism Williams took last week for being away on vacation while about 100 workers in his own district were laid off at the local paper mill. Williams gave in to the criticism and interrupted his most recent vacation for a short meeting with union officials. 

That's hardly the thing one would expect from a guy who is planning to run again in the same district in four years time, especially when the laid-off paper workers watched Williams go to the mat for their brethren in a neighbouring town only two years ago.

Aside: Incidentally, is it possible that the Kruger announcement was delayed after an intervention by the provincial?  Word on High Street is that people at the mill heard rumours of the machine shut-down three weeks before it was made public. They were likely clued in by an announcement on October 2 - a week before polling day - and the shut-down of the same machine at Corner Brook in July. in hindsight, it looks like the July announcement was actually the closure.  Look at the wording.  There's no suggestion it was going to be for a mere two weeks yet that's what it turned out to be.

In any event, old habits are hard for the Premier to break though, as his other comments reveal.  His penchant for using "I" still comes through loud and clear, as does the reference to people he supposedly doesn't watch. McGuinty announced his cabinet on Tuesday and up to the sudden announce from the provincial government's propaganda service Tuesday morning, there was absolutely no sign Danny Williams was ready to announce his cabinet.

"I don't guide myself, or our government doesn't guide ourselves, by what Premier McGuinty does or Prime Minister Harper does or anyone else in the country does," he said.

"We're running our own show down here and we do it as we see fit, and I think we're doing a great job."

The pattern Williams is following here is pretty much the one he used in 2003, although the overall circumstances don't warrant the delay in opening the legislature. in 2003, a cabinet was hastily sworn in out of constitutional necessity but it took until February before the names of the new departments were announced. This is an administration that takes its sweet time to do anything and there's no sign that will change in Williams' last years.

The serial government will carry on and, as noted here in January, speculation will mount as to which of the current crop of minister's will start angling for the Premier's job.

All the signs are there.  You just have to look for them.

And in the meantime, Danny Williams will depart from office in the same way he has occupied the office:  doing everything in his own time.

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National Velvet Astroturf

Strange things turn up in the Bond Papers e-mail.

Like the following letter published in the Edmonton Journal online edition extolling the virtues of the far East's energy policy. It's odd for a few reasons which are in bold print.

Odd things like reference to the Council of the Federation's energy plan. Odd because few Canadians know of or care about the Council, let alone keep track of missives like the energy document. That document, incidentally, was produced by a committee headed by Danny Williams.

Then there is the repeated use of the phrase "Newfoundland Labrador". That phrase doesn't appear in the CP Stylebook but it does appear in the local PC Style Guide.

Newfoundland Labrador.

It's the name of the new province re-born under Danny Williams.

Think about it for a second. Aside from provincial government advertising, which includes VOCM stuff and Tories, do you know anyone who says "Newfoundland Labrador"?

Everyone else has no trouble using the word "and" in between "Newfoundland" and "Labrador".

See?

It's right there.

Heck even the Tories aren't consistent in it, as their campaign platform shows. There are references to the province with the "and" there and in other places, you'll see Newfoundland Labrador Housing. Still, though, when it turns up in a letter to the editor, there's just something odd enough about it to make you wonder.

Could be nothing at all, of course. But given this administration's love of artificial turf, there's a good possibility this letter is part of a concerted effort to spread The Word far and wide, especially in "Steve" Harper's backyard.

You can find more of Don Abbott's stuff at cbc.ca, for example on the same subject.

More Letters
Edmontonjournal.Com
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Section: Cityplus

Energy development is slowly assuming a new, more comprehensive direction in Canada.

In recent months, among other initiatives, the Council of the Federation outlined its first-ever action plan for a sustainable and secure energy future for Canada.

And, Alberta and Newfoundland Labrador released positions that grapple with the thorny issues of royalty reviews and the development of future energy projects.

The federal government's reaction has been unsurprisingly mute. Ottawa appears incapable of forging a complete and credible policy that combines energy growth and prosperity with enhanced environmental and social responsibility.

Industry reaction to Alberta's ongoing royalty review has predictable. Energy company officials protest the sky will fall and billions in investment will be withheld.

Newfoundland Labrador has had years of similar reaction. Despite the critics, it has enhanced royalties and agreed to a five-per-cent ownership share in new, and 10-per-cent share in undeveloped, offshore oilfields.

It also has stated its determination to go it alone, if need be, on the Lower Churchill hydro project, which leaves the fate of a promising East-West power grid at Quebec and Ottawa's doorsteps (where it has been for 40 years).

