02 October 2009

And you think Hisself has it bad

As much as some people like to moan about The Racket, there were a couple of things this past week to show that that self-serving load-of-crap bit of whinging for what it is.

First, Arnold told an audience at the Governors’ climate conference in California that it was worth putting up with all the shit he takes as governor because he wants to give something back to the state that has given him everything. 

Yes, there are people looking for more government money and people complaining about him and people poking into his life, but darn it, everything he has – from his success as an actor to his family – are attributable to California.

Yes people, real leaders don’t bitch about a job they volunteered for six years ago.

Second, not a single person during the entire period since 2001 has dared ask Hisself a question even vaguely as outrageous as the one faced by Gordo Brown earlier the week:

Heck they have a hard time putting a real question to Ole Twitchy sometimes let alone getting an answer.

Even people asking simple stuff like how many people went with him on the swan to California and how much it cost taxpayers get told to file an Access to Information request.

At least the crowd that surround Hisself have a sense of humour.

And trucks keep on rolling

Fire truck month is turning into a regular occurrence.

-srbp-

A modern method of deciding

For all those people who find it a little silly to be picking a winner out of a hat, labradore notes that the current municipal elections law passed the House of Assembly at high speed in May 2001.

As to the charge of antiquity... the Act was shepherded through the Bow-Wow Parliament as Bill 7 in 2001. It received First, Second, and Third Reading, Committee Stage, and Royal Assent, in the present, 21st, century.
So, what did the Members have to say about the tie provisions when it came before them for their measured and serious examination?

Hansard records the eloquent and passionate debate for posterity; reproduced here in its entirety:

“On motion, clauses 55 through 96 carried.”

-srbp-

Of course he’s unbiased and non-partisan

From the 2003 Progressive Conservative Party news release launching their blueprint campaign platform:

The plan has also been vigorously studied by Wade Locke, an independent economist and Memorial University professor, who endorses the plan as a positive step for the province.

In a letter to Williams, Mr. Locke stated, "I find the ideas contained in the Blue Book 2003 to be progressive and encompass a vision that holds great promise for the economic future of Newfoundland and Labrador. I find the balance between the business/economic initiatives and the social/cultural approaches to be encouraging.... Should you be successful in implementing your vision, current and future Newfoundlanders and Labradorians stand to gain significantly."

Musta been a smelter in there or a can opener?

-srbp-

01 October 2009

Americans look to home-grown hydro

The United States can generate an additional 70,000 megawatts of electricity by upgrading existing hydro facilities according to U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu.

The juice would come from newer, more efficient turbines and other technologies that would goose more energy without having to undertake megaprojects and risk additional environmental damage.

This further dims the prospects for the Lower Churchill as the Americans are looking at a wide range of ways to meet future energy needs. 

It also reinforces the idea that megaprojects like the Lower Churchill just aren’t considered to be green anymore.

The Americans are developing real energy plans.  That is they are developing ways of meeting their energy needs in environmentally friendly ways and by encouraging ingenuity. 

By contrast what is called an energy plan locally is nothing more than justifying a bunch of decisions already made to produce a megaproject called the Lower Churchill and create ways of stymieing any development that isn’t controlled by a large, ponderous government monopoly.

h/t RenewNewEngland.

-srbp-

Dear Ralph: resign

Ralph Wiseman was screwed either way.

On election night, the veteran politician lost his seat as mayor of Paradise to a 19 year old up-start.  he lost by a mere three votes.

So Ralph asked for a recount.

If the recount affirmed his loss, he was out of a job.

If the recount put him on top, then Ralph could only stay in office dogged by the knowledge he had pissed off enough of his residents that they would rather see a kid run the place before him.

He’d be the lamest of lame ducks for four years.

But now Ralph Wiseman has found a way to screw himself in a whole new and even more politically painful way.

After today’s recount, Wiseman and challenger Kurtis Coombs were tied.

So someone drew a name - no shit; that’s what they did  - and Wiseman is back.

Holy Dead Duck, Wise-man.

Ralph is foolish to be grinning and claiming he won fair and square.

