Conservative tiff-any candidates

Take a look at the list of Conservative candidates in Newfoundland and Labrador, including a couple who haven’t formally declared yet but whose names are out there:

• Jerry Byrne
• John Ottenheimer
• Peter Penashue
• Fabian Manning
• Loyola Sullivan
• Tom Rideout
• Trevor Taylor

Okay, so drop off the first two and it might be easier.

No, it isn’t that they are all former provincial Conservative cabinet ministers.

That’s too easy.

Try again.

Give up?

They all pissed Danny off and/or left cabinet under strange, strained or unexplained circumstances.

2005: Danny orchestrated Fabian Manning’s political lynching in domestic politics right down to  - reportedly - having one of his staffers sit in on the caucus meeting in which the rest of them showed their loyalty to the Capo by figuratively shooting their friend between the eyes. Kinda hard to hide that rift.

2006:  Loyola Sullivan quit cabinet and politics suddenly in December 2006. A few days after he flipped Danny the finger, Loyola wound up telling CBC that there as no rift between him and Danny.

2008:  Peter Penashue never showed enough “respect” as far as Danny was concerned:

Williams said he doesn't like ultimatums, especially when they are tied to multibillion-dollar developments, and are made on the airwaves instead of at the bargaining table.

"Peter Penashue and his group should treat us with respect, as we treat them with respect," he said.

2008:  Former Premier Tom Rideout bailed on provincial politics in a pretty obvious tiff with Danny Williams.  Supposedly the two fell out over road paving. A few people thought the road paving thing was a pretext for something bigger.

2009:  Trevor Taylor, former federal New Democratic Party candidate, joined Danny Williams’ Conservative crew in 2001.  He left politics suddenly in September 2009, citing “personal reasons.”

Bonus if you can identify two more tiffs related to these candidates and Danny.

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Connie candidate’s mother opposes Labrador hydro project

If media reports hold up, Conservative leader Stephen harper will be in St. John’s on Thursday to announce his party will give the provincial government a loan guarantee to dam a river in Labrador, double provincial electricity rates and increase the provincial public debt by something up to 50% from what it is right now.

Now that is all bad enough.

But to make matters worse, Harper’s Labrador candidate has a problem within his own community.

Peter Penashue’s mother opposes the project.

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ABC Comedy Central: The Skinner File

From the annals of the Anything But Conservative Campaign there’s this little bit of independence displayed by current natural resources minister Shawn Skinner back in 2008.

Danny bitch-slapped him into submission PDQ for this one:

Not for me, it isn't. My boss can vote for who he wishes. He can mark his 'X' where he wishes to mark it. From my perspective, I have a job to do. I'm elected by the people of St. John's Centre. I'm in cabinet representing the people of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and I have a job to do. And I'm going to do that to the best of my ability.

If and when there is a federal election, we all as individual citizens can make up our own minds what we want to do. I'm here today as a provincial minister and I'm carrying out my duties as a provincial minister.

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The Speaker’s partisan bias

No one who has watched Speaker of the House of Assembly Roger Fitzgerald can doubt he has already displayed his partisan bias repeatedly.

Was anyone surprised to see him turn up at a partisan rally cheering on his political friends?

Seriously.

Is anyone surprised?

Those that are simply aren’t paying attention.

It is hard to imagine such a naked display of contempt for parliament and its proud traditions as the one Roger Fitzgerald displayed on Tuesday.  Odds are, as well, that the Conservative will show up for his party’s leadership coronation this weekend.

What’s more reprehensible than Fitzgerald’s blatant disregard for his office is his arrogant dismissal of criticism.  Fitzgerald knows full well that his partisan friends will defeat any motion to censure him for his wrong behaviour.

 

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The New Dave Denine

His name is Harry Harding.

Kathy Dunderdale made him a cabinet minister.

Minister of Government Services is his official title.  Minister of permits and licenses is how he is sometimes known.  It is not an especially demanding portfolio.

On Tuesday, Harry wound up caught like a deer in the headlights.

The opposition leader asked him a simple question about his departmental responsibilities.

She did it during Question Period.

