The Sir Robert Bond Papers
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Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
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30 July 2013
Voids and Spatter #nlpoli
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Watch too many crime shows and after a while a few of the ideas start to sing into your skull. Take blood spatter for example. In some ki...
29 July 2013
Yakabuski nails it… again. #nlpoli
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Konrad Yakabuski warned in 2006 that Newfoundland and Labrador would probably get a huge financial shock trying to develop the Lower Churc...
More Gil Bennett nuttiness #nlpoli
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Gill Bennett is a smart guy. That’s why he is in charge of a project as large as Muskrat Falls. So when Gil Bennett says something that o...
27 July 2013
Look to Quebec courts, not prov gov for disclosure: Marshall #nlpoli
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The people of Newfoundland and Labrador won;t get information on Muskrat falls water management from the provincial government or its energy...
Dunder-Dex offside with Emera #nlpoli #nspoli #cdnpoli
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Premiers Kathy Dunderdale and Darrell Dexter may be telling everyone that the Maritime Link can;t be stopped but the private sector company ...
26 July 2013
The price of a dam #nlpoli
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If crap was electricity, Nalcor would have the market cornered. Da byes running the Muskrat falls project are very good at spewing words ...
Like water for muskrats #nlpoli
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Wednesday it was Kathy Dunderdale. Thursday, they sent Tom Marshall to chat with Bill Rowe on Open Line to do damage control in the wake ...
25 July 2013
Bubbles and the Politics of Neener-Neener-Neener #nlpoli
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Kathy Dunderdale called Bill Rowe on Wednesday [via daveadey ] to have one of her periodic core dumps on what is going on in the universe. ...
24 July 2013
The Hydro-Quebec Statement of Claim #nlpoli
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Via labradore , the statement of claim filed on behalf of Hydro-Quebec earlier this week. You can search it and read it in English. Thos...
A party like the others #nlpoli
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Among the oldest of old Canadian political jokes is that you went to the Tory conventions to drink, the Liberal conventions to get laid, and...
There’s desperate and then there’s Dunderdale #nlpoli
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Take away the bluster : “The agenda won’t be set by Quebec in terms of how we do our work, how we develop our resources, and how we access ...
23 July 2013
UARB: “substantial uncertainty” about Nalcor supply of market-priced energy #nlpoli
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You can read the full decision by the UARB ( pdf ) but here are some points to note. Right off the bat, you will see in the full report th...
Pride goeth, more undisclosed risk, and all that #nlpoli
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There are so many ways that Ed Martin, his crew at Nalcor, and the provincial Conservatives and all their supporters have screwed themselves...
22 July 2013
Hydro-Quebec to seek clarity on contract rights #nlpoli
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From Hydro-Quebec : MONTREAL, July 22, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Hydro-Québec is filing a motion today with the Québec Superior Court to obta...
So what’s Kathy’s problem? #nlpoli
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So if Stephen Harper’s staffing problem is that “ all the good ones quit ”, what is the story on the staffing problems in Kathy Dunderdale’...
The Imaginary Nation #nlpoli
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Look at the shelves in any bookstore around town these days and you will likely see endless copies of Greg Malone’s book Don’t tell the Newf...
19 July 2013
History’s Bitch #nlpoli
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A half century ago, a bunch of very smart fellows – some of the smartest fellows of any generation ever – wanted to build a massive plant i...
18 July 2013
You got cash? They’ve got a party. #nlpoli
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The party that brought the province its first and only election finance law in 1991 is currently in the midst of a campaign to select its o...
17 July 2013
Nut up or shut up #nlpoli
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The Liberal leadership is not even a couple of weeks old and already reporters are getting inundated with the suggestions from anonymous tur...
16 July 2013
On change #nlpoli
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One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen might change the world, as Malala Yousefzai says. The pen and book are of no use, though, ...
Learn Now. Pay Later. #nlpoli
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A college or university education has an undeniable value both to the student and to the society as a whole. But should either party bear ...
15 July 2013
Antle changes dynamics of Liberal leadership race #nlpoli
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Last November , it was easy to dismiss Paul Antle as another potential Liberal leadership candidate who lots of people talked about but who...
13 July 2013
Telly exclusive on SNC Lavalin???? #nlpoli
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Screaming headline across the top of the front page of the Saturday Telly: SNC-Lavalin shut out of Hydro-Quebec projects And right u...
12 July 2013
Yvonne - math #nlpoli
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Liberal member of parliament Yvonne Jones is pissed off. She told VOCM that “there are 1,016 people that are payrolled [sic]under the Mus...
