The Sir Robert Bond Papers
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Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
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29 August 2012
The Great Liberal PIFO Roadshow #nlpoli
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On the front page of Tuesday’s Telegram was a story on the provincial Liberal Party’s renewal process. it isn’t available online unless you...
28 August 2012
The Muskrat Falls Debate (on Twitter) #nlpoli
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Over at the Telegram, you’ll find two blog posts that are well worth your time if you want to get more insights into the ongoing discussion ...
The Return of the Public Accounts Committee #nlpoli
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Supporters of the current governing party like to talk about how theirs is the most open, accountable and transparent government of all time...
27 August 2012
Neil Armstrong 1930-2012
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A profile of the first human to walk on the moon, from 60 Minutes : -srbp-
25 August 2012
No deal likely on Hebron 3rd module #nlpoli
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CBC’s got the story: ExxonMobil will be able to move work related to the Hebron oil project out of Newfoundland within days, as the po...
24 August 2012
If they don’t stop it, we’ll go blind #nlpoli
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You have to wonder sometimes how far Tory politicians will go to issue a good news comment of some kind during the time when the government ...
Williams prepared to wrap arms around Quebec #nlpoli
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There’s something just too funny for words about former Premier Danny Williams sometimes. It’s the kind of “too funny” where you don’t kno...
Tense Problems #nlpoli
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“As a lawyer,” natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy told reporters on Thursday,” you’d often hear the phrase that the best predictor of...
23 August 2012
Dunderdale: Hydro-Quebec equity in Lower Churchill and no ‘69 redress part of ‘win-win’ for HQ #nlpoli
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For five years, the provincial Conservatives secretly tried to interest Quebec in part ownership of the Lower Churchill, according to Premi...
Two views of Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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In Nova Scotia, energy minister Charlie Parker touted the benefits of the Muskrat falls deal for his province in a letter to the Chronicle H...
22 August 2012
The Politics of Oil and Budgets #nlpoli
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When any country or province depends heavily on the money that comes from resource extraction, it affects politics there. Political scient...
21 August 2012
The Permanent Echo Chamber of Horrors #nlpoli
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To borrow a phrase from Quebec Premier Jean Charest the other day, Twitter is a conversation between apparatchiks and journalists. That’s ...
Kremlinology 41: All politics is personal #nlpoli
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On Friday, the Conservatives sent Mount Pearl North MHA Steve Kent out as the designated hitter in a deliberate, orchestrated personal attac...
Not exactly, there, Tom, b’y #nlpoli
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As part of the orchestrated campaign to attack the people making the comments instead of the comments themselves , finance minister Tom Mars...
20 August 2012
Fourth time a charm: Kennedy changes MF “key point” …again #nlpoli
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How many times should anyone need to change the key point in any discussion? Well, this past weekend, natural resources minister Jerome Ke...
Hydro-Quebec to get Muskrat Falls electricity #nlpoli
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Under a complex arrangement, Nalcor will send electricity from Muskrat Falls to Quebec in place of electricity from Churchill Falls during s...
17 August 2012
They love going sleaze ball #nlpoli #connieplaybook
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One enduring characteristic of Conservative political comments since 2003 is the resort to personal attacks. It must be Rule Number One in...
Radio Free Nalcor #nlpoli
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Talk about putting on the full court press to try and squeeze out every favourable bit of commentary for a project that remains mired in con...
The politics of gas price fixing #nlpoli
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Gas prices used to be a hot political topic in Newfoundland and Labrador. A lot of people thought that the provincial government could do...
Navigator Online #nlpoli
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Turn your browser to a new blog from The Navigator . For those who don’t know it, The Navigator is a monthly magazine about the fishery ...
16 August 2012
Three of a kind #nlpoli
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A series of posts at The Monkey Cage describe Martin Gilens research on the connection between public policy and personal income. Part 1:...
A distinction that makes a difference #nlpoli
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As part of the commemoration events for the War of 1812, the part of the Department of National Defence responsible for ceremony has decided...
15 August 2012
Any similarity is purely coincidental #nlpoli
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Two announcements. The one in February consisted of three paragraphs, 10 lines, and 111 words. The obligatory quote from the minister: ...
Muskrat Falls: the revised cost for consumers #nlpoli
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If, as Shawn Skinner suggests, the cost of Muskrat Falls is going to jump by a third or more by the time we find out what the Decision Gate...