She asked about a major issue within his department:

Mr. Speaker, the Workers’ Compensation Commission has completed an audit on the Department of Government Services’ compliance with their own health and safety legislation. Shockingly, Mr. Speaker, what that audit found is that the Department of Government Services and the Department of Human Resources are only compliant with 50 per cent of their own rules.

I ask the Minister of Government Services today: Why is your department only following 50 per cent of your own rules, and is that the level of compliance that is expected or acceptable to you?

Harry had an answer. 

Here it is, in its entirety:

Certainly, our department welcomes any comments and recommendations by the Auditor General. Our department has fulfilled most of these recommendations throughout the years.

With respect to the question that she has asked today, I would like to check further with my officials and bring back an answer for her tomorrow.

Thank very much, Mr. Speaker.

Auditor general?

Okay.  So he was thinking on his feet.  Maybe it was a slip of the tongue.

Check further with officials and get back to her.

Oops.

Then it got better.  Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones went further:

Mr. Speaker, not only is the department failing to meet their own rules, we have also learned on Thursday that they are getting rid of three co-ordinators who are responsible for safety within the social sector. They include HRLE, Government Services, Health and Community Services, Municipal Affairs, Education, Labour Relations, Government Purchasing Agency, Fire and Emergency Services.  So, Minister, maybe you will know the answer to this question [:]

Given that your department is clearly not compliant with your own rules, how do you justify getting rid of staff who are working on bringing up the level of compliance in your particular department?

Harry didn’t know anything about it.

So he went back to the line that he would check into it and get back to Jones on Wednesday.

Maybe Jones is wrong.

That’s a favourite line of the government benches.

They might be right this time.  But if Harding was on top of his department he’d have been able to bat that one out of the park easily.

Obviously he just didn’t know.

So he had to check.

And incidentally, that idea that the Opposition  has its facts wrong is a shop-worn one the Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight like to use. 

They have used it even  when - as in the Abitibi expropriation – the opposition has all the facts right and the government is caught flatfooted day after embarrassing day.

This one is looking interesting.

It could be that cabinet now has a brand new Dave Denine to go along with the one they already have.

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The Lost Chord

The Telegram’s Russell Wangersky writes about his dream of composing that one perfect sentence.

It is the writer’s dream:

I want to write that one single, clear clean note, but I want to write it in words: is that too much to ask for?

Just once. Just to write it once. And rest.

I mean, if it was music you would know instinctively exactly what I’m talking about.

You’d recognize it the moment you heard it; would recognize it the moment it curled threads into your ears. The way it fit and filled and hung there, complete.

If it was music.

Hmm.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the organ,
And entered into mine.

It may be that death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again,
It may be that only in Heav'n
I shall hear that grand Amen.

Those are the last two stanzas of a poem written in 1853.  An organist played one perfect chord that “quieted pain and sorrow” and “linked all perplexed meanings into one perfect peace.”

And although he tried many times to find it again, the organist could never again find the chord.

Sir Arthur Sullivan set it to music in 1877.:

Writers, musicians and other artists likely all share a very similar dream. Perhaps it is one expression of the fire of creativity that burns inside them.

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Don Mills: Pollster PIFO Genius

Regular readers just consider this for a second.

CBC called Don Mills, the provincial government’s official pollster, and asked him about this rift thing inside the provincial Conservative Party.

Here’s what he said:

"It just raises a question about, you know, whether or not the new premier may in fact be the best choice - having been appointed basically as the heir apparent to Mr. Williams," said Mills.

…

"You know tongues will be wagging in the province for sure over this issue," said Mills. "People will want to know what the basis of the dispute is and now that it's out there in the public, it's very difficult to stop it from becoming worse."

Penetrating insight into the friggin’ obvious, or what?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You don’t need to say it.

Even a blind squirrel is right twice a day.

But come on…this guy could be the province’s natural resources minister he is so far behind the curve.

BTW, anyone heard Tony (Secret Tweeter) Ducey  on this topic yet?

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All good Tories flocking together…again

Some people seem to think that having a bunch of provincial and federal Conservatives all gathered together trading sloppy kisses is news.

How short some memories are.

In 2004, the provincial Conservatives sort of helped their federal cousins out.  They sort of helped them because – while there was no instruction to stay away – the provincial guys were trying to court the Liberals to get a couple of billion in cash.  They weren’t interested in causing waves at a time when federal Conservatives couldn’t form government.

