The Sir Robert Bond Papers
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Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
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20 June 2014
Nothing was further from the truth #nlpoli
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A decade ago, the offshore regulatory board reduced its estimate of the recoverable reserves in the Terra Nova field from 405 million barre...
19 June 2014
Taking nothing out #nlpoli
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Sometimes a comment is so profoundly revealing you just can’t let it slide by. This one came from Milly Brown, the Premier’s communication...
18 June 2014
Wednesday Quickies #nlpoli
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As your humble e-scribbler spent time on Tuesday finishing off a presentation to the ATIPPA inquiry next week (11 AM, 25 June), here are a...
17 June 2014
Premier Mulligan #nlpoli
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The news on Monday was not Frank Coleman’s announcement. The news was in the reaction of provincial Conservatives to word that Coleman wou...
16 June 2014
Understanding election polls #nlpoli
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If you want to get a decent discussion of the Ontario election results and the way polling research tracked the campaign, take a look at a p...
13 June 2014
Criticism #nlpoli
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Take a gander at this letter to the editor of Overcast by someone using the name Samuel Wilkes. It’s about a problem in the arts communit...
12 June 2014
Sometimes a cigar … #nlpoli
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“Fundamentally, the [Conservative Party leadership] process works,” former Conservative cabinet minister Shawn Skinner said on CBC’s On Poi...
11 June 2014
Pollyanna Peek-a-Boo and the Economic Unboom #nlpoli
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Premier Peek-a-Boo took time out of his long, slow wander to the Premier’s Office this week to do an interview with the Grand Falls-Windsor ...
10 June 2014
“Out-sourcing” social programs and policy #nlpoli
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The incredible story from Ireland about the remains of 800 babies and children found in a discarded septic tank caused your humble e-scribbl...
09 June 2014
Air Canada to London: back again #nlpoli
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How times change. Last week, industry minister Susan Sullivan attended an announcement by Air Canada that they would be bringing back year...
06 June 2014
A farewell to Tom Marshall #nlpoli
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Tom Marshall spent his last few hours ever as a member of the House of Assembly on Thursday, as the spring session drew to a close. Tom’s ...
05 June 2014
There’s good news and there’s bad news #nlpoli
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Corporate Research Associates and the provincial Conservatives played up the change in government satisfaction in the release of CRA’s quart...
04 June 2014
And then things went horribly wronger… #nlpoli
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John Crosbie, the elder statesmen of Conservatives in the province took a shot at Danny Williams for his continued interference in the inte...
03 June 2014
John, Danny, and voter apathy #nlpoli
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Every now and again, someone will talk about voter apathy. Last week, Steve Kent was circulating the link to an article that claimed t...
02 June 2014
No sense of irony at all #nlpoli
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The smart guy they could have had – but frigged over twice - told Canadian Press : “The understanding of the [provincial political] c...
30 May 2014
Playing with the Ferryman #nlpoli
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The ferry service between Newfoundland and Cape Breton is economically important to the province as a whole, but it’s especially sensitive f...
29 May 2014
Grimes on Frank, Tom, and the Kami project #nlpoli
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Roger Grimes’ is through his heart surgery and nice vacation and that has left him with a new vigour. He called VOCM’s BackTalk on Tuesday...
28 May 2014
Coleman, Marshall, and the Broken Chain of Accountability #nlpoli
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The Telegram’s James McLeod started a story that appeared on 26 May with the following sentence: Premier-designate Frank Coleman says ...
27 May 2014
Contrasting Speeches #nlpoli
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Liberal leader Dwight Ball and Conservative leader-designate Frank Coleman delivered speeches in St. John’s last week and you couldn’t have ...
26 May 2014
McGrath comments “preposterous”: surety association #nlpoli
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From the industry association representing companies that provide sureties and other bonds, released May 26, 2014: News Release For...
The Friday Night Massacre #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman recorded CBC’s On Point with Peter Cowan on Thursday or Friday afternoon. During the show, Coleman acknowledged that he ha...
23 May 2014
Tom Marshall’s puppet government #nlpoli
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Whatever is going on in the Premier’s Office these days, it isn’t an orderly and organized transition from one premier to another. That’s ...
Politics and the Fishery #nlpoli
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For those who missed it, here’s the podcast from the Fisheries Broadcast for May 22, complete with your humble e-scribbler talking about po...
Another inside deal #nlpoli
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If you want to get a sense of how the New Democratic Party convention actually ran last weekend, take a few minutes and listen to Tony Adey’...
