If public safety is really so important, Charlene...

Five years after Auditor General John Noseworthy criticised the provincial government for not following its own policy on road bridge inspections, environment and conservation minister Charlene Johnson admitted on Monday that her department does not carry out regular inspections of the 132 bridges and trestles of the Newfoundland T'Railway.

Johnson ordered all bridges to be inspected starting this week, with the work being carried out by engineers, conservation officers and other parks officials. It isn't clear if professional engineers or certified technicians will inspect all bridges or what portion of the inspections  - if any - will be carried out by the park officers and wildlife officers.

Johnson said her department relied on public complaints from trail users to keep track of the condition of the bridges. She cited only one example of an inspection, in 2006, of the Main Gut trestle near Stephenville.

She gave no indication how this complaints-based system ensured proper maintenance.  Trail users might well observe crumbling decking but few would take the time to observe structural features of a bridge, even if they were engineers trained and experienced enough to understand what they were looking for in determining the health of a railway bridge.

Johnson did express surprise at learning of problems with the bridges.  The bridges were built and maintained for the Newfoundland Railway which ceased operation under a federal-provincial agreement 20 years ago.

In 2003, Auditor General John Noseworthy slammed the public works department for its inspections of 823 road bridges in the province. Noseworthy found that more than 50% of the bridges (379 of 715) requiring inspection every two years had not been inspected within the period set down in departmental policy. Of those 379, 47  - 12% - had a rating of poor or unsafe.

Noseworthy noted a policy to be applied to proper maintenance and risk reduction:

Bridge inspection is necessary to determine the safety of bridges on our highways and to determine required maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement. In order for the Department to apply a risk model to determine the priority and frequency of bridge inspections and to determine the priority for maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement, it requires detailed information about each of its 715 bridges.

In several interviews on Monday, Johnson insisted that public safety was of paramount importance to her department.  She told talk radio host Bill Rowe that "a person's life is the most important thing and we're not going to jeopardize that."

Rowe praised Johnson for her prompt action, despite her admission earlier in the day that her department had not conducted regular inspections of the bridges at any time.  "The woman jumps on things quickly," said Rowe.

The closure of 132 bridges and trestles coupled with an emergency inspection of the structures was triggered by a Transport Canada report that highlighted problems with 14 of the bridges that cross navigable waters. Another four, not over navigable waters, were also mentioned. That represents about 13% of the total number of structures.

The federal report, sent to the provincial government on February 11, did not demand closure of any structures but instead requested an action plan be delivered by 11 March on dealing with the 14 most troublesome bridges and trestles.

Johnson's hasty order to close all bridges and trestles may be a clue to the provincial government's lack of information on the conditions of the trailway infrastructure.

Her decision has caused consternation among trail users, especially snow mobile operators and tourism operators who depend on the trail for some portion of their annual business.

-srbp-

Peckford remembers Abery

Bond Papers received the following today from Larry Peckford about the passing of Cy Abery. it is a straightforward yet eloquent comment on the nature of public service and public servants. 

Larry included a statement issued on 17 February by his brother, former Premier Brian Peckford.

With Larry's permission, here's the full text of the e-mail with the attached message:

I never met Cyril Abery. I do know that he was part of a group of incredibly talented public servants who served the province during the difficult negotiations on the Atlantic Accord. The province was well served by the likes of Cyril Abery and others who served with distinction at that time. We do well to promote and remember these fine individuals.  Public servants, particularly at senior levels,  are too often the unsung heroes of much that goes on in Government and the attraction and retention of high calibre people is essential to good public administration. Public servants often in the face of considerable challenge, keep a high degree of sanity in government operations and maintain the machinery of government at critical points in time.

Brian's remembrance below is well deserved.

Larry Peckford

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

February 17, 2008

The Passing of Cyril J. Abery

Like all of his friends and acquaintances I was shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of 'Cy' Abery.

This passing must not go un-noticed!!!!

Here was a Newfoundlander who served his Province, Government and Premier with intellect, integrity and great loyalty. As my deputy minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, he acted as chief advisor on many important issues of constitutional reform which marked the 1980's as a watershed in the development of public policy in the Province.

His insight and breadth of knowledge on constitutional matters was invaluable to the Government and to me personally. And who can forget his steady hand as chair of the public servant offshore negotiating team during the difficult and intricate Atlantic Accord negotiations?

Modest and well liked among his peers across Canada, and not one to blow his own horn, I wish to exclaim and extol the contributions of Cy Abery, one of the unsung architects of Newfoundland's advancement within the Canadian family.

Honourable A. Brian Peckford P. C

Province doesn't regularly inspect its own bridges

"We understand the inconvenience of the closure of these structures; however, public safety has to be our number one priority," said Minister Johnson.

But...

Environment Minister Charlene Johnson said today the province does not conduct routine safety assessments of structures on the T’Railway, which is a provincial park.

“There’s no regular inspections, no,” Johnson said in response to questions from reporters.

-srbp-

Atlantic Accord among his professional legacies

Cyril Abery, the man who chaired the negotiating team for the real Atlantic Accord passed away on February 18, 2008.  He was 71 years old.

Abery is seen in the photo at left, in the dark blue suit whit his left hand resting on Brian Mulroney's chair. The photo is of the official federal and provincial negotiating teams plus the first ministers and energy ministers who signed the 1985 Atlantic Accord.

Here's the official obituary:

Cyril J. Abery died suddenly at his home in St. John’s on February 15, 2008. He will be missed by his loving companion Lynn Verge, his sister Joyce Goss and daughters Mary-Patricia and Anne-Marie, his sister and brother-in-law Sylvia and Clyde Pretty and their son Keith, and his sister-in-law Dorothy Abery and her daughter Jane. He was predeceased by his parents Richard and Stella (Neville) Abery and also his brother Dennis Abery.