14 August 2012
Suppressing Dissent #nlpoli
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One of the hallmarks of the Conservative political method since 2003 has been the suppression of public dissent. Anyone who wants to raise...
Marshall’s release doesn’t match DBRS public statements #nlpoli
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Simply put, Tom Marshall’s most recent news release about the report by Dominion Bond Rating Service doesn’t match what the bond rating age...
13 August 2012
Muskrat Falls Cost Estimates: the Skinner Numbers #nlpoli
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Former natural resources minister Shawn Skinner said this past weekend that he expected the next cost estimate for Muskrat Falls will be ar...
10 August 2012
The politics of table salt #nlpoli
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Tom Hedderson would probably like a do-over. Responding to an opposition call for a ban on road-side pesticide use by Hedderson’s departme...
Thinking about Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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People in Nova Scotia are doing a lot of thinking about Muskrat Falls, so it seems. Here’s part of an opinion piece by Brendan Halley that ...
That would be so cool… #nlpoli
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All that stuff about peak oil, oil shortages and ever increasing oil prices? You know, the sort of stuff that some people claim justifies ...
Bench Mark #nlpoli
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The names of two lawyers who might appear in an upcoming news release: James Walsh Lori Marshall -srbp-
09 August 2012
Take Tom with a grain of salt #nlpoli
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Apparently, a herbicide used by the provincial government is about as toxic as table salt. For those who missed it, here’s transportat...
August Muskrat Round-up #nlpoli
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First up , there are lots of ways to make bad decisions. The Telegram’s Russell Wangersky did a fine job on Tuesday of pointing out that...
08 August 2012
Williams sides with Quebec on energy #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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Danny Williams always likes someone who stands up for his or her province. Well, likes them as long as the someone doing the standing up s...
07 August 2012
The Multiple Muskrat Falsehoods #nlpoli
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Zack: Check it out, all about planets this month. Leonard: That’s an atom. Zack: Agree to disagree. That’s what I love about scie...
06 August 2012
The Farce just goes on and on… #nlpoli
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The farce that is the provincial government’s effort to sell the Muskrat Falls project continues to roll along. There are no timelines, th...
03 August 2012
A change might be as good as a rest #nlpoli
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A sign of the problems plaguing Kathy Dunderdale’s aging Conservative administration and their dramatic fall in the polls: she’s punted her...
02 August 2012
The cut-throat world of economics #nlpoli
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Anyone who attended Wade Locke’s presentation on Muskrat Falls got a tiny glimpse of the vicious world that is modern academics. it came in...
If Ontarians jumped off the wharf… #nlpoli
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Ontarians subsidized electricity exports from their province to the tune of about $2.50 a kilowatt hour according to a recent report by the...
01 August 2012
Kathy’s Experts #nlpoli
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Would you take advice on a megaproject from a company whose own megaproject is 86% over budget and 26 months behind schedule – and counting?...
31 July 2012
A Big Tell on Muskrat Falls Exports #nlpoli
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A meeting of the Eastern Canadian premiers and all the New England Governors and the provincial government here sends Keith Hutchings . W...
A finalized term sheet? #nlpoli
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Nalcor and Emera signed a finalised term sheet to develop Muskrat Falls in November 2010. The next step was supposed to be negotiation of ...
30 July 2012
The Art of Budget Forecasting #nlpoli
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The provincial government set its budget this year based on an oil price forecast of US$124 a barrel in 2012. As we move up on the midway ...
Those friggers from [insert name of province] #nlpoli
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Anyone steeped in the whole Quebec-Newfoundland fight over hydro-electricity exports will look at the whole Alberta-British Columbia fight o...
27 July 2012
The Magic Number #nlpoli
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“Nalcor’s position”, wrote the joint federal-provincial review panel on the Lower Churchill project, “was that up to 800 MW of energy from ...
Demand Forecasts #nlpoli
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Yesterday’s offhand reference to Nalcor’s electricity demand forecasts brought home a couple of points to your humble e-scribbler. The bi...
26 July 2012
NL wheeling power through Quebec #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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From April 2009, here’s Kathy Dunderdale – then the province’s natural resources minister – quoted in a news release on an historic agreeme...
There’s no greater yada than a yada yada #nlpoli
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The Nunatukavut are a group of aboriginal people living in Labrador. They used to be known as the Labrador Metis. In October 2003 , Danny...
