Potholes and Compensation

If you want to spend a few minutes in that altered state of consciousness called being a cabinet minister, take a listen to an interview transportation minister Tom Hedderson did back in October with CBC Radio’s West Coast Morning Show.

The interview is about damage claims people are filing after using sections of the Trans-Labrador Highway.  Seems that they’ve been hitting potholes and are looking to have repairs paid for by the provincial government due to supposed inadequate maintenance and signage.

In the course of the interview, Hedderson acknowledges that increased traffic has caused increased wear and tear on the gravel road – yes it is a highway that has no pavement – but he insists that his department is doing everything it can to keep the road up to snuff.  He also acknowledges that the road surface will deteriorate after a heavy rain.

So yes, there have been claims for damages but the department won’t be paying anything because – by its own decision – everything they are doing is adequate.

To sum up: 

1.  There are potholes.

2.  There is no compensation.

There is no compensation because the same people responsible for maintaining the road are the same people who make the decision about whether or not they will pay. Hedderson just rubber stamps the decision by officials.

There’s even a Pythonesque moment right at the start where the interviewer asks Hedderson if they have in fact paid any claims to anyone at all.  No, says Hedderson.  Cheese vendor Michael Palin couldn’t have done any better.

Later on, Bernice Hillier asks Hedderson about “legitimate” claims since, apparently Hedderson had said earlier in the year the department would pay for legitimate complaints. “Legitimate” claims get paid, it seems.

Hedderson’s definition of a “legitimate” claim is basically one they’ve paid.

And since they haven’t paid any claims… draw your own conclusion.

That interview aired on October 28.

On October 26, Hedderson issued a news release announcing changes to the Labrador coastal boat service because of improvements in the road network.

"Now that there is a highway link connecting the communities currently served by this run, the time has come to discontinue the passenger and freight service between Lewisporte, Cartwright and Happy Valley-Goose Bay," said the Honourable Tom Hedderson, Minister of Transportation and Works. "This is a natural step in light of the approximately $275 million investment in Phases II and III of the TLH and is consistent with the delivery and maintenance of transportation infrastructure and services in other communities that are accessible by road.”

Wonderful stuff.  People can drive around now on this highway.  In fact, more people are using it and will use it in the future.

But they shouldn’t expect that government will compensate them for damage resulting from using the roads.

That is, unless they use “more legal type means”.

That would be Hedderson-speak for getting a lawyer and filing a damage suit in Provincial Court. Given the laughable way Hedderson handles complaints to his office, that might be a good idea.  Hire a lawyer who will fight bureaucrats and their self-serving, circular logic.

Anyone ever heard of a lawyer like that?

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The triumph of provincialism

In what would otherwise be highly risible, the Globe’s Jeff Simpson laments the triumph of parochial interests in Canada politics while using as an example a provincial politician whom he apparently admires yet who epitomised the attitude Jeff apparently finds so troubling.

Two things on this for now:

1.  Don’t worry: Jeff knows what risible means.

2.  This is yet further evidence of why people in Newfoundland and Labrador should pay no heed to things that appear in the Globe and Mail. 

It is just a newspaper.

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Dunderdale flip flops on future

She’s not running.

She’s running.

She’s not running.

And 24 hours after the last version of the story, Kathy Dunderdale is a model of decisiveness as she confirms she is now thinking about running to replace Danny Williams as Tory leader on a permanent basis.

She’s currently a caretaker leader and premier, as she previous told reporters she had “committed” to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

But give it a few days and an apparent tizzy inside her party and things are starting to look differently.  Here’s how CBC described it:

"I opened the door a crack on it last week only because I've been under so much pressure to do so from within the caucus and from across the province generally," Dunderdale said at Government House, where she watched the swearing-in ceremony for David Brazil, who won the Conception Bay East-Bell Island byelection on Dec. 2.

"It's been quite overwhelming and it's very nice. But, I got to tell you, I still haven't had a lot of time to think about it but nothing has changed at this point in time."

