Stockwell's wetsuit apparently has a big "S" emblazoned on it.
Well, we presume he wears the wetsuit under his day clothes since there's no other way to explain how he could be in St. John's propping up a retiring caucus mate and at the same time be announcing $272 million bucks for British Columbia.
Meanwhile, the Uncaped Crusader, Minister of Public Safety stopped off at some point in the recent past to visit glorious Drayton Valley, unveil a memorial and chat with the locals about important issues of the Day.
Like, for argument's sake, the wonderful benefits of having a fixed election date:
Day said having a scheduled date not only removes power from the governing party to call a snap election, but it also allows voters to weigh the government actions accordingly.
“The people will no longer look at a new tax credit policy and wonder if it has been introduced because an election is going to be called soon,” said Day.
Maybe it is the Summer of Love, federal edition.
The local mayor got in a pitch for some of this decentralization stuff Stockwell and his pals have been musing about. The local mayor said the town is interested in getting something related to intelligence, the town apparently being a "good fit" for intelligence what with its emphasis on crime prevention.
Tell us, Moe - and that is the mayor's real first name - if there is a burg in this country from one end of 'er to the other that has an emphasis on crime encouragement?
And of course, this movement of intelligence from the National Capital Region into Drayton Valley would occur - should it occur - in such a manner that no one could possibly confuse the relocation of those fat federal paycheques with any pending election.
We'll leave aside the obvious joke about transferring intelligence from Ottawa and only note that public tit-sucking is clearly a national pass-time.
Moe might be running Drayton Valley, but Larry's heading up a Great City these days, Shemp has got a regional borough in Manitoba and another Larry, his brother Daryl and his other Daryl are the reeve, police chief and fire department head in a township in southwestern Ontario.
Along for the ride were Loyola Hearn, the federal fisheries minister, Conservative member of parliament Fabian Manning, and Norm Doyle, soon-to-be double pensioned.
Stockwell, a minister in the federal government, took a few moments from traipsing around a provincial prison and a few other choice spots not featured in the usual tourist itinerary to pass out some federal dough with the local boys.
$279, 349 in money from the federal disaster fund, f'rinstance.
For a disaster that happened in 2000.
The merry band handed out another cheque; 280-odd thousand to let communities tally up crime numbers.
Local reporters asked the moneybags about the $150 million in cash for a federal prison. Some enterprising souls, you see, are one step ahead of the local daily. They have hit on another island on which to model for our future, this time Alcatraz, using an election goodie floated out before the last time the Tories held power in Ottawa.
Stockwell assured the reporters that no decision had been made yet on the future of the provincially-owned and operated Lakeside Hilton, a.k.a Her Majesty's Penitentiary.
You can tell there's an election coming, can't you?
It's not quite the Summer of Love, but then again it hasn't been much like summer this summer in St. John's so it all fits.
There's another announcement scheduled for tomorrow with Stockwell and Norm. More public cash, no doubt, for something called "flood recovery".
Look at his news release pile and that of his predecessor and we might conclude he is the "minister-of-traveling-around-giving-speeches-to-anyone-who-will-listen", but that's another issue.
Now back to the quote.
The Quote.
Now presumably the G.O.V. got the quote right and Paul actually did say that the economy is booming right now. And presumably he was talking about the economy in this province, it being the economy which a business minister in this province would be concerned about.
'Cause if he did say the economy is booming, you got to wonder if the disciples talk among themselves.
The disciple Tom delivered his budget earlier this year with predictions for economic growth across the province that were not booming. Indeed no economic oracle - public sector or private - has been predicting a booming economy in Newfoundland and Labrador since at least the Summer of Love last year.
In fact, they aren't predicting a booming economy next year, either.
And even if all that weren't true, we need only look to last week's provincial forecast issued by RBC Economics.
They issue these things quarterly and Bond Papers has posted more than a few from the major banks. Here's the RBC one from June 25 2007.
The forecast for Newfoundland and Labrador and it has been consisten since last year - is for the province to go from leading the country in growth to trailing badly. They've refined their forecast of "trailing" to say that the economy will grow at the blistering pace of point two percent.
That's two tenths of one percent for those weaned on the New Math.
That is so perilously close to a recession that a breath in the wrong place would push it over.
That is so not a "boom".
Take a look at the forecast for next year. Run your eye across the line in the pdf linked above. Run your finger if you have to and move your lips to read the words. That's what your humble e-scribbler had to do just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
Even if you have to move your finger so slowly people would think you were dead or asleep, there's no way you'd describe the next two years in the provincial economy as a "boom".
Growth in employment? Two per cent this year versus one half of one per cent next year.
Housing starts? Two thousand - that's it two friggin' thousand versus the double digits - like in the 30, 40s and 50 thousands in Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and Bee Cee.