An economist by profession, he worked for many years in senior public service positions with the Government of Newfoundland, serving as Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Chairman and CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro Corporation. Under Premier Brian Peckford he chaired the offshore public service negotiating team that succeeded in getting the Atlantic Accord. He taught economics and public policy at Memorial University of Newfoundland and, after retirement from Hydro, served as Deputy Mayor of Conception Bay South. He was a proud Newfoundlander and loved to walk in and around St. John’s.

At his request, there will be no funeral or memorial service. People wishing to honour his memory may do so by planting and tending a tree (chestnuts and copper beech were favourites of his) or by making a donation to the East Coast Trail Association.

To send a message of condolence or sign the memorial guest book, please visit www.carnells.com.

-srbp-

The Bond Store

The most recent addition to the right hand navigation column is The Bond Store, the place to find exclusive Bond Papers tees, caps, and other tchotchke.

Bond Papers fans have been asking for some time how they can show their loyalty to the home of irreverent political commentary beyond being one of the 11,500 readers each month who visit the blog.

Well, now they have a way.

There are shirts that display the current bondpapers logo, like the golf shirt at left. You can also find mugs and mousepads, totebags and Sir Robert Cuddles, the official bear mascot of Bond Papers.

There are also shirts and other items that display the real flag of the Dominion of Newfoundland.  The pink, white and green is fine for some.  But if you want the old Dominion flag from the days of Sir Robert, then look no more. 

Bond Store is run through cafepress.com, the online tchotchke phenomenon. The reason is simple:  it's the only one of its type out there.

If someone knows of a local alternative then by all means let us know; we'll make the switch.

As the demand grows, we'll add more items and more designs to the store all in an effort to meet fan demand.

In the meantime:  show your colours. 

Bond Papers goods will be the must-have items in 2008.

-srbp-

The poverty of "We so po'" political rhetoric

“People need to understand government cannot write a cheque for everything,” said Williams. “We can’t be all things to all people.”

“On the other hand, even in poor times, we have tried to do the best we could for people who were, for lack of a better term, in poorer positions.”

Those were some comments made by the Premier to news media in Corner Brook after a two day cabinet retreat.

The first reaction would be to wonder when, over the past four years, has the provincial government actually experienced "poor times".

Almost two decades ago, the province did experience poor times.  All three major economic engines were tanking simultaneously.  The economic output and the government debt, on an accrual basis, were virtually the same number. The western world faced the worst recession since the Great Depression and the federal government, long the saviour of provinces in hard times, had to tackle its own debt and revenue problems.

Since 2003, however, the province has experienced unprecedented levels of economic growth and provincial coffers have consistently swelled.  This has been due entirely to policies established before 2003 and, in the case of oil, to the benefit of development deals for offshore oil and gas which the premier derided as 'give-aways' in his election campaign. He has tried repeatedly to claim credit for the current economic success and a great many have fallen for the misrepresentation.

At the same time, however, the provincial government has tried, since 2003, to poor-mouth its own finances whenever the public started to get wind of the windfalls in the treasury.

The truth has been different for the "we so po" mantra.

 Government net spending in the past four years has grown by 35%. The provincial government outspends every other province, save Alberta, on a per capita basis. The direct and Crown debt has grown as well, by some $500 million.  Newfoundland and Labrador will become a "have" province this year, meaning that for the first time since Confederation, the provincial government will have enough money coming from its own revenue sources to meet its needs without Equalization hand-outs.

This next fiscal year will likely be no different.  Finance minister Tom Marshall told reporters at the same news conference mentioned above that spending on social programs - health, education and social services - will top 70% of government outlays in FY 2008.  That's a 5% increase from the 2007 budget.

At the same time, the provincial government has not reduced the debt load borne by its residents.  With a record surplus of nearly $900 million in FY 2007, the finance minister does not plan to retire much of the debt. He will pay cash for $345 million in capital spending rather than borrow the money as originally planned.

And overall, the developments Danny Williams derided as "give-aways" will drop into the treasury in just one year alone as much cash or more than his single hand-out from Ottawa in 2005. Voisey's Bay, Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose:  $2.0 billion in taxes and royalties in 2007.

Marshall does talk of producing a net debt of $10.8 billion at the end of the fiscal year, but one must read carefully to see what exactly he means by that term "net debt".  What Marshall refers to is the difference between the total liabilities of the provincial government and all its assets.  It is not a reference to money owed to banks and so forth since this is only part of what the government's liabilities are.  Most of us understand the idea of debt and borrowing, but this phrase "net debt" is a little different.

Here's how Marshall described it last fall:

Once we account for the change in capital assets, the balance will reduce the province’s net debt.

The total liabilities will stay the same, at around $13 billion.  Right now, the total assets of the province offset that to produce a net debt (i.e. assets less liabilities) of around $11.6 billion.

Marshall will spend about $150 million on White Rose shares.  Those assets plus any other assets associated with them - like say the oil itself - will be added to the province's asset pile.  Marshall puts a value on that of roughly $800 million.  That's how he will reduce the net debt to $10.8 billion.

Get it?

The liabilities don't change.  The actual amounts owing in borrowings won't change much either.  They just add a few more assets to the equation, ones that in truth will vary in value over time.

On paper, the debt goes down.  However, the only way the provincial government would truly attack the annual cost of servicing the debt would be to pay off the loans.

Instead of concrete action, we have this sort of lip service:

“We are hearing people say they want us to take a balanced approach,” said Marshall. “I’ve been asking people to take a look at how much debt we have and how it affects us ... The auditor general has commented on that. He put out a report which talked about the fiscal position of the province and talked about this $733 million (interest paid annually by the province on its debt) as an ‘interest bite’ — it’s the people’s money being spent on interest and I think all of us would rather see that go into health and education and other public services.”

