Trevor Taylor running for Tory leader?

Well the Tories should be ecstatic - looks like Trevor Taylor might be getting ready to throw his hat in the ring.

Taylor really lost it today in his Telegram opinion column READ HERE

Trevor decided that a frank discussion on the state of politics in Newfoundland and Labrador was in order.

His column takes many shots at the current crop of politicians in our province. He says of Liberal leader Dwight Ball: "Dwight Ball, while a nice guy, is not seen as a leader who is going to inspire the six or eight strong individuals he needs to step forward to form his first line." 

A leader - Trevor - is somebody who is willing to step up and take on the hard tasks and do so without unnecessary drama and bravado. A leader - Trevor - is somebody who can bring people together from all sides of the political spectrum and make it work for the people. A leader - Trevor is somebody who does not quit in the face of adversity and finds a way to rebuild and connect. Dwight Ball is exactly that - and everything you are not.

Trevor expounds on "Cabinet Material" like somebody who knows what that is. Taylor was in Cabinet and accomplished what? Then Trevor quit. Then Trevor quit. Now Trevor complains.

He threw the entire backbench of the Tories under the big blue bus and is awaiting the coming of the next savior. Another man - like his leader Danny Williams - who quit. Or maybe like his leader Kathy Dunderdale - who quit. They are after all like him - they quit.

Considering your sage commentary - I expect your purported truth, wisdom and common sense is exactly what you will offer fellow Tories - by running for leader.

You remain a partisan sniper - who knows the political wilderness for your party is just around the corner. Now have the guts and step to the plate - and show us what you believe makes a real leader.

The recycled failed Tory Cabinet is exactly what you need to fix. What does it take to be a Cabinet Minister or leader Trevor? Why not show us.

What happened to Good Public Policy? Ask Tom Rideout!

The following is a statement made by Tom Rideout when in government and Trevor Taylor was the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. 

Do they still believe it is Good Public Policy?

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, again, I cannot control the flights of fantasy that the Leader of the Opposition might engage in, but the fact of the matter is, he knows, everybody in Newfoundland knows, the people in Harbour Breton know, the people in Fortune know, the people in Marystown know, the people in other communities around know, that those quotas are assigned to a company. They are not assigned to a community.

Now, should there be community quotas? Maybe, but the fact of the matter is, the reality of the matter is, right now the quotas that used to be assigned to National Sea, we were able to purchase and have them repatriated to Arnold’s Cove. I think that is good public policy. When we speculate on doing that, in terms of the FPI operation, the Leader of the Opposition comes down on us like a ton of bricks.

Mr. Speaker, you cannot have it both ways. You are either for that as a public policy option or you are not. So, yes, that is one option and there are many others that we are exploring.

Minister Susan Sullivan takes on Broadband - Good Luck with That

Yes let's try again Minister Susan Sullivan says of Rural Broadband access.

Let's do something local hey?

So when Tobin is in power he turns contracts over to Cable Atlantic then owned by Danny Williams - who then almost immediately flipped it to Rogers. (local argument gone)

Then Williams comes to power and gives Persona then owned by Dean Macdonald many millions for a new fibre-optic line. Macdonald then flips almost immediately flipped it to East Link (local argument gone).

In the meantime Newfoundland Tel (Aliant) is the loser in both scenarios - and as a result backs away from continued investment in the province.

You see we are a limited population - there is no room for two or three players. If you bring competition into an underpopulated area - you lose the main service provider. It would be the same if the government decided to let another power distributor in to compete against Fortis. The dollars available to be made would be reduced and investment commitments would be lost.

I know we are creating a lot of millionaires - without any real plan to deal with these communications issues.

What a bloody mess, Minister Sullivan - and the lack of infrastructure and investment is starting to show. Wait till the poles have to be dealt with. Wait until the systems fail without proper investment in maintenance.

Meanwhile - business and tourism will continue to stall without a proper plan.

The government says this time the RBI will be better than the GBI (government broadband initiative) - really Minister Sullivan - and you guarantee this how?