Maybe he did, but there’s no mistaking the fact that right now Wiseman does not have the comfortable support of a majority of the people of  the town called Paradise. His election lacks legitimacy.

Wiseman got the job because someone pulled his name out of a hat.  What’s next, election at the local amusement arcade?  Break the balloon with this blunt dart and you could win a cheap stuffed toy or be mayor of the fastest growing town in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The only thing for Wiseman to do if he wants to govern is  resign.  Resign and cause a by-election to take place for the mayor’s seat.  Call it a run off.  Maybe someone else will come forward.  Maybe no one will.

But at least at the end of the contest Wiseman can say the choice was unmistakeable and democratic.  In a healthy  democracy, only the voters get to make the choice. 

As it stands right now, Wiseman stands to have nothing but political trouble for the next four years.  At the very least he’ll be a laughing stock across town and across the province.

And frankly, having  accepted this ridiculous way of settling the tie, Wiseman deserves every ounce of grief, every snicker he gets.

-srbp-

Lahey on the lam

A Roman Catholic bishop accused of possessing and importing child pornography is still at large.

Raymond Lahey resigned abruptly last week as the bishop of Antigonish. Turns out child porn had turned up on his laptop when it was examined by border services agents when Lahey returned to Canada via Ottawa.

There’s a Canada-wide warrant for Lahey.

-srbp-

Anderson cops to 90K; Walsh files for bankruptcy

Another spending scandal player has copped a plea.

Wally Anderson, the former Liberal member for Torngat Mountains admitted to fraudulently receiving about $90,000.  That’s a fraction of the total he was accused of obtaining and there is no admission he engaged in bribery like former Tory cabinet minister Ed Byrne.

There’s another difference.  Anderson claims he never pocketed any of the cash himself.  Byrne funded his party with the illegal gains in addition to funnelling the money to his own benefit.

Anderson will be sentenced on Friday.  The Crown is seeking up to two years less a day, a sentence on par with the Byrne plea agreement.  The Crown’s rationale for sentencing is interesting:

"Mr. Andersen is clearly a respected individual in the area he represented," said lawyer Frances Knickle. "But that's what makes this so troubling. We are not talking about a crime of impulse but something that was done deliberately over many years."

That’s interesting because in Byrne’s case, he was the leader of the party and leader of the opposition at the time of the crimes. Some of his activity involved illegally funded his party, and the scope of Byrne’s illegal activity isn’t known.  How much money was directed to his party simply hasn’t been revealed and may never be known.

Meanwhile, former Liberal cabinet minister Jim Walsh  - another one of the spending  scandal accused - has filed for bankruptcy in an Alberta court.  Walsh apparently now resides in Alberta.  Bankruptcy would frustrate efforts to recover any of the money in the event Walsh is found guilty.

During his trial, Walsh has acknowledged receiving thousands more than permitted by his allowance limits but is claiming he isn’t responsible.

His trial continues in November.

-srbp-

30 September 2009

You know them as sooks, Ma’am.

In Corner Brook, they are apparently called penders, after the big sooky former mayor of the great city of the west.

Rather than be gracious in defeat, Charles Pender decided to moan and whine a bit:

“It wasn’t a one-on-one campaign,” Pender said. “I had other forces I had to deal with ... Mr. Greeley had a definite strategy with the support of Gerry Byrne’s campaign team, which is a formidable opponent, and Eddie Joyce bringing people to the polls all day in Curling.”

Pender must get the sooks from some of the company he’s been keeping since 2001.

-srbp-

Population and the economy

labradore may do more of his own with this, but in the meantime, it’s useful to steal his observations on the most recent quarterly population statistics.

He left them at Townie Bastard’s corner. Some people, including local media, took the wrong perspective which is not surprising since the StatsCan release wasn’t very clear on what’s been happening in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Anyway, here’s Wally’s take on things. Bear in mind he accurately predicted a recession in 2008 by noting the sudden change in in-migration and hence in population that took place in mid-2007:

The population bump from in-migration happens during every recession.