Even in Saskatchewan they'll have double Newfoundland's starts next year.
Manitoba? Poor Equalization-receiving Manitoba?
New Brunswick? The benighted crowd up the Saint John river?
Both are forecast to see more than twice as many housing starts as "booming" Newfoundland.
Retail sales? From a growth of 8.9% in 2007 and an anticipated growth of 6% in 2008, RBC says that there'll be just 2% growth next year.
There is no an indicator in that pile that says "boom", unless we are talking about last year.
The disciple Paul must be dancing to his own drummer, to borrow a phrase. That's the only way to explain the comments which are, at least, somewhat inconsistent with the facts.
In fact, Paul Oram's comments are so far removed from reality that he must have his own private drum kit pounding away with skins pounded by no less a drummer than the ghost of the long-late Gene Krupa or maybe Buddy Rich in the middle of a seizure of some kind.
If Paul has a pile of prospective projects on his desk - at last count, the disciple Kevin was scanning 60 of the things when he went off to look after issuing permits and licenses - or even just a list of companies that are looking to come here and set up shop, perhaps Paul'd be good enough to give us a list of them.
Let us see the reason for his optimism.
He can just pass them along to the Great Oracle of the Valley and they'll get the word out.
Otherwise, we'll just consider that his latest word is as good as his description of the economy as "booming".
In an interview with The Telegram, Premier Danny Williams admits there are considerable hurdles to overcome in developing the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project. The story isn't available online. [Amended; by request, we've removed the article from the post. If it turns up online, we'll supply a link.]
"Well, at best that would be late 2009," said Williams. "We're going through the environmental process. We're attempting to reach agreement with the Labrador Innu. I'm optimistic that can happen. (Then we'll decide) what the nature of the project will be and get the financials in place and be ready to rock'n'roll."
Take that statement as being an admission the project is unlikely to proceed at all. The crucial element is project financing. If that isn't even being reviewed until 2009 - at the earliest - then it's a well as saying the project is not happening in the near future.
In the interview Williams exaggerates the development issues, referring to them as hurdles, and claiming that the hurdles are larger than on other mega-projects either under development or under consideration in the province. The other projects are all private sector ones.
In 2005, Williams rejected a joint project with Ontario and Quebec which would have seen both provinces purchase the power and assist in the financing and construction.
Williams rejected the proposal without explanation, inserting instead a so-called "go-it-alone" option which had not be evaluated by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro or government officials before it was publicly announced. However, even in announcing his own idea of having the provincial government build project on its own, he left the door open to equity partners.
Shortly after he went to the federal government looking for a loan guarantee, still insisting the provincial government would build the Lower Churchill project - estimated to cost between $6.0 and $9.0 billion - on its own.
Despite receiving no such commitment from Stephen Harper, Williams insisted Harper promised a loan guarantee and used it as part of his political feud with his fellow Conservative first minister.
Beyond that, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has had no serious discussions with potential external customers for the project's estimated 2800 megawatts. Even the plan to sell power to eastern Newfoundland - covering at least $2.0 billion of the total project cost - is contingent on the project going forward. That idea, floated by natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale just before last fall's provincial election seemed to confuse the radio host interviewing her at the time since she insisted the plan wouldn't increase electrical power rates on the Avalon peninsula.
The Lower Churchill project figured prominently in several campaign announcements both during last year's Summer of Love pre-election spending spree and in the energy plan campaign prop.
There are some factual errors in the Peter Walsh story. The Wells administration came close to a deal on the Lower Churchill in the early 1990s, however political issues at the time and changed economic circumstances scuttled the negotiations.
Brian Tobin used development on Churchill River as the start of a re-election campaign he started in 1998. Ultimately none of his promised development occurred.
Roger Grimes had a tentative deal to develop the Lower Churchill but it was scuttled by political opposition within his own caucus and cabinet, heightened by the dramatic resignation of Hydro chairman and Williams associate Dean Macdonald from the Hydro board.
Walsh also repeats a claim that the 1969 Churchill Falls deal has produced $19 billion in revenue for Hydro Quebec versus $1.0 billion for Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. Those figures are not substantiated by any factual analysis. It is, however, a popular myth.
Harvey Hodder is the outgoing speaker of the House of Assembly.
His comments on the House spending scandal on Monday make plain that the people who endorsed, condoned, approved of and participated in the excesses simply do not appreciate that what they were engaged in was ethically wrong.
"Some members, myself included, paid some of my constituency expenses out of my own pocket so I would have more money to give to the school breakfast program ... I don't apologize for that," Hodder told a news conference at the legislature, saying the donations were the actions of "sensitive, outreaching, loving people."
"It is regrettable that there are hungry children in this province, in my former constituency, who could've benefited from some of that money."