Lit and unlit were the terms then Minister of Duct Tape Trevor Taylor used during the GBI fiasco. No control of funds. Complete mess according to the Auditor General John Noseworthy.

What Tory business faithful have their hands out now?

By the way Minister Sullivan - why do the hospitals in the metro area use a SASKATCHEWAN CROWN corporation to provide cable TV to our patients?

If you want to review the past on this flipping PRESS HERE

Ontario Wins Big, Newfoundland shows Guts, the Big Land goes it Alone and Dunderdale may have Trouble!

Congratulations are in order for Ontario - for once again dictating the outcome of the federal election. Harper will be there for our biggest "greatest" province.

There may now be hope for the federal Liberals - if - they clean house at the executive and backroom level. Canada's "heartland" will set the agenda for the upcoming parliament and have rewarded Harper for the massive corporate bailouts in the auto and associate industries.

Irving and companies will also be a big winner in New Brunswick.

Now that the NDP is an essentially Quebec and Ontario based party 58 and 22 seats respectively close to 80% of their seat count with over 50% out of Quebec - what and who will they represent? Further the NDP had more of a say in the minority than they have in a Harper majority.

Now that Canada has sent a message to the Liberals to clean-up - they have done so by electing a fellow who has shown complete disregard for the truth, parliament, and our democracy. Harper has his majority and it is going to be real tough on the Progressive Conservatives in the party.

The Bloc is temporarily down - while Quebec takes a break from a nationalist party in Ottawa - but may very well elect a sovereignist party provincially. This is just another Quebec change-up.

The Conservatives are nasty and they will - without humility - rub this victory into the faces of Canadians who believe that moderate not extreme is Canada. This is a very clear example for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador - that we really don't matter much in this system.

We witnessed a taste with Bev Oda - and her leaning respecting funding and pro-choice ideology. More interesting is her decisive win last night - rewarding her despicable behavior. Ontarians in her riding have redefined public service and the value of honesty. What did Oda have to say?

“Those who know me know I would never lie or mislead,” This is unbelievable!

 In Newfoundland - we absolutely did the right thing and showed extreme courage by not electing one Conservative on the Island. Despite the on the ground boots of most all Dunderdale's Cabinet - they lost. We actually said to those who betrayed this province - we don't want you. Sullivan, Ottenheimer, Manning and fibre-optic Taylor were defeated - in most cases soundly.

In Labrador I can take some solace in knowing that the Big Land did what it wanted to do and not what our Island suggested they do. They have made a decision and it was their own. That is also the case with the Lower Churchill - this time it will not be shoved down their throats - rather they and they alone will determine what happens to this great resource. Further this time - they will sit in Cabinet at the federal level - not representatives from the Island. It is also clear that Labrador believes that Harper will live up to his promises for the base and the loan guarantee.

The deal on the Lower Churchill is up to them. If they wish to export - do so - and they can even make us pay for it. After all power leaves their place and heads to other jurisdictions - and they are left with royalties for the aboriginal peoples (or some of them) and a handful of jobs after construction - it will not be our fault as it was with the Upper Churchill.

Peter Penashue has a great deal of responsibility resting on his shoulders and good luck to him. I hope he brings to Labrador what Labradorians want. I hope he delivers in spades for his people and uses his voice to eliminate the long-standing social problems. For now they can choose their destiny - and the direction is all theirs. They can stand proud and make decisions that are good for them - eliminating the Island and most non-aboriginal influence. They can further build corporate partnerships between aboriginal companies and other Labrador based operators. They can take control of tenders and dictate how many jobs will be kept in Labrador and how many will leave. They can control the route of the hydro power resource and determine if they want industrial development at all - or prefer to go for royalties only. I have fought for the equal rights of Labradorians as an Islander for most of my adult life - and I have now experienced closure in that regard. Presumably Dunderdale will have to answer to Labrador and if the deals are not already done - will have to be done with the aboriginal peoples and corporate Labrador. Labrador now has control of its destiny and that is a good thing.