Jerome Kennedy: ace hole digger #nlpoli
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Score another one for the Telegram’ s James McLeod. He interviewed finance minister Jerome Kennedy and wrote a story that centred on Kenn...
11 July 2013
Highly Diffused Government #nlpoli
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By now, plenty of people in Newfoundland and Labrador have likely heard finance minister Jerome Kennedy’s comments about his party’s last el...
10 July 2013
Autonomy for Memorial University #nlpoli
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One of the things about writing SRBP is that posts sometimes show changes in thinking as your humble e-scribbler gains more information. O...
09 July 2013
Paul Antle’s Opening Shot #nlpoli
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Here’s the e-mail that’s making the rounds: I am running for Leader of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. I have no confid...
“China is already so yesterday” #nlpoli
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Memorial University’s dean of graduate studies wasn’t so keen on China as a source of students in February 2011 . In a post on her blog Pos...
08 July 2013
Some inconvenient truths: goring some educational sacred cows #nlpoli
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Friday turned out to be Post-Secondary Education Day with a post here on the impact of the freeze on tuition fees and a fascinating Telegram...
07 July 2013
VOCM more like Fox and Sun #nlpoli
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VOCM’s newsroom is taking a massive step downward with a headline on the Liberal leadership. On Friday, Dwight Ball stepped down as interim...
05 July 2013
Great Political Quotes: Tax Shelter edition #nlpoli
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“We lost, but that passion for fighting the injustice of a retroactive law change — that passion I will bring to the Liberal Party of New...
The price of subsidy – MUN Tuition
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In early June, a CBC investigation revealed that Memorial University is charging special fees for some international graduates students. Th...
04 July 2013
A long way from best in class #nlpoli
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Cathy Bennett’s leadership launch event was organized as one would expect. Her speech was scripted and, hand gestures and all, well rehear...
03 July 2013
The Campaign Starts… #nlpoli
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Okay anyone who believed Cathy Bennett was “thinking about it” over the weekend know that she was already getting her Liberal leadership cam...
02 July 2013
The Politics of Fashion #nlpoli
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As it turns out, Corporate Research Associates president Don Mills had lots to say to the St. John’s Board of Trade besides a few guesses. ...
01 July 2013
The Great War and Newfoundland Nationalism #nlpoli
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This is a revised version of post that originally appeared on July 4, 2012. ___________________________________ Mark Humphries is an ...
Commemoration Day, 2013 #nlpoli
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Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow! You let your soul go down upon its knees And with bowed head, and heart abased stri...
29 June 2013
Did his nose just grow… again? #nlpoli
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According to Nalcor boss Ed Martin, the absence of a mere $15 million of old-fashioned 2D seismic was an obstacle to multi-billion dollar g...
28 June 2013
The Crucible #nlpoli
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If the Conservative Party in Newfoundland and Labrador threw out people who had been a Liberal or a New Democrat before, there wouldn’t be e...
27 June 2013
Water and beans #nlpoli
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You don’t make the kind of telephone calls Cathy Bennett has been making if you aren’t already headed toward an announcement you will go aft...
26 June 2013
Cathy Bennett to seek Liberal leadership #nlpoli
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SRBP expects that Cathy Bennett, chair of the Bennett Group of companies, will announce her bid for the provincial Liberal leadership next w...
Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act and municipal politics #nlpoli
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You mean the Hell’s Angels won’t be deterred by a committee of people telling Doc O’Keefe what they think he should do? -srbp-
Will he bring more than guesses? #nlpoli
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Corporate research Associates president Don Mills is in St. John’s on Wednesday to speak to the Board of Trade. He’s already teased up his ...
24 June 2013
The Year of Living Dubiously #nlpoli
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Conflict of interest is great thing to deal when there is a chance of stopping it or dealing with it, not six or seven years later . Back ...
21 June 2013
Cost Creepy Crawlies #nlpoli
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Maybe it’s the lack of independent corroboration in this Telegram article that just sends a chill up your spine. That’s the one where Nal...
20 June 2013
The Article 82 Question #nlpoli
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Statoil announced on Wednesday that it had found an unspecified quantity of oil in its Harpoon property about 500 kilometres offshore Newf...
19 June 2013
The New Chinese Connection #nlpoli
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Premier Kathy Dunderdale took off for China on Tuesday as part of a new effort to get Chinese state-owned companies to invest in the provin...
Why aren’t they happy? #nlpoli
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Here are some screen captures for your consideration. CBC’s Jeremy Eaton took the video as part of his coverage of a great announcement. ...