Lip servicing doesn't pay the debts.

Rather, the whole "we so po'" schtick is just a smokescreen behind which the current administration follows a familiar pattern of spending. They trot out the debt when they want to discourage people from seeing more money spent on things they might want so that the cabinet can spend public money on things that it wants.

Some of those things, like say the gigantic money pit in western Labrador are the sort of partisan political waste we haven't seen in this province in decades. Others, like the energy corporation are notions that have never been fully thought through let alone explained to the public or anyone else. Still others are dubious investments of public cash like the fibreoptic deal.

Somewhere in there, good things do get done.  Good things get done in every administration either by design or by accident.

But for the most part the provincial government remains dedicated to obfuscation instead of transparency and of passing the buck instead of accountability and responsibility.

Only a government bent on hiding the reality and of denying proper public input into spending decisions would even  consider using the word "poor" to describe the provincial government's piggy bank over the past four years.

-srbp-

I spy...

a Hickey-up.

Oh, and another trough.

News outlets across the province are reporting provincial cabinet minister John Hickey's latest attack on the federal Conservatives and their promises to save Goose bay using political pork from Ottawa.

In the photo at right Hickey holds up a signed contract for the federal contribution to finishing the Trans Labrador Highway. Not.

Hickey campaigned not once but twice for Harper candidates (2005 in the by-election and then the 2005/06 general election) so it's strange he is quite so critical at the people he used to support. [Corrected dates]

What no one seems to have picked up on is the reason why Hickey suddenly issued a news release from the provincial government's propaganda service on this issue at this particular moment.

There are clues buried in a report by the Telegram. Since it isn't online, we'll include it below.

But let's give the whole story here.

A group representing the Town of Happy Valley-Goose bay recently took a trip to Ottawa. They saw the lights, saw the sights and saw some people, including officials of the defence department and Loyola Hearn.

When they got back they issued this news release:

PRESS RELEASE – February 11, 2008 Happy Valley - Goose Bay

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mayor and Councillors from the Town of Happy Valley - Goose Bay meet with Federal Politicians and Senior Policy Advisors in Ottawa

“It was an excellent opportunity to not only attend the Northern Lights Conference and Trade Show, but also to meet with a number of officials to discuss concerns affecting the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.” said Mayor Leo Abbass.

While in Ottawa last month, Mayor Abbass, Councillor Madelyn Kelly, Councillor Bill Mackey and the Director of Economic Development Karen Wheeler met with senior policy advisors with the Department of National Defence. The delegation was assured that the commitments made by the Conservative Government remain as previously stated. The Canada First Defence Plan will be released shortly and will determine the priorities of the Department of National Defence for the next twenty years. With the emphasis on Northern Sovereignty and domestic defence, 5 Wing Goose Bay is strategically important to this plan.

While meeting with Minister Loyola Hearn, he also reiterated that the status quo remains for 5 Wing Goose Bay. Other topics discussed with the Minister included the Trans Labrador Highway, strategic location of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in relation to the North, and marketing of 5 Wing Goose Bay.

-30-

Now ignore for a moment the fact it is a piece of junk writing. Just focus on the content.

Like say the sentence in the middle of the second paragraph the Conservative commitments are intact. There is a defence plan coming and news will be contained in that document.

On top of that there's the reference to a successful meeting with Loyola Hearn to discuss issues like paving the Trans Labrador Highway.

There's the cause for Hickey's irk: his constituents and political allies went off to Capital City and made some new friends and renewed some old acquaintanceships. And they talked about a bunch of things Hickey himself is responsible for - like the highway - and, quel horreur, these ordinary folk from the wilds of Labrador appear to have gotten somewhere all without the help of their regional party boss, John Hickey.

That has got to be embarrassing for the guy who is still trying to deal with a defamation lawsuit against Roger Grimes a whole year after the thing was filed. It's got to be even more embarrassing given that this is the first solo news release Hickey has been issued since his cabinet demotion after the last election.

And it's gotta be super duper embarrassing given that Hickey's new portfolio means he doesn't have anything else to do but focus entirely on things like Goose bay, the Trans Labrador Highway and figuring out how to explain those holes in Labrador West where the hospital was supposed to go weren't really just Danny Williams campaigning with public money.

Yes, a few people from Goose Bay just appear to have gotten more traction in Ottawa than a whole cabinet minister whose sole job is to do the things they did.

This whole thing is just another embarrassing political Hickey-up.

Hickey's solution is to issue a news release which just makes the thing even more embarrassing:

It is anticipated the Federal Government will soon release its long-awaited defence strategy. Minister Hickey said the strategy should see Prime Minister Stephen Harper follow through on the commitment to 5 Wing Goose Bay, which he made in a letter to the Honourable Danny Williams, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, dated January 4, 2006.

"5 Wing Goose Bay has the world-class facilities, it has the needed infrastructure, and it has the people of Labrador supporting the developments committed to by Prime Minister Harper," said Minister Hickey. "With our low-lying mountains and vast acres of unoccupied forest, virtually any condition or real-life situation can be simulated in central Labrador."

If you didn't see the original release from Leo Abbass and the crew that went to Ottawa, you'd never likely know that there was a defence strategy coming. Hickey mention's it seems like he's trying to take some credit or pass on some new information, after he's just finished pushing for it - or should we say appearing to push for it - in the release. Now that people know what really happened, Hickey's release seems even weaker than it first did.

Then the last paragraph just returns us to the joys of Springfield and its entirely imaginary world. You see, apparently Goose Bay is such an amazing place that, according to John Hickey, just about any real-life situation can be recreated in the miles of forest and hills of north-central Labrador. That would make it ideal for training of some kind.

