“What we have done,” natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy told the House of Assembly on Tuesday, “[is] we have slowed down the process in terms of the sanction.”
Kennedy offered no explanation why.
12 December 2012
11 December 2012
Times are tough all over
But apparently they are so tough in the United Kingdom that the Prime Minister has resorted to a version of the Nigerian scam.
From the SRBP e-mail inbox:
Our ref: ATM/13470/IDR
From the SRBP e-mail inbox:
Our ref: ATM/13470/IDR
Your ref:...Date: 29/11/2012
IMMEDIATE PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
I am The Rt Hon David Cameron MP,Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service British Government.
This letter is to officially inform you that (ATM Card Number 5454 7168XXX1 0640) has been accredited with your favor.[<---bit of a grammatical give-away] Your Personal Identification Number is 1090.The VISA Card Value is 2,000,000.00(Two Million, Great British Pounds Sterling).
This office will send to you an Visa Card/ATM CARD that you will use to
withdraw your funds in any ATM MACHINE CENTER or Visa card outlet in the world with a maximum of ?5000 GBP daily. Further more,You will be required tore-confirm the following information to enable; The Rt Hon William Hague MP First Secretary of State for British Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs. begin in processing of your ATM Card.
(1)Full names: (2)Address: (3)Country: (4)Nationality: (5)Phone #: (6)Age: (7)Occupation: (8) Post Codes
Rt Hon .William Hague MP
First Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Email;minister.affairs@XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.com
other person(s) or office(s) different from the staff of the State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to avoid hitches in receiving your payment.
TAKE NOTICE: That you are warned to stop further communications with any
Regards,
Rt Hon David Cameron MP Prime Minister
Take notice indeed. Count the spelling mistakes and assorted other grammatical errors in this little piece of Nigerian shite.
-srbp-
Dunderdale adds more churn #nlpoli
Not content to rest on her laurels for changes in senior public sector management, Premier Kathy Dunderdale announced two more changes on Monday.
That brings the total for 2012 to 47, not including the two other changes implicit in the November 01 announcement.
Based on previous announcements, there would typically be at least one more announcement of senior management changes before the end of the year.
Dunderdale is on track to make 49 changes to the senior management in 2012.
-srbp-
Corporate Welfare Bum-wipe #nlpoli
People who supported the December 2008 expropriation bill had a very hard time on Monday justifying the mess they created in which taxpayers of the province are now responsible for hundreds of millions in environmental clean-up.
One of the more common explanations is that the people of the province would have wound up in the same spot anyway since Abitibi was on the verge of bankruptcy anyway.
Finance minister Tom Marshall tried it on Friday [via the Telegram]:
One of the more common explanations is that the people of the province would have wound up in the same spot anyway since Abitibi was on the verge of bankruptcy anyway.
Finance minister Tom Marshall tried it on Friday [via the Telegram]:
“If we hadn’t expropriated, the company still would have gone into double-C double-A protection or into bankruptcy protection, and we would have been left with nothing but the contaminated assets,” Marshall said.And federation of labour boss Lana Payne [@Lanampayne] tried the same thing via Twitter:
[In my opinion] expropriation was right decision. Otherwise we'd be left with clean-up and no assets.The only problem with this argument is that is it more supposition and rationalization than fact.
…
As the saying goes, can't get blood from a turnip. AB was restructured under bankruptcy law. Because of restructuring, NL would be where it is today: one of many parties in a long line.
Dunderdale admits to hasty asset grab #nlpoli
In the House of Assembly on Monday, Premier Kathy Dunderdale said that the provincial government decided to seize assets of three companies in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2008 because it knew that one of the companies – AbitibiBowater - was working on a sale of some assets to other parties.
When we took a decision to expropriate Abitibi, it was something we had to do quickly, Mr. Speaker, because we knew the intention of the company was to sell the assets.
…
we decided that we would move quickly. We only had the weekend to prepare, but we all agreed that whatever risks were ensued…that it was the right thing to do and that our legislation should protect us
10 December 2012
Toward a fair and just society #nlpoli
The December 2008 expropriation bill was not the right thing for the provincial government and the House of Assembly to do.
The expropriation was wrong.
It was wrong, but not because it didn’t work.
It was wrong, but not because the provincial government accidentally expropriated a contaminated mill site.
The December 2008 expropriation was wrong because it was a violation of the fundamental principles on which our society is supposed to operate.
The expropriation was wrong.
It was wrong, but not because it didn’t work.
It was wrong, but not because the provincial government accidentally expropriated a contaminated mill site.
The December 2008 expropriation was wrong because it was a violation of the fundamental principles on which our society is supposed to operate.
Nottawa Repost: Legislative oversight in an era of "patriotic correctness" #nlpoli
The following originally appeared at nottawa on September 2, 2009 as a comment on the emergency session of the legislature to deal with changes to legislation about the Churchill River.
It includes a mention of an earlier political controversy, the December 2008 expropriation bill. The two are linked and in light of Friday’s ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in case related to the expropriation, Mark Watton’s observations at the time are worth reading again.
Danny Williams, thee Premier at the time of both these incidents, may be gone from the political scene but the ministers who were integral parts of the policies remain in positions of power. One of them - Kathy Dunderdale – is William’s hand-picked successor.