22 May 2014
Nalcor and Conflict of Interest #nlpoli
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Is anyone else having trouble trying to figure out what all the fuss is about Cathy Bennett, Nalcor, and conflict of interest? Seriously. ...
21 May 2014
Kremlinology 47: If only saying it made it so #nlpoli
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According to New Democratic Party leader Lorraine Michael, the party convention this past weekend was “a room of people who are saying, '...
20 May 2014
Always read the large print #nlpoli
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The Conference Board of Canada released a report last week that assessed economic performance in each of the provinces in Canada. “The res...
19 May 2014
The left-wing conservatives #nlpoli
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In 2010, the provincial Conservatives had a chance to reinvigorate their party in time for the 2011 general election. They deliberately st...
16 May 2014
The Fruits of a Poisonous Shrub #nlpoli
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Senator Fabian Manning says that the 2008 Anything but Conservative campaign is stilling hurting the province in dealing with the federal go...
15 May 2014
The Bicycle Roads to Nowhere #nlpoli
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Frecker Drive is a well-designed residential street in the west end of St. John’s. The street is wide: you can park cars on either side an...
14 May 2014
Getting On Point back from No Point #nlpoli
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For years, the only public affairs show on television or radio in Newfoundland and Labrador was Issues and Answers. NTV’s Sunday morning st...
13 May 2014
Promises, promises… 2003 contracts and tendering edition #nlpoli
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In light of the controversy about Humber Valley Paving, here are some of the Conservative promises made in 2003 about contracts and public t...
12 May 2014
A beautiful waste
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Exploring the world underneath New York City, via The Atlantic : -srbp-
The market is closed, Ken. #nlpoli
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Part of the problem the folks at Nalcor have had in trying to build support for on Muskrat Falls is that they never explain things completel...
09 May 2014
Keep the momentum going #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman’s idea for change in Newfoundland and Labrador is to keep everything the way it is. As CBC reported in March, “Coleman said...
Weak Questions get Weak Answers #nlpoli
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Nalcor’s effort to have local taxpayers subsidize electricity exports to Massachusetts came up in the House of Assembly on Thursday. Wel...
08 May 2014
And no birds sang #nlpoli
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Farley Mowat passed away on May 7, 2014, aged 92. The prolific Canadian writer and environmentalist was just shy of his 93rd birthday on ...
Nalcor promising Boston cheap electricity courtesy of NL taxpayers #nlpoli
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Muskrat Falls is over budget, big time. The latest estimate is $7.4 billion and climbing on a project that was forecast at $5.0 billion jus...
07 May 2014
Power and Influence #nlpoli
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If nothing else, the controversy over the sweet heart deal the provincial Conservatives cut with Frank Coleman’s son at Humber Valley Paving...
06 May 2014
HVP controversy deepens #nlpoli
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[In a hole with a jack-hammer update at bottom] The controversy around Humber Valley Paving got worse for the provincial Conservatives on...
05 May 2014
The House comes back… what’s on the menu? #nlpoli
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Nice to be wrong update: The Liberals started Question Period on Monday hammering the Conservatives over the Humber Valley Paving controve...
02 May 2014
Cabinet Shuffle Bored #nlpoli
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The provincial Conservative Party is in the midst of such an intense revival of interest only about a dozen people turned out on Wednesday n...
01 May 2014
Muskrat costs at $7.4 billion … and climbing #nlpoli
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After 13 days, Nalcor boss Ed martin finally responded to a simple request from the Telegram’s James McLeod for an explanation of what impa...
30 April 2014
White Knight #nlpoli
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The Alberta Conservatives are looking for a new leader. The old one quit last month amid a caucus revolt and a loss of popularity in polls. ...
29 April 2014
Decisive Leadership in Action #nlpoli
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How hard can it be for someone to figure out when they want to start a job? Seriously. A job you want, mind you, not one you have been f...
28 April 2014
Kremlinology 46: Premier Peek-a-Boo and the Dog Whistle #nlpoli
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In a scrum with reporters after a public meeting about the Corner Brook hospital last Thursday, Frank Coleman showed he has picked up the t...
25 April 2014
Cognitive Dissonance #nlpoli
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People like things in life to fit together. When things don’t fit together, people get upset. They get fidgety. They try to make things ...
Prepared Statements and Unprepared Politicians #nlpoli
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CBC Radio’s St. John’s Morning Show is so off-put by politicians who issue prepared statements that they’ve found a former journalist turned...
24 April 2014
Plan 9 from Columbus Drive #nlpoli
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Some enterprising political science graduate student will be able to write a brilliant doctoral dissertation a few years from now on the par...