From a provincial Progressive Conservative point of view - there are many significant developments on the Island. The votes were mainly Liberal and NDP and both rural and urban voters have said no to Kathy Dunderdale and her team of Cabinet Ministers. We know what happened when Danny said ABC - the province listened. When Kathy Dunderdale said ABC is over and now we need to vote Conservative - the province did not listen. The PC urban vote did not recover and did not show well in other rural communities - with the exception of perhaps Felix Collins and Keith Hutchings. The federal election of 2006 saw almost 43% popular vote for the Conservatives. The ABC of 2008 demonstrated a complete collapse of that vote to 17% and now that ABC was called off by Premier Dunderdale the vote climbed to only 28%. The urban PC vote stronghold has not regained anywhere near the reliability needed to guarantee the almost always guaranteed vote for the PC's in St. John's and surrounding communities.

Let's look at the Avalon Peninsula - as it relates to influence by the current Premier Kathy Dunderdale versus the influence under Danny Williams. Same provincial layout - with only 2 opposition members in a bastion of Blue including a significant number of the Cabinet.

2006 When Danny got promises from Harper on equalization, Five Wing Goose, and custodial management.

Loyola Hearn enjoyed 44.6% of the popular vote.

Fabian Manning enjoyed 51.5% of the popular vote.

Norm Doyle enjoyed 46.5% of the popular vote.

2008 When Danny Williams declared ABC most all PC MHA's campaigned for Liberals or NDP.

St. John's South/Mount Pearl District (formerly Hearn, candidate Merv Wiseman) dropped to 12.6% of the popular vote.

St. John's East (formerly Doyle, candidate Craig Wescott) dropped to 9.3% of the popular vote.

Avalon District  (Manning) dropped to 35.2% of the popular vote.

2011 When Kathy Dunderdale declared ABC over and has all but one PC MHA campaigning for Conservatives.

St. John's South/Mount Pearl District only recovers to 22.8% of the popular vote.

Avalon District only recovers to 40% of the popular vote.

St. John's East District only recovers to 20.9% of the popular vote.

Without a doubt the vast majority of the people continue to support Danny Willams position on Stephen Harper and the majority reject Kathy Dunderdale's new relationship with Stephen Harper. This despite - what can only be called strong provincial MHA's Caucus and Cabinet out in force as never before for federal Conservative candidates.

Further the Conservative candidates in St. John's East and St. John's South/Mount Pearl in the 2008 election, Craig Wescott and Merv Wiseman respectively were arguably much weaker candidates than the "star" candidates of 2011 in Loyola Sullivan and Jerry Byrne. One might speculate that the candidates themselves brought the difference to the table versus any recommendation by Dunderdale. In Manning's case where he was the constant he went down 16 points during ABC and only recovered 5 points last night. That we can write off to PC's feeling it was okay to vote at all.

This was not a good night for Kathy Dunderdale despite the tremendous victory for her friend - and colleague Stephen Harper.

The October election remains up for grabs and in many critical seats. The only thing holding back a resurgence for the provincial Liberals is the party itself. They should be able to make great gains in October as may well a few more NDP seats on the strength of Layton and Harris. (depends on how NDP policy impacts NL)

If the Liberals do some cleaning and add some star candidates of their own - they may very well cause Dunderdale and company real problems. After the turnaround of PC MHA's back to Harper which was seen by the majority of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as disingenuous and opportunistic - seats won on Danny's coat-tails will be vulnerable.

My overall feelings are that Canada was crushed by the Ontario not Orange wave and that never bodes well for Atlantic Canada. Further Canadians have absolutely decided with the exception of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI, Quebec and parts of British Columbia that lying is okay, contempt of Parliament is dandy, and that the Elections Act is not anything relevant. Let's see if the right wing extremeists get the upper hand this time. Will Harper moderate? I don't believe a word he says - so my guess is he will not. You know when Preston Manning is delighted - we moderate people should be very concerned.