So, John, can we recreate the hills and desert conditions of Afghanistan near Goose Bay?

Yes, we can since Goose Bay is now a holographic projection apparently.

And Robert Picardo will deliver medical services in Lab West courtesy of the mobile emitter now that Voyager is off the air and he's out of a job.

Hickey's probably got that release in the hopper.

-srbp-

The Telegram

Saturday, February 16, 2008, p. A5

Politics

"Labrador MHA wants federal government to fulfil promises for 5 Wing
Goose Bay"

Everton McLean

Despite strong words from the minister of Labrador Affairs on the lack
of federal action expanding the military presence at 5 Wing Goose Bay,
the mayor of Happy Valley-Goose Bay said he's content that promises
will be fulfilled soon.

John Hickey, MHA for Lake Melville and Minister of Labrador Affairs,
said in a news release Friday that it was unacceptable for the federal
government not to have fulfilled commitments to place personnel at the
military facility.

He listed promises for a 650-man rapid action army battalion and an
unstaffed aerial vehicle squadron among things not carried out. He said
the promises were in a letter to Premier Danny Williams from January
2006.

"To not meet this commitment in a timely manner would be nothing less
than a betrayal to the people of Labrador," Hickey stated.

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Mayor Leo Abbass, who, along with council
members, met with Newfoundland region minister Loyola Hearn and
Department of National Defence policy advisers last week, said the
federal officials told him the commitments were still coming. He said
Hearn reaffirmed those commitments personally.

He said he understands a defence plan is being completed and he feels
confident there will be provisions made for 5 Wing. Particularly, he
said he expects there to be an unstaffed aerial vehicle squadron
implemented, based on the strategic importance of the area.

However, he did say he expected more being done in Goose Bay by this
time.

Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Hearn, said the minister told him the
commitments to Labrador are still on the agenda. However, he said those
promises are part of a four-year mandate, and the government is only in
Year 2 of that mandate.

"The minister has indicated all the comments we've made in terms of 5
Wing Goose Bay are still commitments of our government."

John Hickey could not be reached for comment Friday.

emclean@thetelegram.com

I spy a trough...

I spy with my little eye a trough into which desperate politicians root for pork and votes.

Just five days after Transport Canada forces the provincial government to take care of its responsibilities for bridges and trestles along the T'Railway, Loyola Hearn turns up at a Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador event with cash to fix things up.

$1.5 million in cash from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

The feds are dropping cash from a business development agency into a provincial park?

From which program?

And by what application, Loyola?

Hmmmm.

This is very suspicious, what with the federal Conservatives gearing up for an election.

-srbp-

Oh Lord, shoot me now.

The latest utterances on the breast cancer inquiry, courtesy of Voice of the Cabinet Minister.

Danny Williams respects the decision.

We may all rest easy;  what else was he supposed to do?

According to VOCM: "Health Minister Ross Wiseman says the ruling will allow the Commission to get on with its work."

Now these two comments are interesting given that both men could have - at any point - directed Eastern Health to turn over the reports.  At the very least, had they exercised their powers earlier they would have saved everyone the embarrassment of watching Eastern Health officials testify under oath that the board's position was basically an invented crock of nonsense.

The whole fiasco just makes you wonder.

And if that wasn't enough, take a look at acting Eastern Health chief executive Louise Jones' latest offering:  according to VOCM, she is now thankful for the court decision. Apparently, Eastern Health couldn't make such a decision on its own.

Couldn't make a decision to release documents that she and her colleagues in senior management knew weren't peer reviews in conformance with corporate policy and couldn't be quality assurance reviews since there is no quality assurance policy/program at Eastern.

Wow.

This little VOCM report is a collection of penetrating insights into the obvious, vapid comments that make Paris Hilton seem like a Rocket Scientist and what appears to be the third entirely different strategic talking point in as many days for Jones.

None of it bodes well for public faith in the health care system.

One can only imagine what the talking points will be once the inquiry is underway and Wiseman is under oath.

-srbp-

Where was the provincial inspection?

While there has been some public kerfuffle over the announcement that bridges along the former railway will be closed pending further engineering inspections, did anyone notice that it was federal authorities who conducted the inspections and sounded the alarm?

It's there, plain as day in the government public advisory:

Transport Canada, under the authority of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, carried out inspections of 109 structures located along the T’Railway Provincial Park and has prepared a report on their findings.

Transport Canada indicates that 18 structures pose an unreasonable life safety risk to the public. The report also indicates that many other structures should be examined for life safety issues.

Well, of course, they noticed.

The Telegram's Rob Antle led his story with just that point.  Antle notes that the feds were inspecting the bridges that crossed federal responsibility for navigable waters. They looked up to see what might be coming down on Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in boats from bridges that are entirely within the provincial government's jurisdiction.

Fourteen of the bridges were found to be in such a state of disrepair that they posed a hazard to people passing below.  Transport Canada has given the province until 11 March to submit an action place on the 14 most serious problems.

Interesting.

The provincial government - which actually owns the bridges  - had to get the hammer dropped on them by the feds.  The feds sent the province a message on Monday, along with the demand for the remedial work, and it took three days for the province to get going.

The federal message didn't cover all the bridges.  It only covered the ones over navigable waters.

In 2003, the Auditor General criticised the provincial public works department for its bridge inspection policy and a subsequent report in 2005 noted improvement.

Nowhere, so it seems, did anyone think of the bridges and trestles on the T'Railway.