As much as Hodder crowed about the new rules and the new standards, his own self-serving defence of inappropriately directing public money as cash gifts to individuals and organizations goes a long way to explain how the old system - which had rules - was systematically dismantled by the members of the legislature themselves. Far from being a star chamber, the old House management committee comprised the senior leadership of the legislature, including successive Speakers.
If there was criminal activity, they did not know of it. But they knew and condoned the excessive, and inappropriate, spending. The allowances and assistance budget of the legislature was overspent by almost $1.0 million in the first two years of Hodder's tenure as Speaker. He and his colleagues knew that. They knew of the "donations" system and, as Chief Justice Green revealed, they overwhelmingly endorsed it. Newfoundland and Labrador was the only jurisdiction in North America and certainly the only one in Canada where elected officials had access to what amounted to a slush fund to dispose of as they saw fit.
The members of the legislature directed public money to whatever group or organization or individual they alone deemed worthy. They did so out of the public eye. They gave not a moment's thought - as Hodder makes plain - that the recipients of the legislator's largesse with public money were very often groups that received funding from the provincial government through established programs that were far more fairly and transparently administered than the legislature's scheme.
As the school lunch association's annual report noted in 2003-04 (the last year available on line) "[e]ach year the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador contributes $75,000 to the program." The members of the legislature had it within their considerable power to increase funding through proper channels if there actually were "hungry children." They had the ability to fund health care transportation or volunteer fire departments properly. Instead, they elected to keep a fund available to themselves to hand out personally and largely secretly. If there are indeed hungry children in Hodder's district since the donations scheme was exposed, then that is because Hodder and his colleagues failed utterly to discharge their considerable responsibilities appropriately.
Hodder's staunch defence of inappropriate actions - even as he introduced new rules designed to undo the old scheme - should give every single voter in Newfoundland and Labrador considerable concern. While Hodder will soon be gone, his colleagues from all parties who participated in and enthusiastically endorsed the donations scheme have been re-elected. Beth Marshall - the former auditor general - is even more strident than Hodder in her defence of of the inappropriate spending. There is no sign the re-elected legislators have changed their minds on what is appropriate and what is not, when it comes to spending public money any more than Harvey Hodder has.
And as the summer of pre-campaign love demonstrated, some politicians were quite willing to use public money for donations and to do so in a partisan fashion.
The roots of the House spending scandal are far deeper than most have been prepared to acknowledge. The roots - the very deep roots - obviously remain. Perhaps the new rules will starve them. The people of the province can only hope the roots will rot.
Voters in the province would be justified in keeping a very close eye to make sure that, rather than starve the weeds, the politicians might find a way to nurture them to bloom in a new pot of public money. Politicians who can see nothing in wrong in what they did, re-elected with what they may take an as overwhelming public endorsement of their actions, might find a way to bring back the old scheme in a new place.
As Harvey Hodder demonstrates - indeed as virtually all the old hands have demonstrated - self-serving rationalizations are never far from their lips.
Remember Tom Rideout's dance trying to explain away how he and all his colleagues in the House of Assembly misled the public on when the Green report was taking effect?
Remember his gift of $5000 of public money to a local charity just a few short weeks before Chief Justice Derek Green condemned the practice?
Remember the claim that the Progressive Conservative caucus had taken The Pledge and would not be handing out public money as gifts? It was a big part of the story on how - according to Rideout - today was today but tomorrow was October 9 and not June 15, the day after the Green bill was passed. The old rules can stay in place - even though we suggested something else to you already - because we have promised not to hand out public money as gifts to the public.
The gifts - always labelled "donations" - are just coming from a different pot than the one they used to come from.
Clayton Forsey, the Progressive Conservative MHA for Exploits, shows up in St. Alban's (not in his district) in August and is referred to in the local paper as handing out $500 "on behalf of" none other than Premier Danny Williams.
Then two weeks later, the local paper prints a correction saying that the "donation" - to a local fundraiser for a cancer centre - was actually from the provincial health department. The money came, but it was from the health department. Check the hard copy because Transcon hasn't updated thecoaster.ca for almost a month.
Delivered by Clayton Forsey, mind you and so obviously identified as a partisan. The money didn't come from the minister or even the deputy minister or even the head of the local health authority. Nope it came from visiting Tory back-bencher, like that was a secret.
Since when does any provincial line department give a "donation" to an event such as this in the first place let alone deliver a cheque by such an obviously partisan means?
Good cause, mind you but departments put up the capital to build cancer centres and staff them. They don't make "donations" to local fundraisers, especially through an MHA, Tory now or Liberals before. If the Liberals did it before, then it is no more right than Forsey and whoever of his buddies are doing it these days.
This one needs some investigation by someone. If there's one example, there's like more that never got picked up by the local weekly.