A great night for Newfoundland as we told Harper - you cannot lie to our people. Labrador - time will tell - if the Big Land gets what it wants I am happy for them. If it does not - the Island - for once will not be responsible.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Go on take a look!

WOW

WOW

WOW

Dollars for Votes - I will vote Conservative after Harper PASSES a Polygraph

Dollars for votes. There are many ways to take this and I'm sure the reader is conjuring up all kinds of images.

First - the Stephen Harper claim that he and his Reform Party would like to phase out public funding of elections and political parties.

On that one Harper scores a zero and is just another manipulation or lie he perpetrates on the public. Harper and his followers absolutely believe in public funding of elections and political parties - all one has to do is review the spending by his government for the past 6 months on political messaging. This he did - knowing full well he wanted to once again go to the polls. Further his party's blatant disregard for the Elections Act - particularly as it relates to the movement of money from the associations to Party central - demonstrates he wants our money for his elections and he also wants no rules on how they have to spend and account for it.


Second there is the straight-up money for votes that Harper spreads around the country as he lectures audiences and bribes voters with their own money - while restricting media questions which may reveal the shortcomings of one "promise/lie" or another.

Harper is fond of making promises and he's even more fonder of breaking them.

1. Income Trusts

2. Elected Senate

3. Equalization changes on non-renewable resource revenues

4. Patronage

5. Accountability

We all know this is a short-list and that Harper's deception of the voter goes far beyond this. He tries to scare the population with CO-A-LI-TION when:

a) he tried to concoct one himself
b) a coalition is a very real option in a democracy and is in operation routinely throughout the world
c) his use of the word CO-A-LI-TION now as if there were one already formed

You see Harper is a liar and Gilles Duceppe has it dead on - and does not shy away from the appropriate word as defined in the English language. Not to use that word (lie) is just a way to make us - the voters accept the deceptive behavior as acceptable - because it is after all - POLITICS.

Our political system must have publicly funded election dollars - in order to keep the Corporate faceless elite in check. Yes the Conservative/Alliance/Reform party can raise their own money from the large corporations that do so well under their policies. Corporations can't vote but they can sure buy elections and have done so in the past. Has Harper returned the dollars for votes his party received? Has he turned it back to the treasury?

If Canada is to remain intact - still doubtful - then politics needs it's collective mouth washed out with soap. The way to insure that happens is to guarantee that alternative voices are heard and able to fund an exposure of lies - as is made necessary by Harper and his Conservative/Alliance/Reform buddies.

I will agree to eliminate public financing and vote Conservative when Stephen Harper agrees to a polygraph. 

Teach your Children Well - To Lie like Hell

Last Election PC's were not Conservatives - Today they are one family - right?

After watching the events of yesterday - the spectacle of our Province's and Canada's leaders clap and cheer for each other - while knowing full well the betrayal they were perpetrating - I find it necessary to at least acknowledge the following:

In our society today - if you are to succeed in either business or politics - you must learn to lie and lie convincingly.

We should all stop and think about exactly what is taking place in front of us - and responsibly look at our children and grandchildren and explain the realities of their world.

Politics and politicians suffer the disinterest of almost half our population due primarily to the broken promises, deceitful and unlawful behaviors, self-serving manipulations, and the incompetence of our leaders and representatives.

Many people simply brush off the promises of politicians as just that "promises of politicians". We expect them to lie, anticipate they will lie, and believe they will continue to lie for a vote. The problem we have as parents, grandparents, and caregivers of children is that they observe and learn from what they see.

A lie is the act of deliberately deceiving the audience you are speaking to by telling them something you know is not true. If somebody makes a mistake - they acknowledge it and explain what is was they were trying to do and say and take ownership of the hardships or repercussions the person who believed you will now have to endure. This was absent yesterday - it was absent after the last two federal elections - it was absent when government was found in contempt - and it was absent when Bev Oda did her deed.