This situation gets a little more interesting when the former executive assistant to the minister responsible for the T'Railway makes a comment about the whole thing that "Justice and the Auditor General have prevailed in making the government realize that they had ignored a potential liability for as long as they dare try." [Emphasis added]

If we take that comment at face value, the problem with the bridges and trestles has been known for some time. It's just been ignored  - or "managed, as the former EA prefers it - and not just by the former Liberal administration.  Nope, in order for these bridges to get into such a state that the feds have demanded the province take action, the situation must have continued to deteriorate under the current five-year-old administration.

Meanwhile, the same guy lumps the provincial action on the bridges along with the threat this week to close personal care homes that don't have fire sprinklers.  The homes still haven't complied with a 2003 order by the provincial fire commissioner.

Okay.

Well, let's not get carried away here.

First of all, if the feds hadn't stepped into the bridge issue, there's no way of knowing how long the thing might have gone on being "managed".  The justice department and the Auditor general had little if anything to do with the T'Railway closure.

Second of all, there are more than a few questions surrounding this personal care home thing.

Sure it has taken a long while for government to act.  The provincial government is getting plenty of praise for supposedly putting personal safety ahead of some other undefined thing.

But has anyone bothered to ask why now?

Why in the middle of February with a maximum of 60 days to have the sprinklers installed or face closure?  The provincial officials in municipal affairs and in health are well aware of the issues involved with some of the homes that still haven't installed sprinklers and they aren't simple recalcitrance or neglect on the part of the owner-operators.

Nope, that simplistic view hasn't held up to the news coverage this week.  Some operators have had trouble getting a contractor to do the work.  Some are having trouble raising their share of the cost which, even allowing for the government subsidy, is still likely to require some to spend a hunk of cash from the bank. Some of those costs are due to the age of the buildings or problems with the water supply.  One operator will reportedly have to install a reservoir just to provide the needed water since the municipal supply can't meet the need.

The question of timing is also interesting if you consider the problem starting in 2003.  There were some 81 homes needing sprinklers, of which only 22 remain un-"sprinkled".  One went out of business.  That means the other 58 homes were done over the past five years.

That works out to 12 a year which - dare one consider - might just be the capacity of the local contracting marketplace for this work. That would give us about two more years to finish off the last of them.

The number of homes left to "sprinkle" could also reflect the cost and time involved in other structural alterations and any local permitting or rezoning.  One personal care operator opted to renovate and expand his facility.  After all, if you have to do some capital improvements why not do a bunch at once? He ran into zoning issues and is now looking at having to install sprinklers to meet the current order and at the same time look to abandon his current operation when he moves into a new site.  The time spans involved here have been measured in years since the bureaucracy at the provincial and municipal level tends to be a bit sluggish at times.  All understandable reasons in the practical world.

So you have to wonder why - very suddenly this week - a bunch of fire officials marched into 22 personal car home across the province delivering the closure orders, to be followed within minutes by a bunch of officials from the local health board to start talking about shifting potentially 290 seniors and developmentally delayed people to new digs.  New digs, by the by, which do not exist in the system.

The orders were clear: 30 days to get a signed contract for installation, with a maximum of 60 days to get the work finished or you're out of business and your residents will be shifted.

But if it is such a life safety issue that can no longer be "managed", one must wonder why this became such a sudden realization.  These personal care homes are regularly inspected and have been licensed annually.  Health officials know the issues - presumably - and have either approved of or demanded successfully  that the various homes put in place extra staff at night or whatever measures would be necessary to avoid a repeat of the infamous Chafe fire in 1976.

After all, it's not like the federales just showed up and complained.

The Tiffany fire, some have suggested.

Well, that's really an interesting choice.  The Tiffany is an apartment building.  It has a superintendent, just like all other apartment complexes and while it has a preponderance of elderly residents, it's not even close to being a personal care home with its staff who are there day-in and day-out to care for and protect the residents.

And that just brings us around again to wondering why - right out of the public blue - two departments decided to step in and tell 290 people they will possibly be moving to not just a new home but possibly a new town or a new part of the province, unplanned, just...just...because.

That's not to diminish the public safety issue.  But don't forget this is the same administration that over in another corner just this past week had to be told by another government to sort out a bunch of bridges over which thousands of people ride each year and thousands more ride under.

Someone else had to tell them about the bridges.

Bridges the provincial government owns.

A closure in November 2006 wasn't enough.

So on the bridges, where exactly was the provincial inspection program that missed all the problems?

And on the personal care homes, why now?

The answers to those are not obvious and, given the provincial government's penchant for obfuscation, we may never know.

-srbp-

The External Review Reports decision

While this will eventually make it to the Internet in other legal databases, here's a copy of the decision rendered by Mr. Justice Wayne Dymond in the application by Eastern Health on certain documents requested by the Cameron Inquiry into breast cancer screening.

This is an extremely enlightening document since it demonstrates fairly clearly that even the evidence led on direct or cross examination of Eastern Health's own witnesses contradicts acting chief executive office Louise Jones claim on Friday that these external reports are peer reviews and were considered so by Eastern Health.

At paragraph 39 and subsequently, for example, it is clear from testimony by Dr. Oscar Howell - current vice president medical services - that the work done by two external consultants did not conform to establish Eastern Health policy on peer reviews:

More than one doctor was subject to the review; at least one of the doctors subject to the review had a hand in selecting the reviewers and ultimately, the reports continents were not distributed to the review subjects in the form of a "sentinel report."

On the related issue of the reviews being quality assurance reports, according to Howell's testimony:

Q. So, if the Health Care Corporation, because we’re going back, in fact there isn’t even a Peer Review Policy for Eastern Health – they’ve adopted and continued to apply for positions, the Health Care Corporation’s right?

A. That is correct.

Q. I think it’s important that the Court understands that there is nothing written, there is no Quality Assurance Committee written down anywhere is there?