 

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Williams’ abrupt departure “shocking”: Dunderdale

From the Friday Telegram;

“The premier leaving was shocking to me,” said [Premier Kathy] Dunderdale. “My first thought was how are we going to do as a government, as a caucus.” [Telegram editorial insertion removed from quote]

That pretty much says it like it is:  Williams’s departure was unexpected.

In her former role as Williams’ deputy premier, Dunderdale ought to have been intimately aware of any major  developments such as Williams’ departure. She likely wouldn’t have been alone. 

And given that Williams had talked on several occasions about when he might leave politics, the party should have been prepared.

Apparently, they weren’t and the result is that the party is scrambling.

You can tell that the party leadership is confused and scrambling by two factors:

First, there are no declared contenders, let alone leading ones.  The one heir apparent – Jerome Kennedy – is reportedly dropping out and may well leave politics altogether. Other than that, no names have bobbed to the surface two weeks after Danny Williams left office and three weeks after he announced his departure.

Second,  the party hasn’t announced a process by which the party will select a new leader.

What’s been happening for the past week is a great deal of speculation about all sorts of prospective candidates, but none it involves serious contenders.

So empty is the field of people even taking a gawk that news media have reported that Kathy Dunderdale is not running, running and then not running again for the leadership all within a 24 hour period. 

CBC ran a story on Thursday that featured Dunderdale saying she would not be running. The Telegram story linked above put it this way: “But Dunderdale said she may rethink that decision because of the support she’s getting to stay on.”  The title of the story is “Dunderdale may reconsider running for premier full-time,”  as if she was working part-time now.  A day later, VOCM ran this story:

Dunderdale still not considering running for leadership 

The Premier says she's not reconsidering a bid at the leadership of the Progressive-Conservative Party, despite her success in the last two weeks in ending some long-standing disputes. Kathy Dunderdale says she's focused on governance, not a leadership race.
Dunderdale says it hasn't been part of her consideration in terms of anything she's done in the last two weeks. She says she hasn't thought about it or changed her mind, but she says it's a business where you can never say never.

While Dunderdale is obviously not interested in taking the Premier’s job beyond the caretaker role she’s already accepted, take a look at the rest of her comment to the Telly:

There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on me to reconsider…

NTV’s Michael Connors reported on Friday that there is apparently concern in the Conservative caucus that they not have a divisive leadership along the lines of the Liberal one in 2001.  That comment has been floating around the legislature for the past few days.

Taken together with the absence of any declared candidates, Connors’ report suggests that some party insiders may be trying to engineer someone into the job without a leadership race at all. Bear in mind that the party hasn’t decided on a process – convention or telephone voting – let alone even opened nominations yet.

It’s not like time is on their side what with by-election (s), budgets and then a fixed date for the next general election.

Seems that’s another Christmas present Danny Williams left to the provincial Conservatives right alongside the current leadership scramble and the Muskrat Falls bomb.

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Be happy in your work!

The Telegram editorial board stands resolutely in favour of political indolence.

So, when you think glumly about the lameness of local politics, and about how a poorly challenged majority seems to be coasting along on autopilot — just imagine how much worse it could be.

And be thankful.

Seldom does one see an editorial board in a supposedly health democracy lauding ignorance and apathy with such unbridled enthusiasm.

For those who don’t follow the link, incidentally, the Telly was not comparing the state of affairs in Newfoundland and Labrador with North Korea or, for that matter, any other autocracy, petty despotism or kingdom on the planet.

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The Traffic for December 13 to 17, 2010

Be amazed.
Be very amazed.

1. Connie Leadership 2011 – Mid-December Night’s Ruminations
2. The return to “normal”
3. How to win without news media – Part 2
4. Of pipelines and such
5. Game changer:  Watton eyeing run in Humber West and Tire burning decision on back burner
6. Conservatives to give back seized hydro assets
7. All your base are belong to us
8. Dunderdale confirms Bond story on Fortis and Enel
9. Shawn Through the Looking Glass and Williams’ disgraceful Christmas card (tie)
10. Irish Wanking Bankers

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Jerome!’s out – Connie Leadership 2011

CBC has confirmed the rumours swirling around for a couple of days.  Jerome! Kennedy – presumptive front-runner to replace Danny Williams – won’t be running for the job.

