Williams miffed Hydro Quebec rejecting ownership stake in Lower Churchill

Far from going it alone on the Lower Churchill or seriously pursuing a transmission route around Quebec,  the Williams administration has been working fervently to get Hydro Quebec on board as a co-owner  of the Labrador project. 

Those efforts have been in vain, according to natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale.

Dunderdale  told VOCM Open Line show host Randy Simms on Friday morning that over the past five years, the Williams administration “got a path beaten to their [Hydro Quebec’s] door” in an attempt to have HQ become what Dunderdale described as an “equity partner” in the Lower Churchill.

Dunderdale described the Lower Churchill “piece” as a “win-win” for Hydro Quebec.  She said that despite efforts by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador there was “no take up [from Hydro Quebec] on the proposal.”

The new version of events offered by Dunderdale is at odds with media reports this week of Premier Danny Williams’  speech to the Canadian Energy Forum meeting in St. John’s last Wednesday.  Williams reportedly accused Hydro Quebec of protecting its own interests and of blocking efforts to develop the Lower Churchill. 

However, Dunderdale’s comments fit with a more careful reading of  Williams’ remarks at the energy forum.

On Wednesday, Williams accused  Hydro Quebec of blocking the Lower Churchill project by not being interested in it at all.  Instead, the Quebec Crown corporation was pursuing other projects – like La Romaine – which Williams said was inferior to the Lower Churchill:  Williams is quoted by the Telegram in a Friday story [not online] as saying “La Romaine is not as good a project as the Lower Churchill.” 

Hydro Quebec is pursuing several projects within Quebec, including alternative sources of energy to hydro, all of which are aimed at boosting Hydro Quebec’s portfolio of capacity by more than 4500 megawatts. 

That was known at the time Williams made the decision in 2006 to “go it alone” on the Lower Churchill.  He also Williams attacked the other projects in 2006.  At that time, he claimed that those projects would get to market before the Lower Churchill and hence would beat out his pet project.  In 2006, Williams vowed to continue in spite of competition.

Friday marked the first time, however, that there was public acknowledgement the provincial government was actually trying to lure Hydro Quebec into an ownership position.

This week also marked the first time Williams linked a possible Hydro Quebec financial stake in the Lower Churchill to the 1969 Churchill falls contract.   Williams told the forum that as a result of Hydro Quebec’s exorbitant profits from Churchill Falls, “the very least I would expect Hydro-Quebec to co-operate with us to the fullest on getting the Lower Churchill through.” 

Previously,  Williams has consistently tied any negotiations with Hydro Quebec over the Lower Churchill with “redress” for the 1969 contract.  That’s inconsistent with offering Hydro Quebec an ownership stake in the new project.

Williams also said that Hydro Quebec had filed procedural applications in an effort to stall a hearing by the Quebec energy regulator - Regie de l’energie – into an objection filed by NALCOR/Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro over a regulatory issue. 

That’s a bizarre way to describe things, though.  Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is one of several interveners in a decision on transmission rates for 2009.  NL Hydro filed its notice seeking intervener status at the last minute.  But since the rate hearings affect more companies than NL Hydro and NL Hydro is one of a dozen interveners, it’s hard to see how a routine regulatory process is part of a plot to frustrate the Lower Churchill.

What’s more, Williams’ claim flies in the face of successful efforts by NL Hydro to wheel power through Quebec.  Hydro started the process in 2006.   In early 2009, Hydro announced successful completion of a deal  with Hydro Quebec’s transmission arm to wheel power through Quebec to markets in the United States.  

Efforts to cut a deal with Hydro-Quebec while claiming something else are only the latest in a series of erratic moves and claims by the provincial government since 2003.

In 2006, Williams rejected out of hand a proposal from Hydro Quebec and Ontario’s Energy Financing Company to finance the Lower Churchill.  The proposal came in response to a called for expressions of interest issued by the Williams administration.  Under the proposal, Ontario and Quebec would buy the power and cover the costs of upgrading transmission facilities within the provinces and across the provincial boundaries.  The proposal also included flexible options on financing the construction of the two generating dams at Gull Island and Muskrat Falls.