Kathy Dunderdale, Danny Williams, the Cabinet and Caucus of the PC's lied to Newfoundland and Labrador when they asked that people in this province stand together under ABC and punish Stephen Harper for perpetrating an extremely costly lie on our people. How do we know they lied? Well they used ABC for political expedience until they needed to completely reverse their position and now they and they alone will end ABC for political expedience.

Nothing has changed you see - Stephen Harper and Fabian Manning did nothing to admit their lie, nothing to correct their lie, and to date not apologized for their lie. Therefore nothing has changed since the lie - yet our provincial leaders now want us - the sheep - to believe that the behavior is okay now and "we" can move on.

If Harper had told the truth and delivered the truth this province would not need a loan guarantee to develop our own wealth of natural renewable resources - we would already have the money from our non-renewables to do it. The cost to our children - if the project goes ahead - will be a generational atrocity that these lies would have caused.

It is irresponsible for us as parents and grandparents not to teach our children how to lie and lie convincingly if we would like to see them rise to the top. It is irresponsible to punish our children for lying while we vote for and reward our nations and provincial leaders who do lie. It is irresponsible of the Universities and Colleges not to include course work in deception and lies in business and political science programs - that is to say teach the students the benefits and successes of lying and lying convincingly.

Our society currently rewards, praises, and otherwise idolises the liars we elect and to look at your children - after having supported these liars and not teach them that lying is the quickest and most successful method of rising to the top we do them an injustice.

On the other hand - we could teach them that lying is wrong by throwing the bums out.

Snap Crackle Pop - the public is awakening - it is our Newfoundland and Labrador

Shawn Skinner has answer for Elizabeth Matthews - CNLOPB needs communications help. NTV

Ed Martin has answer for Emera Deal - Canada is going to be 14,000 MW's short of power by 2030. NTV

Shawn Skinner and Trevor Taylor have answers for untendered, unaccountable, taxpayer burdened deals - redundancy. Telegram, NTV, CBC

If CNLOPB requires communications help - hire a communications director. 

Sean Kelly, APR, FCPRS Manager, Public Relations CNLOPB - what does he do?

Ed Martin - if Canada is going to be so destitute of power by 2030 - the best thing for Newfoundland and Labrador to do - is keep our energy in Labrador and pick up all those energy craved industries needing a place to plug into.

Shawn and Trevor - I can make a real good redundancy argument here and it has to do with an extra 40 MHA's who do not have a voice of their own and only act as redundant repeaters of briefing notes which are not read. Newfoundland and Labrador on the strength of obvious redundancies in caucus should only be paying for a couple of Cabinet Ministers, the Premier, and the ex-Premier (for communications help).


Don't forget to visit the CBC website and see the comments made on the Elizabeth Matthews story.

While I am at it - make sure you follow Mike Connors on twitter for the best on the spot Twittering around.

Don't miss Tobacco lawsuit  Russell Wangersky's articles in the Telegram

The government continues arrogant behavior and continues to ignore the voice of the people.

Puck passers for Danny have not figured it out yet. Do they realize yet - a day is a long time in politics - just give us a few months. Can't control all the media all of the time - social media is proving its value.

Emera deal must be and will be stopped.

Shawn Skinner 2011 same as Trevor Taylor 2007 both bad deals

"...will have the assurance of a redundancy of fibre optic networks connecting the province to the mainland" 

Trevor Taylor 2007 News Release

"...but in the event of a catastrophe … it would be possible for us to import electricity” 
Shawn Skinner 2011 Telegram Today


Now its all about redundancy and the importance of having mainland supply for backup. Think about what the Ministers are saying. Same message from Trevor and Shawn and the same arguments created by the Dean MacDonald's and Danny Williams of the world.

Our province should have had security of supply decades ago and it would have been self-reliance. Labrador should be fully powered by hydro - with redundancies - domestic built in - same way for the Island. Now it is make the shocking deal with Emera - necessary - in the same way they made the shocking deal with Persona necessary.

It`s all about getting money into shareholders hands - and not for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. If the media did some fact checking they would find other similarities with the two deals - like why tenders were not called and why our people were and are the ones holding the debt - and how long these two investments would take to pay themselves off.