CBC is also reporting that he’ll announce his intentions publicly next week. Don’t be surprised if Jerome! also indicates he won’t be seeking re-election next fall.  Williams got Kennedy into politics and Kennedy has enjoyed his leading role in cabinet because of his close personal relations to Williams.

Interestingly, Jerome! was one of the two cabinet ministers who hung around with Danny after Danny told cabinet he was quitting.  The other was Tom Marshall.

Marshall is also reportedly considering a run for the job.  As CBC notes, no one is officially in the race. The closest anyone has come is education minister Darin King. Some have suggested Kathy Dunderdale should stay on.

So far no one has asked Joan Burke if she’s interested in the job.  She’s been reputed to have a team in place and some cash in the bank. 

If the Conservatives settle on either Dunderdale or Marshall, the party would be appointing a caretaker who might stay only long enough to see the party through the next election.

Since 1949, incumbent political parties in Newfoundland and Labrador have had no shortage of potential rivals for the top job from the moment it became vacant. This is the first time in 61 years that a party has had apparent difficulty attracting candidates.

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A political blade edged with the sharpest sarcasm

A line from a resolutely partisan source within the past 24 hours, noting that in the two weeks since Danny Williams high-tailed it, the provincial Conservatives have managed to settled two nagging public sector labour disputes:

Imagine how much they could have done if Danny left seven years ago.

Williams resigned on December 3 after seven years as Premier.

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Game changer: Watton eyeing run in Humber West

Mark Watton, whose experience includes a stint as a senior advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office and chief of staff to cabinet minister Ken Dryden, is thinking of seeking the Liberal nomination in Humber West.

There’s a story in the Friday Western Star.

Now a lawyer who has been working out of Toronto since 2008, the 36-year-old is seriously thinking about throwing his hat in the ring as a Liberal candidate for the byelection to replace former premier Danny Williams in Humber West.

He will be returning home to Corner Brook for the Christmas break in the coming days and will use that time to do more thinking before making a decision.

Regular readers of this corner will also know Watton as the author of nottawa, a political blog he’s maintained for the past few years or so.

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Aussies buy Labrador uranium miner

Australian miner Paladin Energy Ltd (TSX:PDN)(ASX:PDN) announced Friday that it has concluded a definitive agreement for the purchase of the uranium assets of Aurora Energy Resources Inc.. Aurora was a wholly owned subsidiary of Fronteer Gold (TSX:FRG)(NYSE Amex:FRG).

Aurora Energy holds title to significant uranium assets within the highly prospective Central Mineral Belt in Labrador, including the Michelin deposit as well as the Jacques Lake, Rainbow, Nash, Inda and Gear deposits and has secured the most prospective ground within the CMB.

Paladin will pay Fronteer Cdn$260.87 million for Aurora through the issuance of new shares in Paladin.

According to a news release, “Paladin considers the CMB to be one of the few remaining, underexplored uranium districts globally and this acquisition not only provides Paladin with a noteworthy mid-term development asset but also offers an excellent opportunity for both significant new discoveries and expansions of the existing deposits. This highly strategic transaction fulfils Paladin's long held ambition to expand its footprint into Canada, a leading country in uranium mining, both in terms of resources and its stable political and business environment, providing the Company with an important new platform from which to plan its continued growth.”

Paladin plans to continue further testing and exploration to define the size of the assets it now holds. John Borshoff, managing director and CEO of Paladin said that the company intends “to advance these assets and will commit to regional target identification and testing upon resolution of the current uranium mining moratorium, which was put in place by the Nunatsiavut Government to provide the necessary time to complete a Land Use Plan and Environmental Protection legislation, both on track for completion by March 2011. The goal will be to advance towards a definitive economic study and district development plan once a sufficient resource base has been defined thus benefiting Paladin shareholders, our customers and the stakeholders of Nunatsiavut and Newfoundland and Labrador.”