Out-migration hasn't really slowed down. Actually, it hasn't slowed down at all. International migration is stable at best; the last two quarters have been slightly worse for international immigration than the same time last year.
And the imbalance of deaths over births is trending in death's favour. This was the third consecutive quarter of natural population decline (more deaths than births). Six of the last seven, and eight of the past eleven quarters have seen negative natural population change. One more quarter, and there'll have been a full year of it - the first time for any province, I believe.

The only thing that's causing population growth is net in-migration, largely driven by people moving in from Alberta and Ontario.

Two guesses as to what's driving that. First doesn't count.

Now anyone who looks at the release and stopped for a second might have noticed that the increase was only about one quarter of one percent. And if that person had clicked back to the release before, he or she might have noticed the previous quarter where population declined in Newfoundland and Labrador.

But those wider points – about persistent out-migration and the deaths/births ratio – require a level of analysis that reporters just don’t have time to do.

Sadly for the reporting world, that’s where the real story sits.

You can find it over at labradore.

-srbp-

Predictable Update: You won't find the real story in a provincial government news release, as Jerome!'s effort Wednesday morning confirms.


Micromanaging health care = vague direction and uncertain authority

Back then, the Tories wanted to get out of the business of deciding how and where health care was delivered.  They wanted to get the department out of operational decisions.

From Our blueprint for Newfoundland and Labrador (2003):

Effectively Managing Health Care Services

The Department of Health and Community Services spends too much time micro-managing the health system, and too little time articulating policy. As a result, health care suffers from vague direction and uncertain authority, and managers continue to apply patchwork solutions to a system that is becoming more unmanageable every day.

In 2009, the cabinet decides what communities will have laboratory and x-ray service and the minister responsible tries to claim that the health regions made the choices when – quite obviously – they didn’t.

Odd that the people who had the right answer, consistently pick the wrong answer.

-srbp-

Municipal round-up

1.  St. John’s:  A bunch of things already noted.  Here are a few additional quickies:

Municipal politics has never been issue driven and that seemed to be the case across the board.  2009 confirms the iron law:  to get elected talk about anything but what you’ll be responsible for.  Tom Hann and Sandy Hickman both boosted their votes at large, Hann by talking about search and rescue and Hickman with ferry service at Port aux Basques.  Colbert reputedly took a holiday in the middle of the campaign.

Recycling is popular in the city, especially if you look at the trend to re-elect incumbents.  In Ward Three, voters elected a guy who used to be on council almost 20 years ago.

Cost per vote:  Sheilagh O’Leary brought up something about finances but it wasn’t clear if she was complaining about the cost of  campaigns or about the fact that campaign contributions aren’t tax deductible.

Doesn’t matter:  just take a look at what the candidates spent in the mayoral and deputy mayoral campaigns compared to the votes received.  Gigantic sums, even if some of its was comp/in-kind and the vote results were appalling. On the other hand, look at what other candidates in city-wide races did with only a tiny bit of spending. 

We’ll have to wait until the official reports, but a preliminary winner would be Gerry Colbert who spent nothing but sweat apparently and pulled in 16,000 votes.

2.  Paradise:  Ralph Wiseman loses either way.   As of last night, a 19 year old second year university student beat him by three votes.  If the recount affirms that victory, the voters just slapped Wiseman hard.  if he wins on the recount, they have slapped him hard and put him in a really tough spot for the next four years.  held have to radically change his approach or risk being run out of town on a rail.

3.  Corner Brook:  A last minute promise of hundreds of millions in a new hospital couldn’t save Danny and Tom’s hand-picked mayor.

-srbp-

29 September 2009

“Unsustainable” public spending: the fin min version

Former finance minister Tom Marshall said on Tuesday that he was once asked by an analysis for Moody’s bond rating service if he felt the growth in public sector spending was sustainable.  Marshall didn’t reveal his answer. 

The subject came up in a discussion with talk show host Randy Simms on VOCM.  Marshall noted that the province spends more per person than any other province in Canada. 

Simms suggested that high rate of spending was because of the geographical dispersion of the population.  He didn’t mention that costs in Newfoundland and Labrador are typically lower for many things, including wages.

At that point, Marshall noted that people not from here often don’t understand the issues and then mentioned in passing the comment from Moody’s.  He also referred to boosting spending based on oil revenues only to be faced with a problem when oil prices drop dramatically.