This is not an energy plan and like the fibre optic deal it is going to cost us a fortune for particular shareholders to make a load of cash. I have not spent 20 years of my life dealing with energy issues in this province - for the sake of criticizing - I have done so to avoid catastrophic deals which in the end will ruin the future for yet more generations to come.

Flip this House (Utility)

First posted in 2007 by Sue's Blog - Every Time Dean speaks we should remind ourselves of the following:

I guess most of the readers are familiar with the various TV shows on flipping houses - where the buyer picks up a property - renovates and or adds an addition and flips it for a profit.

Newfoundland and Labrador has it's own new program now - called Flip this Utility. I cannot for the life of me figure out why CBC or NTV have not picked up the pilot and a couple of completed programs in the can. The least the Telegram or VOCM could do is give the reader and listener some highlights of the new series so we can encourage one of the TV networks to pick it up. I don't expect "Out of the Fog" would be interested.




The program is filled with energy as the hosts and flippers are interesting well known characters - that give it a kind of soap opera appeal - mixed with a tinge of a reality series.

The creator of the series is a well kept secret but I think it's fair to say that Brian Tobin might be the producer and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador acts as a partial financier of the renos.

Te pilot takes place in Newfoundland and Labrador when Tobin was the Premier. He decided after some encouragement by the local cable company that it was time to reno the government's communications contracts. So Tobin without an RFP or tender call picks Cable Atlantic for the investment.

Cable Atlantic picked up the government contract and away they went. Shortly after the owner of Cable Atlantic flipped the property for a tidy profit to Rogers - not a (local) company.

Dean MacDonald - Danny Williams - Ken Marshall - and Brian Tobin are featured predominantly in the pilot and the backdrop is priceless - as one of the flippers - apparently not believing that Tobin's government had done a good job became the leader of the other political party and went on to become Premier.

The second program starts off with one of the flippers of the first property picking up Persona - and while Danny is becoming Premier - Dean Macdonald leaves Rogers - the purchaser of the renovated Cable Atlantic - and starts to work on Persona. Not to be left out Brian leaves as the Premier and he ends up on the Board of the new property to be renovated and does work for the company that picked up the first flip.

The third show features all the same players - but this time the Premier who was a flipper on the first - decides government needs some reno work itself - and Persona who is ready to be the second property - just happen to come together with the same plan. So instead of going out to the market to find another property to invest in - government decides why not just deal with the same gang. No tender of RFP needed.It worked before. Same storyline - local company gets reno...

Now this episode gets real fun as the biggest communications (telephone) company Aliant experiences a real tragedy and has a fire in one of its buildings knocking out cell and telephone services far and wide. Danny - and Dean - recognizing this irony jump all over this to convince us that another reno is essential.


They send out a new character Trevor - to announce all the plans - and poor Trevor is all over the map as to exactly what it is they are doing for the reno and why. He fondly becomes known as the "duct tape man".



Then our Minister of Business Kevin O'Brien jumps in - to be honest witchu - and starts selling the audience on the real value in this property.

The audience is in for great laughs as everyone runs around trying to figure out if they want strands or a whole network or how many fibres they will need and whether or not they will light them. And if they are lit - who will do it. The funniest part is when the neighborhood spokesperson won't reveal who is going to pay what for maintenance and the whole meeting goes up when one of the property owners asks for an administration fee to sort it out.

Once again the appeal to us the audience is that another local property wants to reno and expand. Unfortunately - once again the audience is torn when the property is flipped to another company on the mainland.

Unlike the first flip where the profit details were available - the producer will keep us guessing as the real profit off this one will not be known.

The producer is not talking but the last episode might go something like this - Danny leaves as Premier - Dean takes that job - and Brian picks up a property to reno and appoints Danny to the Board. The new government under Dean will encourage reno's to that asset and will partially finance the upgrades - without a tender or RFP. I haven't heard yet if they will release the results of that flip and the profits which might accrue.



