The ease of governing

"Mr. Crosbie had his day in government, and he made his decisions in that time - that was a long time ago. Now we are the government and we are going to do what we think is in the best interests of rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and that's exactly what we're doing here."

Premier Danny Williams, Telegram, August 1, 2007

Ever wonder why Danny Williams bitches about the difficulty of running Newfoundland and Labrador?

Take a look at the current ruckus over his plan to create a second university in the province and you can see just how easy governing is under Danny Williams' approach.

First, make a decision about something. In this case, it is to give Sir Wilfred Grenfell College something called "more autonomy". At that point, no one knew what more autonomy meant - and frankly they still don't - but the decision was made. You don't need anything other than a goal. There's no need for evidence or a business case. Just make a decision.

Second, hire a pair of consultants for $120,000 to provide the rationale for the decision. If you can make the announcement a few days before Christmas, all the better.

Incidentally, anyone can see that the outcome of the consulting exercise was determined from the outset. Take a look at the terms of the contract between the two consultants and the provincial government's education department:

WHEREAS the Department enters into an agreement with the Consultants to conduct a review of the various degrees of autonomy for Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (SWGC) up to and including full university status, (hereinafter called “the Review”) and report their findings to government so that it [government] can make an informed decision on the future of the College with the aim of increasing Grenfell’s autonomy. [Emphasis added]

Third, receive the report and sit on it until the decision is ready to be announced as part of the government's election year budget. In the process, ignore the political commitment to release reports within 60 days of their being received.

Fourth, when people start to criticise or complain do any or all of the following:

- repeat the statement that the decision is in the best interest of the province, but never explain how it is in the best interests;

- characterize the decision as strengthening rural Newfoundland, but again do not give a concrete example;

- characterize the whole ruckus in terms of the "St. John's campus" - read as "townies" - and the need to let decisions be made outside the overpass;

- deploy supporters to call in support of the decision;

- organize calls to attack critics, including calling newsrooms across St. John's to attack John Crosbie before Crosbie even uttered a single word; and,

- refer to criticism of the decision as efforts to "sabotage" the government's decision.

For good measure, characterize the whole thing - even implicitly as a case of standing for the little guys against the "higher ups".

Now maybe, just maybe creating a second university with a new president, a bunch of vice-presidents, a senate and other expenses is the way to solve problems like delays in issuing tenders for new trucks. But leaving aside the facetious comments, let's just start from the premise that it might be a good thing for the province to have a second university.

What sort of things might you wonder about to determine if a second university in the province was feasible?

Well, you might take a look at the prospective student population to see how many students are out there who might reasonably be expected to come to your new university. Look at the local population and for good measure look at the possible student market outside the province and even outside the country.

You might also look at possible teaching programs to see if there is a niche that needs to be filled or look at how existing programs could be expanded.

In building a case for a new university, you would go through those, look at the cost implications of each and come to a conclusion.

That's what one might expect to get for a consultants' report costing upwards of $120,000.

And if that consultant's report found there wasn't a basis for having a second complete university, it might just turn up enough information to justify expanding the programs at Grenfell College within the existing administrative structure.

After all, if Grenfell has grown successfully in its existing management arrangement, solid evidence supporting further expansion would be hard to refute. A stronger Grenfell College attracting new students and offering new programs would enrich the province as a whole in many ways.

Creating a second university to compete with the first one for the same students wouldn't really make much sense.

Well, if that's the logical approach you'd expect to take, don't expect to find any of those questions answered in the consultants' report the provincial government is using to justify the decisions on Grenfell College and its impending independence.

There is no analysis of the possible student market. This is a critical shortcoming since the report authors recommend doubling the size of the student population in short order, from a current enrolment of about 1,150 (not including 200 nursing students) to about 2,000.

The section on possible academic programs is nothing more than a list without any supporting evidence or analysis. In fact, if you look quickly at the list, you'll see that many of the new programs for Grenfell actually would duplicate programs already at Memorial University in St. John's.

They aren't new or different; most are the same as larger programs offered at MUN St. John's. Like a health sciences program with a possible focus on gerontology. Or a program in geology. And without the detailed analysis of possible student demand, they are essentially useless as the basis for making a decision.

Yet, that really isn't important, is it? Well no, because the decision on Grenfell was made at the beginning before the analysis was even conducted.

Even the version of the decision announced in April - the so-called Option 1(a) - is now morphing into having Grenfell as an entirely separate university. As education minister Joan Burke put it recently, she wants Grenfell to be "independent" by 2008. If you read the consultants' report, you'll appreciate that is the goal they had in mind as well, despite their endorsement of some sort of shared governance.

What the consultants recommended is actually using Memorial University's name, reputation and resources to assist in the growth of a Corner Brook university:

It is believed therefore that the newly named institution should not only remain as part of Memorial University, but it should take its name as the Memorial University (Corner Brook, Western Newfoundland or Grenfell). In the discussion below, Memorial University (St. John’s) is taken to include the Marine Institute, and Memorial University (Corner Brook) is taken to represent the new designation of Grenfell College, possibly including the Western Regional School of Nursing whose status is currently under separate review. This designation would be of vital assistance in the immediate development strategy of the new university at Corner Brook, in all its academic areas, but in particular, in

• national and international student recruitment,
• the attracting of highly qualified academic staff,
• the development of graduate programs, and
• the securing of greater federal research funding and corporate support.

The case too for the retention of the academic and administrative support systems currently provided to Grenfell College from the Memorial in St John’s campus, in particular the library services, is a strong one, and whilst these services may perhaps, but not necessarily, be weaned off one by one in due course as the systems grow in the new status Grenfell, they should certainly be retained for the immediate future. (p. 31, Emphasis added)

However, at no point do the consultants address what are the problems with their own proposal. That's hardly surprising since they really don't give any sound rationale for their conclusions anyway. Nonetheless, take a look at the list of advantages and disadvantages of the so-called Option 1(a):

Advantages:

- increases Grenfell’s academic and administrative autonomy
- remains within Memorial system
- provides status as a university institution

Disadvantages:

- potential fragmentation of academic authority and divergence in academic standards and practice
- limited academic programme range for university status
- substantial additional costs

Look at those last three.

Essentially, those are the points made by Chancellor Crosbie and Memorial University President Axel Meisen.

They are also the points dismissed by the Premier, education minister and the finance minister.

It's easy to dismiss those points though, when the decision is already made and has been made for at least two years.

It's easy to govern when decisions can be made and then justified ex post facto. It's a cinch to govern when critics can be attacked personally and demonised for pointing out - essentially - that the government has a goal but no solid plan on how to get there.

It's a cinch to govern when, as with just about every other administration since Confederation, you view government as being little more than your turn to make the decisions.

After all, isn't that what Danny Williams told John Crosbie?

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Of Cukes and Unis

Truly, things are very strange when the guy who backed a second university for the province  - despite evidence at the time of declining enrolment – laces into critics who don’t like the much less ambitious version of “Grenfell autonomy” announced by the provincial government before Christmas.

For Former Williams administration employee Alex Marland, Premier Danny Williams attack on people inside the province must come as a complete shock. Anger isn’t always for reform, Alex. 

But the most bizarre part of the Premier’s speech in Corner Brook on Thursday was the comparison between Grenfell College and the Sprung greenhouse fiasco over two decades ago.

“With the situation of declining enrolment, we want to make sure we don’t launch this initiative and it fails and Grenfell becomes the Sprung (Greenhouse) of the west coast,” said Williams.

For those who don’t know, Sprung was the disastrous decision that spelled the end of Brian Peckford’s third administration.

Now Sprung didn’t fail because its proponents failed to support the government decision and prove the idea could work.

Sprung failed because it was doomed from the start.  Senior provincial government officials warned against the magnificent claims of the proponents, claims like growing more cucumbers in a hydroponic greenhouse in Newfoundland than could be grown with the near perpetual sunlight of a city near the Equator.

Unfortunately for the provincial treasury, that is for taxpayers, the politicians involved ignored the sound advice they got from people who warned of problems with the whole scheme and instead poured cash into the project.

In the Grenfell case, there is no sign any government officials voiced objections.  Others, like your humble e-scribbler and a bunch of people at Memorial University did point out that – among other things – the whole scheme the provincial government endorsed (the Premier included) was built on a model that needed Grenfell enrolment to double in 10 years.

One of those people – one Eddie Campbell – paid a price for speaking his mind.  That mess over finding a new president for the university led to a second major crisis for the university on top of the Grenfell one, both of which were driven entirely by politicians around the cabinet table.

And as for enrolment at Grenfell, it hasn’t been working its way to double in a decade.  Far from it.  Enrolment has been sliding steadily downward but not from lack of effort by the good people at Grenfell.  Rather, there just aren’t the students or prospective students to fill the seats.

They also endorsed the whole idea based on little more, apparently, than a rather lightweight assessment of the whole idea of Uni Two concept. That study was bought and paid for by the politicians, not by the proponents of the project.  And the study would also have figured out the enrolment problem since the signs were there at the time. 

The consultants would have figured that out if they had actually bothered to look at the issue.  Odd that they didn’t give it a thought, given that enrolment – students – is one of the big things that would drive a university’s success in the first place. 

All in all, it seems to have been a very odd first speech in the New Year for the Premier in his district.  It’s not odd that he chose the occasion to pick a fight with people or react negatively to anything less than an outpouring of unending support and devotion.  What’s odd is that the Premier linked his own decision with one of the singularly worst decisions taken by any administration in recent times, bar none.

This speech and all its implications might wind up having some not so pleasant consequences.

