The Jim Walsh trial continued in court this week.
Former House of Assembly Speaker Harvey Hodder is still on the stand.
The Telegram account of his evidence on cross examination suggests the former Speaker is continuing the curious pattern he has had of offering accounts of events that vary somewhat over time.
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Another news release of cash for Trevor Taylor’s district but no sign of any comment from the cabinet minister in the official news release from government.
Then again, a news release issued the same day with cash for a different project in the same community and Trevor is there, large as life.
Curious.
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As part of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing NASA is spending US$230,000 to restore video footage of the first mission that put humans on the moon.
NASA lost the original video in the 1980s when old tapes were inadvertently erased and re0used. The lunar mission sent video pictures from the moon using a format unusable by television. NASA converted the images into a TV-friendly format and it is those converted images that were broadcast around the world. in the process, much was lost, apparently.
The restoration project involved a combination of footage found in video archives around the world and some 36 hours of video that survived in NASA’s own archive.
Some of the restored footage was unveiled Thursday on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch of Cape Canaveral. There is also a NASA website containing still and video images of the Apollo 11 mission as well as NASA’s Apollo program page. Google also has a Google Moon site which covers the lunar landings from Apollo 11 until the last mission Apollo 17.
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Under the 1995 Conflict of Interest Act, a public officer hold is defined as any person who “receives a salary or other remuneration, in whole or in part, from money voted by the legislature…”.
That would make a cabinet minister a public office holder under the meaning of the Act.
Pretty simple, right?
There are also sections of the House of Assembly Act that cover conflict of interest for elected members. There are provisions that tell cabinet ministers what to do.
They all come down to the same basic points. People can’t further their private interests using information they gain from their public office. In addition, cabinet ministers who may find themselves in a conflict of interest have a couple of options on how to handle a specific case, should it arise.
The simplest way for a cabinet minister to avoid an appearance of conflict is to place any business interests in a blind trust as soon as he or she is appointed to cabinet.
The reason is pretty simple: lots of things come before cabinet or a cabinet committee, especially at budget time. If you had certain types of business interests, the “leave the room” or “get someone else to do it” procedures set out in the House of Assembly Act would basically mean some ministers would spend more time out of the cabinet room than in it.
The Premier sensibly put his interests in such a blind trust after the October 2003 election. He may have taken a while to do it and he may have moaned and complained as he went through the process but ultimately, his approach is the most sensible way to avoid political problems. When you have important work to do, there’s no reason to be distracted by issues that can be easily avoided.
Odd then, that the Premier has apparently made no such rules for his cabinet. In response to reporters’ questions today, the Premier said that handling potential conflicts of interest would be a matter for the new health minister to sort out with former Tory party president Paul Reynolds ( in his role as Commissioner of Legislative Standards) but, for his part, Danny Williams advised Oram to put things in a blind trust.
Advised him?
Odder then, that Oram has been in cabinet – as business minister – but hasn’t bothered to sort out this issue before now. A blind trust is a really simple, practical solution to a very real potential political problem.
And the whole thing is odder yet again considering that in 1997, then-Premier Brian Tobin issued cabinet conflict of interest guidelines that added to the requirements already in legislation.
1) Ministers shall place in a blind trust all assets, financial interests or other sources of income within the definition of "private interest" in S. 20 (e) of the Act, except for those that are an "excluded private interest" within the definition of S. 20 (a) of the act;
(2) Trustees for these blind trusts shall be other than members of the Minister's immediate family; and
(3) Ministers shall cease to serve as directors or officers in a company or association, as referred to in S. 20 (e) (iii) of the act.
Tobin acted amid accusations of a conflict of interest involving one of his ministers.
Maybe that’s what Danny Williams referred to before the 2003 election when he laid out his own ethics and accountability commitments to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador:
We've seen blatant abuse of office and taxpayers' money, allegations concerning conflict of interest, questions of fundraising contributions, and suggestions of impropriety during leadership conventions. These are very serious issues that are eroding the people's confidence in government. [Emphasis added]
Who knows? Maybe he had other issues in mind.
But there’s no doubt he was aware of the issues and concerned enough about them to issue a suite of promises on ethics.
He didn’t mention a specific commitment on cabinet ministers and conflicts of interest but it seems passing strange that he hasn’t given his ministers any specific instructions on conflict of interest for his own cabinet. If nothing else, clear instructions remove needless political problems like we said already.
The Premier certainly has the power, authority and everything else needed to set the rules for his own cabinet.
So how come he has decided to let Paul Reynolds sort it out?