A. No.

Q. You are going about setting in place a written Policy, aren’t you?

A. We are working through that process, that’s correct.

Q. And with a view to ensuring that, and being able to identify that committee as a s. 8.1 committee isn’t it?

A. That would certainly be very important.

No quality assurance committee. No policy currently in place. Dr. Howell was asked if it was his view that the two experts were being retained to conduct a peer review. He replied: "It is not."

Then there's the famous testimony of the doctor who organized the reviews:

Q. Yes, you -- sure you would, of course you would and this idea that the statement that Bannerjee and Wegrynowski [the external consultants] were designated Peer Review Committees or Quality Assurance Committees, that’s covered by the [Evidence] Act, that notion, or that whole idea only came up long afterwards, didn’t it?

A. That came up in the past six months, the past year or so, yes.

Q. Yeah, but it didn’t occur in the fall of 05?

A. No, I wasn’t thinking about that in the fall of 05.

Q. And, no one spoke to you about it at that time?

A. No.

The idea that the external reviews were peer reviews or quality assurance reports covered by the Evidence Act only emerged within the past year, i.e. since the Cameron Inquiry was established.

The entire decision is rendered in about 39 pages, including the obligatory title page. It's not a long document nor are the issues complex or convoluted. The words used are pretty straightforward, as legal decisions go.

What is fascinating is the information obtained from the sections of evidence - only some of the testimony entered - about the whole issue. We are starting to see the first glimpses of detail of this highly controversial issue.

In particular, though, at this early stage, it is really instructive to look at the position being taken by Eastern Health on certain issues and compare them to what was actually said in court. In some respects, it's not far off the gap between the public statements and the facts - as demonstrated in court - related to the Ruelokke Affair.

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Government Blackberries directing EHA media work?

Eastern Health Authority's (EHA)willingness to get past the "peer review" fiasco lasted less than 24 hours apparently.

Discussing Eastern's plan to make public the two reports next week, get a load of these comments:

Louise Jones, the interim chief executive officer of Eastern Health, said Friday that despite Dymond's ruling, the authority maintains that its position was correct.

"We believe that this was peer review. We believe that they were set up under the Evidence Act," Jones said. "We told the peer reviewers and we told our physicians and our staff that that was the case."

There are some obvious problems with Jones comments: one factual, one strategic.

First, there's the matter of fact.

That was decided by Mr. Justice Wayne Dymond:

[122]   The Court finds that based on the evidence presented and the arguments set forward in counsel’s brief that the four Reports prepared by the internal reviewers are not Peer Review Reports or Quality Assurance Reports and are therefore not protected by s. 8.1 of the Evidence Act. They are not protected by the Wigmore Principles as set out above for reasons as stated.

We'll give you the full decision later today, but for now just take that simple statement.  There's no question:  the reports are not peer reviews. 

Period. 

End of discussion. 

The reason the medical association is comfortable with the decision is that it was based on a finding of fact - not of the law and the Evidence Act - that reports were most emphatically not peer reviews.

And to make it even more plain, let's all recall that the Eastern health official who set the damn things up testified under oath in a court of law, subject to penalties for telling lies that he never considered the reports to be peer reviews.

There is absolutely no value, legal or otherwise, of maintaining this position.

None.

There is no value in taking the position that "I don't care what the judge said.  We were right all along."

That's the second problem here.  Aside from the matter of fact having been settled, Jones comments repeat the public relations mistake inherent in the whole thing in the first place. 

The faux magnanimity of the release issued on the day of the decision was at least magnanimous:  let's get past this and move on in the wider public good.

These comments sound suspiciously familiar.

Do we know anyone else who is fond of saying that sort of thing?  Sorta like:  I don't care that the judge ruled against me - for the umpteenth time - I know I was right all along.

Geez.

Who might say something like that?

Did she say Dymond got up on the wrong side of the bed?

Okay. You're getting the point.

Dymond's comments are so overwhelmingly similar to a classic Danny Williams line that it would hard to believe the two lines didn't come from the same place or from the same inspiration. 

There's been a detectible change in Eastern's media work since Christmas, starting with the sudden appearance of Jones on Open Line.  She did an appalling job of defending this whole legal appeal in the first place, but the fact was she was there, taking the heat off the minister - Ross Wiseman - to whom media had started directing questions on the whole matter.

Uncomfortable spot for Wiseman and the whole provincial cabinet.

This would be Ross Wiseman who has the power to order Eastern Health to do things when it suits his political purposes - i.e. Fred Kasirye - and to crow about it all the while in public.  But then in other cases, he becomes but the humble slave of the people with the real decision-making power, those at Eastern Health.  That would be like this one say.

You see Wiseman could look like the Protector of the Public on Kasirye.  Even if, as it turned out, the review didn't turn up anything in public that looked abnormal, the guy was shot, in public for the optics of it.  He couldn't have been any more expendable if he was wearing a red shirt on a landing party standing right next to Jim Kirk.

On the breast thingy, leaving aside Wiseman's eventual testimony, this one is pretty much a political loser and the Blackberries in the administration wouldn't want him anywhere near that.  They could even have little stickers across the top of the screen to remind the thumbs that  "The buck stops somewhere else" but that's another story.

There's been such a change in Eastern Health's media work just in the past few weeks you'd almost think there was some direct connection between the two.  Almost like there was a direct connection between the top and EHA. A two degrees of separation kinda connection.

if that's true, then it isn't good.

The Blackberries aren't that good when it comes to media relations in a crisis. 

Happy, happy crappy is their forte. 

Stinky messes?

The crap lands somewhere else.

Only problem is that five years in, the Blackberries haven't figured out yet that the smell they are getting is coming from their own shoes.

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Taking lessons from Danny

Seems Ed Stelmach has taken a leaf from Danny Williams' book by appointing a raft of Tory partisans to positions in the Alberta elections office.