Meanwhile, for those who are interested in the Sprung fiasco, just scan down the right side and check out the series of posts linked there on Great Gambols with Public Money.  If that doesn’t work, just type that phrase into the search box up there on the top right.

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The die is cast aside

“The die is cast!”

That’s what then-education minister Joan Burke said back in 2007 when the current provincial administration unveiled its plan to give Sir Wilfred Grenfell College something called “autonomy” from Memorial University. 

She was arrogantly dismissing concerns raised about the feasibility of creating a second university in the province.

Burke even used the word “independent” in a news release in 2007 - “Grenfell College is about to gain independence…” – something she predicted would happen in 2008. 

Well, in 2009, none of the promises came true.

And you can tell none of the promises came true because the announcement was made by Darrin King, the education minister, and not Danny Williams, the premier behind the whole drive.

You can also tell there’s nothing to get excited about because the release is gigantic – 13 paragraphs – and there are no fewer than five media contacts.  The way these things usually go, the less positive news there is, the more names are listed as media contacts.

Under the proposed approach, Grenfell will lose its separate and proud identity, becoming instead something to be called Memorial University  - Corner Brook.

It also won’t get a separate president or senate, as recommended by two consultants hired in 2005 to look at the whole idea of Grenfell “autonomy”.  Their Option 1A was the one supposedly on the books to be implemented.

Instead, the current senior official – named the Principal – will continue to be called the Principal and will report directly to the President of Memorial.  And there will be a separate budget presented to government through Memorial University in St. John’s.

Whoopee ding.

The whole thing looks suspiciously like the consultant’s Option 2A  but without the administrative clout of having a separate president for the new university at Corner Brook.

And what were the disadvantages noted for that by the consultants, you may ask?

• common Senate reduces Grenfell’s academic autonomy and
  development potential;
• little change from current unsatisfactory situation.

That’s right.  The consultant’s considered that the approach government ultimately  would actually reduce Grenfell’s autonomy and offer little change from the status quo.

Looks like the die for Grenfell autonomy Joan Burke talked about wound up getting cast alright, cast aside.

Expect lots of negative reaction to this as the magnitude of the broken promise starts to sink in for people in Corner Brook.

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The bonfire of the vapidities

It's called a strawman. [Right: The ultimate strawman, Guy Fawkes, is set alight in one of the annual celebrations of the defeat of The Gunpowder Plot. Photo: Daily Mail.]

A strawman is a caricature of a position taken by one's opponent in a debate or discussion. In order to defeat the argument, one builds a strawman - a convenient caricature - and then sets it alight by explaining how foolish or ridiculous or misguided the opposing argument is.

Except you aren't really dealing with the argument at all. You are dealing with a fiction, a fantasy, a fabrication. It's an illusion.

The Telegram's editorial page editor, Peter Jackson, does a fine job of building strawmen in his column this week on the decision by the provincial government to establish Sir Wilfred Grenfell College as a second university in the province.

He starts out with some generalities about the evil news media assuming politicians have bad motives. Then he praises Brian Tobin for "decisively" ending denominational education and for building The Rooms. With that armature built, Jackson then adds the straw:

It has become de rigueur among many political observers of late to characterize absolutely everything Premier Danny Williams does as a Machiavellian attempt to manipulate polls. While it’s true certain spending initiatives and photo ops are tailored for maximum impact, one can hardly assume that a continued hold on the reins of power is the sole motivation behind every government decision.

Let's set that vapid statement alight before it goes any farther.

"A continued hold on the reins of power" is most decidedly not "the sole motivation behind every government decision" and Jackson constructs a rather flimsy strawman in this paragraph. Nor is it a townie versus baymen thing, as much as the provincial government has tried to paint it that way. Jackson picks up that thread at one point, although using the more politically correct phrasing of Grenfell as an issue affecting a "rural" constituency.

Rather, the point often made at Bond Papers and elsewhere is that the communications part of a government decision is less about providing information to foster discussion or promote understanding as it is more about creating an illusion of some kind or of simply justifying a decision already taken. It's the media blitz that is designed to help goose polls inf avour of the government crowd.

For good measure, Jackson then attempts to caricature those who have raised questions about the Grenfell decisions, labelling then as either "the same administrators on whose deaf ears Grenfell’s pleas for more consideration fell for so long,"...or "those who have nothing but contempt for anything remotely associated with Danny Williams."

Again with the strawmen and, in effect another vapid statement. Jackson ignores the way the government bunch decided about Grenfell, just as he ignores the detailed arguments involved in the debate. In fact,  Jackson conveniently ignores anything of substance in the debate so that he can skip on to his own simplistic view: Those who oppose the provincial government on this issue are either the evil oppressors of the noble people of Corner Brook or those who, to borrow a phrase, believe that Premier Danny Williams can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Or was it tie his own shoe laces correctly?

Jackson then praises the existence of a discussion on Grenfell's future, ignoring entirely that he just finished identifying those who question the provincial government's decisions as not warranting attention. After all, they are either The Man or The Cynics on the "Bad" side and Jackson's friends on the Good, as Jackson has so conveniently populated the world of straw in which the "discussion" takes place. Why pay any attention to the baddies at all?

It is a debate that has simmered for some time, but has exploded since the government announced its plan to forge ahead with restructuring.

It is a debate that will likely go on for some time.

This can only be a good thing. It is important that the pros and cons of autonomy be thoroughly discussed in the public arena.

Jackson's world exists almost entirely in his own head. He manufactured the various positions and just as simplistically manufactured the good of a "debate" which in fact does not exist.

The deal on Grenfell is done and has been done since before the consultants were hired. It would have been important to discuss the Grenfell issue publicly before the decision was made. It would have been important to hear all sides, rather than cavalierly dismiss valid criticisms, as Jackson does here. The debate Jackson praises is as much an illusion as the straw men he vanquishes.

And as for the accusations of politicking, one would be naive in the extreme to simply leave them unexamined in any major decision taken by any government anywhere at any time. Politicking, it should be noted is not synonymous with partisanship, the main element of Jackson's armature. In the case of Grenfell, one suspects that another politician of another party in the same situation might well make the same decision: and without any of the niceties of debate, discussion or even a plan to hinder the drive to make a particular constituency happy irrespective of the viable alternatives or the cost.

It's not like we haven't seen that before, say, in the case of The Rooms.

Just as it isn't like we haven't seen the straw men and the bon fire before.

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Most expensive uni in Canada

So much for finance minister Tom Marshall's insistance that making a Grenfell College a university will have only marginal cost implications.

So much too, for his claim that those outside Corner Brook won't notice the difference. Who does Marshall think will be subsidizing his decision on grenfell, done for entirely political reasons and without a comprehensive plan?

Every taxpayer in the province that's who.

Oh yes, and for those who don't think the objective for Grenfell was established before the consultants were hired to provided a smokescreen to cover cover a decision already taken - without any plan or evidence to back it up - there's this great quote from Premier Danny Williams:

"At the end of the day, Grenfell will have autonomy," Williams told CBC News recently. "Now, whether that means complete, separate independence from Memorial, if that's not the right way to go, then we'll do a hybrid that works for everybody."

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When the trend becomes an excuse

Bond Papers has noted before the once lamentable, now deplorable, trend to reduce the number of sitting days of the House of Assembly.

The issue is not one merely of the number of days the House sits.  The root of the problem is the increasing tendency for the legislature to pass bills with only a cursory glance. 

In the spring 2007 sitting, for example, 57 out of the 72 bills passed through the major stages of debate in less than a day.  That's a House of Assembly day, by the way, which is typically a few hours in the afternoon Monday to Thursday. 

One of those bills was the Green accountability bill which was pushed through on the last day of the sitting.  The public, and indeed, many members didn't realize that a few amendments made quietly ensured that some of the more important parts of the legislation setting controls on spending wouldn't take effect until the fall.

In most legislatures, ordinary members of the House, that is those without ministerial portfolios sit on committees.  Those committees take legislation, examine the bills in detail, sometimes holding public hearings and discussion to gather public reaction.  Sometimes bills get changed from what government intended,.  Sometimes they pass, as is.  Sometimes they get killed.

That's an important part of the process.  The public gets to know what the government is planning.  Interested individuals and groups can study a bill and figure out it will affect them.  They can recommend changes which may or may not be accepted.  The public gets to see the laws being made, they are consulted and, in some instances they can actually change the direction that government - in its wisdom  - thought was the right way to go.  If nothing else, including people in the process gives the outcome greater legitimacy and acceptance than it otherwise might have.

In the session just ended - the first since the election last fall - the House struck some committees but purely for the purpose of expediting passage of the budget.  They didn't get to study the energy corporation bills for example. 

Heck, the whole House didn't get to even know the bills were coming until the last week or so of the session. When it did come, there were some inconsequential amendments to the bill restructuring the energy corporation but for the most part, most people had no idea what the implications were of the measure. 

The pernicious impact of this approach is easy to see.  Even one seasoned reporter who has covered the legislature thought the bill would let reporters find out about corporation spending but protect sensitive commercial information like technology secrets from disclosure. 

He couldn't have been more wrong if he tried but, in fairness, the words "commercially sensitive information" are in the bill.   If you didn't carefully read the bill or if you didn't get the chance to read it at all you might assume those words had the typical meaning.   They don't.  It's in the bill.

Sensitive commercial information is basically any information related to the business of the company.  Number of pencils and pens used?  Apparently that's sensitive. As the legislation put it:

"commercially sensitive information" means information relating to the business affairs or activities of the corporation or a subsidiary, or of a third party provided to the corporation or the subsidiary by the third party, ...