Utility Flip - coming soon - from your local cable provider.

Premier's Voodoo Economics

Leading the way in 2007 ...







Leading the way in what really - that is the question we have to ask ourselves to see if we are making headway.

The Premier is pretty select when it comes to "bad news" - that is to say he will fault Ottawa (rightly so) but not fault himself.

While the TD and RBC project significant economic growth for Newfoundland and Labrador as a measurement of GDP - here are some of the comments you may not have heard discussed by our Premier - Minister of Business O'Brien - Minister of Natural Resources Dunderdale - Minister of Industry Taylor - or Minister of Finance Marshall.

TD ECONOMICS Report September 2006


N&L’s economy weaker than meets the eyes...

Although Newfoundland & Labrador’s economy is on track to record real GDP growth of close to 4% this year after 2005’s weak turnout of 0.4%, this statistic alone over-states the underlying momentum in the economy. Notably, much of the output growth reflects rising crude oil production at the White Rose oilfield and nickel extraction at Voisey’s Bay. Other indicators released so far this year – including housing starts, retail and wholesale trade activities and manufacturing shipments – point to an economy that is fighting to keep its head above water.

RBC Reports economic growth for our province at 4.7% - similar to TD and also makes this statement:

RBC notes that the province's remaining sectors have lagged the rest of Canada. Now that construction work is completed at Voisey's Bay and White Rose, non-residential construction should continue to soften markedly, and a continued lack of jobs is expected to keep unemployment high. As a result, housing markets continue to cool.

I say to the Premier and his flunkies - square that circle - and to boot the Voisey's Bay and Oil Projects leading the growth - he was not involved in negotiating. He can be credited for taking appropriate advantage of Martin's minority government to boost equalization however he has allowed Harper's minority to squash the gains.

The policy of exporting Lower Churchill power - will net continued poor results and despite what Clyde Jackman says - we don't want to wait for history to prove that.

Next post - inconsistent policy means the Premier is incompetent or worse.

Minister of Environment having identity crisis...

He thinks he's the Minister of Industry!

Hey Clyde - Here's the latest from The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

"Although Health Canada last month said 2,4-D is
safe to use on lawns and turf "when label directions are followed," the association warned pesticides have been linked to childhood cancer, birth defects and neurological disease."

Now that's compared to the advice from pesticide industry reps here in Newfoundland and Labrador - one of which said I was getting blood tests for years and nothing got into me.


Then there is this Clyde -

Michel Gaudet, president of the Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, said that Quebec law is now in line with 2,4-D prohibitions in effect in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

"Sweden prohibited 2,4-D in 1977 and 12 years later they noted the increase in some of their cancers started to go down," he said.

Here's the complete story from the Montreal Gazette...

Quebec now has some of the toughest laws in North America - we should be "green" with envy not "green" like we were on Hydro when Quebec cleaned up and we swabbed their decks. A local nursery merchandiser added - "To have a healthy lawn, you need good soil, add lots of grass seed, and use fertilizer to put nutrients in your soil." Back to the basics Minister - and we are certainly not short of fertilizer.




Now for the Minister in case he does not know or has secret ambitions here is the Minister who yaps on behalf of industry and us "of course".

Update:
The Minister was commenting today on all the containers that remain unrecycled in the province. You know what he said? The quicker we get that done the better for us all. Wow now that's amazing Minister. You think?

A society of partisan secrecy and misplaced loyalties....

Yesterday Sue's Blog received the following comment in response to the post "Is this what happened?"

I believe Beth has been working within an environment that doesn't want her around. Its clear to me that she had to stay quiet about it TO THE PUBLIC but I bet she stood up (once again) to the Premier and has been sidelined for it. Beth is in survival mode... waiting for Danny to finish his reign. I hope she remain around.

We wonder - as a people - how things like the House of Assembly scandal happen. Primarily they happen because our political system teaches us to "stay quiet" - "keep you powder dry" - "air your dirty laundry inside the party". This mentality has driven many a good person from seeking public office.