This little story is highly suspicious.
So suspicious in fact that it should get the attention of the Auditor General, not to mention members of the general public who have already been misled on this issue at least once before by members of the House of Assembly.
oh yeah and while we're at it, where did this grand come from? [By mid-day this link turned up dead for some unknown reason. google search "clayton forsey $1000" and it will re-appear. Check the "cached page" for the full story from August 20. if that doesn't work, try this link which seems to be a new page identity for this story.]
Someone should be taking official notice of these goings on. After all, it's not like this is the first time Forsey's been reported handing out public money, even before the Summer of Love officially kicked off.
Danny Williams will visit the Lieutenant Governor on September 17 to seek a proclamation of the fall election on October 9.
Remember that date.
Monday.
September
17.
Two weeks from today.
Williams told reporters that date last week.
Call Elections NL and that's the date they will tell you.
They will also tell you people have been casting votes already.
Yes, people, the election started two weeks ago.
That's what makes the whole thing increasingly farcical.
Farcical, as in idiotic, as in having the House of Assembly management committee boasting it had stopped members of the House from using their allowances during the election period.
Problem 1: There are no members of the House of Assembly one the election proclamation is issued and the House is dissolved and the seats are vacated.
Do they think we are stupid or are they that stunned?
Problem 2: The election has been on all summer, what with the Premier and his Winnebago running around dispensing public cash to anyone with their hand stuck out. The House management committee - including three of the cabinet ministers who approved the Summer of Love spending spree - knows full well that what they announced amounts to the old limerick about some guy named Paul's hexagonal sphere.
Problem 3: Even if that weren't true, voting started on August 20. The fantasy restriction doesn't start until 17 September. Big freakin' deal.
Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon: "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."
And Simon answering said unto Him: "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net."
And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
Luke 5: v. 4-6
Provehito in altum.
"Launch forth into the deeps", or in some translations "reach for the heights."
It's the motto of Memorial University which chose the words from Luke to set a goal for students seeking knowledge.
The motto is also an admonition to strive for seemingly unattainable goals, to abandon the comfortable and the secure.
By any translation, that pretty much describes what Simon Lono has decided to do.
Lono announced today that he will be seeking the Liberal nomination in the provincial district of St. John's North in the October 9 general election.
St. John's. Traditionally deep blue Tory country.
Launching into the deeps is nothing knew for the guy who tried for a seat on St. John's city council two years ago n a shoe-string budget and with a call for greater accountability for council and investment in basic municipal infrastructure.
Lonodidn't win a seat, but he finished in the middle of a large pack; not bad for an unknown. Dismissed by Mayor Andy Wells as a nitwit who didn't know what he was talking about, Lono was vindicated with the attention Wells and his newly elected council paid to investments in roads, sidewalks and water and sewer projects.
As the author of Offal News, Lono has been taking some shots and offering some insights. When the House of Assembly spending scandal broke open last summer, he spearheaded a call for a public inquiry into the mess.
So far we've been jokingly referring to this pre-election period as the Summer of Love. Well, something says that as of tomorrow, there'll be a few people who will be showing something other than love for candidate Lono.
All their personal attacks will do is show how much a particular crowd are worried Lono will get elected. The louder they howl, the more you know Lono has scored a point.
Here's Lono's news release as he launches once more into the deeps of local politics:
Simon Lono Declares for Liberals in St. John's North
Simon Lono today declared his candidacy for the Liberal Party nomination in the provincial district of St. John's North.
"The people of St. John's North deserve strong, vigorous representation in the House of Assembly," said Lono. "They deserve more than the attitude that St. John's can take the hit in elder care, education and the economy."
This was not a decision taken lightly, Lono said. "It was not an easy choice; I have been thinking about this for a while. I'm running because I'm concerned about the direction the province going."
"The Williams government has neglected important issues and has misplaced priorities," said Lono. "They've taken no action to address the needs of our aging population. In education, they've decided to break up Memorial University without counting the cost to the public purse, the effect on post-secondary education or even if this is the best option for our students.
"As for the economy, we can't be satisfied to accept mere crumbs of information on a project as important to our future as Hebron; we need more information than government has revealed so far, so we can judge for ourselves. Secret deals are not acceptable."
Lono notes that it takes a strong representation to make the difference. "The people of St. John's North have had no voice. We have too many silent, passive members sitting on the government side of the House," he said. "This government has taken St. John's North for granted and it shows."
"Public service has always been important to me, and I know I can contribute energy and new ideas to this province as a member of the House of Assembly working for the people of St. John's North."
Special balloting for the October 9 general election apparently began on August 20.
The Elections NL didn't issue a news release until today.
That's an interesting timing.