23 April 2014
Strategically Unwise and other political own-goals #nlpoli
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Depending on which interview you listened to on Tuesday, Tom Marshall would be hanging around as Premier until the end of the summer. At ...
22 April 2014
Four days late and a few dollars short #nlpoli
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Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman did speak to the Telegram on Monday evening about the controversy that has been raging all weekend over hi...
Crazy Train Wreck #nlpoli
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Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman was off in Toronto on Monday – reputedly undergoing intensive media training - and so he wasn’t willing to...
21 April 2014
Budget basics: Dealing with the Debt #nlpoli
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Public sector pensions in Newfoundland and Labrador are underfunded. There’s not enough money in the fund account to cover all the likely m...
19 April 2014
Legitimacy and Credibility #nlpoli
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In the crude, modern way of putting things, shit got real for Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman on Friday. The Telegram’s James McLeod tw...
18 April 2014
The Further Adventures of Premier Peek-a-boo #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman didn’t speak to reporters about the Conservative Party by-election loss in Virginia Waters. Someone wrote up a prepared stat...
The Fix Was In #nlpoli
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Bill Barry, in the Western Star , on the Conservative leadership show he quit on Thursday: “I just chose to recognize that the leader h...
Experience still counts #nlpoli
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Now that Frank Coleman is the de facto leader of the provincial Conservative party, there’s no reason why Coleman can’t be in the Premier’s...
17 April 2014
Pearl Necklace #nlpoli
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Mount Pearl is alive with rumours this week that Steve Kent is trying to cross the floor (back) to the Liberals. Kent’s open dispute with ...
16 April 2014
How not to bolster public confidence: the umpteenth Nalcor edition #nlpoli
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The folks at Nalcor held a media briefing at 11:00 AM on Tuesday. it was supposed to be about the release of the independent engineer’s rev...
15 April 2014
The Virginia Waters Come-Back Myth #nlpoli
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Danny Williams said it. Tom Marshall said it. In the Virginia Waters by-election the Conservatives were trailing by 15 percentage points...
14 April 2014
Budget Basics: Unfunded Pension and Benefits Liabilities #nlpoli
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While the provincial budget for 2014 was all about spending government money, the budget speech did raise one issue that the provincial gov...
11 April 2014
Premier Peek-a-boo #nlpoli
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Pretty well every Conservative who is anyone in the province turned up on Wednesday night at Danny Breen’s by-election headquarters. Every...
10 April 2014
Ripples #nlpoli
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The provincial Conservatives lost a crucial by-election in Virginia Waters on Wednesday, but not for lack of effort. The could not possible...
09 April 2014
Major Muskrat Costs Missing #nlpoli
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As of April 4, Nalcor was “still in the process of negotiating and letting some large contracts for the [Muskrat Falls] project.” That’s t...
08 April 2014
Budget basics: debt #nlpoli
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Board of trade president Sharon Horan wrote in her Telegram column last weekend that the unfunded pension liability will make up 85% of the ...
07 April 2014
Electricity “review” a waste of time, money #nlpoli
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Now we know why it took the provincial government so long to release the “review” of the provincial electrical system that former Premier Ka...
Repealing Bill 29 #nlpoli
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The Liberals proposed a motion during last week’s private member’s day that the government repeal Bill 29 . Meanwhile, at the Telegram, ...
04 April 2014
Horsefeathers #nlpoli
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While people have been agitated about comments on Twitter, the Premier has been dazzling the politicians in the House with his explanation ...
03 April 2014
Enormous dividends #nlpoli
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Back when he was in another cabinet job, Premier Tom Marshall made some comments about dividends from Muskrat Falls. Let’s take a look at ...
02 April 2014
Premier Confusing #nlpoli
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Premier Tom Marshall has been in cabinet since 2003. He’s held pretty well all the big portfolios connected to Muskrat Falls, including nat...
01 April 2014
Political Parties and Ideology in Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
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If you haven’t read it already, flip on over to Drew Brown’s blog coaker’s ghost and check out his post called “ much ado about nothing .” ...
31 March 2014
Kremlinology 45: Optics 2 #nlpoli
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On Monday, Danny Williams was actively campaigning with Danny Breen in Virginia Waters. Breen posted this photo to Facebook: Breen’s ...
Kremlinology 46: Verb Tense #nlpoli
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Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman, anointed replacement for Danny Williams, turned up with CBC’s David Cochrane to explain to the On Point a...
Kremlinology 44: Optics #nlpoli
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Danny Williams appeared in Virginia Waters on Saturday to campaign for Danny Breen, the Conservative candidate in the by-election. Breen’...