 

Weakest election laws in the country?

The reporter needs to check with Newfoundland and Labrador where election finance laws are as slack as a Swiss banker's ethical standards and the appointment of a Tory district association member as the chief electoral officer warranted scarcely a notice from media and opposition politicians.

A doff of the Bondian bowler to daveberta for the link

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Silence isn't golden

Neither the province's recycling board nor the environment minister will talk to CBC's Zach Goudie about paper recycling in St. John's.

Specifically, they won't talk about a request from the local recycler who'd been looking for $100,000 to fund the project.

The recycling board had a surplus of about $2.0 million last year so it isn't like they are short of cash.

More and more people are finding that the provincial government's communications people may have the word in their title, but it isn't in their job function.

In fact, as in the environment case, non-communication is the primary job or if it isn't a complete lack of response, it's a delayed, incomplete, super spun or generally useless response.

- Environment.

- Multi-Materials Stewardship Board.

- Public Service Commission.

- Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

- Department of Health and Community Services and its subordinate bits.

- Attorney General on the privacy breach at the worker's compensation board.

One is an anomaly.

Two is curious.

Three is troubling.

Four is a trend.

Five or 10, as we have here?

That pretty much establishes obfuscation as government policy.

So much for "accountability" and "transparency".

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How magnanimous

Mr. Justice Wayne Dymond ruled today that two reviews conducted of Eastern Health labs are not peer reviews or quality assurance reports and as such will be made available to the public inquiry into breast cancer screening.

Eastern Health issued a statement which CBC reported thusly:

In a statement, Eastern Health said it will not stand in the way of the reports' release.

The decision "clears the way for Eastern Health to continue to work with the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER/PR) issue," the authority said in a statement.

How magnanimous of the authority.

Perhaps someone at Eastern Health thought no one would notice that under s. 13 of the Public Inquiries Act, 2006 - the section under which Eastern Health sought to have the reports withheld from the commission - they had no right of appeal of the judge's decision.

Perhaps no one explained to them that the authority had no choice but abide by the judge's decision.

Having already damaged its public relations position by pursuing this court appeal in the first place, this sort of comment certainly won't improve public perceptions. The way would have been cleared had the authority exercised its option not to file a loser appeal in the first place.

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Oh, the spin of it all

Voice of the Cabinet Minister has an interesting take on Danny Williams' decision today to reverse his position on Andy Wells.  Where before Williams was happy to let Wells keep two jobs, he's now decided the political controversy is such that Wells will become chair of the public utilities board after he quits as mayor of Sin Jawns.

Here's what the Premier's news release said:

The Honourable Danny Williams, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, today confirmed that Mayor Andy Wells will step down from his position as mayor of St. John’s before starting in his new position as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities (PUB).

The premier "confirmed" that Wells will be stepping down from the mayor's job  before taking up the PUB post.

There's no wording like "Andy has to chose."

So it's really curious that VOCM states this:

Andy Wells isn't saying what he will do in light of what amounts to an ultimatum from the premier.

Ultimatum?

Not even close.

The Premier told us exactly what he and Wells decided in light of the political pushback the two have been facing:  Wells will quit as mayor and then take the PUB job.

Job done.

They agreed to this version of it, just like they agreed originally that Wells could keep two jobs and the provincial government didn't care.

Don't believe the two jobs deal was agreed to all along?

Here's David Cochrane's interview with an unusually unabrasive Wells. Take note of Wells' comments after he says the issue is the Premier's "file".  Williams' call modified the original job offer:  "...here's the condition that arose after the fact, after the job was offered...".  It doesn't get any plainer than that when it comes to understanding that the whole two jobs fiasco was agreed from the beginning.

Later in the interview Wells also says that the "one job" version came afterwards as a result of the political controversy surrounding the original "two jobs" arrangement.  The only thing for Andy to do now is decide when he gives up the mayor's chair.

VOCM makes it sound like he might not take the PUB job.

The Telegram got it dead right.

CBC got it right.

VOCM didn't.

Not by a long shot.

Then consider the VOCM version of a release by Liberal leader Yvonne Jones:

Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones says the Premier made the right decision.

Not exactly.

What she actually said was:

Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones says the decision by Premier Danny Williams not to appoint Andy Wells as Chair of the Public Utilities Board (PUB) until he resigns as mayor of St. John’s is the right decision. Jones believes that Andy Wells’ decision to hold two full-time positions at the same time undermined the role and responsibility of the PUB.

Look at the second sentence.

The decision to hold two positions undermined the PUB.  The only thing Jones didn't do in the body of the release was commend the Premier for changing his mind.

Then again, it was kinda hard to miss the headline.  It was there in all it's 14 point glory right at the top of the news release:

Jones pleased Premier rethinks decision on Wells appointment

How exactly could you miss it?

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Andy, Danny, the PUB and polls

Andy Wells won't be staying on as mayor of St. John's when he takes on a new job as chairman and chief executive officer of the public utilities board after all.

Premier Danny Williams said so today in a news release.

This is no small development.  Williams and Wells had arranged for Andy to keep both jobs.  The reasons are unclear but Wells himself raised the issue of his own outstanding legal bills from failed defamation lawsuits.  They had a set of media lines they stuck to, relentlessly, starting with the idea that there was only one tiny potential of conflict of interest.

The Premier repeats them again in the release:

I stand by my belief that the mayor is quite capable of doing both the job as mayor and running the PUB. We have reconfirmed repeatedly that no conflict of interest exists, with the exception of land expropriation where we have already stated Mayor Wells would excuse himself.