A completely new attitude and set of principles is emerging that reinforces the call for sounder planning and stronger leadership for future energy policy in the country. These principles currently are being driven at the provincial and territorial level.

They incorporate a myriad of factors including spiraling energy needs, ownership, administration, pace of development, equitable returns, greater efficiency, less destruction, the full economic cost of research, human resources and infrastructure, the changing face of the North, and human and ecological necessities.

At almost opposite ends of the country Premiers Ed Stelmach and Danny Williams are helping initiate foresight in future energy development.

Their principled stand, for a more inclusive energy policy for Canada and Canadians, resonates well across the length and breath of the land.

Don Abbott, St. John's, NL

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Another little piece of secretive business to keep an eye on

In addition to his duties as intergovernmental affairs minister, Tom Hedderson will also be responsible for the volunteer and not-for-profit sector.

Forget for a second that there is absolutely nothing  to connect IGA with not-for-profits and volunteers.

Not a thing.

Focus instead on the line in the Progressive Conservative campaign platform that promised to "implement the recommendations of the task force on the not-for-profit sector."

Actually, it said continue to implement.

Odd that there is no public record of such a task force anywhere.

Yet, the Tories committed to continue to implement a report no one in the public has ever seen and on top of that there was a promise to create a new office and a ministerial post dedicated solely to supporting "volunteers and not-for-profits."

Curious.

Don't ya think?

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The accountable government at work

It's hard to keep a government accountable when they keep wiping out any traces of the past.

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And this took three weeks?

New provincial cabinet.

No major change in major portfolios.

There are a few demotions, most notably John Hickey, Tom Hedderson and Kevin O'Brien.  The latter goes from being a potentially high profile minister in a high profile department with lots of big announcements to the minister of licenses and permits.

Hedderson goes from a lead portfolio in the arts and tourism to being, essentially, the guy who sends pay cheques to our man in a Blue Line cab on behalf of the guy he really works for, namely the Premier. Intergovernmental Affairs doesn't have the profile it once had and it doesn't look like it will become a Action central in the near future.

The table - shamelessly lifted from labradore -  shows the number of ministers and parliamentary secretaries from 1996 to the present.  The figures between 1989 and 1996 are comparable to the early Tobin period on the chart.

The official excuse is that these are new times and the province's finances are in better shape.

The real reason for the increased size of cabinet, largely through the creation of minor ministries, was politics. 

The enlarged cabinet wouldn't look so obviously political if there had been some changes to the arrangement or to the faces.

Then again, given the lack of significant change, one wonders why the House of Assembly hasn't been called back into session or why this shuffle took three weeks. Deputy premier Tom Rideout's excuses offered up when he announced the cancellation of a fall session don't seem to hold much water in light of events. 

Keep an eye on municipal affairs.  Rumour has it there is a cabinet paper on amalgamation that was put on hold pending the election;  there's a strange line in the Tory campaign platform about "no forced amalgamation."  In the absence of any discussion of municipal amalgamation, the comment just stood out. St. John's and Mount Pearl won't be dragged to the altar but on the northeast Avalon, there's always the chance a new supercity will be crammed together out of the other towns or the existing cities will swallow up bits of their neighbours. One prime candidate for elimination:  Paradise. 

One interesting observation:  With the exception of Danny Williams, Tom Rideout and Trevor Taylor, there is no one in cabinet who was elected before 2003. Keep an eye to see if the House opens only once a year in the future. The majority of members - Opposition benches included - have such little interest in the House and display such an obvious lack of interest in being there, that they'd just as soon keep it locked tight. If that happens, democracy in Newfoundland and Labrador will take another body blow.  Don't look to the opposition benches for too many voices of genuine dissent.

Big surprise:  despite all the signs of a rapprochement and much media speculation, Beth Marshall still sits on the back benchers.

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Quebec's outmigration problem

From ctv.ca, a report on the growing outmigration of young anglophones from Quebec.

As in Newfoundland and Labrador, they are being lured by better economic opportunities elsewhere.

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The remittance economy and the long-term future

CBC Radio is running a short series of reports on remittance workers. Those are people who maintain a permanent residence in Newfoundland and Labrador but who travel to other places, mostly Alberta, to earn a living.

If the CBC figures are accurate - upwards of 10,000 people earning pre-tax salaries of $100,000 a year - then remittance labourers are contributing to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy on a scale that rivals agriculture and the fishery.