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The CV-22s from 8 Special Operations Squadron and their escort Hercules aircraft left St. John’s at around 1430 hours local time on Wednesday afternoon.
That doesn’t mean the end of the great shots, however.
This one shows “0028” on approach, transitioning the engine pods to the vertical position in preparation for landing. They are at about 45 degrees in this shot.
Incidentally, the pointy bit on the nose is the end of the refuelling probe.
A flurry of photographers arrived in ye olde e-mail inbox this morning from local aircraft enthusiasts.
These people can also use a camera.
To quote the factsheet:
“The primary mission of the 8th SOS is insertion, extraction, and re-supply of unconventional warfare forces and equipment into hostile or enemy-controlled territory using airland or airdrop procedures. Numerous secondary missions include psychological operations, aerial reconnaissance and helicopter air refuelling. To accomplish these varied missions, the 8th SOS utilizes the CV-22 Osprey, a highly specialized Bell-Boeing tilt-rotor aircraft.”
They fly out of Hurlburt Field in Florida.
Unlike the Marine and Navy aircraft, these come with a variety of specialised attachment including countermeasures, radio and different radar.
You can see some of the additional bumps on the nose to accommodate some of the specialised add-ons.
Look at the tail ramp and you can make out the loadmaster next to what appears to be a weapons mount covered in a yellow tarpaulin.
Turns out to that these aircraft have been through St. John’s before. In October 2008, they transited through St. John’s, presumably on the way to an international exercise in Mali.
The photos below are from the October visit. They clearly show “0028” and “0031” both of which went through St. John’s in the past 24 hours, destination across the Atlantic presumably.
“0031” with blades folded.
Another aircraft being readied for flight.
“0031” ready to launch.
A cabinet minister whose doesn’t know his historical arse from his current events elbow.
And now a bunch of guys who put up a flag to remind us, supposedly, of where we came from, of our past. That’s how one of the guys behind a giant pink, white and green flag described the project for CBC Radio’s Chris O’Neill-Yates.
Seems some yahoo unscrewed the flag base and demolished the thing a month or so after the boys put it back. Apparently it’s been vandalised every year since it was stuck up there a few years ago.
Ah yes, a glorious reminder of our past.
Our past as the pre-Confederation Newfoundland, it would seem:
As mentioned in my last post, we’re putting up the Republic of Newfoundland flag on the South Side hills, and everyone is invited to join in on the hike.
Those familiar with what actually happened will no doubt be scratching their heads and rightly so. Just stop before you cut through the skin.
The Republic of Newfoundland is fiction.
Never existed.
Never happened.
The “republic” is entirely the invention of a local guy looking to make a buck on a few tee-shirts. And he’s made it too what with the popularity of the shirts among the latter-day corner boys.
The flag – in all its pink, white and green gloriousness – belonged to a St. John’s crowd but over its whole history it never gained widespread popularity through what became the Dominion of Newfoundland.
It was certainly never adopted as the official flag of the country.
In other words, at the very best, the flag is a townie artefact but as the flag of a republic? You can’t be the flag of something that never existed anyways.
The crowd who demolished the flag are very likely not a bunch of historians on a rampage.
They are most likely just another bunch of locals who like to destroy what others have made, even if – in this case – what the flag represents is entirely a figment of someone’s imagination masquerading as reality.
Oh well.
If the boys with the flag are raising some money to fly their flag again, maybe they can get in touch with Paul Oram.
He seems like the poster child for their project.
Update November 21, 2009: New title to deconflict with another post. Both were originally titled "Fantasy Island"
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Pictures to follow but three Osprey tilt-rotors arrived at St. John’s airport within the last hour, apparently accompanied by a KC-130.
The Osprey is an unconventional aircraft that is entering service with the United States Marine Corps, Navy and Special Operations Command. Launching and recovering vertically like a helicopter, the engine pods rotate in the air allowing the aircraft to fly like propeller driven airplane.
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St. John’s airport has a ramp where aircraft are parked in cases when the owners don’t want them seen.
That’s where the three Ospreys and a bevy of Hercs are parked, with the Hercs positioned in such a way that only the tips of the blades of two of the Ospreys could even been seen from the airport fence.
In the twilight, the third could be seen, behind a service truck, with its rotor blades folded. if you squint and look at the shape inside the red outline above, there she is. That glint slightly right of centre is the reflection of the airport trucks yellow roof light on the aircraft windscreen. The starboard engine is just above the truck.
Hopefully some other local aircraft enthusiasts had better luck and are better photographers.
Paper maker Kruger may be getting additional financial help from the provincial government to keep its mill in Corner Brook operational.
