Rob Antle and Dave Cochrane - two CBC journalists - are to be commended for scratching the surface of PC hypocrisy. Their story today deals with promises made by the Tories in 2003 regarding electoral reform - and the promises broken regarding same. You can read their story HERE.
The bravado and chest-thumping of Danny Williams in 2002-2003 - came with it - promises to do many things differently than the Liberals.
Party leadership contests and the financing of same was absent in legislation and Williams promised to fix it. It did not get fixed.
This is a serious matter - no doubt - but pales in comparison to other promises of change made by then Opposition leader Danny Williams.
These two journalists have begun the process - I hope they continue the probe by reviewing promises on - energy, mining, forestry, and fishery. The people deserve to know - if not by the Tories or Opposition - then by the media - what exactly was promised on natural resource developments.
The information is all there - the only thing missing - the direct questions to the government on why they did not live up to the promises they made.
The commentary on the fishery, the paper mills, the mining sector, and energy was very aggressive and designed to make people believe that we would get more benefits under natural resource development than we would have under the Liberals.
The continued pouncing on the governing Liberals by Williams and rat-pack was specific and aimed toward the ear of the voter.
What should we have expected over the decade that followed 2003? How many long-term jobs from industrial development? How many projects where "construction" was not the objective - but permanent well paying trades positions was the objective?
The Tories have stripped away at the value of resources for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, they have ushered in closures of many industrial operations, failed to improve our place in Canada, and squandered billions of our oil revenues.
So hats off to Cochrane and Antle - let's keep the accountability coming.
I do have one small critique - you state that, "This is the party’s first contested leadership race in nearly two
decades, and the first chance for the Tories to play by the rules they
promised to implement while in opposition."
It's not a contested race yet.
1 comment:
I am delighted that these two journalists decided to rule on the side of honesty and bring this hypocrisy out in the open. I felt somewhere, sometime down the road some journalist had to bring out the truth surrounding the lies we have been fed over the past 65 year history with Canada and these are the two honest ones who have decided that enough is enough. Thanks Mr. Antle and Mr. Cochrane! Please keep up the honesty routine in your jobs.
My opinion on journalists is that they have always in the past tried to cover-up for the politicians and that is why we have lost all of our coveted natural resources in the raw state to other areas of the country and the world to build economies and besides we have had much more darkness perpetrated upon us as a result of it. We were never told the truth, if we had been why would we let all of those wonderful coveted natural resources slip away without creating an economy here in order to build vibrant economies elsewhere? My contention is the Patronage Tool Box in Ottawa has to go, it is too easy for politicians to do what is right for them on our natural resources and received the patronage in the end.
I feel that Danny who bounded onto the political scene with such fervency, literally thumping his chest making us, the electorate, believe that he would-be THE real Savoir of Newfoundland and Labrador, AND, I believe that those who became his disciples as a result of his orations are still mostly his disciples because they refuse to believe he is mortal and could do any thing wrong. I still hear his disciples them utter statements like "if Danny were here, matters would be different"!
Now we see the mess of the Muskrat Fall Contract initiated by Danny and the consequent enactment of Bill 29 by the follow-up PC administration to cover up the malignancies contained in that contract that will put us and our province in a stranglehold for the rest of my life and the life of my children; and Danny is long gone with no explanation to assuage us.
Besides as you said Sue, Danny didn't even deliver on the lesser things he promised, like the fixing of the party leadership contests and the financing of same which he said was absent in legislation and he promised he would fix it.
Danny was my Savior too, but I had the common sense to let go when I deciphered how matters were percolating after he stepped down.
I have finally given up on Saviors myself, Danny put the Crown on that one for me, but I was an adherent to the Political Savior method for FAR more years than I care to remember.
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