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Muskrat Falls: Internal contradictions

Nalcor headman Ed Martin is supposed to be selling the Muskrat falls plan for the Conservatives to help their re-election bid.

He is talking up the economic wonderments of a power line from the island of Newfoundland into Nova Scotia.

One of the things such a line makes feasible, Martin claims, is a thermal plant to turn natural gas into electricity.  Natural gas is currently so cheap that American generators are selling electricity from their gas plants in the United States to New Brunswick.

But, as the Telegram reports,

Martin said converting natural gas to electricity would also require a small gas turbine plant and a lot of study.

“Our focus right now, no question, is the Lower Churchill … and that’s going to be a five- to six-year construction project.

“We’d have to see if gas was there, we’d have to run the economics, it would be sometime after that. But, once again, five or six years is not that long a time.”

“There” is onshore at Parsons Pond.  But there is also gas offshore Newfoundland and Labrador so it is not like there is a shortage of available gas nor is the idea of using the gas to fire a generator such a novel idea.

However, note that Martin says that gas generation is something to be studied down the road a ways, once the Lower Churchill is done. “We’d have to run the economics, it would be sometime after” Muskrat is up and running.

Gas-to-electricity generation is not green but it is a lot less environmentally damaging than burning diesel at a plant like the now infamous one at Holyrood.  Don’t forget that the main use for the power at Muskrat Falls is to replace the evil generators at Holyrood.

So with all that firmly in front of your eyes, note that Kathy Dunderdale keeps insisting that all the alternatives to Muskrat falls have already been studied and that the Falls option is the cheapest. As she said on the last day of a very short session of the legislature:

“Mr. Speaker, they are going to have to pay a lot less for Muskrat Falls power than for any other alternative that is available to the people in Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker…”

“We have considered all of the options available to us…”

So if Ed Martin hasn’t already studied the cost of generating electricity from natural gas – by his own admission, no less – then how can Kathy Dunderdale say that Ed Martin has already studied replacing Holyrood with gas generation and found that such a plan would cost more than $6.5 billion?

Well, she can’t. 

Not unless Ed Martin is fibbing.

And if Ed isn’t fibbing then that means that Kathy Dunderdale is fibbing or doesn’t understand her briefings.

Now there’s a shocker.

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Dunderdale blunders on term sheet power sale provisions

Kathy Dunderdale obviously needs a briefing on her old boss’ retirement plan.
In the House of Assembly on Tuesday, Dunderdale said:

Mr. Speaker, while it is true that Emera will own the Maritime Link for thirty-five years, they will only have the ability to wheel one terawatt of power across that link.   Mr. Speaker, all rights above the one terawatt lie with Nalcor.

Unfortunately, for Dunderdale that isn’t what the term sheet says. Under Term 7 (d), Emera can buy additional power for sale in Nova Scotia, and under 7(e), Emera can step in between Nalcor and a power sale to a third party:

The company can buy that additional power and run it down the line or build new lines to carry it either with Nalcor as a partner or on its own.

If that weren’t good enough for you, there’s nothing in the term sheet that says Emera cannot buy power in addition to the Nova Scotia Block for its customers in the United States or anywhere else in the Maritimes. After all, Nalcor would be foolish to turn down the prospect of selling power to help pay off its massive debt burden, should it wind up up building Muskrat Falls along the lines in the term sheet.

So if Dunderdale can get such an obvious point completely wrong, it makes you wonder what else she doesn’t understand about this proposal.

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Irish Wanking Banker

Here’s a link to the Telegram story about the youtube sensation.