Of course, there are numerous conflicts of interest and other policy problems with the Premier's original plan.  That's been pointed out by everyone from Ron Smith to CBC to your humble e-scribbler. Despite the claims to the contrary the Premier's news release is an admission the original plan he had was fatally flawed.

Williams and Wells likely figured they could tough out any public criticism.  They might well have been able to do so were it not for two things.

First of all, they clearly misjudged the willingness of people to voice their clear, reasoned opposition to the appointment scheme based not on personalities but on the facts of the matter. it simply didn't matter who was being appointed to hold two jobs:  the whole idea was flawed.

Second of all, they clearly came up against the looming Corporate Research Associates polling period.  The Wells story had legs and it was simply too risky for the pair to risk the government's high polling numbers on an avoidable controversy. 

It wouldn't be surprising to find that the Premier's Office had some private polling commissioned in the last week or so that helped convince them of the political danger of persisting in an untenable position.  It's not like that hasn't happened before. Remember the flag flap and the premier's insistence "those flags" would stay down until the federal government relented?  It's no accident the flags suddenly sprang to the top of flag staffs at government buildings across the province once the Premier had in hand the results of a public opinion poll.

This "issue", as the premier calls it without defining it, may not be dead, though. 

Andy Wells attitudes about the environment, specifically his rejection of human involvement in global warming, may well make it interesting when the PUB is asked to review capital works programs aimed at dealing with environmental impacts related to global warming.

That, of course, may well call into question the Premier's insistence that Wells is the best qualified person for the PUB job. He's undoubtedly got a strong record in public service.  But that alone is not sufficient for anyone to take on a job heading a quasi-judicial regulatory agency.

That question could have been easily put to rest, however, had the public service competition originally started for this job been completed.  Apparently, it stopped for some reason. Not only has the Public Service Commission been vague in responding to inquires on the matter, but also, at no point has the Premier trotted out that piece of evidence in support of his claims about Wells' qualifications.

The Premier's office may think the Wells "issue" has gone away with this news release.

Likely it won't.

There are other aspects to the issue than have been explored to date.

Polling period and public opinion polls may influence the government's actions.  The rest of us aren't so constrained.

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He'll be "environmentally efficient"

Premier Danny Williams was confronted today with another question about his plan to appoint Andy Wells to head the public utilities board at an annual salary of $175,000 and let him also keep his mayor's job for another $100K or so.

This time the question came from reporters about Wells' view that this whole global warming thing is a crock of hooey resulting from junk science.

In an odd twist from his threats to sue people and remove free speech from the legislature last February, this February the Premier is endorsing contrarianism and the presentation of unpopular views as the hallmark of a free and democratic society.

There was a funny moment when - in the heat of the scrum - Williams said he was confident that Wells would be "environmentally efficient" in his new role.

Yes, but not fiscally efficient, given that he will suck down two salaries and likely not be able to fulfill the duties of both jobs full-time. No human being could, especially when the public utilities board is short two commissioners. No human being could when, as CBC television news pointed out this evening, there are a raft of issues the PUB will deal with that will force Wells to excuse himself. That would include excuse himself from managing, as the chairman is supposed to do in his capacity as chief executive officer. Hard to keep hands off a situation where there's a conflict of interest when you have to assign work responsibilities.

No matter what, though, we can bet the Premier won't be taking Wells as his date to the 21st annual testimonial dinner sponsored by the Public Policy Forum. The Premier is co-chairing the event and one of the honorees is Sheila Watt-Cloutier. She's a noted environmental activist and the event is likely to draw a crowd from people who actually understand what junk science is.

Junk science.

That would be the stuff Wells likes to quote.

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Spot the teacher

There's a decent profile of a fledgling politician in the latest edition of the Advertiser. Many people don't know what the job is like; even people who run for the job get a rude shock when they finally get into office.

Sullivan appears straightforward, sincere and quite engaging. She comes across as typical of the people who get into politics in this province and elsewhere.

Most people would call what Sullivan has been through an orientation session to give her the basic administrative details of her new job. The constant references to "in-servicing" labels her as a teacher. Maybe the writer is but odds are she is just repeating the word Sullivan used.

Perhaps her constant requests for the "rubric" kept some of the presenters smiling and ensured the otherwise boring proceedings were somewhat bearable. Undoubtedly, Sullivan found the "exemplars" to be especially useful since after all, a mere "example" wouldn't suffice if one is engaged in instructional pursuits. (j/k)

On a serious note, isn't it interesting that this MHA has discovered it makes sense to have her constituency assistant in St. John's?

Did he really say that?

We believe that a strengthened public service will ensure that individuals are being hired on their merits as opposed to who they know in government.

According to the Telly editorial on Monday, those were the words Premier Danny Williams spoke in 2004. He said them, on province-wide television in the infamous January 5, 2004 speech about government's financial plans.

It is a laudable sentiment and the provincial government's 2005 action in creating a public service secretariat within the government itself is a commendable step to making merit-based hiring a reality throughout government.

That's why a competition for commissioners and a chief executive officer for the public utilities board was a great leap forward in handling appointments traditionally made by cabinet from a rather closed process that didn't always appear to be based on merit as most of us would understand the term.

The 2007 public competition showed signs of a real change, despite the efforts made to work around the process for selecting the chair and chief executive at the offshore regulatory board.

In light of all that, it remains very odd that the provincial government made no effort to point out that the selection of Andy Wells as head of the public utilities board came out of a merit-based hiring process, the one the provincial government itself started.

Not only that, but as Bond Papers pointed out on Friday, there isn't any public indication of what happened to the competition. Resumes were assessed but after that, there's been no sign of the whole affair. There are still two commissioner positions vacant at the board.

There's no question that Danny Williams made it a policy of government to move to merit-based hiring throughout government.

He did it on province-wide television in 2004.

So what happened to the PUB competition?

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