As if that all weren't bad enough, the province's education minister is now saying legislation to create a second university in the province will be delayed until at least the fall sitting. 

The idea was approved by government a year ago and it's been a controversial decision.  Rumblings around the university in St. John's would have you believe that the external recruiters hired to find a new president found one.  But their choice - the current acting president - was turned down by government since the fellow is not all that thrilled with the Grenfell scheme.

That's really all to one side.  Legislative drafting on an issue like this shouldn't this long.  But if it does, there must be a reason for it more convincing than this one:

"We are just at the point, I guess, with a busy schedule in the house of assembly and certainly the tedious work in developing the legislation, that we didn't have sufficient time … for the full debate that it deserved"...

CBC's television report gave a bit more information than that though.  West coast reporter Doug Greer there are indications one minister was not satisfied the bill lived up to what Grenfell had been promised. Now it may be the fall of 2009 or later before the changes take effect, according to CBC news.

All of this is to suggest that a decision like creating a second university can appear to be a good one at the beginning but that, at the very least, other information can lead to a reappraisal or an adjustment of the course. 

Your humble e-scribbler changed his mind as he found out more about the proposal.  Obviously - if the education minister's comments are taken at face value - others much more intimately involved in the process have been adjusting things as well.

In other words, time and the supposed business of the legislature isn't the problem here.  Something else is. If the Grenfell decision is controversial as it has been presented, maybe other ideas can come forward from a full debate in the legislature.

The same can be said of other pieces of legislation which have been rammed through the House with barely enough time for the ink to dry on the order paper.

Maybe it's time to reform the House of Assembly and let the rest of us in on the discussion of public business.  That's one of the things legislatures are for and its one of the potential solutions to the government's problem with the Grenfell bill.  A properly functioning legislative committee system could take this one on and navigate the controversial waters exactly as they are supposed to do in this messy, complicated thing called democracy.

As it stands, though, the current House with its handful of short sitting days each year hasn't been the source of the delay in this decision.

In blaming the delay on a busy schedule in the House, Joan Burke just offered a huge excuse that obviously isn't true.

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Related:

nottawa - "Busy, busy, busy" and "Busy, busy, busy (II)"

AG reports deficit and surplus at same time for same agency

Auditor General John Noseworthy released his comprehensive review of of provincial government spending and management today.

There is some new information about the House of Assembly scandal, including admission for the first time that Noseworthy's review started in January 2006. That's six months before the first public acknowledgement a review was underway. Bond Papers will have more on this in the days ahead, including some comment on Noseworthy's misunderstanding of the provincial constitution.

One curiosity in Noseworthy's summary booklet: in a section on educational spending, Noseworthy suddenly reports on deficits for health care boards:

(c) Operating results

All 5 boards reported operating surpluses for the year ended 30 June 2006 totalling $5.1 million. Operating surpluses ranged from $349,000 for the Labrador-Grenfell Regional Integrated Health Authority to $2.3 million for the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority. Because of inconsistent reporting periods resulting from the restructuring of school boards in 2004, comparisons with prior years' financial results would not currently be meaningful. It will be next year before effective and meaningful comparisons can be performed.

This produces an odd set of conclusions, since in the section on health authorities, the Labrador-Grenfell board goes from an operating surplus in the section quoted above to an unspecified deficit:

During the year, all 4 boards reported operating deficits totalling $11.0 million. Operating deficits ranged from $400,000 for the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority to $5.6 million for the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority. One board, the Labrador-Grenfell Regional Integrated Health Authority, reported an annual operating deficit higher than that reported for the fiscal year 2005.

Hmmmm.

This is no small discrepancy nor is it an easy cock-up to make. The names of the respective health care and educational authorities are different for one thing. Of course, the report is exceedingly lengthy at some 475 pages but there is a huge staff at the Auditor General's office including a new "information" manager.

Kremlinology 15: as warm and fuzzy as your old blankie

Last fall was rough on the provincial Conservatives.

Back to back resignations followed by the by-election loss in the Straits and the strong Liberal vote in Terra Nova.  That’s old news to Bond Papers readers.

Things are rough for the Conservatives in Corner Brook as well.

Between the push-back over the Grenfell mess and the possibility that the Kruger mill may shut its doors permanently, there are plenty of reasons for provincial Conservatives to be sweating the possibility of a strong anti-Tory hum on the Humber.

You can tell things are rough because the Premier took the time to head to Corner Brook last week for a party fundraiser – a point the conventional media neglected to point out - encouraged the Kruger unions to give the company whatever it needs to save the mill and pick a fight with people who had pissed him off:  He took a shot at Grenfell principal Holly Pike and others. 

The local paper – The Western Star – warned him about the problems before the speech and then spanked him publicly for his attack on Pike after the speech.

That last bit is a sure sign of how bad things are for the Tories.  What they said was nothing strong at all, but in a province where  - since 2003 - the conventional media like to serve warm milk and cookies editorially, a couple of simple declaratory sentences can come across like  a cross between the 95 Theses and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

The real sign of the troubled times in Tory circles is the remarkable change in tone.  Suddenly ‘stachless health minister Jerome Kennedy took the trouble to call an open line show this week when it isn’t polling season and nothing is exploding.

He talked at length about the changes he wants to bring after the budget is over.  Kennedy wants to start travelling around the province, talking to the great unwashed masses in their own native habitat. He wants to get real opinions from real people on things the government could be and should be doing.  

We are not talking complete farce here.  Kennedy spoke in calm tones and used language about including people.  A lesson he learned in the by-elections, so Kennedy said.

That’s right in line with another sign, namely a recent tour by several cabinet ministers of towns along the coast of Labrador.  Even Tommy Hedderson took the time to get out of St. John’s and visit real people in real towns.  Hedderson you may recall was the guy who – during the Straits by-election – talked about how wonderful it was to get back into that part of the province for the first time since 2001.  Yes, the fisheries minister hadn’t been able to visit a district with fish troubles until his Leader dragged him along to go save the Leader from political embarrassment.

And let’s not forget the funding announcements.  Before Christmas it was the new hospital for Corner Brook which – we now learn – may well be a tertiary care centre to rival the one in Sin Jawns.  There is money for Grenfell, the bags of which was something the Premier duly noted as he pointed how some people were insufficiently grateful for his generosity.

One of the Labrador ferries will be relocating to Corner Brook, at least for the winter at least for now.

Now there’s Terry French heading to Corner Brook to make an announcement on funding for the provincial government’s arts centres. That’s on top of the money French already announced for the local stadium.  This was not, the finance minister would assure us, a sign that budget allocations have already been made for 2010.

These sorts of things may be old hat everywhere else in the civilised world but in this province since 2003, they are almost unheard of.  Until now, the whole business of keeping in tune consisted of letting cabinet ministers work from an office set up wherever in the province they happened to live.  And even then, the main duty of the ministers-at-home was to keep an eye on dissent and make sure everyone stayed in line. Think hard hat and shovel and road paving in Labrador if you want a classic example of the cabinet minister without a real portfolio.

Now undoubtedly some wag will point out that Jerome! is just angling to replace The Boss.  Shave the ‘stache, they will say and they are right.

But that doesn’t mean that the cabinet as a whole might not also be working along with Jerome to change their collective political fortunes.  While The Boss is busy tilting at hydro towers in New Brunswick, the guys who actually will be running for re-election in 2011 might be noticing they don’t have much time to shift the whole tone and approach of the administration.

Angry just doesn’t work all the time in politics, as any experienced politician and political scientist will tell you. People grow weary. And when the anger is directed inward, when people get smashed in the head for just having an opinion, it doesn’t take too long before people start to look for an alternative to the anger ball.

That’s one of the big lessons from last fall, if you really are clued in about provincial politics. Things started to shift.

And when the shift started, the local Tories seem to have decided to make a shift of their own.

Coming on like a warm, fuzzy blankie seems to be aimed at making sure that whatever alternative people move toward, it will still be blue.

Just a blue without all the anger in it.

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Missing in Action: The Great Corner Brook University

The short history of a curious idea.

2007:  Promise to grant Sir Wilfred Grenfell College “more autonomy” regardless of cost implications among other things.

2008:   Promise legislation by fall;  fail to deliver.  Make (up) excuses.

2009:  Still no legislation.  Dodge hard questions.

Maybe a problem with finding students – something your humble e-scribbler noted as a major deficiency in the original consultants’ report – is another reason for the inexplicable delay in the whole Grenfell autonomy “piece.”

There is no analysis of the possible student market.  This is a critical shortcoming since the report authors recommend doubling the size of the student population in short order, from a current enrolment of about 1,150 (not including 200 nursing students) to about 2,000.

In any event, just add Grenfell “autonomy’ as another government initiative on the MIA list.

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STI rates in Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli

Saskatoon Health Region released a report on July 18 on the rates of sexually transmitted infections in the city in 2013. 

A CBC report earlier this week quoted the deputy regional health officer as saying that social media was having an impact on the rates of syphilis in the city. 

"We do know that meet-ups using social media has led to an increase in these types of infections, and even outbreaks of syphilis, in other parts of the country," Julie Kryzanowski, the region's deputy medical health officer, told CBC News Monday.

That’s actually a follow-on from a similar story in April in which Kryzanowski’s predecessor said that the regional health authority had interviewed some of the patients who reported they “were using certain social media sites to meet sex partners.”

So that got your humble e-scribbler wondering about STI rates in this province.

Into the deep

The provincial government's crisis with Memorial University got just that much deeper today.