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Holiday Greetings 2010 from Afghanistan

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Connie Leadership 2011–Mid-December Night’s Ruminations

1.  Rick Hillier:  The number of people still pushing this is getting pretty funny.  Hillier already gave a pretty clear “no” in two different CBC interviews before Don Martin got him at CTV.  Aside from being somewhat coy and flirting a bit, Hillier didn’t give any sign that he is seriously considering it and – here’s the kicker – there’s no sign anyone is organizing on his behalf.

2.  Be careful what you wish for:   Rick Hillier is the potential political nuke capable of vapourising everything around him. If he really wanted to be premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, he’d actually be better off running for another party and starting with a completely clean slate.  If he did want to run, Hillier would be better off starting his own party so he could pick and chose his candidates and build a team entirely of his own choosing. 

Would he really want Danny Williams’ cast-offs?

3.  Saviour Syndrome:  Some people still have their heads firmly rooted in the idea of a saviour so it isn’t surprising that they are casting around for someone to take away their considerable anxiety.  Rick fits that bill and that’s the only bill he seems to fit.

Anxiety. 

Nervousness.

More than a few provincial Conservatives are likely suffering a bit of extra flatulence this holiday season as they think of facing the future without their magic political bullet long gone.

4.  Fabian Manning:  The senator is reportedly making calls checking on his support among his former colleagues.  He still seems like a really long shot.

5.  Steve Kent:  The supremely shitty public reaction the Draft Steve idea got may well have told him that, unlike Frank Moores, now is definitely not the time.

6.  A deal to avoid a fight:  Privately some people are talking about the prospect of an orchestrated coronation in order to avoid a bloodbath on the convention floor.  Interesting idea but the sort of negotiation that would have to go on to deliver a coronation still leave the chances of a bloodbath – or just a lot of bad blood – even if there is no sign of it in public without luminol and an ALS.

7.  Jerome!:  Considered the heir-apparent to Danny’s throne, Jerome Kennedy seems to be the de facto front-runner even without declaring.  Two things might be interesting to chat about over the holidays:  First, think what would it mean if Jerome! actually did apologise publicly to the doctor he used as a public political punching bag?  Hint:  it is exactly the kind of statesman-like act that people expect of a Premier worthy of the name.  

Second, if not Jerome!, then who? 

8.  Inception:  Pretend for a moment you are a Conservative back-room boy.  Take out your calendar.  Fit in a leadership convention, a provincial budget, a federal election, and up to three by-elections between now and June.  Minimise the overlap. 

Now take out your token and see if it spins irregularly on the table.

 

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Shawn through the Looking Glass

Shawn Skinner is the latest Conservative cabinet minister to find himself swept through into the looking glass world of the province’s natural resources ministry.

This is the bizarro world, you may recall, where the complete cock-up by the provincial government – expropriating an environmental mess – turned magically into a world where AbitibiBowater appeared to abandon its responsibilities and the provincial government rode in to save the day.

There is the truth.

And then there is a natural resources news release and never the twain shall meet, so it seems.

Or to paraphrase a famous old, former politician:  nothing could be further from the truth.

On Tuesday, the newly minted minister issued a news release to tell the people of the province that a draft bill in front of the legislature is about denying compensation to AbitibiBowater for the expropriation in 2008.

The action we are taking through these amendments will ensure that Abitibi-Consolidated will receive no compensation from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

And so in this looking glass world, Skinner tells us, a thing is not what it is;  it is what it ain’t.

Abitibi is already compensated to the tune of  $130 million federal tax dollars for the clusterfrack called the expropriation.  They do not need any further compensation, since they already have it.  Thus, in Skinner’s construction, the bill is not about what it is, but what it is most definitely not about.

Don’t worry if your head is spinning at this point.  Skinner’s is too.

His noggin must be twirling since Skinner then describes Fortis, Enel and a raft of other companies whose property was expressly seized and whose legal rights were brutally extinguished to have been mere “bystanders” to the whole affair. 

