Take these three statements found in the Telegram in 2012:
- St. John’s lawyer Ches Crosbie said he doesn’t want to become a target for speaking on the Muskrat Falls project, but he’s doing it anyway.
“I don’t want to get pissed on by the government,” he said. “Like anyone, I don’t want to make myself a target.”
- Fisheries Minister, Darin King, having just removed funding from the FFAW explains why.
"I've clearly learned that no matter what we do in this situation, the FFAW is always going to have a criticism to be lobbied at government. "There's no way they're ever going to be working with us for the betterment of the industry."
- Russell Wangersky on a letter the Telegram received wherein the person asked to remain anonymous.
Friday, a letter came in where the writer said “I would like to publish
the attached as a letter to the editor but can't do it under my name.”
Asked for the reasons for requesting anonymity, the writer mentioned
concerns about government retribution against family members.
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These are just a few examples of many wherein either people express their fear of government or the Premier and her Ministers describing bloggers, tweeters, and callers to talk-shows as naysayers, political hacks, ignorant, or foolish.
Darin King on the Fisheries Broadcast yesterday went on to say that criticism (publicly) is not necessary just come sit at the table. Number one that is a lie - to stop criticizing government does not guarantee they will ever sit at a table. Number two - the desire of this Minister and others - including the Premier - that public discourse be halted is very disturbing. Number three - the continued labelling of citizens who criticize by using very negative adjectives or adverbs - in an attempt to shut them up - is the sign of a very weak government that is not confident in its policies.
Russell Wangersky is his piece says:
"The fear of retribution is not new: whether it’s a reality or not
is hard to know for sure. I know businessmen I’ve talked to in the
province — and I’ve said this before — who are willing to talk a lot
about Muskrat Falls in private, but who will never speak publicly.
And there have been cases where the province has removed people
from positions for making comments the government didn’t approve of."
Russell is one of the few journalists we have left in the province - however - he too questions the reality of retribution. Maybe it's time for Russell and his colleagues to truly investigate this hypothesis and determine once and for all whether this is the case or not.
I am certain it is - as I personally - have been and continue to be on the receiving end.
The Dunderdale administration was trained like seals by Premier Williams on the art of attacking citizens and media who dare criticize. While the terribly weak MHA's who bless Danny Williams for their good fortune - continue to behave as told - in order to hang on to the best gig they will ever have; the media should not be so intimidated - that is unless there's something we don't know about their bosses.
The talk-shows on VOCM are NOT what they used to be - the rules are different - and they control the flow of what is debated or discussed. It is NOT a free for all. What Steele and the shareholders of Newfoundland Capital Corporation (headquartered in Nova Scotia) should understand - is that if this intimidation of intelligent citizens continues - the programs will be left with - Tony - Margorie - and Jack - accompanied by Tory Ministers and backbenchers praising the statue of Dunderdale or the inverted M archway heading into the promised Dannyland.
2 comments:
There was no greater admirer and proponent of now ex-Premier Danny Williams than myself but that was before I found out the details of the Muaskrat Falls Contract.
I was confident that any contract he would have drawn up on the Muskrat Falls Project would been so positive for our province, that it would have had enough outside customers buying the energy at a price that it would be paying for itself, instead of having to raise the electrical bills of the Newfoundland and Labrador hydro consumers and then taking the rest of the monthly deficit on the monthly mortgaga from our badly needed Oil revenue.
The Oil revenue is needed for other badly lacking infrastructure and services in this province, that we have been doing without since we have been part of the Canadian Federation.
This natural resource is being developed for the same reason as every other natural resource has been for the past 63 years, that being for the benefit of some other Canadian Province and for the orchestrators of the Project within the Newfoundland and Labrador Government.
If the Muskrat Falls Project cannot be profitable on its own steam, well then it should not see the light of day.
Premier Dunderdale should listen to the din of her electorate who are telling her to be cautious on the Muskrat Falls Project and to be open and transparent.
Anonymous, there is zero chance of Ms Dunderdale and her cronies being "open and transparent". She doesn't have the wherewithal to know how to act in a reasonable manner and accept that people who criticize are not out to simply be negative.
This party was trained by Mr. Williams himself to blot out any trace of dissent or suffer the consequences. Unlike many other voters in this province, I have never accepted that Mr. Williams was the great visionary leader that he purported to be. Perhaps his approach works in business but it doesn't work in politics. In fact, his approach to politics was to be the only dictator in town and, in reality, that recipe cannot work in an environment where it is not simply a matter of the balance sheet. I don't blame Mr. Williams though, as we put him on pedestal and refused to see any wrong in anything he did. We blinded ourselves to his flaws and now we are paying the price, with all of the flunkies he recruited to his party who don't have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to their own party when it goes off yet again in the wrong direction.
Their inability to see beyond Ms Dunderdale's bluster, her attitude toward opening the HOA, her courtship of the Harperites, her refusal to engage Ottawa on the closure of the MSRC, her lack of a voice on the fishery...all of these crucial issues are being badly mishandled, in msy opinion.
MR. Williams let his pride and desire to shaft Quebec become the driving factors in agreeing to this deal. Any good he may have done will be undone with this one colossal bluder but we have no say. Shame on him and shame on us for giving away our pride by investing it in politicans like Mr. Williams.
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