Op-ed pieces in the province's largest daily newspaper from two distinguished professors simply and succinctly laid out the problem in plain English. [Not available online]

As political science professor Steve Wolinetz wrote:

Simply put, universities can only function effectively when they are at arm's length from government or any single entity funding them. This not only ensures academic freedom and allows members of the university community to "speak truth to power," but also enables them to harness the creative energies of faculty, staff and students. Independence and autonomy are at the core of any university. It has enabled Memorial to explore vital issues and helped the province and its people grow and thrive.

Independence and autonomy are indeed at the core of any university and they are at the core of the current problem. By injecting herself into the selection process for a new president, education minister Joan Burke she has not stepped across an invisible but well-defined boundary, she has committed to completely ignore the law by making the presidential appointment a cabinet one instead of a decision of the board of regents, as the law provides. She has usurped the authority of the board to appoint the president, which in itself is an expression of the university's independence and autonomy.

Nor has no one outside cabinet and government back benches is able to ignore the evident contradiction between Burke's action in this case and the government's commitment to make Grenfell College "autonomous."

All that is pretty much old hat now, as this story ends its first of what may prove to be several weeks of political pain.

What made the hole Burke dug even deeper is the revelation in another op-ed piece - this time by former academic vice president and pro-chancellor Evan Simpson - that the university has been reduced, in effect, to the status of a Crown corporation or agency:

The university depends heavily upon its operating and capital grants from the government. Memorial used to receive block grants and set its priorities within the financial limits they imposed. Now, in submitting a budget, the university presents a menu of initiatives and the government chooses those it likes. In effect, Memorial has surrendered its capacity to set its own priorities. Basic operating funding continues but room for innovation is limited. The government expects Memorial to have a strategic plan, but it is difficult to take this seriously when the Treasury Board decides what it will or will not fund.

Clearly, the current crisis at Memorial University has been brewing since the fall of 2003. The clash over Burke's intervention in the hiring process for a new president is merely the tip of a very large and very dangerous iceberg. Former president Axel Meisen's early departure from the job was perceived publicly as flowing from the clash with government over the Grenfell issue. Odds are that there have been a series of events that led to his move to Alberta eight months before his first term expired.

Burke did not recover with her late-afternoon news release. The release was in many respects cumbersome and contained errors of style and punctuation suggesting it was very hastily written.

In it, she insisted - despite the evidence to the contrary in plain sight - that she had not interfered and that her actions were within the bounds of the law. She also insisted the government has not violated academic freedom, however with that claim she simply pushed the next shovel deeper into the earth at the bottom of the hole in which she currently resides.

“I have yet to hear one concrete example of how exactly our government has impeded or interfered in academic freedom or autonomy,” said Minister Burke. “We have never told people what to teach or how to teach nor have we suppressed opinion. We are very simply saying we will exercise our legal obligation under the act, which clearly states that Cabinet has an approval role as an oversight, and I can assure everyone that we take that role seriously and will exercise our responsibility.”

Right away the claim that government had not interfered in the university's autonomy is nonsense given the evidence already in the public domain.

However, on the other issue, that of academic freedom, Burke's protests will likely prove unconvincing. The reason is easy to see.

Throughout the week, Burke repeatedly used government's financial stake in the university as justification for government's action. There may not be an example of interference in academic freedom yet. There may be no signs of political arm-twisting yet.

But given all that the public has learned to date, it is not hard to imagine a day in the not too distant future when a member of cabinet will find some public comment by a professor or student to be unwelcome. A call will be made and the justification will be simply that the government is concerned the comments are damaging this, that or the other interest of the province.

If the matter ever became public some minister may undoubtedly say that there has not been a violation of academic freedom, despite the plain evidence to the contrary and using exactly the same words and the same rationalizations Burke has used already:

We have invested heavily in our post-secondary institutions. The current and capital budget for the university alone this year is nearly $240 million. Memorial University and College of the North Atlantic are making names for themselves in the international arena.

Do I think that government needs to step away from this process? Absolutely not. As long as we have a budget of $240 million, we have 2,500 staff, we have 18,000 students (at the school), I think that we are expected by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador to play the leadership role that is ours.

Newfoundland and Labrador can certainly make its own decisions and we don't have to act in the way that other provinces or other universities do.

No, it's not hard to imagine it at all.

After all, until recently, no one might have though the government would ever interfere in hiring a president for the university.

And then Burke did just that.

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Recycled “stimulus”

There is an unprecedented, historic level of money in yesterday’s provincial government pre-budget spending announcement that is recycled cash from last year or money previously committed.

That’s pretty clear if you read comments by former finance minister Tom Marshall in the province’s other daily newspaper, the Western Star:

There will also be $16 million to finish off the new long-term care facility in Corner Brook.
The province is going to spend $50 million in health equipment and another $40 million on maintenance and repairs of current facilities, though Marshall did not have a breakdown of how much of those monies will be directed to Western Health.The new law courts under construction in Corner Brook will receive $7 million so that project can be completed in the coming year, while Sir Wilfred Grenfell College will be getting a share of the $9.4 million the province will spend on new residences at the Memorial University campuses in Corner Brook and St. John’s. The total cost of the Grenfell residences will be nearly $5 million, while new accommodations at the larger campus will eventually cost $67.5 million.

Leftover work from last year, including jobs on the Lewin Parkway and the off-ramp at Humber Village, will be among the $70.7 million o be spent on the province’s roads. Schools throughout western Newfoundland can expect to see some of the $30 million announced for repairs and maintenance  in K-12 schools.

It isn’t clear at this point how much of the money is actually new nor how much will actually be spent.

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66 at 6 in 2

Once it was a million dollars, but heck if there was only a half a million there are better things to do with it than give it to Rolls-Royce or any other company that could get along without it and still create jobs in Mount Pearl.

And heck, I wouldn’t be pumping cash into getting more women to have babies. 

I’d put the money into looking after the ones we have and are having. Your humble e-scribbler would support breast feeding in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It’s good, preventive health care.

It helps change attitudes toward women way better than being crude and beating the crap out of Randy Simms for something he didn’t say.

There is a campaign apparently, as this story from The Aurora notes.

"We are launching this campaign in Labrador-City Wabush to highlight the success this region has had in promoting breastfeeding," Ms. Murphy Goodridge said during the launch. "Labrador-Grenfell Health is the first regional health authority in the province to implement a comprehensive regional breastfeeding policy based on international standards. Breastfeeding rates throughout Labrador have always been higher than the rest of the province, so I am here to recognize Labrador-Grenfell Health employees and their community partners on their tremendous success and to encourage them to continue to strive to improve breastfeeding rates. Other areas of the province are looking to replicate your success."

According to the article the province-wide initiation rate is a mere 64%.  That’s up a mere 1.3% since 2006. The old article had an old link to the Breastfeeding Coalition:  here’s the new one.

And initiation isn’t the telling factor.  Three years ago only 11% of mothers who started breast-feeding were still breast-feeding six months later. Women aren’t sticking with it. The rate by 2008 was a mere 12%.  That’s basically no change.

Whatever the ponderous government agencies have been doing ain’t enough.  Maybe we need to free-up the people actually running the programs and get a lot of that health care bureaucracy and stodgie government-ish thinking get out of the way.

And lookit, nothing would work to start our children out healthier than to encourage breastfeeding.

The BFC has a campaign to boost breastfeeding but frankly a few posters ain’t gonna do the job.  The campaign needs to have a much higher profile.  For one thing, there could be a group of prominent local someones in addition to all the other stuff outlined in the BFC strategic plan to help reinforce the message about breastfeeding.

And rather than just talk about the need for supportive environments, people need to start initiating action.  There needs to be a concerted effort to make the workplace more tit-friendly, for example.  There needs to be a much wider effort to make more parts of society accepting of breastfeeding.

So there’s an idea.

Rather than kick Randy Simms in ‘nads for something someone misheard or deliberately misrepresented, maybe someone could have done something positive like asked him about the City of Mount Pearl’s breast-feeding policy. 

Are women councillors who are breastfeeding their children able to do so during a council meeting or a committee meeting? 

What about the provincial government?

Was Charlene Johnson able to get her little one to latch on while Danny was in full rant around the cabinet table?   Not ideal for the digestion, admittedly, but still,  you get the point.

And what was all that with her having to get back to work a mere month after giving birth supposedly – and the emphasis is on supposedly – because there was no maternity leave policy in the House of Assembly?

Pish-posh.

Talk about your unfriendly work environment for women.  Now I may have missed it but I don’t recall anyone from PACSW championing that cause at that time.  There’s one for the government appointed pseudo-bureaucrats to tackle.

But there’s an example of simple issue that directly affects the ability of women to get involved and/or stay involved in many more aspects of life outside the family once they start having children.

Simple.

Practical.

Effective.

And everyone wins in so many ways.

People in Newfoundland and Labrador need to get involved in an effort to dramatically increase the breastfeeding rates in this province.

What’s been going on already is great but it isn’t enough.  Clearly.  Not enough.

So on this thanksgiving weekend, let’s applaud the efforts of the provincial Breastfeeding Coalition.  Let’s applaud Labrador West with the highest initiation rate – 75% – in the whole province.

But let’s recognise that that 75% is still 15% below the national average.

And we need to get some kind of “66 at 6 in 2” drive going to ensure that  within two years, we have 66% of mothers in the province still breastfeeding their infants six months after giving birth.

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Some ideas for 66 at 6 in 2

-  A better website.  It’s do-able and younger families are more likely to use the Internet for information.  The current one is buried away and it doesn’t have the kind of simple stuff you’ll find elsewhere.  A good example of a BF supportive site:  the US government one.  There are lots of others.