The Ever-Changing Provincial Energy Plan #nlpoli
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Premier Kathy Dunderdale told delegates to the provincial offshore oil and gas industries association on Tuesday that the provincial govern...
18 June 2013
Arse-lighting #nlpoli
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Nothing says make me leader of a party that seems to have accidentally struck a chord with voters than spreading false information and then ...
Sexism Alive in Canadian Politics #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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Sexism is alive and well in Canadian politics but it isn’t coming from any of the places you might expect. Donna Dasko is a co-founder an...
17 June 2013
Montana Time #nlpoli
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Both CBC provincial affairs reporter David Cochrane and Telegram editor Russell Wangersky had opinion pieces this weekend telling the pro...
14 June 2013
Ministerial Whimsy #nlpoli
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Ever wonder why the provincial government passes laws and then never puts them into force? Like the Sustainable Development Act that the ...
13 June 2013
Inquiring Minds? You don’t want to know. #nlpoli
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Denial and evasion, wrote Andrew Coyne last week, are only making worse three political scandals. He’s referring to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford ...
12 June 2013
Concerning Partisan Communications from Non-Partisan Government Officials #nlpoli
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Keith Hutchings issued a news release on Tuesday to respond to”inaccuracies on CETA negotiations.” That’s what the headline on the release ...
11 June 2013
And then magic will happen: Kennedy #nlpoli
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Corporate Research Associates obscures what little useful information there is in its quarterly polling by converting party choice numbers t...
10 June 2013
If at first you don’t succeed… #nlpoli
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Shoot your self in the foot yet again. The Conservative candidate in Cartwright – L’anse au Claire is committed to proving his party runs ...
07 June 2013
Get worried-er #nlpoli
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Here are a bunch of stories all of which would deserve a post of their own but that are presented here cut down to the barest of bare essent...
06 June 2013
Get Worried #nlpoli
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Not surprisingly, a band of familiar faces turned up at Nalcor’s annual public meeting to put questions about Muskrat Falls to Ed Martin, ...
05 June 2013
Rumpole and the Big Smoke #nlpoli
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Here’s the official summary of a judge’s decision in a recent arson case: Accused was charged with arson. The Crown failed to prove bey...
Fluidity #nlpoli
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As a rule, cabinet ministers should be able to tell you exactly what government policy is on any given subject. They all sit at the same t...
04 June 2013
IOCC cuts staff #nlpoli
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The Iron Ore Company of Canada has made cuts to its offices in St.John’s, Montreal, Labrador City and Sept Iles, according to the weekly new...
Off track betting #nlpoli
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That big, ginormous phone-banging-up, trade dispute thingy with evil Ottawa? So not happening any more. "We seem to be back on trac...
Familiar tunes amid the Shifting Balance of Power #nlpoli
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All the talk the past week or so about negotiations between the crowd in Confederation Building and the crowd in Ottawa brought out the con...
03 June 2013
No Surplus to Supply #nlpoli
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Critics of the Muskrat Falls development pointed out over 18 months ago that the project would have problems meeting its electricity commitm...
31 May 2013
If they do it, it is wrong #nlpoli
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On Monday, Kathy Dunderdale said it was wrong for the federal government to try and jam her up by connecting the federal loan guarantee on M...
The Divide Deepens. #nlpoli
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David Cochrane called it right the other day in the scrum with Kathy Dunderdale. He asked if she was laying the groundwork for a failure at...
30 May 2013
There’s something to be said for eloquence #nlpoli
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Russell Wangersky is a fine writer with a keen and insightful mind. He is also an editor at the province’s largest circulation daily. Th...
Dunderdale and Dalley tell different trade talk stories #nlpoli
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Premier Kathy Dunderdale ( via NTV ): We’re looking for a ‘carve-out’ on the minimum processing regulations … so they’ll be exempted, a...
29 May 2013
Kathy Dunderdale's Give-Aways #nlpoli
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There is something about Kathy Dunderdale’s speech to the Board of Trade that leaves you decidedly uncomfortable. Part of it is the mentio...
28 May 2013
Do we have it? #nlpoli
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Kathy Dunderdale had a pretty easy audience on Monday for her relaxed, ambling speech about a whole bunch of stuff. It was the St. John’s ...
27 May 2013
Like Father. Like Son. #nlpoli
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So after a teaser column in the Telegram last week that was more creative fiction than serious history or memoir, John Crosbie explained wh...
24 May 2013
Lowest Cost Option #nlpoli
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Note: The words glory hole and shaft in this post are terms used in the mining and oil and gas industries. The provincial government is alm...