Williams tossed that proposal and several others aside in favour of what he characterised at the time as going it alone.

In 2006, Williams said publicly that investors should look to the Lower Churchill instead of projects Quebec because Quebec is politically unstable.  Williams later apologised because people found the comment offensive but he did not retract his comments about Quebec’s political climate.

Williams has also sought financial support from others despite the “go-it-alone” claim. In successive federal elections, Williams has raised the idea of federal loan guarantees with federal party leaders.  He has also tied federal financial support for the Lower Churchill as some apparent form of compensation for having to run transmission lines around Gros Morne national park.

The erratic public positions don’t stop there. 

In 2008, natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale indicated the provincial government was considering a law suit against the federal government over the 1969 contract.  Later in the day, the provincial government backtracked.

In early 2009, an official with NL Hydro hinted that the provincial government was considering financing options other than the “go-it-alone” version.  Little did the people of Newfoundland and Labrador know what the other options were.

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Clued out

Lorraine Michael needs to read more or get better research staff.

"I'm glad that the premier has finally shown that he believes that being part of a Canada-wide energy plan is something that he believes in. I had not heard this before."

Try 2007, for example.

Or the same story, as rendered by the Ceeb:

One topic that dominated Thursday morning's sessions was the idea to build a national energy grid that would make sure all provinces benefit fully from Canada's resources. 

"We need to find a way to get those [resources] to the Canadian people," Williams said. "There is a solution here."

or this:

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, whose government is keen to relaunch the mothballed Lower Churchill Falls hydro mega-project to sell power to energy-hungry Ontario, said he would be open to having the federal government fund all or part of a new national electrical grid.

Heck, you can even find reference to hooking onto the grid in the 2003 Tory campaign book if you bother to go look.

All that extra cash the government caucus threw to Lorraine last winter evidently hasn’t helped to clue her in.  A 30 second google search and a raft of quotes turned up all showing only that Michael is out to lunch on this energy issue.

h/t to a keen reader, DL.

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You’re welcome

“The argument was made, quite rightly, by people that you don’t want to create an eyesore in…one of our best tourism attractions in the province.”

Premier Danny Williams, Energy Council of Canada conference, St. John’s September 2009

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Two wrongs… and you get a news story

Both VOCM and the Telegram incorrectly reported the latest poll results from government sponsored polls on Thursday.

VOCM reported that the “latest numbers from Corporate Research Associates show Danny Williams and the PC's gaining strength, despite being almost halfway through their second term.”

The Telly reported that the “province’s decided voters are showing more support for the Progressive Conservative government…”.  The story is on page three of the Thursday edition but isn’t available online.

As a famous politician likes to say,  nothing could be further from the truth.

Both reported the numbers given in response to a question on which political party respondents would pick if an election were held tomorrow. 

The problem comes from the fact that the provincial government’s pollster – Corporate Research Associates – gives its results as a percentage of decided voters, not as a percentage of all people whose answers are included in the poll data.  The change in the number of undecideds can affect the relative share of decideds any one party has.

If we build it…

From nottawa, one take on the curious case of a government building a new health centre while at the same time shifting health services out of the community.

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Timing

According to Premier Danny Williams, the Tory backbencher representing Lewisporte was told “some time ago” that health services in the town would be changed.

According to Here and Now - CBC television’s supper hour news show - the people responsible for delivering the health service (Central regional health authority)  found out about the changes the morning they were announced publicly.

And they had no hand in deciding how to implement the changes.

Interesting.

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Late summer re-run

Pushing the Lower Churchill, the 2006 version.

Pushing the Lower Churchill, the 2009 version.

After all, it worked so well the last time to get people to fund the project.

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Freedom from Information: Conference Prep Kit

Information and privacy commissioners from across Canada can count on support from Bond Papers as they gather in St. John’s  next week for their annual conference. 

To help them get ready for the meeting, they can use the conveniently located conference prep kit located at the top of the right hand nav bar. 

