The Sir Robert Bond Papers
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Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
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25 October 2016
Small town politics in the big city newspapers #nlpoli
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The federal Liberals created a new process to pick judges for federal court appointments. The process - as the Globe pointed out on Thursda...
24 October 2016
The political dynamics of Muskrat Falls #nlpoli #dip-o-crites #cdnpoli
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The people of Labrador who have now occupied the work camp at the construction site are exercising the only political influence they have in...
21 October 2016
False choices #nlpoli
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It's not often you can see a "half-way" compromise as plainly as the one the provincial government announced on Wednesday abo...
20 October 2016
The Reverse Midas Touch Rides Again #nlpoli
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The crowd running this place these days has an unrivalled ability to look at a problem and find the worst possible response imaginable. On...
19 October 2016
Rumpole and Reversible Error #nlpoli
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Brian Tobin's favourite judge may be on his way to the Supreme Court of Canada but along the way he will probably have to answer a few q...
18 October 2016
The War of the Flea Circus #nlpoli
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Muskrat Falls has become a three-ring flea circus. In the first ring, we have the political ambulance chasers, a.k.a. Maudie Barlow and ...
17 October 2016
Caribous, Choice, and Craziness #nlpoli
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For a while, it looked like one of the island's major communities wouldn't be able to put a senior hockey team on the ice for the ne...
14 October 2016
Refitting the USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
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Ordered in 1967, laid down in 1968, launched in 1972 and commissioned in 1975, USS Nimitz is the lead ship of a class of 10 aircraft ...
13 October 2016
The politics of Sally Albright #nlpoli
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A surprisingly large number of people loved Monday's post about the political impotence of protesting against Muskrat Falls now that the...
12 October 2016
Eeyore and the Blustery Day #nlpoli
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Premier Dwight Ball stood up before a hand-picked crowd at The Rooms on Tuesday and told them they were there to help develop a strategy for...
11 October 2016
The Bigger Picture #nlpoli
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Whatever the provincial government is doing about its own spending or the provincial economy generally or whatever it is up to starts at 9:0...
10 October 2016
Politics as masturbation #nlpoli
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"I am warning you. Don't make me wear my pikachu costume." Demonstrations at Memorial University and at Nalcor headquar...
07 October 2016
Sweat Equity - new ISER book on housing policy #nlpoli
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Sweat Equity Cooperative House-Building in Newfoundland , 1920–1974 C.A. Sharpe and A.J Shawyer "The lack of decent urb...
06 October 2016
Canada's Dippers: taking the democracy out of politics #nlpoli
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The guy who didn't know what electoral district he lived in likes proportional representation. Provincial Dipper boss Earle " M...
The trouble with transparency - CADO version #nlpoli
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"How do you deal with a government computer system that is hopelessly out of date it wants you to 'update' your Internet brows...
05 October 2016
The trouble with transparency #nlpoli
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Last week, the provincial government's communications gang tweeted a picture, which we have reprinted on the right. It was supposed t...
04 October 2016
The Strategic Two-Step #nlpoli
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There's a sheet of paper taped on the underside of one of the drawers in the Premier's desk on the 8th Floor. It's very old...
03 October 2016
The Way Forward #nlpoli
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Last December, Dwight Ball laid out his plan to deal with the provincial government's financial problems. Ball made the comments to CB...
30 September 2016
Jerome! rides again #nlpoli
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Retired justice David Riche is the only independent person who has examined any information about Don Dunphy's death. Hired by the Roy...
29 September 2016
The letter Peter Whittle got #nlpoli
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This is the letter Peter Whittle got from his colleagues on the school councils federation executive. Whittle resigned today.
Samson sale price "reflective of risk": Galgay #nlpoli
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Jonathan Galgay sent along an email to add some information to the post last week about the city's tax assessment for the property at...
28 September 2016
Through others' eyes #nlpoli
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For Newfoundland's pseudo-intellectuals, the Toronto Globe and Mail is a kind of one-handed reading material. They use one hand to sc...
27 September 2016
No help, not my department, and missing records #nlpoli
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Starting a little over a hundred years ago, the Government of Newfoundland publishing a list of public servants by name, showing their job...