23 May 2013
Polling Voters #nlpoli
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If you are still mulling over the British Columbia election result and the polls, take a look at this post by Eric Grenier at threehundredei...
It just doesn’t stop #nlpoli
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There’s a new anti-Conservative picture around town. This one is via Twitter (@openionated ). -srbp-
Beth and Expenses #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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All this talk of Senator Beth Marshall and her hefty annual stipend for chairing a committee that has met once in two years brings to mind ...
22 May 2013
There’s no crap like old crap #nlpoli
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And John Crosbie’s recent column (May 18) in the Telegram about Churchill Falls contains some of the oldest - and completely unsubstantiat...
21 May 2013
Political Grab-Bag #nlpoli
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For the first day back after a long weekend, here are some short snappers on some issues swirling around these days at the national scene.
20 May 2013
Stagnation and Decay #nlpoli
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The House of Assembly finished its spring session on Thursday after what appears to be one of the shortest sessions in the past 30 years. ...
17 May 2013
The NAPE Poll Income #nlpoli
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As it turns out, Harris-Decima used household income not individual income for weighting the poll they did for NAPE. Keith Dunne, NAPE’s com...
16 May 2013
Self Skew-ered #nlpoli
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Two thirds of tax filers in Newfoundland and Labrador report incomes of less than $35,000 per year. The Harris-Decima poll released by th...
The Fruits of A Very Poisonous Tree #nlpoli
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Premier Kathy Dunderdale said on Tuesday that the province will have problems now that it doesn’t have a federal cabinet minister from this ...
15 May 2013
The Decline of the Forest Empire #nlpoli
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While an official with Corner Brook’s municipal government understandably has to say wonderful things about the economy in the west coast c...
14 May 2013
Steep Curves and Third Place #nlpoli
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Liberal leader Dwight Ball told CBC’s David Cochrane this past weekend that his job as Opposition Leader came with a steep learning curve. ...
The $150K Communications Audit #nlpoli
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Poor Jerome Kennedy. They sent him out Monday to explain to reporters what the government got for its $150,000 audit by Fleishman-Hillard ...
13 May 2013
Keep on churnin’ #nlpoli
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You can add another five changes to the record of senior executive appointments cabinet has made since the beginning of the year, according ...
Where was Fairity’s contract chopper? #nlpoli
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In the wake of the tragic death last week of Joseph Riche, it shouldn’t be surprising that some people, including some politicians , are bla...
10 May 2013
More on the 2009 Rift #nlpoli
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The Kremlinology post on Trevor Taylor, Paul Oram and the apparent policy disagreement in cabinet in 2008/09 generated two contacts (a twee...
09 May 2013
Kremlinology 44: the 2009 Rift in Cabinet #nlpoli
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Trevor Taylor left politics in 2009 in an unseemly hurry. One minute he was there. Next minute? Gone from cabinet and the House of Ass...
08 May 2013
Tom Marshall’s Dead Muskrat Sketch #nlpoli
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Tom Marshall used to be the finance minister. He’s the guy who consistently, year after year, spent more than the people of the province ...
07 May 2013
And you want to be my latex salesman? #nlpoli
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Last week SRBP noted that the provincial cabinet seems to be having some difficulty getting legislation into the House for debate. Normal...
Ground Control to Major Tom #nlpoli
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New Democratic Party leader Lorraine Michael asked natural resources minister Tom Marshall in the House of Assembly on Monday about Husky’s...
Not the arse-end of the world … #nlpoli
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Check out the 2012 Hydro-Quebec annual report and you will find a lovely chart showing trends in energy prices in northeastern North Americ...
06 May 2013
Why separate? #nlpoli
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Last week, the federal Auditor General pointed out many serious problems with the state of offshore search and rescue. Last week, the usua...
03 May 2013
Husky sizing up natural gas offshore Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
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Husky Energy is sizing up the potential of developing natural gas offshore Newfoundland and Labrador within the next decade, according to th...
Light Session #nlpoli
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As of May 2, there are a mere six pieces of legislation on the list of bills currently set for debate in the House of Assembly. It seems t...
02 May 2013
Seen on a pole somewhere #nlpoli
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-srbp-
01 May 2013
Political Translator: No’durn Strategy #nlpoli
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Former premier Tom Rideout has an accent typical of the northeast coast of Newfoundland. in his days as a cabinet minister after 2003, Rid...
Province settles Fortis asset grab for $76 million #nlpoli
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Natural resources minister Tom Marshall announced in the House of Assembly on Tuesday that the provincial government had settled with the l...
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