28 March 2014
The Whizzo Quality Assortment #nlpoli
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On the outside, the spring budget for 2014 looks like a delicious assortment of goodies for everyone. You can tell it is delectable because...
27 March 2014
Talking about Change… #nlpoli
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As you recover from what is hopefully the last big storm of the 2014 winter season, cast yourself in the role of Conservative party strategi...
26 March 2014
Principle, Parliament, and Money #nlpoli
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The House of Assembly unanimously voted in favour of a bill on Tuesday that gives the government permission to spend $2.8 billion as part of...
25 March 2014
Will wonders never cease? #nlpoli
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As it turned out, the “robust” oversight of the Muskrat Falls project that everyone was making a big deal about a few weeks ago is - as yo...
How do they run things? Budget Lead-Up #nlpoli
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Finance minister Charlene Johnson will read the new provincial budget speech on Thursday. In keeping with the provincial Conservative trad...
24 March 2014
Setting the record straight on Meech Lake… again #nlpoli #cdnpoli
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There may be nothing new in documents from the federal cabinet in June 1990 about the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. After all, Brian Mul...
21 March 2014
Talk is cheap. #nlpoli
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It was only a matter of time before the government that says more and more about less and less figured out that its best mouthpiece was Ste...
20 March 2014
The Outsider #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman told an audience of reporters and supporters in Corner Brook on Wednesday that he was in the Conservative Party leadership ra...
19 March 2014
Hmmm. That sounds familiar… #nlpoli
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Premier Tom Marshall, in the House of Assembly , discussing what the provincial government can and cannot release: There is nothing in ...
Doing it exactly right #nlpoli
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No one could have picked a better panel of three people to review the provincial government’s access to information law than the three annou...
18 March 2014
When “different” is “the same” #nlpoli
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Only a couple of years ago, national media were writing about all the women running provincial governments across Canada. No less a pair ...
17 March 2014
The Apology Application #nlpoli
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For anyone who thinks it is unusual for the provincial Conservatives to backtrack or apologise, recall, the massive deployment of cabinet m...
D’oh! Telegram shags up Muskrat Falls access story #nlpoli
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According to a major Telegram story on Monday morning, the provincial government won’t be able to release some information about Muskrat Fa...
The Insiders #nlpoli
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The story of the 2014 provincial Conservative Party leadership contest is a study in politics on its most basic level. It is a story of th...
14 March 2014
Nalcor Oversight #nlpoli
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The provincial government will be establishing a committee of senior public servants to co-ordinate information on Muskrat Falls for cabinet...
13 March 2014
All hail the Glorious Leader Trope #nlpoli
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“ Province to deliver on promise of whistleblower law ” read the headline for the CBC’s online story about the provincial government throne...
12 March 2014
Silence is the perfect expression of scorn #nlpoli
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by JM and EGH The BBC online news magazine carried an article on March 10 that should be of interest to all those following the Muskrat Fa...
11 March 2014
The Throne Game, updated #nlpoli
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“On the outside, Shawn Skinner and John Ottenheimer are still mulling it over, “wrote Des Sullivan last Thursday . “The price tag of running...
10 March 2014
Conservatives struggling for candidates #nlpoli
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[Includes Hamlet update] If David Cochrane’s sources are right, Danny Breen won’t be running for the Conservatives in Virginia Waters aft...
07 March 2014
Shawn: Prince of Denmark #nlpoli
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The provincial New Democrats have dropped to single digits among respondents to the latest Corporate Research Associates quarterly omnibus ...
06 March 2014
The Satisfaction Delusion #nlpoli
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You’ll hear Conservatives, Corporate Research Associates , and some commentators play up the fact that public satisfaction with the governin...
How did the Old Man work? (Part 1) #nlpoli
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The Premier’s Office is a tough place to work. The demands on everyone in the place are constant. The implications of what you are dealing...
05 March 2014
How do they work, exactly? #nlpoli
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As laughable as it is for the Premier’s Office to insist former Premier Kathy Dunderdale received only 46 e-mails in a single week and sent...
04 March 2014
How did she work, exactly? #nlpoli
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How odd that the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – arguably the busiest job in the province, bar none - received only 46 e-mails in a...
03 March 2014
Access to Information - some misunderstandings #nlpoli
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A tale out of Ottawa reveals the extent to which access to information problems crop up in lots of places. CBC News asked for a copy of a...
Nalcor following wrong energy path #nlpoli
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Think back to last December. A couple of Nalcor guys bragged about the company’s strategy of importing electricity when they needed during...
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