It contains a a set of convenient links to Bond Papers posts describing the sorry state of  affairs in Newfoundland and Labrador when it comes to openness and accountability.

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A mine of information for an enemy

What Maxime Bernier left laying about, courtesy of Le Devoir.

Les documents oubliés par Maxime Bernier chez Julie Couillard en avril 2008, et obtenus en primeur par Le Devoir, sont une véritable mine d'information dont la divulgation risquerait de porter préjudice à la défense et à la politique étrangère du Canada et de ses alliés, et de fournir des renseignements cruciaux à leurs ennemis. De l'élargissement de l'OTAN aux pays des Balkans à la contribution de celui-ci dans la lutte contre le terrorisme, des prisonniers talibans en Afghanistan à la défense antimissile, du contrôle des armements au conflit israélo-palestinien, de la situation en l'Ukraine à la présence d'al-Qaïda au Pakistan en passant par la position du Canada en ce qui concerne le dalaï-lama et le nucléaire iranien, tous les grands sujets de la politique canadienne à l'étranger y sont abordés de manière détaillée.

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Convenient Craftiness?

Tory backbencher Wade Verge is pissed because he wasn’t told health services in his district were on the chopping block.

The Premier is dismissing Verge’s claim with a snort and a sneer.

But Premier Danny Williams said Verge needs to check his facts since he was briefed "some time ago" by the premier's chief of staff.

"I think now his explanation to us this morning is that he didn't understand that that's what it meant. Pfff. Anyway, for what it's worth, he's entitled to his opinion. … Obviously he has to act on the behalf on what he thinks are the best interests of his district," he said.

The chief of staff would be Brian Crawley.

So, that means the Premier is trusting the recollections of a guy who told Madam Justice Cameron that he was beset by a form of C.R.A.F.T  disease:  he can’t recall a friggin’ thing.

Interesting.

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Meanwhile, down the other rabbit hole…

The Dippers  - who only a few days ago were sending around publicly-funded propaganda about the number of times Liberals have backed Stephen Harper over the past year – are about to announce their plans to back Stephen Harper.

What could possibly happen next?

Some candidate leaving a job to spend more time with his kids and then announcing he wants to be a member of parliament?

Oh.

That already happened.

Okaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Like things are just going to get weirder and dangerouser.

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It’s still fire truck month

With Labour Day falling late this year, the government’s official pollster is likely still in the field.

That likely explains the flurry of news today, including a new fire truck.

We already told you about this special time of year back in August.

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A world of his own

“If I had a world of my own,” said Alice, “everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”

And in such a world, there is to be no more talk of running steel erections through a UNESCO World Heritage site.

He has decided to go around the park.  According to the voice of the cabinet minister, He said He was only kidding on that one.

Quite the yuck it was too.

Not once, but twice and the second time with sprinkles: better to wreck the park than risk Granny’s heart surgery or some such.

There are only two possible real reasons for this change of direction.

Either the federal government told the province officially to get stuffed or the Premier has a poll that shows the public are adamantly and persistently opposed to his plan to run power lines through Gros Morne to bring Labrador power to the townies.

The last time the Premier shifted directions this abruptly and unexpectedly – the flag thing – he had a poll that showed the strategy was far less brilliant than thought by the ones who thunk it up in the first place. 

In this case, the feds might have also told him to forget any plans to try and run the lines through the park, easement or no easement.  You can see a clue to that possibility in the number of times the Premier made reference to needing federal cash for what was supposed to be a go-it-alone option. He keeps talking about federal money like you’d expect him to say if they’d turned him down flat.  They said no, so now they have to compensate me for the inconvenience;  that sort of thing.

But instead he is claiming credit for making the momentous and correct decision and trying to pretend he didn’t make the incorrect one the first time.

And then persistently, stubbornly, unreasonably stick to it for half a year.

The federal government is under no obligation to pay a nickel for running the power to the townies.  That’s all the line on the island will do, you see. There’s nothing in it about running run power to the Yanks.  no matter how many times Danny Williams has tried to claim federal political commitments, there’s not a shred of evidence any ever existed.