There are times when we should call it like we see it - I don't mean private one on one conversations (off the record) as we have witnessed recently with Judy Foote and before her Tom Marshall. When political parties and MHA's are acting improperly as it relates to our money and our province - we should speak up.

The person who left the comment above - obviously has respect for Beth Marshall and believes she is capable of being a good representative and Cabinet Minister. I do not disagree - until last week I was regularly asking the Premier - on the blog - why Beth continues to be overlooked during Cabinet shuffles.

Marshall is a professional and intellectually has much to offer in service to the people and her province - but she doesn't have the guts. Sure she stood up to Danny and resigned - but much too quietly - if we are not going to get the benefit of Marshall in Cabinet - we need to know why.

The other issue for Marshall is what she chooses to stand for. Before us today is one example of blatant disregard for the public purse and blatant use of taxpayer dollars to buy votes. When it comes to the people's treasury - that is Ms. Marshall's area. This is what she had no problem doing from the relative comfort of her Auditor General's chair - and she should feel the same need to expose from the caucus chair.

If Danny refuses to let Beth perform at her level - she has alternatives - she can make a stand. There is a benefit in this for the people as we can really understand how our Premier is operating. Danny has a duty to find and utilize the best talent we elect in their areas of strength. Obviously accounting and finance is Marshall's calling - and she - more than anybody else - is responsible for getting the current dirt out but as a vocal AG - now she needs to be a vocal MHA.

There is no doubt our party system in the province and country discourages people from speaking out when there are important issues on the table. None so evident when Efford chose the Prime Minister and not his province and people during the Atlantic Accord - Loyola Hearn chose the bureaucracy instead of Newfoundland and Labrador when he backed out of his promise to us - that custodial management would be achieved on the nose and tail of Grand Banks and Flemish Cap - and these are but a couple of examples we have suffered over the past five decades.

We have people in the PC caucus that know better regarding the fishery - but they have shut-up disappeared - Harry Harding - Roger Fitzgerald - Charlene Johnson - and even Trevor Taylor. I think Roger has given up - gone into early retirement and not up for the fight. Charlene and Harry are so in awe of the Premier - the thought of just being able to clap - giggle - and cheer for Danny in the House is good enough for them. And Trevor - well there's really no excuse other than he likes the office - he loves Cabinet and what it does for his own personal achievement record. Meanwhile thousands of our people leave to find work - families and communities destroyed because the party - not the people - come first.

On the situation with the constituency bonus - we need to know if our belt-tightening scrooge of a Finance Minister - Loyola Sullivan - knew what was coming in the report. Why did Loyola take the $2875 payment - why did he say nothing? Oh the party loyalty is gone to the extreme - while personal rackets such as those between Grimes - Efford - and Dumeresque could be avoided - real issues must be tackled straight-up.

And what's worse - this extends to people who are not even elected. If you speak out against obvious policy apathy and just ridiculous statements by members on either side - there is nothing you can offer the party.

In the long run the people are bettered by those who have and use a voice - and so would the party - but the immediacy of political office is all that's considered when some fool (politician or staffer) is sent out to personally attack and ridicule those citizens who speak freely.If one states that neither party is doing anything concrete to deal with the fishery - there is no place for that person in politics. The people of the province genuinely approve of a person speaking out - it's what exposes the messes - hopefully before it is too late. The political parties shun the same people because they are not capable of dealing with a challenge or finding a solution to whatever the problem is. If however a person speaks badly of only one side - the other is hot to trot to keep them close - butter them up - encourage through praise - the continuation of a partisan attack.

This more than anything else has hurt our province.

When Danny says - he has the best people working on this or that - what he means is the best people among his list of people acceptable to him - those who openly support his every position - the same is true of Reid - and all other Premier's or leaders before them.

So when Danny says, "we should be more like Quebec and fight for the province not a partisan position" - he should understand that he is admitting Newfoundland and Labrador has yet to have a real leader.