-  Paul Daly’s shot is great but there is a need to use a much more aggressive approach with messages tailored to different audiences.  And for mercy sakes don’t post the poster as a pdf.   You can get some ideas from this approach mapped out by students in the UK.

-  Nothing work better at changing attitudes and behaviour than making it clear that the dominant attitude has shifted.  People openly supporting breastfeeding – highlighted by some prominent locals – would start the ball rolling.

-  And just do it.  Nothing will work better than having the women who are breastfeeding just doing it.

The New Colonialists #nlpoli

The New Colonialists
don't look like the old ones

The last day of September is known as Orange Shirt Day.

It is a day to remember residential schools for Indigenous people, which, as the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in its final report, “were a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.”

Across Newfoundland and Labrador, schools featured special events to tell the story of residential schools in Canada. CBC Newfoundland and Labrador ran two stories, one of which was written by a young journalist from Labrador whose grandmothers attended a residential school. His first sentence is both evocative and typical of the emotion that accompanies stories of residential schools.

“For years, the Lockwood School in Cartwright housed Indigenous children taken from their homes all in the name of "killing the Indian within the child."

Another of these “localizer” pieces – ones that give a local angle to a national or international story – explained that “[r]residential schools were established by the Canadian government in the 1800s, with a guiding policy that has been called ‘aggressive assimilation.’ The federal government sought to teach Indigenous children English and have them adopt Christianity and Canadian customs, and pass that — rather than Indigenous culture — down to their children.”  That one was written by a journalist from northern Ontario now living in St. John’s.

In 2017,  CBC reported on Justin Trudeau’s apology to Indigenous people in Labrador for the treatment they received in residential schools.   The CBC story at the time explained that “[b]etween 1949 and 1979, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities to attend five residential schools that were run by the International Grenfell Association or Moravians.”

There’s only one problem with these stories: they aren’t about residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.

These stories about Canadian residential schools are imposed on something different, namely the schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, without acknowledging the meaningful difference.

The two are distinctly different.

Uncomfortable thoughts

One of the little stories that seemed to sail past most people was a report that three of the province’s four regional health authorities will finish the year with balanced budgets.

"The light bill goes up, the phone bill goes up, the oil bill goes up — that type thing," said Western Health finance committee member Tom O'Brien. "We submitted that to the government and [government] approved our budget with those inflationary numbers in it. So we'll have a balanced budget for 2009-2010.

The only one that wouldn’t is Eastern Health but given some of the issues involved, that’s understandable.

But Labrador-Grenfell,  Western and Central expect to balance their books by year end.

Last spring, Labrador-Grenfell Health estimated it would end its fiscal year with a $2-million deficit, but officials said Wednesday that's no longer the case.

"We have had a greater success in recruiting staff, with a greater number of nurses on staff that actually cuts down on our cost of providing services," CEO Boyd Rowe said. "When we don't have adequate numbers of staff, we end up paying a considerable amount of overtime."

How odd then that earlier this month health minister Paul Oram announced that government had decided to cut laboratory and x-ray service in Flower’s Cove and Lewisporte. he claimed the government needed to save money and that the cuts had been recommended by the health authorities involved.

Sure those two ideas were among dozens tossed out by all four regional health authorities back in February as possible cuts when they were asked  - hypothetically – what they could do to balance their budgets if they got funding frozen at 2008 levels.

But if the books are balanced the cuts weren’t necessary.

And if there was a problem with the government health budget generally, then surely it would have made more sense to do some serious thinking and announce a wide range of options with the new budget in the spring.  There was no rush to chop in September if things were okay and certainly there’d be no reason to cut only two.

That’s what one would expect from a government that generally practices sound financial management based on a genuinely strategic approach. That was the logical implication when Oram acknowledged what many have known for some time, namely that the current administration has been spending wildly, spending public money in a way that – in Oram’s word was “unsustainable.”

Such a government would not engage in seemingly capricious, apparently ill-considered and curious, bizarre cuts that seem to bear no connection to anything. Heck they aren’t even connected to a review of laboratory and x-ray service which isn’t even completed yet.

Such decisions would seem driven by something other than sound reasoning, logic, and a firm grasp of the whole picture.  They’d seem panicky.  They’d seem irrational, perchance even stupid given the political fall-out that’s resulted across the northern coast of Newfoundland.

And it would seem even more irrational, capricious, certainly foolishly stubborn  and – yes maybe even stupid – to persist in the irrational and apparently unnecessary cuts on those two communities once the backlash started  and the overall financial picture was shown to be something other than dire.

Events of the past couple of weeks make you wonder what is really going on inside the provincial government.  What is the real story behind the Flower’s Cove and Lewisporte cuts.

Was there more to Trevor’s departure than meets the eye? Was there something to be found in his comment to Randy Simms the other morning that we are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression?  Taylor was known to speak bluntly and he certainly never spouted the “we are living in a bubble” rhetoric.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the good people of Newfoundland and Labrador would look on another administration and wonder what was going on.  Things sometimes didn’t make sense. 

The good people would stare in bewilderment since the leader was known to be a political mastermind.  Surely there had to be some Mensa answer they would rationalize, an idea incomprehensible to mere mortals as to why such bizarre things were occurring. 

Even went things looked insane they figured there had to be a plan behind it all. No one had to tell them that at a board of trade speech;  they knew it already.

Yet, despite their faith, they remained perplexed.

Uneasy.

Unsettled.

Disquieted.

Your humble e-scribbler would suggest to these people that they think about the issue again, and about their conclusion, with one tiny difference:

Merely look on events without the assumption that there was some inscrutable genius at work.

Then look again at the conclusion they reached.

Invariably, inevitably, predictably, at the point they reached a conclusion once again – devoid of the assumed secret and unknown brilliance – their faces turned ashen.

And they would go very quiet.

Quiet isn’t a word you’d use these days in some parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, is it?  Places where the Great Tory Revolution supposedly started.

That must be a very uncomfortable thought for some people.

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On missing the point

Mark Watton has been leading the charge against sections of the province’s election laws that allow people to vote when there is no election.

On the face of it, the idea is bizarre.

You’d think it is obviously bizarre.

And yet a political science professor at Grenfell in Corner Brook managed to miss the point entirely in a recent interview with The Western Star:

Meanwhile, Mario Levesque, a political science professor at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, agrees it is a necessity which adds to the democratic process. However, he also says there are adjustments required to address issues around voting prior to the nomination of candidates.

“That is kind of an irritant, but is difficult to address,” the professor said. “It is pretty difficult for all political parties to have candidates in all the ridings two months before the actual election, and sometimes it is three weeks before an election date before a party has a candidate in that riding.”

For starters, Levesque confuses the idea of having allowance for people to vote who might be away from the district or the province on polling day with the idea that they could vote when there is no election.

His comment about parties having candidates in place also isn’t an issue.  Unless a candidate meets the conditions set out in the provincial Elections Act, he or she simply isn’t a candidate. And those are the rules that actually don’t put candidates in place until after the election writ is issued. 

Even then, the candidates are not finally – legally – in place until a week or so before voting day.

Seems ludicrous, then to put it mildly, that people are given ballots to vote two months or so before a likely election date.

This is not really the kind of stuff that should tax people’s faculties. In Levesque’s case, he obviously understands how things work, he just mixes them up.

He also skips over the fairly obvious point that the balloting system affects both voters and those seeking office alike.  The best illustration of that recently would be the case of John Baird.  He originally planned to run for the Liberals.  Then Baird walked away from the Liberal Party  and plans to run as an unaffiliated candidate.

That means that under the law as it stands right now, all those people who want to vote for John Baird can’t. And anybody in a situation like that who had cast a vote for the party because the system didn’t let them vote any other way would be – in effect – disenfranchised if they cast a ballot a couple of months before voting day and before their man switched parties.

Then there’s the scenario that Watton spelled out in the Western Star article.  What happens if an election in a particular district comes down to a difference in vote totals that is smaller than the number of special ballots cast upwards of two months earlier.  That is, people voted one way based on assumptions at the time but then would have voted another way later on.

You see there is a reason why voting takes place on a single day and in the case of advance polls, not much before that one day.  Absentee ballots are handled differently but the process often involves mailing the ballot back.  As long as it is postmarked no later than the actual voting day, the vote can be legally counted even if the mail system stakes a week or more to get the ballot to the voting officials.

Special balloting In Newfoundland and Labrador actually ends well in advance of polling day and not long after the last day for nominating candidates under the election law.  In other words, the system in this province pushes absentees away from voting for individual candidates and forces them to make choices before everyone else and before they actually have a chance to weigh fully what choices they actually have.

Absentee ballots aren’t a bad idea.  In fact, they are a very good idea since they enfranchise people.

The problem comes with the peculiar way the law is written in Newfoundland and Labrador.  That could be fixed with a few simple changes.  Those changes would be easy to make, just as easy in fact as the original changes were made that created the mess in the first place.

The problem is that the politicians aren’t interested in changing the system. 

And why should they?

It favours the people who already have the jobs.

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Push back on Grenfell

Things are not good in Corner Brook if the local daily the Western Star is making this strong a statement about the Premier’s recent  - and just the latest -  public attack on someone within the province:

The premier’s comments are unprofessional, misleading and irresponsible. He owes the residents of Western Newfoundland and Labrador, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and especially Holly Pike an apology.

You’d have to be living here for the past seven years to realise just exactly how strong these words really are.

The fact they come from the newspaper serving the Premier’s district makes them stand out even more.