In 2006, things were different.  Every provincial Conservative and their dog worked hard for their federal cousins.

How hard?

Well, some of you may recall a series of print ads showing provincial cabinet and caucus member gathered with some of their buddies.  Apologies for the poor quality scans.

Here’s the way your humble e-scribbler put it in the original post back in 2008:

“The guy seated on the far right of the picture is Loyola Sullivan, the finance minister at the time.  He quit federal politics not long after this picture only to take up a job with the federal Conservatives.

The guy behind him is former speaker Harvey Hodder.  He retired before the 2007 provincial election.

Immediately to Loyola Hearn's right is Sheila Osborne, part of the Osborne-Ridgley political machine.

The guy standing right behind Loyola Hearn - with that great big grin on his face - is Bob Ridgley, brother of Sheila. You will recall him as the Conservative who supported Belinda Stronach for leader even though, by his own words, he thought she was "shallow as a saucer".

Bob is now Danny Williams' parliamentary assistant.

The other two guys are - left to right - Shawn Skinner and Dave Denine. Skinner is the provincial human resources cabinet minister and Denine is looking after municipal affairs.

You'll recall Skinner was taken to the woodshed by Danny Williams for going off the ABC message track.  He was made to apologize publicly for his transgression.

Denine's had a few problems of his own, but never for doing something that went against orders from the top.

Interesting picture that, if only because it makes you wonder when they line up behind a candidate if they really do it out of personal choice or if they have been directed by some authority or other.

Makes you wonder that if they lend you support do they expect a quid pro quo, a back scratch in return.

…”

Prophetic, no?

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Kremlinology 33: Trouble at t’mill

One of the cross beams has gone out of skew on the treadle.

Note that in CBC’s Monday night report on the rift within the provincial Conservative Party some people walked away from the CBC reporter like she hadn’t washed in a month.

Others cheerfully denied there were any problems.

Among the walkers: Jerome! and Darin, King of Uncommunication.  No sign of Fairity O’Brien but odds are he’d be in the silent camp as well.

Among the smilers:  Terry French and Shawn Skinner. The latter was stretching his own credibility to the breaking point after the whole Elizabeth Matthews fiasco, but that’s another story.

One suspects that the smilers would also include the gang that NTV’s Michael Connors reported at the Fabian Manning campaign launch Monday evening:

Seems like da byes want to make it easy for the rest of us tell which player belongs in what camp.

People will want to watch any broadcast of the Dunderdale coronation this weekend just to see who is where, doing what.

For those who picked up the pop culture reference at the beginning, here’s the original Python sketch of the Spanish Inquisition.  Note the striking resemblance Graham Chapman bears to Jerome! before the latter lost his ’stache.

 

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15 minutes to write a good blog post

One of the wonderful things about modern communication tools is that you can find a wonderful link early on an otherwise dreary Monday morning.

That’s what happened yesterday.

“How to write a blog post in 5 steps and 15 minutes” is a handy guide to doing exactly as the title states.  If you do not write blog posts, this guide still has useful information.  It is well worth the few minutes it will take you to read the post from start to finish.

Be warned:  this is a guide to writing the post.

Research is the bit that takes longer and it is research and preparation that will set your post apart from the millions of others people might read on any particular day..  The tweet that carried the link to this post said that you can write in 15 minutes if you know what you are talking about.

That’s the key point.

You have to know the subject before you start writing. 

All too often writers sit down and bang away at the keyboard or – as the old folks recall – stare at the blank sheet of paper.  Worse for the reader, they start clacking away like someone possessed.  The result can be something that is the mental equivalent of the world’s supply of yarn piled up randomly in a single spot:  it does come to an end but only after going around and over and back again.

If you take the time to organize your thoughts and gather some facts or other information to support your argument, the actual writing can be pretty short.

One link inside the “15 minutes” post you should follow is this one to a list of the 18 types of posts that get the most reader attention.  Both the writing post and the list post are an example of one or more of the types.  See if you can figure out which ones they are.