Whoever decided, at least the right decision was made in the end.  It’s just that in this world where nothing is as it appears, the people who fell down the rabbit hole in 2003 will likely never know.

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Confusion reigns in election story

So which is it?

Are election campaigns too expensive or is “at large” candidate Sheilagh O’Leary having trouble raising money because none of her prospective donors can get a tax receipt?

A cbc.ca/nl story seems to be all confuddled.

The headline is about the cost of running campaigns. m That’s also the premise on which they spoke to mayoral wannabe Ron Ellsworth.  Good call, too ‘cause Ellsworth evidently believes campaigns are about how much money you can throw into things.

But the quote from O’Leary on which the whole piece hangs isn’t about that at all.

Sheilagh O'Leary, who is running for councillor at large, said candidates should get tax deductions for some of their election expenses, a change she wants to see in time for the next municipal election.

"I would certainly like to see that changed because certainly in provincial and federal elections you get a tax deductible receipt, and that is very enticing for people, no kidding, when it comes to tax time," she said. "I think there are a lot of people who are daunted about the financial cost."

Maybe the CBC reporter misunderstood what O’Leary was talking about.

Maybe O’Leary misunderstood.

But there’s no doubt that the tax break O’Leary is looking for isn’t the one aimed at candidates.

So what’s the real story here?

Someone at CBC needs to go back and find it because the whole point is lost in there somewhere.

Meanwhile, unless she is another one of those candidates who finances their own campaign, O’Leary looks confused.  meanwhile, the story prompted a range of comments from people interested in banning campaign signs to a couple of Ron and Sheighlagh supporters who evidently have no idea what is on the go and don’t care.

Talking about anything but the issue at hand or what city council actually does.

Gee, how appropriate for a townie municipal election.

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Campaign College: Sign Design 101

There is a difference between political communications and advertising.

Here’s a simple, graphic example. 

One of the signs in these pictures was designed from the start to convey essential information simply, succinctly and at long distances.

It uses bright colours and a font that is easy to read, even at a distance.

It was not designed by an ad agency.

A by-product of the design is that it is also visible – and legible – when travelling at the speeds one normally encounters in city driving.

The other two weren’t.

Obviously.

The pictures were taken at the intersection of Westerland Road and the parkway, from the corner opposite the signs and without any zoom.

The sign legible in this shot was also plainly legible to the unaided eye at twice and three times this distance.

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Curiouser and curiouser!

Even in the Land Through the Looking Glass that is Newfoundland and Labrador these days, a news release about an emergency session of the House of Assembly to deal with an amendment to  a single piece of legislation is very odd, indeed.

As the official version puts it:

In the course of negotiating a water management agreement for the Churchill River, CF(L)Co advised Nalcor that it felt aspects of the Energy Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador Water Rights Act infringed upon its water rights lease for the Churchill Falls development. This was not the intent of the act, and government has agreed to amend it so as to avoid any ambiguity.

First of all, one must realise, of course, that NALCOR is the parent of Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation or CFLCo.  It holds 65% of the shares, in fact, and the two companies are not completely separate entities.  They are rather closely and intimately connected, in fact.

Second of all, one must also note that the section of the Electrical Power Control Act 1994 requiring a water management agreement came into effect this past January. 

In 2007, the current administration introduced this amendment in the legislature requiring two companies trying to generate hydro from the same river to come to some agreement on water sharing have one imposed by the public utilities board.   For whatever reason the current administration did not give it force of law until early 2009.

Third of all, the original lease that CF(L)Co holds has been around since 1961.  its provisions are well known to a host people inside and outside the provincial government.   in fact, given the history of the lease, it’s probably one of the most well studied and well-understood pieces of legal documentation existing anywhere in Canada.

And that’s the really odd thing.

Well, aside from the oddity of the company effectively negotiating with Itself, and then notifying Itself in the course of negotiations that Itself had a problem with something Itself had been party to previously because that infringed on something else Itself had also been party to much earlier.