26 September 2016
Illegal deletions okay in NL: access commissioner #nlpoli
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Shortly after he took office a month or so ago, newly appointed information commissioner Donovan Molloy told CBC there had been a " su...
23 September 2016
Reforming the way government works #nlpoli
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Conservative and New Democrat goons are fapping themselves into a frenzy on Twitter over Bern Coffey's appointment as Clerk of the Execu...
22 September 2016
City assessed school property at sale price #nlpoli
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City councillor Jonathan Galgay attacked the school board and the provincial government over the sale of IJ Samson school for $189,000 after...
21 September 2016
Not talking but talking about something #nlpoli
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It took them a few days but the folks at Nalcor managed to put out a statement that addressed the possible talks with Hydro-Quebec about the...
20 September 2016
Grits and Cons play dodge-fact over Labrador hydro talks #nlpoli
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"There are no discussions between this government and the Quebec government." That's part of a statement sent out by email...
19 September 2016
Worst possible time for HQ deal #nlpoli
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If the rumblings from Labrador are correct, an opinion column in lapresse - "Why Quebec should regain Labrador" - this weekend bo...
16 September 2016
Changes in the fishery #nlpoli
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Your humble e-scribbler was on The Broadcast with Jane Adey, discussing the campaign to split the inshore fishermen from the FFAW. Give it ...
15 September 2016
Prov gov finances headed south #nlpoli
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The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is offering its bonds on the American market, according to Bloomberg News . VOCM reported it lo...
14 September 2016
The cost of silence #nlpoli
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The St. John's Board of Trade and the provincial Employers' Council aren't happy that the government has shelved its plans for a...
13 September 2016
A no-holds-barred review #nlpoli
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Bill Rowe started out with a bright future. Rhodes scholar. Youngest cabinet minister in the province's history. Leader of the Li...
12 September 2016
Million dollar baby #nlpoli
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The provincial government has paid more than $830,000 to Wade Locke and companies with which he is associated since 2003, according to infor...
10 September 2016
Best Choice for Premier #nlpoli
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Premier Dwight Ball has the lowest leader choice numbers of any Premier in Newfoundland and Labrador since November 2000. The chart shows ...
09 September 2016
A clear course to dangerous political shoals #nlpoli
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Lots of political activists are looking at the latest CRA quarterly poll . The Liberals think it is great that they are rebounding so qu...
08 September 2016
Dependence and Independence #nlpoli
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For those who might be interested, Tuesday's post on Churchill Falls and Wednesday's post on the road to Muskrat Falls are a summa...
07 September 2016
Jerusalem, Eldorado, and Perdition #nlpoli
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Part I: The development of our country _______________________________ The Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador website "aims to pro...
06 September 2016
Flip. No. Flop. No. No. Wait. Flip. ... #nlpoli
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01 August 2016 - " Continuing continuity " “This is not about cutting,” Ball told reporters on Thursday morning at a news confer...
The development of our country #nlpoli
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Today, the development of Churchill Falls is popularly perceived as a failure. Newfoundland is portrayed as the victim of a shrewd and untr...
05 September 2016
Switching feeds #nlpoli
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Some of you noticed a problem on Monday morning with the Twitter posts from SRBP. You sent me a message and I fixed the problem. The solu...
Supporting and Opposing #nlpoli
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If you get any kind of enjoyment at all out of watching people tie themselves in knots, point out to a New Democrat that their party suppor...
02 September 2016
Two for Friday #nlpoli
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There's a long weekend coming up, so here is a simpler post. There'll be an SRBP post on Monday but the biggie for the week should...
01 September 2016
We won't walk to a nearby walking trail #nlpoli
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The Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay commissioned a consultant to look at possible future development of a sand pit in a residential area of t...
31 August 2016
Who does he think he is fooling? #nlpoli
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New England states need electricity. They have a preference for green sources of energy, "What we have to offer, both in hydro and ...
30 August 2016
Big News or something #nlpoli
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Yes it is a slow time of the year for news. But you do have to wonder about some of the Big Stories lately: 1. What precisely did Kath...