Here’s an extra tip:  carry a notebook. Almost 18 months ago, your humble e-scribbler stopped collecting notes on scraps of paper and started writing things down in a notebook. 

It’s a Piccadilly, very similar to the Moleskine but far less expensive.  The cover on the spine is cracked and the whole thing is now lashed together with some stylish shiny black duct tape.  That just adds to its character.

For writing, there’s a Parker IM fountain pen:  inexpensive at about $30 and hardy enough to take being dropped or stuffed into a briefcase or rucksack.  With a bottle of ink, you are always ready no matter where you are and no matter what you are doing when an idea strikes.  Pencils, ballpoints or rollerball pens would do just as nicely.

What you write with and where you write isn’t as important as the fact you take notes, jot down ideas, and do whatever it will take to go back to the notebook later and craft a post based on your jottings.

Now if only writing a tweet quickly so that it didn’t get misunderstood was half as easy…

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Trolling for Dollars

Susan Delacourt’s got a screen cap of an ad that appeared on Craigslist looking for people to post Conservative talking points on social media and other Internet spaces.

While the federal Tories seem to have a great deal in common with their provincial cousins – Danny Williams’ laughable claims to the contrary notwithstanding – seems that Dan-o never had to pay people to troll for him.

Did he?

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If a rocket didn’t carry people into space any more…

For those of a certain age, the American space program and the race to the moon remains one of our most cherished childhood memories.

For other people of a certain age, though, that is all ancient history.

They can easily remind you that a human being first set foot on the moon 42 years ago this summer.  He flew along with two comrades in a cramped spaceship that couldn’t be used again after the flight.

Thirty years ago, Americans started using a re-usable space plane to go into orbit and bring back not just three men, but a half dozen men and women on every flight.

2011 will mark the end of the American manned space program, at least as far as launches from the United States go. The shuttle program will end this summer. The planned return to the moon and eventual Mars missions are scrapped.  Anyone, Americans included, headed to the International Space Station will have to fly on Russian rockets.

When a rocket from the United States doesn’t carry anyone into space any more, will anyone notice?

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Further reading:

• Rocket men by Craig Nelson.
• “As astronaut Sally Ride turns 60, shuttle rides to end” by James M. Clash.

Bond Papers readers know more than provincial energy minister

Both the federal and Quebec provincial governments may have released the text of their agreement on underwater resources in the Gulf of St. Lawrence last week but Newfoundland and Labrador natural resources minister Shawn Skinner didn’t even see a copy until today – March 28.

As he told the provincial legislature during Question Period:

…It just came into our possession over the weekend is my understanding. I actually saw a copy of it this morning myself. I have not had an opportunity to review [it]…

Anyone with access to the Internet could have had a copy of the deal the day the federal and Quebec governments released it.

That’s where your humble e-scribbler found it last Thursday for a post that appeared on Friday.  That post included this assessment:

What’s most interesting about the Laurentide Accord, though is the fact that it is modelled, generally, on the Atlantic Accord (1985) between Newfoundland and Labrador and the federal government or the similar Nova Scotia offshore accord.

As Skinner told the House, his officials did manage to figure out this much since they clapped eyes on the agreement over the weekend:

What I am told by officials at this point, where they have done a cursory review, is that it is very similar to the accords that have been done with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. The agreement is very similar…

Tomorrow, Skinner will likely be telling everyone that Quebec doesn’t get Equalization offsets, that provincial spending is unsustainable and Elvis has left the building.

Or at least that’s what he understands from briefings provided by his officials.

Sheesh.

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Election Eleven: NL seats at the start

Here’s the way things are shaping up in the seven Newfoundland and Labrador ridings at the start of Election ‘11:

1. St. John’s East:  Held by New Democrat Jack Harris at dissolution.  Harris will face Conservative Jerry Byrne and Liberal John Allan. 
2. St. John’s South-Mount Pearl:  Held by Liberal Siobhan Coady at dissolution.  She’ll face challenges from former provincial Conservative cabinet minister Loyola Sullivan and New Democrat Ryan Cleary.
3. Avalon:  Held by Liberal Scott Andrews at dissolution.  Andrews beat Fabian Manning in 2008 and Manning will quit his senate seat on Monday to take another run at a seat in the Commons.  Big question here is the potential rift internally within the Conservative camp.  Provincial Conservatives including health minister Jerome! Kennedy worked hard to destroy Manning the last time out.  Only time will tell if they can pry the hatchets out of each other’s skulls and bury them deep enough in the ground to elect Manning. 
4. Random-Burin-St.George’s:  Liberal Judy Foote.  Conservative Herb Davis, an ex-pat who ran against Foote last time, is the most most likely challenger again.  No word on the NDP possibilities.
5. Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls:  Scott Simms is the Liberal seeking re-election.  No word yet on NDP or Conservative challengers
6. Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte:  Gerry Byrne’s held the seat for the Liberals since Brian Tobin vacated it in the mid-1990s. Nil thus far on NDP or Conservative challengers.
7. Labrador:  Todd  Russell, the Liberal stalwart will face off against Peter Penashue for the Conservatives.  No word on a NDP candidate.

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Williams knifes successor

The rift between Danny Williams and Kathy Dunderdale goes way beyond just a minor tiff.

Williams turned up at a book launch a couple of days after leaving the promise on a vacation.  Williams told reporters who showed up that Dunderdale and her crew are so concerned at distancing themselves from Williams that they won’t even let him have cabinet ministers’ cell phone numbers.

CBC quoted Williams:

"I think it's very clear that the premier and her staff have felt that it's appropriate to distance themself from me," he told reporters Sunday at an event to launch a photo book of his often combative life in politics.

"And if that's the case, so be it. That's her right as premier of the province," he said.

A couple of things stand out about this last twist in the tale.

First, it would be hard for Dunderdale’s staff  to control who has cell phone numbers. Certainly, her office could monitor calling patterns on government phones via the cell phone provider but there’s nothing to give the office control over private cell numbers.

Second, there’s the question of why Williams would want to have all the cabinet numbers.  Evidently he is interested in influencing cabinet deliberations.  In that context his comment about “her right” seems to be a little less than sincere.

Third, the fact Williams is openly discussing the rift is an obvious tactic to put Dunderdale under even greater pressure.  He knows that she holds office purely by someone else’s good will.  Dunderdale knows it and lots of others do, as well.  More than a few people will have noticed Kevin “Fairity” O’Brien in the CBC video of Williams at the airport a few days ago. 

Kevin’s a proud member of the Dan-Club for Men. Jerome’s another.  Ditto Tom Marshall.  While Kevin may not have much clout, Tom and Jerome do. 

Some Conservative loyalists, especially those who still believe in Williams’ invincibility and his infallibility, won’t take too kindly to Dunderdale now that Williams has criticised her. 

Fourth, you now have to wonder why he’s undermining his hand-picked successor so readily.  Williams told reporters the rift has nothing to do with Elizabeth Matthews and the botched offshore board appointment.

Okay.

So if that isn’t it, what does Williams want so badly that he is willing to openly attack her less than a week before she formally takes over as Tory party leader?

Don’t guess relations with the federal Conservatives.  Those were already on the mend long before now. 

Something else is going on.

The challenge now is to figure out what Danny is playing at.

One thing is for sure, Kathy Dunderdale has an even bigger political problem inside her own administration than anyone thought, even as recently as Thursday last week.

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Harper and coalitions

Without hypocrisy, some political leaders wouldn’t have anything to stand for.

Last night, a post from 2008  - “Taking power without an election” - suddenly found renewed popularity.

Given Stephen Harper’s condemnation of coalitions after he dropped by the Governor General’s place on Saturday, it becomes all the more hysterically funny to recall that in 2004, Steve thought coalitions were the cat’s ass.  They were just the answer the GG should give if the prime minister came a-calling looking for an election writ.

Coalition governments are bad.

Unless Steve is heading one.

Then they are good.

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Traffic without any shocks, March 21 to 25

Your humble e-scribbler keeps scribbling and you, faithful readers, keep on reading.

Here’s what you were reading this past week.  There’s a pattern to it, but see if you can spot the surprising element to what’s been hot all week and the not so surprising element to what hasn’t been hot.