You see, there is nothing that would have been noticed during the negotiation of a water management agreement for the Churchill River since January 2009  involving NALCOR, Energy Corporation, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro or CF(L)Co or whatever name the Crown version of Sybil is using at the moment that wasn’t painfully obvious to NALCOR,  Energy Corporation Hydro or CF(L)Co or Sybil, as she then was, when the provincial government introduced the changes to the EPCA, 1994 in 2007 and then introduced the Energy Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador Water Rights Act in early 2008.

What seems to be up for discussion here is something  your humble e-scribbler pointed out back in February. 

If that weren’t enough, changes to the Electrical Power Control Act – passed in 2007 but only quietly implemented after the expropriation in December 2008 – ensures that NALCO can enforce its control over future developments through the Public Utilities Board.

If one takes the implication from a set of Hydro Quebec questions about the Lower Churchill environmental assessment, the proposed water management regime appears to require that Churchill Falls be run in such a way as to maximize the generation at the Gull Island and Muskrat Falls dams under all contingencies. 

This might adversely affect CF(L)Co and some of its contractual arrangements to supply power.  It would also seem to go against several sections of the original lease.

If the government news release is clear – and that is by no means obvious – then the emergency session of the legislature is likely to be about passing an amendment that removes the last clause of the water rights act.  That’s the one that requires a water management agreement be reached or that one be imposed by the public utilities board.

What’s so interesting – if that’s the case – is that this is coming in an emergency session and not simply held for the fall sitting.  An amendment to the legislation could have been made later on with the requirement to produce the amendment being made a condition of any water management agreement.

There must be some sort of threat at work here, something much more significant than the prospect of an agreement between  “Nalcor Energy or its subsidiary and CF(L)Co”.  Incidentally, CF(L)Co is a subsidiary of NALCOR. 

Rather, there might not be much hope of a deal at all in the near term.  Instead,  CF(L)Co  - perhaps at the insistence of one of its shareholders – is protecting its interests and ensuring that the legal problems inherent in the EPCA amendment and the water rights act be eliminated now, without question or condition.

And if it was anything else, like say a repeat of the old water rights reversion act, then the thing would have been trumpeted in news conference held by the Premier.  Something says he just wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to grandstand against any slight. 

Nope.  This is something government is trying to downplay, somewhat.

But rest assured:  emergency sessions like this one don’t happen every day and they sure as heck don’t come for a routine amendment, even if it is one intended merely to avoid “ambiguity”.

There’s something big behind this.

And it may not be pretty for the Lower Churchill project.

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Municipal election reality reminder

There are three weeks left in the municipal election in St. John’s.

Ballot kits go out in the mail on Friday, September 11 and they will start arriving in mailboxes on September 14.

The first ballots will start arriving back at City hall on September 15 and over the next week and a bit roughly 50% of the ballots that will come in will either be safely at Tammany on Gower or will be on the way via Canada Post.

About half the eligible voters in St. John’s will not bother to vote. 

Incumbents are more likely to get re-elected in any election but in St. John’s with the mail-in ballot system, the bonus that comes from incumbency is exaggerated even more than usual.

In other words, unless you have the misfortune of being an incumbent with some issues associated with your term on council – as in one ward in 2005 -  odds are heavily in your favour that you’ll go back to Tammany on Gower.  

Familiarity counts for a lot in St. John’s politics and in this election the dominant view seems to be that as long as you haven’t shagged anyone over, there’s no reason to change.  Bland is good, for the most part.  It’s a conservative town, at least on the outside, and sameness counts for much. What that means is that with the exception of a couple of spots, the incumbents are going back.

Over the next couple of days, your humble e-scribbler will take a look at the four spots where there is anything like a race:  Ward Three, At Large, Deputy Mayor and Mayor.

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Big poll goose but less money for forestry than claimed

Throughout 2008 and 2009, the provincial government claimed it created a forest sector diversification program in 2008 worth $14 million, but there’s no sign in publicly available documents that the money was actually budgeted and spent until 2009.

And the amounts mentioned in different government documents, including the 2009 budget, show there was less money involved than the $14 million referred to constantly.