The Elections Act provides that "An application to vote by special ballot may be made to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer beginning not more than 4 weeks before the issue of the writ of election and ending at 6:00 p.m. on a day to be determined by the Chief Electoral Officer."
That provision was added to the act by an amendment approved in the legislature just this past spring.
So what do we know?
Well, the writ will drop sometime within the four weeks from August 20. Most likely the official campaign will be short, lasting only the legal minimum.
However, there's nothing to stop an elector from legally applying for a special ballot this week, getting it before the writ is dropped and having their mind made up - and their vote cast and in the box - well before the official campaign begins.
How many votes will be cast before the writ of election is actually issued?
We'll know on October 9.
Anyone doubt now that the election campaign has already been unofficially under way since late June?
Update and correction: An eagle-eyed e-mailer pointed out an obvious point. The ballots can't be mailed until after the writ drops and Elections NL nominations close.
Still.
It'll be interesting to see how many people apply and vote early.
As Russell Wangersky points out, the provincial government isn't above arranging some photo ops for firefighting equipment that has already been in service all in aid of the Summer of Love 2007 undeclared election campaign.
Of course, it's also time for the quarterly polling by Corporate Research Associates so the photo ops and associated news releases come in extra handy. CRA will report its results around the time the writ for the official campaign is dropped.
If you do the math, you'll find about 84 news releases issued by the provincial government since August 1, along with some 14 media advisories of minister's attending this festival or making that announcement. overall, the releases and advisories are running about the same as last year - they always boost the good news stuff during polling season - but this year the whole little huckster game of goosing the polls seems to be taking an intensity that smacks of desperation.
Like the environment minister opening an additional 25 campsites at Butterpot provincial park on August 14, even though the season opened on the May 24th weekend. That sort of staged event just screams out as a staged political event.
Polling season plus the Summer of Love are also as good an explanation as any for the bizarre events this past week with Danny Williams chastising one of his candidates for doing what all the rest have been doing all along: telling people it's imperative to have their member sitting on the government side. Dennis Normore's only mistake: he finished off the "or else" part of the implicit threat.
The premier obviously felt a bit sheepish about having that sort of target out there in the middle of polling season. The opposition and the media would jump on it quickly, as they did.
Meanwhile, expect that the old chestnut of local politics - the threat of dirt roads, no schools and reversion to the honey wagon unless the district goes for the winning party - will still find its way into this, that, or another political conversation. The candidates making the pitch will just be sure to keep it off the airwaves and off the newspaper pages.
Flanked by two Progressive Conservative candidates in Bay Roberts, Premier Danny Williams told reporters on Wednesday that what government has been doing over the past couple of weeks is just government "carrying on business."
The optics were pretty clear about what really happened.
The local Tories were in Bay Roberts for what was described as a caucus meeting, that is a meeting of elected members of the House of Assembly. But, it was really a meeting of Progressive Conservative candidates in the undeclared election campaign. Normally, unelected people, like Tory-come-lately Steve Kent, don't get to sit in a meeting of elected members of the legislature from a particular political party.
It was also fairly clear the Tories were having an election meeting since the Premier arrived in his most obvious visual campaign symbol: the Winnebago, or as it some wags have started to call it in this, the Summer of Love, the mobile Love Shack.
So what has been going on over the past few weeks? Let's look at the numbers of news releases issued by the provincial government for 2004 to 2007. For our purposes, we'll exclude offshore board routine announcements and environmental bulletins since these are routine, statutory announcements. What's left is revealing.
Total News Releases, July, By Year
2004: 93 2005: 91 2006: 76 2007: 98 (to 25 July)
The drop in 2006 can be attributed to disruption caused by the House of Assembly spending scandal which broke in late June.
Media advisories/Notices of ministers attending local festivals. July, By Year
The year of the first Williams budget, money flowed or appeared to flow. The disastrous January 5 announcement of wage freezes affected public opinion and government responded with a series of positive announcements to blunt the fall in popular support. The drop in the polls continued up to October when the Premier's war against Ottawa contributed to a dramatic upturn in voter support.
Note, however, that cash announcement in the 25 days of July 2007 already done are already at the same level of 2004 and they are double those of 2005 and almost quadruple those of 2006.
Tom Rideout may be tripping out, not knowing what day it is but Danny Williams' mobile campaign platform rolled into Bay Roberts today to dispense some direct lovin' on the people of Conception Bay North.
Flanked by two blank-looking Tory candidates - they being unelected at this point - Williams told reporters that having ministers and members of the Tory caucus handing out cheques was just part of the business of government.
Business of government.
Accompanied by two unelected candidates in the election campaign that hasn't been called yet, but everyone knows is under way because Danny arrived in the Winnebago.
Riiiight.
Maybe it's time to unveil the Tories campaign theme song. From the original Summer of Love, 1967, it's the Zombies with their hit "Time of the Season".