Once again, there is the truth of what the bill expresses says  - take Schedule E as the bit we are talking about - and there is what Skinner says. Those two things can only exist in the world inhabited by the average Dannystanni cabinet minister.  Here is Schedule E:

1.  The "Acknowledgement and Consent Agreement (Water Use Authorization)" dated 24 April 1997 between the Star Lake Hydro Partnership, the Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada ; and the Crown, and all amendments including the Supplementary Acknowledgement - Crown Water Use Authorization dated 9 May 2001 and assignments of them.

2.  The "Acknowledgement and Consent Agreement (Crown Water Power Licence)" dated 24 April 1997 between the Star Lake Hydro Partnership, the Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada ; and the Crown, and all amendments including the Supplementary Acknowledgement - Crown Water Power License dated 9 May 2001 and assignments of it.

3.  The "Hydro Consent and Acknowledgement Agreement" dated 31 July 2002 between the Exploits River Hydro Partnership, Clarica Life Insurance Company, and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and assignments of it.

4.  The "Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of Power and Energy" dated 18 September 2001 between Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and all amendments, including the Assignment dated 31 July 2002 between Exploits River Hydro Partnership, Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and assignments of them.

5.  The "Restated Agreement for Non-Utility Generated Power and Energy" dated 24 April 1997 between Abitibi-Price Inc. and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and all amendments, including the Assignment dated 24 April 1997 between the Star Lake Hydro Partnership, Abitibi-Price Inc. and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and assignments of them.

6.  The "Acknowledgement and Consent Agreement" dated 25 April 1997 between the Star Lake Hydro Partnership, the Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada ; and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and all amendments and assignments of it.

7.  The "Acknowledgement - Power Purchase Agreement" dated 24 April 1997 between the Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada, in its own right and as agents for the Canada Life Assurance Company, the Maritime Life Assurance Company, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, the Standard Life Assurance Company and Industrial-Alliance Life Insurance Company, the Star Lake Hydro Partnership; and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and all amendments and assignments of it.

So let us have no more of this nonsense, shall we?

Instead, let us talk of what this bill is.

It is a step toward settling the outstanding claims for companies who have a legitimate right to compensation for the brutal and unnecessary seizure of their property and for the cancellation of their rights gained by entering into good faith agreements with the provincial government and its Crown corporation Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

Fortis defaulted on a loan.  The provincial government has now assumed the payment of that bill.  Sunlife, Manulife and the others can likely produce comparable evidence of injury.

Neither politicians nor the media have bothered to talk about these companies.  The politicians did not speak of them because it was uncomfortable to talk about the facts of the expropriation. You can tell how uncomfortable it is since politicians never seem to want to talk about the facts of the matter. This release is confirmation of that, if nothing else.

As for the media, it remains a mystery as to what they report and what they don’t but that is another story entirely.

And let us not forget that the bondholders who suffered demonstrable financial loss as a result of the brutal and unnecessary seizure are also the sorts of people one would like to invest in a new hydro-electric project in the province.  They are much like the people who invested in another hydro-electric project oh so many years ago and who had to go to court to protect their investment from government’s ill-considered legal measures.

This bill is about calming them down as well, a point that is likely too close to what is really going on for any provincial cabinet minister to admit.  It is about trying to repair the considerable damage done to the province’s reputation as a result of the brutal and entirely unnecessary seizure bill. What actually happens, what compensation the government does wind up paying for the brutal and unnecessary expropriation will be the real test of whether or not the wounds to the province’s investment climate have started to heal.

As for the unnecessary expropriation bill itself, it would have been unnecessary only if one accepts the the claims made about it at the time.

But that too is another story for another day.

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Of pipelines and such

1.  Chevron and its Caspian pipeline partners are going to drop $5.4 billion to double the capacity of a pipeline bringing crude out of its Caspian Sea production operation. The line will be able to move 1.4 million barrels of oil per day when the project is finished.

2.  The federal government will drop as much as $18 million into a $24 million natural gas pipeline project between Vallee Jonction and Thetford Mines Quebec.