A news release issued in April 2008 referred to a total of $14 million in diversification funds.  That included $11 million  “to establish a diversification program that will provide for infrastructure required by industry to produce new forest products and gain access to new markets.” Another $500,000 was supposed to go to promoting the wood pellet industry.

A November 2008 news release on the wood pellet promotion also refers to $14 million and a name;  Forest Industry Diversification Program

A description on the federal government’s website claims a $14 million program was created in 2008.

But Budget 2008 Highlights don’t mention the diversification project at all.  instead there’s a reference to 

“Allocating $10 million in provincial funding to add to the $4 million in federal funding under the Community Development Trust for forest industry initiatives.”

And there’s  no such program or amount anywhere in the 2008 budget for the department responsible for the forest industry that covers the federal and provincial cash totalling $14 million or anything close to it.

That didn’t become become plain until early 2009 and the new provincial budget.

The 2009 Estimates (right)show that the government didn’t spend a nickel on the program before the end of March 2009. The “revised” column is blank.

Instead, the provincial government carried over the federal cash received but not spent in 2008 and added to it the rest of the original federal contribution for a total of $4.0 million in cash from Ottawa.

What’s more, the provincial government didn’t add either $10 million or $11 million of its own money in 2009 as it had suggested in previous news releases.   Nor did it add a second year’s provincial contribution to the first to make a program worth upwards of $25 million.

Instead, the provincial government included the extra federal cash and reduced the provincial cash to a produce a program in 2009 that had less money than earlier news releases claimed.

The tomfoolery didn’t stop there.

The 2009 budget highlight document uses a while new set of numbers that don’t match any of the others and which certainly don’t match the figures included in the 2009 budget.

Here’s what it said:

Further investment of $6 million in the Forestry Industry Diversification Fund to assist the industry in identifying new products and markets. This is in addition to the $8.5 million carried forward from 2008.

There was no new investment, of course, as the budget documents clearly show.

As it is, two sawmills gobbled up 83% of the interest-free money in the form of  loans that don’t have to be repaid for 15 years and as grants that never have to be repaid.  One received a total of $10 million while a second scarfed down $2.25 million in free government cash.  The same cash was announced several times over the course of a week during August polling season 2009.

The other money appears to have gone the wood pellet program and to hiring a marketing consultant for a project that supposedly cost – you guessed it - $14 million. 

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The story that won’t go away, banner version

Some smart bunny or bunnies is buying advertising in the Grand Falls-Windsor weekly to remind locals how much money is being made from hydro assets the provincial government seized last December.

Run bi-weekly in the local Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser under a banner that reads "Expropriation by the Numbers," the sparsely worded ads suggest the province has so far earned $28 million from the hydro facilities.

The ads say that's $1,100 for every citizen in the Exploits Valley, and question why more of that money isn't being spent in the region.

There’s a move afoot in central Newfoundland to get the money from the hydro assets to offset the loss of the Abitibi paper mill.

Thus far, the requests have fallen on deaf ears.

But the expropriation story just won’t stop bleeding all over the political landscape.  Not only are the crowd in central looking for cash but there’s a good chance the provincial government will wind up paying big time for the expropriation itself. 

This central story has got to be causing some hard political damage to the careers of people like Susan Sullivan, one of the local members of the provincial legislature.  Even a quickie elevation to cabinet hasn’t silenced the cries for government cash.

Then again, it’s not like the provincial government doesn’t have bags and bags of cash it doesn’t want to talk about, either. 

Odd then that they are resisting any kind of substantive move in central Newfoundland to deal with the ongoing political damage done by the hasty and evidently ill considered seizure back in December. The way this whole mess is unfolding, you’d almost think the whole expropriation was done at the spur of the moment without even a hint of a plan, let alone a second thought for any of the consequences.

N’ah.  Couldn’t be.

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Chiep basturds

If Quentin Tarantino wanted to shoot an homage to the political sign oeuvres of local municipal candidates, that’s what he’d call it.

So like how many city council incumbents are reusing campaign signs from at least one election ago?

Pretty well all of them.

Got pictures?

Send ‘em in and your humble e-scribbler will post ‘em.  bondpapers at hotmail dot com.

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