That matches recent comments by health minister Paul Oram that the provincial government’s spending levels were “unsustainable.” 

It doesn’t match claims by Marshall and other cabinet ministers up to now that the current administration was practicing sound financial management.

-srbp-

Ron Ellsworth: R.I.P

The big political story of the 2009 St. John’s municipal election has got to be the political implosion of Ron Ellsworth.

The supremely ambitious fellow burst on the political scene in 2005 with a big win in Ward 4.  His lust for higher office was no secret and in 2008 he ran for the deputy mayor’s job grabbing more than 19,000 votes.

But he fumbled badly a little over a year later, polling almost 7,000 votes less than he got in 2008 and going down to defeat at the hands of one of the weakest mayoral incumbents in recent St. John’s history.

Heck the top six at large candidates all polled more votes than Ron Ellsworth.

Talk about a political catastrophe.

And in record time.

Ellsworth may have made a furtive try at municipal politics in 1997 but when he came on so strongly in 2005, he seemed to be destined for bigger things.

A mere four years later, he is politically left high and dry.

Maybe he’ll do -  as the rumours suggest -  and look to replace Bob Ridgley as the Tory candidate in St. John’s North provincially. 

If he does, Ellsworth will need to find new help with his political advertising.  Whoever did the work for him this time did him a huge disservice at every step.  The only mayoral campaign that sucked more was the winner’s. 

The surprise upset in the election has to be Danny Breen’s victory in Ward One over incumbent Art Puddister.  That isn’t the way your humble e-scribbler called the race and this is one case where it is great to be proven wrong.

St. John’s city politics and its appalling mail-in ballot system are notoriously skewed in favour of incumbents.  Where else but at Tammany on Gower could the polls close at 8:00 PM and the election machinery – literally a machine – could declare victors two minutes later?

It normally takes a herculean effort to unseat a townie incumbent unless you have some kind of momentum behind you as a local celebrity of sorts.  Name recognition and affability often count for  more than any demonstrated knowledge or ability. 

Whatever Dan Breen did to win, he deserves much praise and a whole pile of credit. No one helped him outside of his driven campaign team and that should prove interesting if and when some of the moneyed interests come forward looking for friends to return favours.  

Meanwhile, in the deputy mayor’s race, Shannie Duff handily defeated Keith Coombs.

That wasn’t much of a surprise since Coomb’s resort to negative ads was a huge tell that his campaign was getting desperate.  he wasn’t helped at all by the poor timing of them since they hit the papers – who reads any more – and the airwaves after the crucial date for voting. 

Coombs might have beaten Duff in a old-fashioned race, but he and his crew should have know all that the mail-in ballot system changes the voting dynamic dramatically. 

Pushing poorly executed negatives ads too late in the campaign was just a waste of time and money.  Going negative may have suppressed some of Duff’s vote – which is what going negative does – but it also may have turned off some of Coombs’ potential supporters as well.

At this point, it doesn’t matter.  Keith will have two years to get ready for a provincial run or four years if he wants to try and pull a Sears.  Maybe he an Ron will get together and compare notes.

-srbp-

How many consultants does it take…

to figure out where to put a hospital?

One.

And then, after a year of consulting, another two batches of highly paid, high priced consultants  will do some very expensive cogitating to figure out what services the hospital will provide.

As if the people already delivering health care services couldn’t figure out what services are needed in Corner Brook.

Still no word on when construction of the new hospital will start.

And then people wonder why government’s capital works budget is ballooning wildly out of control.

-srbp-

Bozosity Index 12.    You hire a big name consulting firm who brings in MBAs with one year of experience to re-think your corporate strategies.

28 September 2009

Freedom from Information: Right to Know Week 2009

labradore lays waste once more to the annual event called Right to Know Week.

At least this year the thing is pushed by the guy who actually cares about your right to know.

Last years’ release was from a guy more inclined to be concerned about frustrating your right to know.

-srbp-

Top 10 Warning Signs of Bozosity (plus a few extras)

Guy Kawasaki is smart.

After years of working among some of the most creative companies on the planet he invented the concept of a “bozo explosion.”  That’s what happens to great companies after a certain point, if the company isn’t carefully managed with an eye to continued success and innovation.

