The Sir Robert Bond Papers
The real political division in society is between authoritarians and libertarians.
Pages
(Move to ...)
About Ed Hollett
About Sir Robert
Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
▼
06 September 2013
Libs up. Tories and Dippers steady. #nlpoli
›
By now you have all heard about the latest CRA August quarterly marketing poll. Fascinating stuff. Supposedly the Liberals grew at the ...
05 September 2013
The Impact of the Tuition Freeze #nlpoli
›
As students head back to Memorial University, you can see the impact the ongoing tuition freeze is having on the university’s budget. You ...
04 September 2013
The Boom and the Un-Boom #nlpoli
›
Ask people in the St. John’s business community about the economy and they are likely to have trouble holding back the grin long enough to g...
03 September 2013
Province chops tax breaks for two companies #nlpoli
›
On August 1, the provincial cabinet revoked tax breaks granted to two companies in the province under the Economic Development and Growth En...
30 August 2013
Osborne joins the Liberals #nlpoli
›
Not surprisingly, long-serving St. John’s South MHA Tom Osborne has joined the Liberals. Forget all the stuff about what party he fits wit...
29 August 2013
The Stunnel Reborn #nlpoli
›
There’s a story about Danny Williams before he became the Old Man. It was either in 2001 during the by-elections on the Great Northern Peni...
Stay the Course, Choose Change, and the Liberal Alternative #nlpoli
›
Identifying supporters is only part of the challenge in a political campaign. That’s basically what the five candidates in the Liberal lead...
28 August 2013
JM’s assessment of the UARB Decision #nlpoli
›
According to the commentator JM, the implementation of the Utility and Review Board conditional approval will mean that “Nova Scotia will re...
27 August 2013
Getting out the Vote #nlpoli
›
Older people are more likely to vote. In the 2011 federal election, about 50% of the eligible voters aged 18 to 24 years actually voted. ...
26 August 2013
The Problem Described #nlpoli
›
One of the major factors affecting economic development in Newfoundland and Labrador is the literacy level of the population. If you want ...
23 August 2013
The Blue Slide #nlpoli
›
Just flip over to labradore for a look at his latest pretty chart. It shows the compilation of poll results from various sources going bac...
22 August 2013
Liberal Party Fact Check: Search and Rescue #nlpoli
›
What is it about politicians in Newfoundland and Labrador and search and rescue? Seriously. Newly minted Liberal MHA Lisa Dempster issue...
The Value of Controversy and Colleagues
›
Over the past few days, one American political science blog has been at the centre of a pretty hot controversy about a post on the value of...
21 August 2013
Cod, cod everywhere #nlpoli
›
John Furlong left some big shoes to fill over at CBC’s Fisheries Broadcast . As it turn out, the Mother Corp’s head shed found a replacem...
20 August 2013
Another job and a business case #nlpoli
›
One Conservative Kathy gave Ross Reid a new job recently. Last January , your humble e-scribbler had another job in mind for Reid. Kat...
19 August 2013
Do they get free roller blades? #nlpoli
›
Premier Kathy Dunderdale made a few more appointments on Friday to boost her chances of setting a phenomenal record for shifting people aro...
16 August 2013
August is Money Month #nlpoli
›
August is polling month for Corporate Research Associates. In the first 15 days of the month, the provincial government announcement mach...
15 August 2013
Time to re-think dam costs #nlpoli #nspoli
›
They call it Site C. No, it isn’t a sequel to Jurassic Park or The Lost World . Site C is a 900 megawatt hydroelectric dam project in ...
14 August 2013
Summer Reading List
›
A compendium of 100 biases in the way we all think, described in easy-to-understand language, The Art of Thinking Clearly should be require...
13 August 2013
Nalcor’s Complaints to the Regie #nlpoli
›
Last week, the Quebec Superior Court dismissed a motion to hear an appeal from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro over decisions taken by the Q...
12 August 2013
Access denied: CFLCo and Hydro-Quebec version #nlpoli
›
Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation tried but failed in 2012 in an effort to see hundreds of thousands of pages of confidential Hydro-Que...
09 August 2013
Churn, churn, churn #nlpoli
›
For your consideration: a conspicuously large number of changes in the senior levels of the provincial public service over the past four ye...
08 August 2013
The Poster Child for the Churn #nlpoli
›
On Tuesday, Premier Kathy Dunderdale appointed Julia Mullaley to the top job in the provincial public service - Clerk of the Executive Counc...
07 August 2013
Newfoundland and the start of the Great War #nlpoli
›
Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One. There’s no sign of any commemorations or other events to mark the...
Darkness on the Edge of Town #nlpoli
›
Here’s what St. John’s mayor Dennis O’Keefe told city council on Monday, according to the Telegram on Wednesday: O’Keefe proceeded to ...
The Smartest Move She Ever Made #nlpoli
›
Appointing Ross Reid as her chief of staff is probably the smartest thing Premier Kathy Dunderdale has ever done and will ever do. Reid i...
06 August 2013
The Q2 2013 Churn Appointments #nlpoli
›
Cabinet made 12 appointments at the deputy minister and assistant deputy minister rank in the second quarter of the 2013 calendar year (01 ...
05 August 2013
On bigotry and prejudice #nlpoli
›
The Telegram editorial last Friday offered a few comments on some recent examples of nasty words tossed at people not from one place or ano...
02 August 2013
Don’t tell the Newfoundlanders – Uncle Gnarley version #nlpoli
›
If you want some really sharp insight into the latest developments in the Muskrat Falls saga, check out the Thursday post at Uncle Gnarley t...
Whatever happened to Ryan Cleary? #nlpoli
›
The story is the kind of thing that used to set the arch-nationalist Ryan Cleary screaming about the ignorance of mainlanders and tearing at...
01 August 2013
Media Facilitation 101 #nlpoli
›
The Thursday morning post of Liberal leadership campaign videos included a technical note that explained why the videos in it didn’t fit wi...
Liberal Leadership Videos #nlpoli
›
Two Liberal leadership candidates are using youtube videos as a way of getting their message out. Paul Antle has a professionally produced...
31 July 2013
Relative Costs #nlpoli
›
Leave entirely to one side the spectacle of the guy who gets paid as the consumer advocate sitting there on the CBC flailing his arms around...
30 July 2013
The Cabana Cases #nlpoli
›
For those who want to read them, here are two decisions related to Brad Cabana’s recent Muskrat Falls case. The first is the decision on h...
Voids and Spatter #nlpoli
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
“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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
This is a revised version of post that originally appeared on July 4, 2012. ___________________________________ Mark Humphries is an ...
Commemoration Day, 2013 #nlpoli
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
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
›
Critics of the Muskrat Falls development pointed out over 18 months ago that the project would have problems meeting its electricity commitm...
‹
›
Home
View web version