Managing Electricity Demand #nlpoli
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Nalcor’s forecast for electricity demand on the island of Newfoundland doesn’t really show a massive increase over the next couple of decade...
Gander at the goosing #nlpoli
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Apparently, your humble e-scribbler got on Steve Kent’s nerves. The Conservative politician and his friends have been bombarding Twitter a...
25 July 2012
Some help for the St. John’s Board of Trade #nlpoli
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…who have suddenly discovered that the provincial economy is in serious need of diversification: a 2010 series called the Fragile Economy ....
Repsol may sell New Brunswick LNG port #nlpoli
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Spanish oil and gas company Repsol may be looking to sell its interest in the Saint John New Brunswick liquefied natural gas facility. Th...
The tone at the top - federal version #nlpoli
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Marni Soupcoff has got it right about the campaign finance scandal currently swirling around federal intergovernmental affairs minister Pet...
24 July 2012
There’s reality and … #nlpoli
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Premier Kathy Dunderdale decided to talk about reality on Monday. A reality check she called it: “Everybody sees what’s happening wit...
Reality Check: drops and buckets version #nlpoli
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Via labradore , a chart that plots Conservative unsustainable public spending since 2003 with recently announced controls on discretionary s...
Magical Thinking and the Muskrat Falls Tax #nlpoli
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Muskrat Falls seems to be intimately connected to magic, at least in some people’s minds. For a while there, the gang at Nalcor sounded li...
23 July 2012
More Muskrat Falls Sunk Cost #nlpoli
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That $350 million in sunk costs from Monday morning’s post wasn’t the whole story, of course. You’ll find more detail – and lots more ca...
Rae backs Muskrat…sort of #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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Big screaming CBC headline : Federal Liberals support Muskrat Falls project: Rae Then you read the story.
Sunk Cost – Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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The chart below is taken from a Nalcor information hand-out describing the project’s capital expenditures to the end of March 2011. What ...
21 July 2012
Ya wanna know what stupid is? #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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According to information supplied to the news media – and widely reported already – the helicopter from 444 Squadron used for a training fli...
Dazed and Confused: Swinimer version #nlpoli
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You know things are bad when even the people who back Muskrat Falls without question start challenging stuff that has long ago been proven...
20 July 2012
New Page: The Ghost in the Turbines #nlpoli
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Look up and you’ll see a new page: The Ghost in the Turbines . You’ll eventually find there all the major SRBP posts on Labrador hydroele...
The Stuff We Don’t Know #nlpoli
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Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns: there are t...
19 July 2012
Community Values, Part Deux #nlpoli
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Political science grad student John Samms’ has lengthy post on the antics of local politicians on Twitter. To complain about the asinine ...
Felix Collins: laughingstock #nlpoli
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labradore takes issue with a letter to the editor by justice minister Felix Collins. He systematically demonstrates that Collins’ claim a...
Going down by the front end #nlpoli
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In the late 1980s, the Progressive Conservative administration in Newfoundland and Labrador committed more than $11 million - ultimately $2...
18 July 2012
Executive Politics and Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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In this series, we are not concerned with whether or not the Muskrat Falls project is good or bad. That is a separate issue. Nor are we p...
17 July 2012
High Politics and Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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“[M]ega-projects”, writes political scientist Will Jennings ,” exhibit a ‘performance paradox’ …being prevalent and popular among planners d...
16 July 2012
Cost Over-Runs and Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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When announced in November 2010, the Muskrat Falls dam, the line to the island the connection to Nova Scotia were supposed to cost $6.2 bill...
The Inevitable Muskrat Falls #nlpoli
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One reporter tweeted his impression of the attitude toward Muskrat Falls that seems to come from the provincial governments in Newfoundland ...
14 July 2012
Hebron Dispute: No more give-aways, indeed #nlpoli
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When it comes to the Hebron project, Premier Kathy Dunderdale should know exactly what went wrong with the development deal between the prov...
Share it maybe
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-srbp-
13 July 2012
Provincial government working Hebron dispute outside terms of benefits agreement #nlpoli
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Lots of words came from Premier Kathy Dunderdale and natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy in their dispute over construction of a major...
Muskrat Falls Money Quote 3 #nlpoli
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Premier Kathy Dunderdale, Muskrat Falls lover, from a scrum on Thursday: Dunderdale said due diligence is more important than artifici...
Innu Controversy Widens #nlpoli
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The controversy at the Innu Development Limited Partnership developed some political overtones on Thursday. CBC reported that federal int...