As Kawasaki rightly puts it, the whole process is depressing.

For your amusement, here’s his list of warning signs that a bozo explosion is underway. You can find this and whole lot more great ideas at his blog How to change the world.

1.   The two most popular words in your company are “partner” and “strategic.” In addition, “partner” has become a verb, and “strategic” is used to describe decisions and activities that don't make sense.

2.   Management has two-day offsites at places like the Ritz Carlton to foster communication and to craft a company mission statement.

3.   The aforementioned company mission statement contains more than twenty words--two of which are “partner” and “strategic.”

4.   Your CEO's admin has an admin.

5.   Your parking lot's “biorhythm” looks like this:

  • 8:00 am - 10:00 am--Japanese cars exceed German cars
  • 10:00 am - 5:00 pm--German cars exceed Japanese cars
  • 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm--Japanese cars exceed German cars

6.    Your HR department requires an MBA degree for any position; it also requires five to ten years work experience in an industry that is only four years old.

7.    Time is now considered more important than money so you have a company cafeteria, health club, and pet grooming service. Moreover, the first thing that employees show visitors is the company cafeteria, health club, and pet grooming service.

8.    Someone whose music sells in the iTunes music store performs at the company Christmas party.

9.    An employee is paid to do nothing but write a blog.

10.    The success of a competitor upsets you more than the loss of a customer.

Addendumbs (sic) to the list from readers:

11.    You have a layer of middle management who worked at big-name companies (usually consumer goods) who like to call meetings and designate “project leads.” (I experienced this first hand.)

12.    You hire a big name consulting firm who brings in MBAs with one year of experience to re-think your corporate strategies.

13.   Your company likes some of these MBAs and hires them away from the big-name consulting firm.

14.   Your CEO or CFO spends more time on CNBC than in the office

And then it got much worse Update:  The short list quickly became the Guy Bozofication Aptitude Test (it pays to read more than what google turned up).

15.   The front-desk staff gets better looking and less competent.

16.   The only time you see your CEO is when you're watching CNBC.

17.   You watch CNBC during the day and don't feel guilty.

18.   The ratio of engineers to attorneys dips below 25 to 1.

19.   The company has created a “company values” poster.

20.   “Leveraging core competencies” and “maximizing shareholder value” show up in official documents, in the same paragraph.

21.   New executives campaign to improve the product before they understand how to use it.

22.   Your company outsources its mission statement.

23.   Your CEO's chair is more expensive than your first car.

24.   You have more than two execs with the word “chief” in their title.

25.   The company becomes a schwag fountain: pens, bags, notepads, messenger bags.

Add two points for each

26.   Your CEO writes a book.

27.   Your CEO gets invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos where he gives advice to the presidents of Eastern European countries.

28.   Your company has a corporate jet.

29.   Your company hired a retired professional athlete as a motivational speaker.

30.   Your company hired a retired politician as a motivational speaker

 

 

-srbp-

Offshore board calls for land plot nominations

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) today announced a call for nominations from industry stakeholders for lands in the offshore area that would be considered for a possible call for bids in 2010.

A call for nominations is a preliminary step prior to a competitive call for bids.  It  provides interested parties with the opportunity to nominate areas of interest to be included.   CNLOPB can also nominate lands on its own initiative for inclusion.

The offshore board is not bound to proceed with a call for bids in respect of any lands nominated, nor is a nominee obligated to bid on any lands nominated and included in a subsequent call for bids.

Interested parties will have until 4:00 p.m. on November 2, 2009 to submit sealed nominations to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. Further information is available from the board’s website.

-srbp-

The 10-20-30 Rule of Presentations

You may know them as slides.

Or powerpoint presentations.

Or overheads.

Or, if you are really old, view-foils.

You have all been subjected to death by slide.  Here’s a simple rule to help you from slaughtering your audience next time you have to do a presentation:

Samsung and Ontario wind

Electronics giant Samsung is looking at building a 200 megawatt wind farm in Ontario.

The deal could include manufacturing of wind turbines or components as well as solar panels in Ontario.

-srbp-