And the fact that they are in public, in print, just makes the old chin hit the old floor all the harder.

Alex Marland take note.

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Promise made? When?

Where exactly in the Danny Williams' 2003 campaign platform is there any reference to creating a second university at Corner Brook?

This sure isn't it:

Review the Province's post-secondary education system to ensure that it provides the best possible instructional, research and community-oriented services for Newfoundland and Labrador in the twenty-first century. This will lead to an updating of the Memorial University Act to make sure the Province's only university serves the interests of communities and people in all regions of the Province. [Emphasis added]

This bit sounds like a way to strengthen Grenfell College without increasing the administrative costs of the government's current goal and entirely within what Danny Williams said in 2003 was "the Province's only university":

A Progressive Conservative government will support the proposal to ACOA for the establishment of the Centre for Excellence in Environmental Research, Development, Science and Technology in Corner Brook. This Centre will partner with Memorial University and Sir Wilfred Grenfell College to make the Corner Brook area a national leader in environmental sciences. One of the Centre's objectives will be to help reduce environmental emissions and help Canada to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Accord.

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Freedom from information: lack of briefing notes for minister called “bizarre” by senior government official

An unnamed senior public sector manager has termed a move by government to eliminate briefing notes for ministers “bizarre”.

The official is quoted in a post by Telegram blogger Geoff Meeker.  The unidentified official spoke only on condition of anonymity.

“I don't think it's possible to keep up to speed without a briefing book,” said the person, who has worked at some of the highest levels of the public service.

“It will make it very difficult to understand, in retrospect, why certain decisions were made - very dangerous for the staff who must execute them and very problematic if one needs to retrace and do a course-correction on something that's gone off the rails. Without briefing books, corporate memory is very much reduced and future government decisions rendered more difficult.”

The comment came after another Telegram story (not online) in which Joan Burke, government house leader and minister of a newly created child, youth and family services department, said that she had received no briefing notes when taking over her new portfolio. Burke told the Telegram’s Rob Antle that

“I didn’t want to be handed a binder with 500 to 1,000 sheets of paper to try to determine what’s important and what’s not, and what’s current and what I need on my radar.”

As Meeker points out, Burke’s attitude may have little to do with what she described as her desire to get down to work.

Burke was embroiled in a controversy last year over the hiring of a new president for Memorial University.  Details of the minister’s involvement became embarrassing when the Liberal opposition office obtained copies of government records through the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and provided them to local media.

The documents including e-mails and briefing notes that included questions for Burke to use during her screening interviews with the two finalists selected by the university’s hiring process.  Burke rejected both candidates.

Briefing notes have also proved embarrassing for other cabinet ministers.

A note prepared for Burke’s successor in November 2008 on financial implications of “autonomy” for Grenfell College from Memorial University, another controversial policy from Burke’s tenure in education, was virtually completed deleted before being released under the province’s open records laws.  While promised two years ago, there is still no sign of the enabling legislation.

During the Cameron inquiry into the hormone receptor scandal, health minister Ross Wiseman stated under oath that he had not read briefing notes on the issue when he took over the portfolio.  As CBC reported,

… Wiseman said he did not have the opportunity to read briefing notes about the cancer testing after he was sworn in as health minister, because he was busy tackling other pressing issues and preparing for the annual budget.

Opposition politicians have also claimed that ministers apparently no longer receive briefing notes to use in preparation for the House of Assembly.

Meeker’s public sector manager also described some of the concerns about the new policy which would see the elimination of any paper trail of documents and backgrounders for ministers. 

“Without briefing documents, the public can never really know what grounds decisions were made on - cutting the foundation out from under transparency and accountability, not to mention history - how will future generations understand the story of this government and this time without primary research sources?

“This puts a great burden on senior and mid-level public officials to keep good records in their own briefing books and black books. These would be accessible under ATIPP, but that leaves the paper trail with the officials, not the Minister. And if they don't keep good records, well - we all heard during the Cameron inquiry how difficult it is for these busy, busy people [cabinet ministers and political staff] to recall details from 6 or 12 months ago.”

That last point is particularly cogent:  at one point during the inquiry, an exasperated commissioner Justice Margaret Cameron commented that many of the witnesses seemed to have difficulty recalling anything at all. 

The premier's chief of staff, Brian Crawley, was sent an e-mail in July, 2005 that warned of a major story about to break involving breast cancer testing mistakes.

But Crawley testified he can't remember getting the e-mail or even talking to anyone in the premier's office — including the premier — about it.

"I really don't remember anything about those early days at all," he said.

Judge Margaret Cameron asked Crawley whether he remembered any of the events of July and he responded, "No."

"You don't remember seeing anything about this until the story broke in the Independent [Newfoundland & Labrador Independent newspaper] and you don't even really remember reading the Independent story," she said.

Crawley was not alone and that exchange prompted an angry premier Danny Williams to criticise Cameron over the remark, as cbc.ca/nl reported:

When Crawley answered one question about what he would have done in a situation, Cameron replied, "Well, I'm getting a lot of that, 'This is what I would've done,' but nobody ever remembers seemingly having done much."

On Friday, Williams fired back.

"I have to say I was disappointed. I was disappointed as I watched Madame Justice Cameron show disdain for a professional witness who was before her, giving testimony, honestly, forthright, under oath, to the best of his or her ability," Williams told reporters.

Meeker’s post and the comments by the unnamed official echo concerns identified in Donald Savoie’s recent book on the erosion of accountability at White hall and in Ottawa.

In Court government: the collapse of accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom, Savoie documents a similar practice of eliminating briefing notes and other official written documents in order to avoid the access to information laws.

In addition to the move to eliminate a paper trail, Savoie also notes concerns among politicians with whistleblower legislation as part of a larger trend away from government openness and internal and external accountability.

Savoie also points to the appearance of unofficial practices within the administration of government that are also designed to avoid disclosure under access to information laws.  For example, one study cited by Savoie found that requests from politicians and the media took longer to process than those from others even though there did not appear to be any particular difference in one request from another.   

Similar efforts by officials to skirt open records laws have already been noted in Newfoundland and Labrador.

For example, officials have invented a concept called non-responsive records to refer to documents which are apparently covered by an access request but which are not  released. One of the Burke e-mails on Memorial University, for example, includes a deletion marked “non-responsive” rather than use the official requirement to cite a specific section of the access law under which a deletion is made.

Perhaps the most notorious example was a claim that records did not exist even though the Premier and other officials acknowledged that they did.

In another case, access to documents was denied on the grounds that the review was ongoing.  The request had not been for a final report but for documents relating to the study and an accounting of its costs.

Officials have also been able to avoid disclosure based on questionable claims about the scope of the request.

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Change and Challenge: Chapter Five - New opportunities for growth

The Province's fisheries, forestry and mining industries cannot be expected to provide much, if any, net increase in employment during the years ahead. In fact, employment in these resource industries has been declining steadily over the last decade, as shown in Chart 5. In the forest industry, person years of employment declined from 5,300 in 1981 to 3,600 in 1991, and in the fishing industry employment declined from 21,700 to 19,200 during the same period. The decline in the mining industry was similar, falling from 5,600 in 1981 to 3,200 in 1991.

To provide the new jobs needed to reduce our high unemployment rate and to provide employment opportunities for our young people as they enter the labour market, new growth opportunities must be identified. While our economy is more diversified than is generally recognized, further diversification is no longer merely desirable - it is essential.

Advances in telecommunications, the globalization of trade, the environmental movement and the growth of knowledge-based industries have changed economic prospects internationally, nationally and locally, and Newfoundland and Labrador enjoys many potential competitive advantages which it can use to benefit from these changes. It has a strategic location dose to Europe which could allow it to act as a gateway to and from North America, a relatively unspoiled natural environment with magnificent scenery and untouched wilderness areas, and many well-educated and well-trained people, including a core of professional expertise in marine-related engineering and electronics.

The challenge is to recognize these new opportunities and for the private sector to take advantage of them, with Government's support. Traditionally we have thought of ourselves as producers of raw materials, but several companies in the Province have already become sophisticated traders of knowledge-based, value-added goods and services in local, national and international markets. It is through the creation of new wealth in new industries that the Province's problems of over-dependency and under-employment will ultimately be addressed.


In its strategic economic plan, the Province has identified three main areas of growth. These are:

• manufacturing and technical industries
• tourism and culture
• energy.

Manufacturing and technical industries will build on existing engineering and technical strengths, especially in marine-related activities. Tourism and cultural industries will grow by taking greater advantage of the province's natural environment, our unique culture, our quality of life and our human skills. Energy industries will grow through developing our significant growth potential in oil and gas, hydroelectricity, alternative energies (such as peat, wood biomass and cogeneration) and by a demand for greater energy efficiency. These three established industry groups offer significant potential for new wealth generation and increased employment during the next decade, and government's economic development thrust will be targeted on these industries.

Manufacturing and Technical Industries


In this strategic economic plan, manufacturing and technical industries include

• non-resource-based manufacturing
• innovative technologies
• information industries
• professional services
• environmental industries.

Non-resource based manufacturing (in Newfoundland and Labrador, virtually all manufacturing other than fish processing and pulp and paper making) declined after Confederation in 1949 because the elimination of customs duties made it impossible for many local firms to compete with cheaper "imports" from mainland Canada. But, more recently, and very gradually, non-resource-based manufacturing has become more important, so that now there are about 400 such firms operating in the Province, accounting for 4.1% of our GDP in 1990. This makes it more significant than some of our traditional resource industries.