Muskrat Falls Money Quote 2 #nlpoli
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Darrell Dexter, Nova Scotia Premier : "We've already looked at that and we've done studies that look at the delivery of po...
Muskrat Falls Money Quote 1 #nlpoli
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Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, in a scrum after meeting with Premier Kathy Dunderdale about cost over-runs on Muskrat Falls: &quo...
Phake Photos Make Come Back #nlpoli
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The Mighty Ceeb ran a story on Thursday about a block of three houses in downtown St. John’s. Tourists and some residents are upset by a s...
12 July 2012
Muskrat Falls carts, horses, chickens and eggs #nlpoli
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All the Twitter commentary on Thursday about Muskrat Falls and mining prompted your humble e-scribbler to go back and do some checking about...
The Ground Game Counts #nlpoli
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Two posts, quite a distance apart touch on the same basic political (science) issue: the role of the local, get-out-the-vote effort in any ...
The latest bit of drama #nlpoli
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For the record, your humble e-scribbler will refrain from making any comment on the substance of the statements of claim filed by Danny Will...
11 July 2012
What’s missing? #nlpoli
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While the case before the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday was about the federal Elections Act , two provincial chief elections officers...
Autonomy and Legitimate Aspirations #nlpoli
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Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter is ringing the bells, trying to alarm Canadians to the fact the federal government is trying to withdraw ...
10 July 2012
What Falls was that, again? #nlpoli
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Tim Powers is a local boy who has done good for himself as a lobbyist in Ottawa. Powers is a sharp guy who is very well-connected in Tory ci...
Brand Failure #nlpoli
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In another great service to Newfoundland and Labrador, the country’s leading shit-disturber has translated poll results by Abacus Data int...
Maybe it’s just you, Kathy #nlpoli
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Alberta Premier Alison Redford when the Pm dropped in for the Calgary Stampede. As the Globe repor...
09 July 2012
When Johnny Cab breaks #nlpoli
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Last week’s Environics poll caused more than a few people in the province to have a few sleepless nights trying to find a way to prove it w...
Everything old is not new again #nlpoli
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Trying to blow off the implications of last week’s Environics poll, former natural resources minister Shawn Skinner trotted out another lin...
Selective Perception and Strange Bedfellows #nlpoli
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Labour federation president Lana Payne tweeted last week about the latest labour force figures in the province. And that’s true. Accordin...
08 July 2012
Frankenstein – Final
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A bit more work on Sunday morning and Frankenstein’s monster is done. The colouring is unconventional. The instructions call for black ...
Work in progress: Moebius’ Frankenstein #nlpoli
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Here’s a close-up of Moebius’ Frankenstein , the project currently on the old modeller’s workbench. The detail is a little fuzzy because th...
07 July 2012
The Happiness Index #nlpoli
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Leave it to labradore to come up with a new way to look at poll results. He took the results of “satisfaction” questions in polls going b...
06 July 2012
Minister to attend play #nlpoli
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Telling the world that tourism Derrick Dalley will attend a play – no matter what play it is – would not be considered news and it sure as h...
More Hole Spotting #nlpoli
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After the shock that evidently settled into the local Tories, the next most obvious thing about Thursday was the complete absence of any of...
05 July 2012
Hole-spotting: the Environics Poll Results #nlpoli
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By now you have likely heard it all. In one corner are the raft of people trying to dismiss the Environics poll as an outlier, an aberrat...
A latent political bomb #nlpoli
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A few employers have noticed changes to the province’s Labour Relations Act that slipped quietly through the House at the end of the last ...
04 July 2012
Environics latest national poll #nlpoli
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As the country comes out of the long-weekend stupor, a few people noticed a poll released on June 29 by Environics. Nationally, it shows a ...
Beaumont Hamel and the Newfoundland nation #nlpoli
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Mark Humphries is an historian at Memorial University. He spoke with CBC’s Chris O’Neill-Yates on July 1 about the impact of Beaumont Hame...
03 July 2012
What the cod moratorium wrought #nlpoli
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The cod might be gone these 20 years but there are no shortage of people making a fine dollar telling us what it all means. Surely the one...
01 July 2012
Commemoration Day 2012 #nlpoli
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Beaumont Hamel (2010) Newfoundland and the Great War (2010) Commemoration Day 2009 Some July 1 Reading Suggestions (2008) ...
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