Tourism Indicators #nlpoli
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These days, Chris Mitchelmore does what Steve Kent used to do: hype tourism numbers. More people. Tourism is big. Yay. Hooray. ...
29 August 2016
Zero-based governing #nlpoli
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The provincial government has been going through a spell of something called zero-based budgeting as part of its ongoing efforts to cope wit...
26 August 2016
Late Summer Reading #nlpoli
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From the University of Toronto Press: "The years after Newfoundland’s confederation with Canada were ones of rapid social and econom...
25 August 2016
Same circus #nlpoli
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Somewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador, someone may not have heard the news. There is oil and natural gas in the ground under water off o...
24 August 2016
Wanna talk loopholes? #nlpoli
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Regular readers shouldn't be surprised to discover the Liberals put a giant loophole in their independent appointments commission law th...
23 August 2016
The Headpiece of the Staff of Ra-Ra #nlpoli
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The provincial New Democrats claim the Liberals broke their own independent appointments commission law when they appointed a bunch of folks...
22 August 2016
Message Control #nlpoli
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Memorial University professor Alex Marland has a new book on the market. Brand Command is about political communications. Marland interv...
19 August 2016
Being from there #nlpoli
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Some people are very agitated at the prospect that the next justice of the Supreme Court of Canada might not "represent" Atlantic ...
18 August 2016
The word is "curious" #nlpoli
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B'y, it is really hard to call the changes announced on Wednesday as a " shake-up " of the public service or any kind of major...
17 August 2016
Cenotaphs and Veterans #nlpoli
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The Town of Placentia has a new cenotaph . Here's how the Southern Gazette writer described the new monument: "The Cenotaph is ...
16 August 2016
Updated NL Public Service Numbers, 2003-2016 #nlpoli
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A couple of access to information requests - pdf 1 and pdf 2 - gave the world some new numbers on the growth in the core provincial publi...
15 August 2016
Policy Stagnation #nlpoli
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The provincial government has been on its current course since about 2007. There were three elements to the Conservatives agenda unde...
12 August 2016
The Supreme Court of Canada #nlpoli
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When the Church Lady shows up, you know your comment on the Internet has hit the mark. The term comes from the self-righteous character m...
11 August 2016
The Price of Revanchism #nlpoli
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Churchill Falls occupies a unique place in Newfoundland and Labrador's political culture. Most of what people believe about Churchill ...
10 August 2016
The Quebec Superior Court Decision #nlpoli
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Water Rights, Muskrat Falls, and the Muskrat Falls Disaster #nlpoli
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Forget everything else that you know about Muskrat Falls. The entire project hinged on Nalcor's ability to control water flows on the ...
09 August 2016
OCI dumps troubled shrimp plant on taxpayers #nlpoli
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Ocean Choice International is in better financial shape today, having successfully dumped a surplus shrimp processing facility on the people...
08 August 2016
Afraid of a second moratorium #nlpoli
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During the filibuster in the last session of the House of Assembly, education minister Dale Kirby reminded everyone of why the current admin...
05 August 2016
Fernando 2: Liberals start Tory-style poll goosing #nlpoli
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It's August and Corporate Research Associates is in the field. On Tuesday, Ed Joyce t old the people of Holyrood, Isles aux Morts, an...
04 August 2016
Whitbourne, schools, and democracy #nlpoli
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Parents in Whitbourne took the provincial government's English School District to court over the closure of the local school. They won...
03 August 2016
Trump and Proto-Trump and babies #nlpoli
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Speaking about his popularity and the loyalty of his supporters: "They say that I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoo...
02 August 2016
Gandhi, Mandela, and a guy in a chicken suit #nlpoli
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If the provincial New Democrats had sent a garden gnome around the province, odds are that the photos he'd have brought back would be ...
01 August 2016
CF(L)Co v. Hydro-Quebec (Court of Appeal) #nlpoli
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The full text of the Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation v. Hydro-Quebec: pdf Sucks to be you Upda...
Continuing continuity #nlpoli
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In the face of thousands of well-informed people telling Dwight Ball that the provincial government must change direction to survive, in the...
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