The policies and the attitudes that bred them remain in place, as finance minister Tom Marshall made plain on Friday.
Nothing has changed in Newfoundland and Labrador. And that is why these comments from three years ago still resonate:
08 December 2012
The Pattern Proved #nlpoli
Consider the latest failure of a lawsuit launched by the Greatest Legal Mind and Premier Ever in light of another case, Henley v. Cable Atlantic, a post that originally appeared in August 2006.
“Forgive us for believing NalCor, Premier,” about the Abitibi expropriation former Liberal leader Yvonne Jones pleads on Twitter, in the wake of the latest court decision against a Williams scheme.
“No!” comes the reply shouted from every rooftop in the province.
It’s not like the good reasons to doubt Williams and Nalcor weren’t right in front of our faces in December 2008.
-srbp-
07 December 2012
Selling Nalcor #nlpoli
New Democratic party leader Lorraine Michael raised a touchy question in the House of Assembly on Thursday.
It was about selling Nalcor.
Only problem for Lorraine was that she got it buggered up.
It was about selling Nalcor.
Only problem for Lorraine was that she got it buggered up.
Why False Beliefs Persist #nlpoli
If the Brothers Grimm were alive today in Newfoundland and Labrador, they’d be politicians.
That’s because so much of politics these days is about fairy tales.
To be fair this isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s just that since 2003, the chief purveyors of fairy tales – the nationalists – have predominated. Danny Williams, the former Premier, used to say lots of things that just weren’t true and some of his biggest fans believed stuff that just never happened.
06 December 2012
Who’d a thunk it? #nlpoli #cdnpoli
There is something truly frigged up in a world where the Premier who has admitted to fiscal mismanagement by she and her colleagues for years and hasn’t done anything to correct the problem can be named the best fiscal manager among provincial Premier’s in Canada.
In her current budget, Kathy Dunderdale calls for a billion dollar cash shortfall.
And the Fraser Institute wasn’t being sarcastic when they issued a news release that began with these word’s:
Premier Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland and Labrador has governed with the best fiscal policy among 10 provincial premiers, according to a new report released today by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.
Clearly, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank has some serious thinking to do.
There's a reason...
An eagle-eyed reader pointed out a huge problem with the 11:00 AM post on CRA polls that will require a re-write.
SRBP apologies for the error. We'll repost later, with an explanation appended.
SRBP apologies for the error. We'll repost later, with an explanation appended.
Paying Attention to Details #nlpoli
Gabriella Sabau is an economics professor at Memorial University's Grenfell campus out in Corner Brook.
Sabau thinks Muskrat Falls is wonderful idea for three reasons.
For one thing, it’s green. For another thing, the electricity rates for consumers are supposedly low.
And for a third thing, "there will eventually be affordable power that will help attract business and investment."
Sabau noted the overall cost, though:
“The initial cost of the infrastructure is really high and those initial costs need to be paid up front,” she said.
Hmmm.
Paid up front.
And "eventually" the power will be affordable for consumers.
As it seems, Professor Sabau doesn't know much about Muskrat Falls. If she did, the economics professor would know that the project costs won't be paid up front. In fact, the project financing is deliberately set up to push the costs off to the distant future.
And it is consumers in the province who will be passing those costs later rather than sooner. “Eventually” will be a long time for consumers.
On the affordability thing, Sabau will evidently be quite happy. Business will find the power eminently affordable up front. Because consumers are paying all the costs plus profit, business and export customers get a gigantic deal right at the beginning.
"Eventually" comes quickly for them. In fact you could say that businesses and export customers will get the huge benefit immediately.
And those consumers for whom “eventually” really means eventually? Well, they won’t likely see profit from their considerable investment during the current century.
"Eventually" for the people paying the bills really will be "eventually" as in some undefined point in the far distant, almost incomprehensibly far away future.
You really have to love economists who pay attention before they offer opinions.
-srbp-
05 December 2012
Your Future is in Their Hands: impacted poller #nlpoli
David Brazil, member for Conception Bay East-Bell Island, on how he and his political colleagues approach the task of governing:
Mr. Speaker, we do not govern by polls. We want to know what the people really think.
Someone forgot to tell Brazil that public opinion polls do exactly that: they tell you what people really think.
Maybe Brazil just doesn’t like what the polls have been saying lately.
-srbp-
So much for Danny’s Bootie Bonus #nlpoli
During the 2007 general election, the provincial Conservatives announced a policy under which they would pay $1000 to any woman in the province who gave birth to a live baby or or adopted one.
SRBP called it the bootie call. Danny Williams tried to claim the idea was similar to an idea Hilary Clinton announced in the United States while she was trying to get the Democratic Party presidential nomination. It wasn’t and SRBP explained the difference between the two and why the Bootie Call was unlikely to work. It wouldn’t work because it hadn’t really worked in any of the other xenophobic places where they’d tried it.
Williams famously told reporters at the announcement in Corner Brook that “we can’t be a dying race.”
You don’t hear much about the Bootie Call from the Conservatives these days, but a look at the birth statistics will tell you what happened after the the provincial government started handing out the breeding bucks in 2008.
04 December 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)