Somehow it seems to sum up the entire business.
Now all we have to do is put the appropriate name on Danny's rolling campaign palace, which, incidentally is heading to Twillingate for the annual Fish, Fun and Folk festival.
Yes.
Danny Williams is the Premier, and the announcement came from the government news service but bet your bottom dollar Williams will be travelling in the Winnebago festooned with PC party logos.
You see, it is just the Summer of Love gettin' into full heat!
Cabinet ministers trolling through districts listening to the concerns of locals, with the local Tory candidate in tow, smiling and nodding wisely.
Then, some Pitcher Plant calls a VOCM talk show to report that, for example, Percy Barrett the Liberal incumbent couldn't get roads paved in the district. But transportation minister John Hickey visited, not with his deputy minister or roads director, but the Calvin Peach, the local PC candidate and things are lookin' good for that few feet of pavement.
This election summer in Newfoundland and Labrador, love is measured in cash and kilometres of black-top. The incumbent party is lovin' everyone and anything and they'll be expecting the voters to come across in the fall.
All politics is local and in Newfoundland and Labrador over the past decade, local politics has turned back the clock to the 1920s. The ghost of Sir Richard must be lovingly thumbing his pit prop account receipt book.
All politicians agree that elections are fueled by public cash. The opposition Liberals bitch that the government has an "unfair advantage" by being able to hand out public funds. The incumbent Tories - the party elected to bring a change - defend the announcements because, among other things, what they are doing is no worse than what the Grits used to do when they were in power.
On Day 28 of the Summer of Love, there was love and announcements of love to come, most of which involved the minister of transportation and works:
1. New money for agriculture, to be announced at Roaches Line, without a awareness apparently of any political irony in the location.
2. Yet more new money for a Calgary-based company that makes software for car dealerships.
3. 40 large will be headed to the local film producers to help with their marketing. The announcement comes complete with the standard grip-and-grin suitable for the website or the local papers.
4. A progress report on $58K worth of a consultant's study into the feasibility of establishing a dairy industry in central Labrador, announced not by the agriculture minister but by the local member of the legislature.
5. Another progress report on $50 million plus to be spent building two ferries.
6. Tenders awarded for construction of a new health care centre and refurbishment of a seniors home in Grand Bank, worth almost $9.0 million. Included in the announcement is not the chief executive of the health authority but the chair of the hitherto invisible board of trustees.
7. From Day 27, a reminder from Hickey of how much has been spent across the province on road paving.
8. on Day 28, the busy Hickey pledged to hold Gord O'Connor's "feet to the fire" on Gordo's promise for federal pork for Hickey's district.
9. Even backbenchers can get into the act of dispensing public pork. Two cheques for $12,000 from Exploits Tory member of the House Clayton Forsey presented to the Bishop's Falls recreation committee, and dutifully reported by the Advertiserin mid July, complete with grip 'n' grin.
Sports programs switch into high gear as town prepares for central games
By DAVID NEWELL
In spite of difficulties with federal funding, Bishop's Falls will be a hot bed of sports again this summer.
Exploits MHA Clayton Forsey presented the town's recreation committee chair Nancy Stewart with two cheques this past weekend, which will help the community host the Central Summer Games Aug. 13-15.
Stewart said the games are a wonderful opportunity for the town to showcase its facilities, spirit of community and ability to work together, as well, put forward a healthy lifestyle.
"I think it encourages and promotes exercise and recreation within the community for the children, so that is all very positive," she said.
The games will involve teams from Springdale, Grand Falls-Windsor, Botwood and Bishop's Falls. Stewart said she expects at least 200 participants in her town for the three-day event.
She said the games are not only fun for the athletes, but it will bring the people of Bishop's Falls together as well.
"It is a way of bringing everybody out together," Stewart said. "I am hoping to recruit a number of volunteers. We want to do a really good job with this so the more people who come out and help the better job we can do."
Stewart admitted it is a challenging task to host the games. Athletes involved in the sports of volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball and ball hockey will take part in the games.
Not all of the action will take part on the courts and playing fields, however. The organizers have decided to arrange several social events around the games, including a dance, to help the athletes make lasting friendships.
SUMMER SPORTS PROGRAMS
In anticipation of the games, the summer sports programs in Bishop's Falls are now in full swing after some disruption due to the lack of federal government student job funding.
"We didn't received any federal funding this year," she said. "In previous years we had (up to) five positions. That is all bad enough, but imagine hosting the Central Summer Games this year and being faced with a shortage of five staff. We needed everyone we could have gotten."
She said the lack of student jobs, combined with an unfortunate printing error on the literature promoting the summer program made start-up this year very confusing.
"Posters for the summer program went out wrong," Stewart said. "They said we were offering tennis, which we are not, but it also left out the fact that we are having a volleyball program."