Although Newfoundland and Labrador manufacturers produce mainly for the provincial market, some firms, selling such products as paint, footwear and ice cream, compete successfully in mainland Canada. There is also a small, but growing number of innovative technology companies (those using proprietary intellectual property and advanced scientific or technical know-how to provide new goods or services) that export sophisticated, knowledge-based electronic and telecommunications products to the global marketplace. This industry developed rapidly during the 1980s, so that by 1990 there were 55 such firms and organizations employing an estimated 1,200 people and with total annual revenues approaching $100 million.

Information industries are the fastest growing part of the economy, both nationally and internationally. Because of the way national statistics are collected, it is difficult to specify the actual number of firms and people employed in this industry in the Province, but it is estimated that Canada's information technology industry grew by 5% in 1991 despite the current recession, and had revenues of more than $16 billion.

Although it is not possible to identify the Province's share of this industry, we do know that Newfoundland and Labrador already has considerable strengths in the application of telecommunications technology. Altogether, it is estimated that more than 100 private- and public-sector organizations are now active in the province's information industry and employ dose to 2,600 people. To achieve more rapid growth, these private firms need better access to provincial government markets which are now served mainly by Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services. This Crown agency has recently been given a direction to cooperate and collaborate on efforts to promote the commercial development of this industry.

The services sector now accounts for nearly 30% of global trade, and Canadian trade and consulting services have seen exponential growth, rising from $42 million in revenues in 1969 to $987 million in 1985. Although the Province's business service industry now has some 250 professional consulting firms employing more than 3,000 people with expertise in such services as business consulting, construction management and economic analysis, the export of this expertise to bring new money into the province has been small to date. This industry is relatively undeveloped and has much potential for growth.

Environmental firms are also enjoying rapid growth internationally as jurisdictions everywhere become more concerned about, and introduce new legislation to protect, the environment. During the past 10 years, approximately 25 Newfoundland-based companies have developed expertise in such activities as environmental consulting, oil spill clean-up, waste management, recycling, environmental assessment and information, geomatics and environmental technology development. This is still a small industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, but it has significant potential for growth.

The Government will place greater emphasis on these manufacturing and technical industries in the future, and will work with private firms to help them realize their, growth potential in both local and export markets. New initiatives will be introduced to encourage supplier development so that local products and services can gain better access to large private and public organizations that operate in the province, including government itself; and new programs will be introduced to help local firms gain access to, or become more competitive in, export markets.

To achieve these goals, the Department of Development will be re-focused and re-organized for the new challenges of the 1990s. The Tourism Branch will be incorporated into a new Department of Tourism and Culture (described in the following section) and responsibility for the development of resource industries will rest more with their respective departments. A new Department of Industry, Trade and Technology will be given a mandate to encourage and promote the growth of manufacturing and technical industries and will be affirmed as the provincial agency with the main responsibility for trade and industrial promotions, for attracting investment and for technology development. It will also provide a centralized business analysis service for other departments.

The new department will focus specifically on stimulating the growth of non-resource-based manufacturing, innovative technologies, information industries, professional services and environmental industries. The department will also be responsible for strengthening the Province's construction industry, which is a major employer, contributes significantly to GDP and affects the competitiveness of other sectors. It will also undertake initiatives to make Newfoundland and Labrador firms more competitive, both at home and abroad. These initiatives will include supplier development, technology transfer, trade development, business analysis, business policy, promotions and investment. The department will also take a targeted, proactive approach to attract outside firms to the province.

Consistent with a major theme of this strategic economic plan, the Department of Industry, Trade and Technology will focus attention on our marine environment. Special initiatives will be undertaken to assist marine-related industries, with particular emphasis on the development and commercialization of advanced marine technologies.

Strategy Statement. The Province mill stimulate growth in sectors of the economy where there are new opportunities, especially in non-resource-based manufacturing, innovative technologies, information industries, professional consulting services and environmental industries.


Actions. The Province will

51. Re-focus and re-organize the Department of Development into a new Department of Industry, Trade and Technology which will concentrate on stimulating the growth of the manufacturing and technical industries in local and export markets, improving the competitiveness of local firms, and actively targeting outside firms in the new growth industries to locate in the Province.

52. Establish a supplier development program which will provide the private sector with the knowledge and opportunity to capture a more significant portion of the public- and private-sector procurement markets, such as major capital projects and defense contracts.

The Province will organize supplier seminars and make supplier development a major part of the provincial industrial benefits policy.

53. Pay specific attention to the information technology industry; a standing-offer list of approved suppliers of products and services will be developed for use by all government departments and agencies.

54. Expand financial assistance programs to firms involved in manufacturing and technical industries. Assistance will be provided for research and development, commercialization of new technology, company development, export marketing and working capital financing.

55. Create within the Department of Industry, Trade and Technology the funding flexibility needed to attract public- and private-sector research organizations to establish in the Province.

56. Aggressively pursue multinational manufacturing and technical firms to locate here, particularly those firms which would fit established niches in marine industries and electronics applications.

57. Continue to work for the establishment of foreign trade zones as an economic development initiative.

58. Establish a Provincial Communications Agency, which will include representation from the public, private and educational sectors, for expanding data communications, for co-ordinating data networking initiatives within the Province, and for developing common standards for the industry. The Communications Division (currently located in the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs) will be transferred to the Department of Industry, Trade and Technology so that it can assume a leading role in this area.

59. Encourage the development of an education-related information industry to create products for the Province's education system and for export; develop enhanced instructional capacity in software design and development in our community colleges and university.

60. Support the private sector through the development and implementation of a program aimed at exporting the Province's business and professional consulting services. This program will match local companies with foreign contracts administered by such agencies as CIDA and the World Bank.

Tourism and Culture


The Province's unique history, environment, culture and lifestyle offer some of the greatest opportunities for economic growth in the 1990s and beyond. The combination of its scenic beauty, its long and colourful history, its pristine areas, its rich culture and the renowned talents of its people constitute a resource that is still underdeveloped and underestimated. These resources are not only renewable, but can continue to be expanded and enhanced.

Tourism and culture can also employ, both full time and part time, more people than any other resource or industry. Crafts production, for example, although a long-standing and growing contributor to the provincial economy, can become more business-like and professional and find new opportunities for growth. While our crafts have been successful in this province and in other parts of Canada, there are also significant opportunities in the international marketplace.

As business and daily living become more complex and globally competitive, alternative lifestyle and cultural values will increase in importance when businesses decide where to locate, to meet and to hold conventions, and when people plan vacations. With proper development and promotion of our traditional, indigenous qualities and advantages -especially our unique marine environment - Newfoundland and Labrador can create a niche as a major holiday destination and cultural region in North America.

All the necessary natural and human resource components to achieve these objectives have existed for a long time. What has been lacking is a concerted, co-ordinated strategic program to blend them into one major economic entity.

In the tourism and cultural industries of the future, our relative remoteness from highly industrialized areas, our sparse population in a large landmass, and our relaxed pace of life will be seen as major advantages.

We have much to offer, including

• the oldest and richest history in Canada, with two world heritage sites;
• a marine environment which offers opportunities for cruises, yachting, whale-watching, seabird sanctuaries, wind-surfing, sea-kayaking, ocean sports fishing and other marine-related activities;
• outstanding scenery and ecological diversity;
• world-class hunting and recreational fishing;
• excellent multi-season recreational facilities;
• the wilderness experience at affordable rates;
• a vibrant cultural community, with a rich folklore preserved through five centuries of continuous settlement;
• artists, musicians, actors, writers, sculptors, dancers, and craft artisans - both professional and amateur - in numbers that are disproportionate to our population, and many of whom have achieved national and international stature; and
• a quiet, peaceful, civilized life-style and a reputation for hospitality.

It has been proven in the past that Newfoundland and Labrador is a desirable destination for business and personal travel. We have to build on this reputation by improving facilities and services, and by developing the potential of adventure tourism, events-related visits, conventions, conferences, seminars and executive retreats, and emphasising the attractions for students, writers and researchers, naturalists, artists, artisans, performers and others engaged in both professional and amateur cultural activities.

The achievement of this objective will require a concerted, aggressive effort by both Government and the private sector. Tourism and culture are complex industries, involving the mandates of various government departments both provincially and federally, and further development will require active partnerships between industry associations and individuals, government agencies and departments, communities and municipalities.
At the present time, the essential components of a vibrant tourism and culture industry are spread through the departments of Development, Municipal and Provincial Affairs, Environment and Lands, and Enterprise Newfoundland and Labrador. Consolidation and co-ordination of government activities is necessary.

Strategy Statement. The Province mil implement programs to ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador is developed into an internationally known destination of choice in the vacation and business travel industry by promoting our natural advantages, expanding and improving facilities and services, and enhancing and promoting our cultural resources.



Actions. The Province will

61. Establish a new Department of Tourism and Culture. This new department will include the Tourism Branch of the Department of Development, the Cultural Affairs and Historic Resources divisions of the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, the Parks and Wildlife divisions of the Department of Environment and Lands, and the Crafts Industry activities of Enterprise Newfoundland and Labrador.

62. Through the new Department, immediately initiate a consultation process with representatives of the tourism, cultural, environmental, and recreational sectors to develop and implement a comprehensive Tourism and Culture Economic Strategy. This joint task force would build on the extensive research and consultation of the Economic Recovery Commission, the O'Flaherty Report and other sources as required.

63. Give priority to the development of special year-round events of national and international interest within the Province, such as unique festivals, cultural activities, tournaments, historical observances and celebrations.