Remittance labour is a common feature of the economy in the developing world. The figures for Newfoundland and Labrador would be also on a par with some countries at the low end of the scale in a 2003 World Bank study. Bond Papers noted the local history of remittance work in a post earlier in 2007.

The local workers involved in the Newfoundland and Labrador version of remittance labour include fishery workers displaced by changes in that industry. Others are older, skilled workers from the former paper plant at Stephenville or from the shipyard at Marystown. Neither of these groups will likely be doing the Big Commute for a long time. Either the projects they are working on will shut down or they will retire in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Others are young men and women who are attracted by high wages and steady work in their chosen fields. While the older workers are contributing to a localized economic boom in places without major industries - like Marystown or Stephenville -

Only a major and sustained series of local projects rivaling the work elsewhere will cause the younger workers to stay in the local labour force. Many are likely to settle outside of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In that context, it's interesting to recall that in 2003 Danny Williams campaigned on his commitment to "growing" the economy and creating jobs. He didn't do that, of course, as Bond Papers has noted several times, including in a reprint of a 2004 column from the original (pre-Cleary) incarnation of The Independent. The economic miracle of the past four years has been entirely due to the upsurge in world oil prices.

Essentially, the current progressive Conservative administration is following the same approach of its predecessors. The long-term is sacrificed to short-term expediency. The rise of highly-paid remittance work has served to both cushion the blow of outmigration and enable the provincial government to contribute disproportionately to the provincial economy in the process.

The current administration started out, supposedly, with a plan to control spending and deal with the burgeoning provincial debt. In reality, it did nothing about either. Spending has grown by 35% - well beyond the rate of inflation - and at the same time, the provincial direct and total debt is larger today than it was in 2003. Spending is forecast to increase, as is the debt.

Both oil prices and the remittance economy are shaky underpinnings for government spending and development of larger debt. Oil prices are historically subject to significant fluctuations. The remittance economy is limited either by the life of projects or the short time some of the workers have left to retirement.

Remittance work and the related subject of demographic changes in the province have been largely ignored by successive provincial governments in Newfoundland and Labrador and there is virtually no discussion of it in the public at large.

Perhaps the CBC report will change that.

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Invasion of the sock puppets

Telegram media blogger Geoff Meeker has been on a thread lately about local talk shows and the organized partisan callers.

His latest post includes some comments from people who worked inside the system.

One in particular is worth quoting since it fairly and accurately describes the current state of affairs:

Political operatives organize and coordinate it. Government-side in-house political operatives, voluntary political operatives and key 'lay' party members are all given direction (and often talking points, generated by communications people and other public servants for ministers' use) to call on particular topics.

Communications personnel in Communications Branch are and were public service employees. They were required to monitor, analyze and advise on response to talk radio, but not to call…. Making partisan calls would undermine their professional reputation for balance and fairness in doing their core jobs.

Line department new or junior communications personnel have occasionally been asked to call, by both administrations, especially if they are politically connected. When they (and their voices) became/become better known to media, they were no longer asked to do so.

I never worked in the opposition office, but had I had friends there and my sense is that there is (and was) less if any line-stacking directed out of there. This may be due to lack of resources - fewer communications staff to draft the talking points, fewer political staff to rally the volunteer troops, fewer volunteer troops, etc... This is yet another area where her majesty's loyal opposition is out-gunned by Her Majesty's government.

Of course, there are still callers challenging government on a partisan basis, but that is usually self-directed, except during election time.

This is a fascinating and very useful bit of public discussion. I think it really helps for people to understand how this particular talk radio environment works.

Meeker links to Bond Papers that nets him a big thanks for the traffic.  To make it easier for his readers, here's a link to the first of a three part series from August and September 2006 on the whole business of astroturfing that the current administration has raised to an art form. One of the big changes from the system employed before October 2003 is that the current administration co-opts public servants into an essentially partisan process.

Of course, readers can also site search Bond Papers for the words "pitcher plant" and find a bunch of other posts.

Astroturfing is an old political idea. It shows up in newspaper letters, radio call-back lines and on the Internet through web sites or news (discussion) groups. Some of the anonymous and pseudonymous commenters are also well-known open line callers or partisan political operatives.

"Kirwin Nicholson", for example, is just one sock puppet created for the recent campaign.  He or she made several posts before accidentally revealing himself in a partisan attack on one Liberal candidate by posting using his or her more common identity.

Since there is no way of knowing who is actually posting, a great many of the people posting to nf.general on political topics could be sock puppets, Internet slang for "the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one’s self, allies or company."

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