The sports offered by the town this season are volleyball, basketball, softball and soccer. There are currently 80 young people enrolled in the summer programs, but the recreation committee is encouraging more to join and take part in their own summer games.
The addition of soccer to the list of sports is very encouraging for the recreation committee. The town has teamed up with the Exploits Soccer Association, which is looking to expand outside the confines of Grand Falls-Windsor in an attempt to involve more young athletes in that sport.
"We have Exploits Soccer Association coming to Bishop's Falls two afternoons a week to coach the children aged ten and up," Stewart said. "People really like the idea of that. To have qualified coaching is wonderful."
Another sport being played in Bishop's Falls this summer has received huge interest from youth, but it is not a part of the town's program.
The Bishop's Falls Ball Hockey League is a pilot project and has been organized by residents Rob Canning and Mike Thomas. This league is operating at capacity and is a resounding success.
Numbers for the Bishop's Falls programs are down slightly from last year, which is something Stewart said they hope to change in the future.
"I think the lower numbers are caused by the fact that we started so late getting the programs off the ground," she said.
Stewart was thrilled to accept cheques totaling $12,000 from the provincial government this past weekend.
The first amount of $10,000 was the amount usually provided to the host community of the summer games. Another cheque in the amount of $2,000 was an additional amount secured by Forsey to assist in hiring students for the summer programs.
The MHA said the town was in dire straits when it came to the loss of student funding this summer.
"They said that without the funding from Service Canada they would not be able to proceed with the summer recreation program," he said. "The $2,000 over and above is to help them with the shortfall. It is good news, for sure."
Eleven students are now working for the Bishop's Falls for the summer. Seven are with the recreation programs and are being funded by the provincial government. Four employees at Fallsview Municipal Park are being paid solely by the town.
Picture: Bishop's Falls Recreation Committee chair Nancy Stewart accepted two cheques from Exploits MHA Clayton Forsey this past weekend. The funds totaling $12,000 will assist with the town's hosting of the Central Summer Games Aug. 13-15.
Like every other news outlet in the province, CBC is reporting that federal fish minister Loyola Hearn released management plans for two marine protected areas in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Okay.
The official fisheries and oceans news release includes this odd comment:
"As we move closer to these two new Marine Protected Areas, it shows what can be done for the environment when everyone works together," says Minister Hearn. "This is another example of how Canada’s New Government is taking real action to protect our precious marine environment."
It's odd because there's no way of knowing what Hearn means by "move closer to these two new Marine Protected Areas."
These MPAs aren't new. They received official MPA designation in 2005, but the actual work at Eastport, for example, began in 1997 with the establishment of a joint management project involving a local fishermen's committee and the fisheries department. Eastport remains a model for co-operative management of fisheries resources. Ditto Gilbert Bay where that MPA is protecting a subspecies of North Atlantic cod. Another project at Leading Tickles is struggling along but it hasn't achieved the same success as the other two.
Hearn might mean "moving closer" in the sense that he went to Eastport to make the announcement but other than that the phrase is a head scratcher. The management plan is good news but the MPAs have worked with some sort of management plan from the outset.
In the Summer of Love, there is obviously no reason not to announce an announcement of a previously announced announcement.
On this, the 22nd day of the Summer of Love campaign, the provincial government issued no fewer than six cash announcements.
The biggie was Premier Danny Williams and finance minister Tom Marshall handing out cheques in their own districts to support the 2008 Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games and an ironman competition. The cheques came complete with grip-and-grin photos distributed by the provincial government information service.
Also announced:
- Funding for the Baccalieu Trail tourism industry;
- $575,000 in funding for medical student bursaries;
- Tender award for construction of a new courthouse in Corner Brook; and,
- Anotherannouncement on the Nicholsville bridge in Deer Lake in which transportation minister John Hickey shows a Rideout-esque propensity for saying things that are not backupable. Would that make them Hickey-ups?
In the release Hickey claims that "[t]he Williams Government assured the people of the Nicholsville area from day one that we would replace their bridge in a timely fashion and we have delivered."
What Hickey actually said on Day One - October 30, 2006 - was that the bridge was closed.
If we look at the whole Humber Valley district here, there are a number of bridges … that need work," Hickey told CBC News.
"Many of those locations only have one bridge in and out of the community or location, so it will be something we'll be putting on our list of priorities for review when budget time comes."
What the provincial government actually said on Day 19 was that they were working on some solution but that they would look at all the choices before deciding:
"Government’s primary concern regarding the Nicholsville Bridge was the safety of the general public. We addressed that by closing the bridge," said Minister Hickey.
"We are aware of the anxiety of residents regarding the future of the link and we began reviewing our options immediately after we made the decision to close the bridge. However, we want to ensure due diligence before making any pronouncements."