64. Assist the John Cabot (1997) 500th Anniversary Corporation to maximize the economic benefits to be realized from the international activities associated with the 500th Anniversary of John Cabot's landfall.

65. Initiate private-sector and other partnerships to develop further primary destination areas, especially those which offer multi-season potential.

66. Give priority to the development of winter recreation attractions, particularly further development of the Marble Mountain area as a major skiing destination area; and the development of cross country skiing, snowmobiling and dog-sledding events.

67. Expand the national and international conventions and meetings trade through promotional contact with societies, organizations and corporations, and encourage the development of facilities and services for business meetings and executive retreats; where possible, meetings and conventions should be coordinated with special events and observances. The success of these efforts will  likely create a demand for additional facilities to be provided by the private sector.

68. Recognize the western region of Newfoundland and Labrador as a specific cultural destination to maximize the economic benefits from its unique attractions, such as the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (L'Anse aux Meadows and Gros Morne) located within a few hours' drive from each other, the 4,000-year-old Maritime Archaic Indian burial ground at Port au Choix, the Basque whaling station at Red Bay, the historic Grenfell Mission headquarters in St. Anthony, the Stephenville Festival of the Arts, French heritage festivals in the St. George's-Port au Port region, and other events and attractions of cultural importance.

69. Further develop the fine arts school at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook as an Atlantic Fine Arts Centre of Learning, for the development of drama, music, folklore, visual arts, writing and associated disciplines.

70. Seek a Cooperation Agreement in Cultural Industries with the Federal Government.

71. Transfer administration and control of Arts and Culture Centres to appropriate regional or community organizations.

72. Implement programs to facilitate the development of adventure tourism. Research and other initiatives will be undertaken in the areas of marketing, training and upgrading standards of quality and performance. Legislation, regulations and policies will be reviewed to remove constraints which restrict further development of this activity.

73. Give priority to the revitalization of recreational fishing on the salmon rivers of the Province - an activity which can become one of the major contributors to the tourism industry if developed fully. Management of these rivers will ensure that maximum economic benefits accrue to the adjacent communities. The new Department of Tourism and Culture will play a leading role in the development of all recreational fisheries.

74. Eliminate unnecessary and unfair regulations which limit opportunities to develop and promote attractions and services; and improve regulations which enhance the quality of tourism and those which protect the public, the environment and the wilderness resource.

75. Participate in industry's implementation of an accommodations grading system and a human resource development program focused on improving the quality of our hospitality services. Emphasis will be placed on training, enforcing occupational standards and certification through licensing and assistance programs.

76. Ensure that funding assistance for new tourism activity will not be detrimental to present operations.


77. Extend the operating season of selected provincial parks and historic sites in response to tourist demand, and request the Federal Government to take similar action for facilities falling within their jurisdiction.

78. Seek Federal Government participation in the establishment of a National Wilderness Park in Labrador.

79. Pursue improvements in the quality of the Gulf ferry service operated for the Federal Government by Marine Atlantic and seek a reduction in fares.

80. Implement a new highway signs policy to address current industry concerns and provide dear direction and information for travelers.

81. Increase production and enhance the quality of crafts through expanded community college programs and additional field instruction.

82. Through adequate research and development of products, effective promotion, provision of operating capital for producers, and the establishment of marketing agencies (retail and wholesale) within and outside the province, ensure that craft production and marketing are integral components of the tourism and culture industry.

Energy


Energy represents a large and growing component of the provincial economy. It is a critical part of virtually every production process, and its price, availability and reliability are of the utmost importance to economic progress. Factors affecting energy thus influence our productivity and competitiveness, especially the heavy industrial users of electricity. Its price and availability also affect the standard of living of the Province's citizens.

Total energy demand in 1990 was equivalent to about 20 million barrels of oil. Increases in the residential and transportation sectors were offset by a substantial decrease in the industrial sector, attributable to a decrease in mining and manufacturing activity. Overall, refined petroleum products accounted for 65% of energy consumption, electricity 27% and wood fuel 8%. Transportation is the largest energy-consuming group (42%), followed by industries (29%), residential use (20%) and commercial establishments (9%). It is estimated that the direct contribution of the energy industry to the Province's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1990 was in the order of $571 million, or 7%.

Strategy Statement. Government mil work to ensure that efficient energy resource management is used to strengthen the contribution of energy to overall economic development objectives.


Action. The Province will

83. Undertake a thorough review of existing energy policy to ensure that it is consistent with changing local, national and international economic conditions. An important aspect of this work will be to consolidate the many components into a comprehensive and integrated energy policy document.

Electricity Generation


Under current demand forecasts, there will be a need for an additional supply of electricity to the island portion of the province as early as 1996. Given the anticipated demand estimates and the lead times necessary to bring a new supply on line, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro recently called for proposals for the supply of 50 MW of capacity from small hydro sites for that time frame. Decisions about these additional sources will have to be made within a year or two.

One option for meeting the shortfall beyond the year 2000 is the development of the Lower Churchill River hydro sites, including a transmission link from Labrador to the Island. The National Energy Board shows the Lower Churchill River development as ranking number one in economic priority among 45 identified energy projects in North America. This option would provide an assured long-term supply of electricity to the Island for the 21st century and would accommodate any feasible industrial activity in Labrador but is dependent on an agreement between Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and Hydro Quebec.

Because of uncertainty associated with the Lower Churchill development, it is necessary to consider a strategy to meet the anticipated supply shortfall in case that development is delayed or does not proceed. In either case, to meet its requirements the Province would have to rely more extensively on other alternatives, such as other hydro developments, alternative energy developments and/or expansion of the existing Holyrood oil-fired plant. In addition, the Province will have to pursue improvements in energy efficiency and cogeneration, primarily as a means to improve the competitiveness of local industry.

Strategy Statement. The Province's objective is to ensure the development, generation and distribution of electricity in the most economical and efficient manner, to ensure that the balance of supply and demand is maintained and to maximize economic benefits to the Province from energy projects.


Actions. The Province will

84. Continue to pursue development of the Lower Churchill River so as to maximize economic benefits to the Province and provide residents with a long-term supply of electricity at a stable price.

85. Through the Department of Mines and Energy and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, prepare a plan for energy efficiency and the development of various energy sources to ensure the future balance of energy supply and demand for the Province.

86. Amend the Electric Power Control Act to broaden the mandate of the Public Utilities Board, including giving the PUB the authority to review agreements such as that envisaged for the Lower Churchill River Development.

87. Put in place policies to maximize electricity generated from small hydro developments as a means of increasing economic development and reducing dependence on imported oil.

Petroleum


The current policy of the Province with respect to onshore and offshore petroleum resources is to encourage and promote development in a manner which maximizes economic benefits to the Province. Presently, however, prospects for offshore oil and gas are uncertain because of such factors as the withdrawal of Gulf Canada from the Hibernia development, low prices resulting in low cash flow to industry, and competing projects elsewhere in the world.

For Hibernia, the best scenario is that the remaining owners will find a new partner and that the project will be finished with a production start in 1997. The worst is that the current difficulties experienced with Hibernia will not be overcome. In other offshore projects, the Province should see the start of development on at least one and possibly other fields, such as Terra Nova, Whiterose and Hebron, by the year 2000 or shortly thereafter.
Though the present level of exploration is low, the geological potential of the Grand Banks area is significant and future drilling is expected to find additional commercial-size fields. The offshore and onshore areas of the Province's west coast also offer some promise, as evidenced by the interest in land sales and seismic surveys in the past two years.

Strategy Statement. The Province will encourage both onshore and offshore exploration and development opportunities through all measures available to it, including the continuing development of a regulatory framework sensitive to changing economic conditions and global competition for investment.


Actions. The Province will

88. Develop and implement competitive generic royalty regimes for both onshore and offshore petroleum production.



89. Work with the Federal Government towards identifying and eliminating constraints in the current land tenure system for the offshore area.

90. Actively monitor and provide advice and direction, as required, to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board to maximize the use of goods and services provided from within the Province.

91. Insist on having appropriate input into employment and industrial benefits plans as a prerequisite to the start of individual oil exploration programs and new oilfield developments.

92. Aggressively pursue supplier development initiatives and ensure that full and fair opportunity to bid is provided for contracts related to petroleum exploration, development and production.

93. Develop a program to ensure that onshore and offshore petroleum resources are promoted in an effective manner.

94. Ensure that the employment and industrial benefits from the Hibernia project production phase are maximized.

Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy


Energy efficiency and alternative energy can play an important role in the state of the Province's energy supply in the 1990s. The Department of Mines and Energy, in consultation with representatives from the private sector, has prepared a ten-year Strategic Plan for Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy. This plan will improve the efficiency of energy use in Newfoundland and Labrador through new technologies and better operating practices for vehicles, equipment and buildings. The plan also encourages the development of local alternative energy resources, such as waste wood, peat and small hydro developments.

Strategy Statement. The Province will develop its alternative energy resources and promote energy efficiency as a means of contributing to its overall energy requirements, to lessen its reliance on imported petroleum products and to create new business opportunities.


Actions. The Province will

95. Implement the recommendations of the Strategic Plan for Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy. Some of the key actions of this plan are

• to establish a diverse program of measures, ranging from information dissemination to legislative changes, to reduce costs through energy efficiency improvements and the use of alternative energy sources, with the aim of improving the competitiveness of local business and industry;
• to continue to promote, through support for energy research and development, alternative energy technologies and engineering studies, and economic development of the province's vast peat resources; and
• amend regulations to facilitate the development of hydroelectric and other potential energy sources by independent power producers.

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Change and Challenge: Chapter Six - Enhancing our resource industries