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Tire burning decision on back burner

Environment minister Charlene Johnson is delaying a decision to permit Corner Brook Pulp and Paper to burn used car and truck tires as a fuel supplement at the company’s Corner Brook paper-making plant.

cbc.ca/nl reports that Johnson will now issue a decision on January 15 because the department received more public submissions than it expected. Johnson was originally supposed to make a decision by December 12.

While some initial reporters suggested there was considerable support for the proposal, protests, a Facebook group and other complaints grew as awareness of the proposal increased.

The Western Star reported in November that Johnson’s department reviewed the tire burning proposal last spring and recommended approving it.

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All your base are belong to us

And not just first base but the fencing and other improvements at a softball pitch.

In a world where money talks, does this sort of thing render some people mute?

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The return to “normal”

If you are looking for a good read, take a wander over to cbc.ca/nl and soak up Andrew Button’s observations on a recent visit to the House of Assembly

But, if the days I spent observing the house are any indication, the peanut gallery has more representation than anyone else in our province's legislature. With the non-stop heckling that goes on there, the house of assembly evokes the detention hall more than the hallowed offices of the Queen's own chamber.

Button is right. 

But that’s not what’s worth noting here.

Rather, pay attention to the fact the piece appeared.  The producers and editors at the Ceeb may have had this underway before Danny Williams hightailed it out of here but your humble e-scribbler is willing to bet there’ll be more of these sorts of pieces in the weeks and months ahead.

You see, the House of Assembly didn’t turn into a drool academy in the past couple of days.  Members of the House have been displaying this sort of behaviour for years.  Arguably, things have gotten notably worse in the past decade, as older hands retired and a new crowd took over.

The taunts are audible from the gallery, as Button noticed, even if the official record didn’t contain it. Some of the stuff hurled back and forth has been quite personal and quite savage.  And the bias of the Speaker in dealing with this sort of behaviour is simply unavoidable.

Yet,for some reason, the number of times this issue turned up in local media in the past seven years is one you can count on the fingers of one severely mangled hand.  it’s not like reporters didn’t see and hear the behaviour

Odd is that, especially considering it is a reflection – as much as anything else – of what Chief Justice Green referred to several times in his report on the House of Assembly spending scandal.  It’s called the “tone at the top.”  That new crowd that started flooding the chamber after 2003 learned their attitude toward the legislature and the people in it from their boss. And not surprisingly, the attitude turned out to be a bad one.

It isn’t odd if you connect it up with another piece of information.  According to at least one editor, Danny Williams and his crew used to mention that infamous Craig Westcott e-mail to reporters and editors whenever the opportunity arose over the 20 months between the date Westcott sent the e-mail and when he made it public via Kevin O’Brien.

Blatant breach of the province’s privacy laws.  An effort to attack a reporter’s credibility.  A sign of the intensely personal way Williams used to take everything.  Any of those reasons might have been cause for someone to have reported the fact Williams’ office was talking up the e-mail.

Even just mention the episode, in passing.

But they didn’t.

Not once.

For those who like to remember those days, think of what happened as being a bit like Brian Tobin’s time.  Tobin learned that he could place a decent story on both television newscasts if he fed it to the Telegram for their front page first. 

And coincidentally, the Telegram seemed to lay off the sort of investigative reporting on things like travel expenses that they used to produce regularly.  With a strong leader, it seems some people think it makes more sense to try and be part of the choir.

And then Brian left the province. 

Poof. 

The Telly does a series on how the provincial government did such a piss-poor job of handling access to information requests.  Over in another corner, it took a national CBC program to reveal that Brian Tobin was on track in 2000 to be the highest spending premier in the country. The sort of stuff that normally would have appeared in local media didn’t; well, didn’t appear not until Brian headed back to Ottawa.

Then, as if by magic, all sorts of stuff started to pour out of every media orifice in the province.  Things might be different these days from the immediate aftermath of Tobin’s time, but events of the past few days suggest that old habits are hard to break.

Things seem to be returning to normal, whatever normal is around these parts.

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