Hickey didn't announce funding for the bridge formally until May 11, 2007; that would be Day 195 or thereabouts.
It's a provincial government holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador, but holidays can't stop the election love machine from spreading cash and good news throughout the land.
Federal foreign affairs minister Peter Mackay and provincial tourism guru Tom "Kayak" Hedderson will host a joint news conference today to announce funding for the group that works to attract cruise ships to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Isn't it strange that in the middle of what is supposed to be a war between Danny Williams and Steve Harper, so many provincial cabinet ministers and wannabes are taking part in joint money announcements with the supposed enemy?
Strange isn't it?
Strange isn't that from the moment he was elected until the federal election in 2006, Danny Williams typically used the most vicious language to describe the federal government and its supposedly perfidious ways. Misrepresentations, distortions all were fair game.
Ottawa was pure evil.
But there seems to be something decidedly fake about Danny Williams and his reaction to the Equalization racket with Ottawa. Oh sure, he mouths a few words and every agrees it is a terrible slight to call the Prime Minister "Steve" - gimme a break, Simpson - but that more likely shows the generally vacuous nature of media commentary in the country.
Doesn't it?
In this the Summer of Love in Newfoundland and Labrador, it should surely be The Summer of Hell for Harper in Canada, with Danny Williams hitting every bar-b-que across the country telling people what an untrustworthy s--o-b that Steve guy is. That's the way you'd look to take out a federal politician, as Danny pledged to do repeatedly.
Pledged repeatedly, mind you.
Confirmed by Paul Oram that defeating Harper is government policy. If Oram says it, the talking point must be straight from Liz's Crackberry.
So where's the campaign exactly? Is it keeping the energy plan company?
And what's with all of these announcements with Loyola Hearn?
If the feds have doled out 32-odd million dollars, someone needs to total up the provincial share announced by this minister or that minister at the same event the federal cabinet minister attended right next to his provincial buddy.
Heck, the participation in events with Loyola Hearn must be officially sanctioned by the Premier's Office - Paul Oram took part in one.
The truth is, the whole War Against Steve is a sham. A farce. A put-on. A fake. A stunt conceived by people who spend too much time on their Crackberry.
A distraction.
Like announcing a lawsuit against the former director of the House of Assembly's financial operations the day afterpostponing implementation of the Green restrictions on House of Assembly spending.
Such convenient timing. People think the restrictions are in place today, but they don't realise today, as Tom Rideout seems to think, is actually tomorrow and tomorrow is October 9. And so while they are thinking the wrong thing let's launch a lawsuit - a civil suit - while the whole thing is under criminal investigation.
Looks like something is happening when in fact it isn't. no lawyer representing the poor sod at the centre of this political farce is going to let the civil suit proceed until the criminal stuff is done.
And a judge will agree.
Just like a former justice minister and attorney general, now the finance minister, could claim there would be swift action to recover all the money allegedly paid improperly to politicians. Then the lawyers asked for the documents to back the claim and the whole thing disappeared from public view until the week of the Green bill fiddling when suddenly it's the civil servant schmuck - not his political masters, any more - who is facing the law suit.
It's hard to keep track of the twists and turns of that story without being stoned. Imagine what it took to come up with it in the first place. You are either stoned or you are in government. The second one just feels like the first one sometimes.
But all that to one side. The reason Danny Williams is not really at war with Stephen Harper is that he knows one thing: if Nova Scotia gets a better deal, it automatically flows to Newfoundland and Labrador.
So the Summer of Love can roll along, including the summer of lovin' your supposed enemy while you both hand out cheques to the voters, man.
And the Green bill is there, dude, but not really. Chill, Rob. Have another brownie and share the rest with your friends in the press gallery. We just baked 'em on the Clerk's Table. Mace makes a cool whisk, man.
Anyone else got the munchies?
It's nothing to get hung about. The reporters are reporting the stuff they think is there. But it might not be, man. Might be the 'shrooms.
The whole province is living the anthem of the Summer of Love, just like 40 years ago:
Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out. It doesn't matter much to me. Let me take you down, 'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about.
It's the Summer of Love in Newfoundland and Labrador and the cash just keeps on flowing.
1. CNG and NLDG are contributing respectively $116,000 and $152,000 to the town of New-Wes-Valley to upgrade the local water supply.
2. Appleton will be getting new water storage tanks thanks in large part to cash from CNG and NLDG.
3. A heritage project in Elliston will get $230,00 from the supposedly feuding governments.
4. NLDG will spend $2.55 million on road work in InTrd minister Trevor Taylor's district. Nothing signals a pending election like the smell of paving tar.
That's four cash announcements on the Friday before a provincial government holiday weekend and it isn't even noon yet.