There’s nothing new in this. The provincial government has been subsidizing the forest industry for years.
What makes this a bit different is that the area has such strong representation in government.
No one is explaining to forestry workers why subsidies are bad, as fish minister Tom Hedderson did a few weeks ago when people wanted some cash to help out that troubled industry.
Having big guns helps.
Of course, having those big guns a wee bit worried doesn’t hurt either.
You can tell they are worried about local public anxiety about the future of the Kruger operation when a news release appears advising that every provincial politician from the Corner Brook area will be traveling in a pack on Wednesday.
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It may have taken a global crisis to bring everyone together but the provincial government, the Association of Seafood Producers and the Fish Food and Allied Workers union have reached an agreement to develop a plan on restructuring the fishery.
Working groups will look at financing, marketing and overall restructuring.
The process will be directed and overseen by a steering committee consisting of two representatives from each of the FFAW, ASP and the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. An independent chair will be appointed by the Provincial Government and the working groups will be assisted by a facilitator from the department.
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There is no limit to the human imagination.
Proof can be found in the marvellous Lego.
Millions of children have grown up with them, building entire worlds out of a few small bricks. We loved them and cherish them and sometimes choked on them, but with Lego we could build a world which was entirely ours.
Some of us couldn’t bear to part with these special toys from our childhood. Your humble e-scribbler still has a bag of all his 1960s and 1970s era bits and pieces but they haven’t been played with in a while.
Okay.
Maybe since last week.
Ummm.
Anyway…
For your amusement, here are some links to what some of the hornier adult Lego fans get up to in their spare time.
Given that they involve sexual images, we have to put a warning label on them that they may not be suitable for all ages and may not be safe for work. Given that they are Lego people, they might be safe for some workplaces, hence the “Sorta NSFW”.
There is the Lego Kama sutra, although there are only 12 pictures in that link. If memory serves, there were a few more positions than that in the book. Bonus points to anyone who can find a Ferrari in the original illustrations.
Rest easy, literary purists. Someone else has reproduced additional positions from the Kama sutra and made a slide show of the result.
There is another collection of 40 pictures of Lego people in various suggestive positions. We call them “suggestive” since the wee Lego people are not even close to anatomically correct and they are merely positioned close to each other in certain poses that hint at certain sexual positions.
With that in mind, the genius behind this little collection evidently has an obvious fondness for one position. Given the frequency with which it appears, odds are he or she isn’t getting much of it.
Note that the one with the elephant and another with the Batman characters are just warped enough to put some people off their oatmeal.
Those of you of the kinkier persuasion will probably like the rather elaborate one that isn’t depicting intercourse. Or police officers, for that matter although handcuffs show up.
Now if all that Lego smutification isn’t your cup of tea, there are some other truly inventive and well-done bits of animation on youtube using Lego.
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Sorta.
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Vale Inco’s unionized employees in Sudbury hit the picket line Monday after 85% rejected the company’s latest contract offer in voting on the weekend.
According to the Globe and Mail:
At issue was Vale's proposal to reduce a bonus tied to the price of nickel.
In addition, workers opposed a plan by the company to exempt new employees from its defined-benefit pension plan, which guarantees employees a reliable and steady income after retirement.
The company is proposing to provide them with a defined-contribution plan, which bases retirement benefits on investment returns.
Employees at the company's Voisey's Bay operations in Labrador voted 99 per cent against the same offer on Wednesday and are set to begin a strike on Aug. 1.
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The federal government will spend $300 million for environmental clean-up at 5 Wing Goose Bay. The clean-up project will end in 2020.
The clean-up is being touted as an economic boost to the town in addition to the obvious environmental value.
"This significant investment benefits the Wing, contributes to the economic foundation of the community and mitigates risk to human health and the environment," MacKay, who visited the base Sunday, said in a news release.
Liberal member of parliament Todd Russell sees the clean-up as a prelude to shutting the military base. Russell is quoted by the Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugliese:
"When governments clean up they're looking to clear out," he said.
The defence minister’s spokesman, Dan Dugas, denies the claim according to Pugliese:
Dugas said Goose Bay continues to play an important role in the Canadian Forces operations. "We believe in the base," he added.
Dugas noted that around $100 million a year is spent annually operating the base. In addition, $20 million was recently spent on improving runways there.
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STS-127 will launch from Cape Canaveral in less than four hours.
The shuttle Endeavour will launch on an inclination of 51.6 degrees taking it over the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose platforms.
Is our offshore oil safe from the possibility shuttle pieces will fall on top of them in some sort of fiery cataclysm?
Don’t laugh.