1. Believing things that aren’t true
2. Hell hath no fury…
3. Feds, Quebec announce joint deal on offshore resources
4. Muskrat Falls power may never go to new England: Nalcor
5. No Equalization offsets for Quebec
6. Lies, damn lies and throne speeches
7. Selling cheap power to Quebec
8. Cleary to unquit for NDP again
9. Dunderdale’s leadership woes deepen
10. Orchestra Pit Theory of Political News Coverage

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Show him your love…this Sunday buy a book

What with all the fuss this week about Danny friggin’ off on a plane rather than show up for a love in with his Fan Club, your humble e-scribbler got a Dunderdaleish shock when this e-mail showed up in ye olde in-box:

What better way to show how much you love him – compared to those ungrateful Tories – than to show up and plunk down some hard cash so you can have his big mug on your coffee table.

Dunno if Danny has a piece of this book action or if he’s just helping the boys out with the marketing.

Heck, it isn’t clear to anyone if the Old Man is even gonna show up for that matter.  After all, this ad may well have been drawn up before he took his latest trademark hissy-fit. What an ironic turn of events as nothing shows Danny’s nature and style than the contemptuous “pffft” he threw at his former party-mates last week.

Even if he isn’t gonna be there, show up and chat with Paul Daly and award-winning writer Russell Wangersky.  You might even want to buy the book.

And if you are so inclined, pick up Bill Rowe’s tome as well.  Tons of copies of the thing are destined for the remainder bins if you don’t.

Better idea:  bundle them up and send them off to the Tokyo electric company.  They could use the fodder to help bury that troublesome reactor.

Anyway.

Sunday.

Russell and Paul signing their books at Chapters.

Support two local artists.

See you there!

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No Equalization offsets for Quebec

The new offshore resource agreement between the federal government and Quebec is a significant step toward developing oil and natural gas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

As with the similar situation between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, another major step will be settling the interprovincial water boundary between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

What’s most interesting about the Laurentide Accord, though is the fact that it is modelled, generally, on the Atlantic Accord (1985) between Newfoundland and Labrador and the federal government or the similar Nova Scotia offshore accord.

The Quebec agreement doesn’t include a specific joint management board.  Instead, it describes a transitional period in which major decisions will be shared between the two governments. 

That period of equal management might actually last a long time. Section 4.1 of the agreement commits the governments to table legislation on joint management.  But that must happen only two years after someone finds a commercially viable discovery. In the meantime, everything will be run by a both governments equally.

That’s a pretty sharp contrast to Newfoundland and Labrador where the provincial government has significant control over offshore resources.

There’s also a sharp contrast on revenue sharing.  While both the Atlantic and Laurentide Accords give the provincial governments 100% of revenues from offshore resource development, Quebec won’t be getting any extra payments to offset drops in Equalization. in both Atlantic provinces, the provincial government set and collected all offshore revenues and in addition got 12 to 13 years of federal transfers to replace declines in Equalization.

If Quebec winds up with huge oil and gas money flowing in, you can watch its Equalization entitlements drop like the proverbial stone. That’s big news for the federal government. Quebec collects more in Equalization transfer from Ottawa than all the other provinces combined. Cut that out entirely or even cut it down significantly and the federal government will wind up with billions of extra cash in very short order.

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Dunderdale’s leadership woes deepen

Bad enough that Danny Williams is pissed at Kathy Dunderdale.

It’s worse now that everyone knows it.

Things took a slightly worse turn Thursday when Dunderdale faced a scrum of reporters all interested in this problem she’s having with her patron. She tried to put a brave face on it, right down to expressing her shock that he had decided to jet off to somewhere else rather than attend.

The story’s even turned up in the Globe and Mail. 

That would be another downside to the whole thing, incidentally.

But that’s not the end of it.

Dunderdale felt compelled to assure the universe that Danny Williams – the fellow who frigged off last December in a manner Dunderdale herself said was shocking – could rest assured that he had “the full support and loyalty of caucus, cabinet and the party.”

What party leader of any consequence would pledge her unflinching fealty to the guy who used to have her job?

Next thing you know she’ll admit she really is taking orders from him and that he is now able to fulfill a promise he made long ago:  to be premier but not take a salary from the government for doing the job.

Kathy Dunderdale has serious political problems that her Stacy and Clinton make-over won’t fix.

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