Only four short years ago, the Premier threw a very public and very ill-informed panic attack over rocket launches heading over the precious oil fields and the prospect one might drop and blow everything up.
It was one of the early dramas in what seems to have become a drama-filled administration.
Not all have been so preposterous or as laughable.
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Weather Report Update: They scrubbed the launch due to bad weather.
Former business minister Paul Oram did a series of interviews when he was in Atlanta last October to attend a trade mission.
His interview on diversifying the economy is interesting mostly because Oram manages to completely cock-up just about everything.
According to Oram, the cod moratorium took place in the “early to mid-1980s”.
If you think that was a slip of the tongue consider that according to Oram, once the moratorium started, we then turned to diversifying the economy with mining for things like iron ore and uranium. Iron ore mining dates back to the 1890s, not the 1980s and as for uranium, there isn’t a functioning uranium in the province at the moment. There never has been one. There are prospects but no actual mine.
The Lower Churchill will start up within the coming year (i.e. 2009) according to Oram, even though the thing had not even started the environmental review process when he did the interview. It won’t complete the process until 2010-2011.
When asked about innovation, Oram couldn’t give an example. Instead, he talked about the difference between his department and the innovation department.
We’ll be generous and say that oram sounded like the minister of revisionist history.
Others might say he was the minister of the “Don’t know a Damn Thing” department.
Oh.
Incidentally, just count the number of times Oram says “to be honest with you.”
We assume he is being honest. It’s just that he honestly doesn’t have a clue about recent events in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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A quickie cabinet shuffle – the third in eight months – didn’t produce the media coverage they likely thought it might.
Check the headline.
Of course, it doesn’t help when you have to admit in the post-shuffle scrum that the shuffle postponed a scheduled update in the breast cancer scandal that has dogged the government.
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Who’s laughing now smart arse? update: There was no secret that Danny Williams, Premier was not enamoured of John Crosbie, former cabinet minister.
No surprise, therefore, that Stephen Harper, arranged to have Crosbie installed as lieutenant governor.
Crosbie may be silenced daily but he still gets his shots in. Like say reminding everyone assembled for a cabinet swearing in that - as the Telegram put it - “Brian Mulroney used to have frequent cabinet shuffles when the former prime minister wanted to deflect criticism from his government.”
Everyone laughed and the incident made news.
Talk about getting payback with the seemingly most innocuous of comments.
Well, at least not under a variety of American state and federal laws in New England especially if you are proposing a hydroelectric project like the Lower Churchill.
Sure, we all think of hydro power as pretty friendly to the environment and a source of energy that is pretty low on carbon emissions.
Heck, in the ruckus over erections in Gros Morne, the provincial government has been pretty quick to talk about how green – as in environmentally friendly - the Gull Island and Muskrat Falls projects are.
As an aside – in some of the online discussions, some people have been talking about ripping through the park because it’s a way to sell the power to the United States. Let’s get this clear: there is no current proposal to build any transmission lines to the United States through Gros Morne park.
The line that Danny Williams would drive through a UNESCO World Heritage Site ends just west of St. John’s. It’s the same line Brian Tobin proposed in 1998.
That’s right.
It’s a line to bring Lower Churchill power to townies, not Yanks.
And while we are at it, Holyrood will not close either even with the infeed.
The comments coming from some quarters makes plain just how much fundamental ignorance – lack of information, awareness and understanding – there is out there about major public issues.
But anyway, back to green energy and American markets.
Turns out that American state and federal governments are working to develop new, renewable sources of energy. They are looking at a system of emission credits and what sorts of projects would qualify for credits.
If the current trend holds, Big Hydro projects - just like nuclear plants - won’t count toward renewable energy credits. New England states have various rules in place currently that look at qualifying hydro power from plants of less than 100 megawatts. In some states, even these small hydro projects must not change the water level (i.e. no dams) or otherwise impact the natural environment.
A bill currently in the United States Senate – HR2454 the American Clean Energy and Security Act 2009 – limits hydro that qualifies for certification to incremental power from technological upgrades to existing plants, generation from existing dams built for other purposes and “hydrokinetic generation”, that is power generated by ocean currents, wave action and the like.
So two honking great dams across a river, even a few thousand miles away, isn’t necessarily where the Americans are looking. Missing MOU anyone?
Not surprisingly, some states are looking to find a local economic spin-off from new energy sources. Rhode Island recently adopted a bill mandating the state electricity distribution company to enter into long term power purchase agreements for upwards of 90 megawatts of power from new renewable sources locate din Rhode Island. They are looking at a $1.5 billion wind farm project - among other things - to help meet that requirement.
This doesn’t mean that the New England markets are closed to hydro power from Canada but it does mean that proponents of the Lower Churchill are not looking at easy pickings.
If states and the US federal government are getting stickier about local renewable projects, there’s a very good chance they’ll get stickier about imports as well.
That’s the thing about American democracy: people get to participate. If an environmental lobby builds up against a project like the Lower Churchill, the thing could have a rough ride. Imagine what might happen if environmentally conscious consumers managed to figure out that the same people promoting this hydro megaproject are the same people who turn up on CNN promoting some old-fashioned seal bashing.
There’s anothing thing too: look closely at some of this legislation, like say the Rhode Island bill, and you can see limits on the length of the purchase agreements with a maximum of 15 years. That’s also an issue to think about given that a project the size of the Lower Churchill would likely be financed over a period twice or three times that.
Are states going to be willing to sign PPAs over such a long period?
Would bondholders be prepared to offer up cash with the prospect that markets could go soft half way through the bond life? How about American lenders who are already hurting through the recession and who may still be leery of investing large sums even after the recession ends?
Any way you want to look at it, the Lower Churchill project is still a very long time from starting.
There are currently no power purchase agreements of any kind with any customer. No PPAs means financing will be much tougher on a project that was estimated to cost at least six to nine billion dollars when talk about the project was revived in 2005-2006. Imagine what it will cost in two years time.
The environmental review process won’t finish until 2011 and that alone puts the project two full years behind the schedule mapped out in 2006. Hydro Quebec is already well on its way to having power to market from new projects by the time NALCOR is looking to start construction of the Lower Churchill. They’ll have a goodly chunk of their new projects done by the time Muskrat and Gull Island turbines start turning, even if the current 2018 timeline for first power could be met.
On top of that there are serious questions that still exist within the Innu community about the draft land claims agreement between the provincial government and the Innu. Bear in mind that the federal government should be in there as well, but so far hasn’t offered any comment on the darkness that has befallen the New Dawn.
And all of that is without considering the potential for even a teensy bit of public backlash over environmental issues.
It really isn’t easy being green, is it?
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Gasoline prices in Newfoundland and Labrador are set by the provincial government.
While gasoline prices across North America have been dropping recently, the government’s price fixing mechanism hasn’t kept pace.
Look closely at that blue line which has been on a steady downward trend since June 20. The average stands at $1.01 per litre on July 9, down from $1.06 at peak.
In Newfoundland, the number has pretty much been a steady average above the current average $1.12 per litre since June 20. There were even a couple of upticks in the Newfoundland number during the period. The current average prices is less than two cents down from the peak.
If none of the previous arguments against government-controlled prices worked, then surely this chart should cause you to sit up and wonder why gas in this province is 11 cents per litre above the Canadian average.
There’s obviously something wrong.
Seriously wrong.
There have been two big winners from gas price regulation in Newfoundland and Labrador and neither of them is the average consumer.
Gasoline retailers have been gifted with steady and predictable profit margins. They buy at market prices and sell at the government price. As you can see from the charts below, that can be pretty sweet.
The provincial government also wins. Its taxes are buried in the price and when the price stays high based on the vagaries of some contrived formula, its tax haul stays nice and fat.
Not surprisingly, there aren’t any politicians calling for the elimination of gas price fixing by the provincial government. In fact, one of the guys who pushed hardest for this scheme – St. John’s mayor Dennis O’Keefe – has been conspicuously silent about the whole issue.
And it’s not like this is a new phenomenon.
Just for good measure, let’s look at the trending over six years.
More of the same.
The only astonishing thing in this has been the dead silence from consumers, let alone from the various self-appointed consumer advocates out there, one of whom has managed to find himself a sweet job leading a Great Sittee.
If you didn’t think there was a reason to scrap the government-dictated gasoline price scheme in this province, surely the events this week and this evidence should make you sit up and take notice of what is a fairly obvious problem.
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Prices for front month crude have dropped more than 18% in the past week.
The markets appear to be reacting to news of continued economic uncertainty in the United States and continued gluts in gasoline supplies. Stockpiles of gasoline in the US have grown by 1.9 million barrels last week as Americans curb their driving.
“The recession is far from over,” said analyst Stephen Schork. “Perhaps the run-up in prices was a bit overstated.”
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Unionized workers at Voisey’s Bay voted on the weekend to reject a contract offer by the employer Vale.
A vote at Vale’s Sudbury operation is also expected to reject the contract, according to the Globe and Mail.
Workers could strike as of August 1.
Related: Vale chief executive Roger Agnelli has described Vale’s Sudbury operation as unsustainable at current cost levels.
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