Former Premier Roger Grimes - Perspective on Policies and Politics

 Talk with Sue - Special Guest next week - Former Premier Roger Grimes


Many things have happened over the past year - not the least of which is the resignation of the first woman to be elected Premier of our Province. She resigned last week - suddenly and without much notice - and hers was a majority government.

Muskrat Falls debate rages on.

Bill 29

The Liberal and Tory leadership races.

New Premier Tom Marshall.

The resignation of Jerome Kennedy.

Natural resource development.

Budgetary issues. Debt and deficits and the unfunded pension liabilities

Health Care

Auditor General's Report

The massive change in political polling results.

The defection of sitting MHA's.

The state of the NDP and ruling Tories.

The changing tide for the Liberals.

The new Liberal leader.

As we get settled in to 2014 - what's in store for us?

Roger Grimes has agreed to talk about it all - a perspective from a man who once held the top job and the responsibility of the office.

This will be two hours of fascinating discussion that you won't want to miss.

Tuesday -  February 4th from 6-8 on the Island and from 5:30 to 7:30 in most of Labrador the former Premier will be my special guest - live on Talk with Sue.

You can join the show live and enter the chat room - where you can pose some questions.

Petitions to go Archaic in the House of BlackBerry's

I thought it not possible to become worse - the behavior of our Members in the People's House - but worse it has become.

In order to comfort the growing anxiety of one Minister of Natural Resources - Speaker Ross is going to change the standards for petitions.

I will post the Hansard of his diatribe as soon as it's released. That may change too - and perhaps taping of the House will stop and all will have to be done in shorthand.

Wiseman decided that photocopies are not real tradition - originals are the way to go. He preached about copying machines not even available when petitions started in the 1920's-30's. Poor old James Watt - when he thought he had a great idea in 1770's.

In either case the nonsense of the petitions continues and now the Tories want to make it more difficult for people to be heard. More complicated and archaic unlike let's say this:

The Hansard in March of 1991

MR. TOBIN: Mr. Speaker, I have a petition I would like to present on behalf of approximately 400 parents of the Marystown Central High School. The petition is part of approximately 2,000 or 3,000 I have presented so far in the House, and I think I have something like ten or twelve more petitions I will be presenting over the coming days.

This petition says, `We are concerned about the serious damage which will be done to the education of our children in the community if there are any cutbacks in education funding. We are especially opposed to funding cutbacks which will affect the Marystown Central High School by reducing staff, making it impossible to increase staffing if required, creating class sizes so large that students cannot learn, reducing or eliminating remedial guidance and library services, making it impossible for the school board to fund new programs and facilities. Decreased funding for education at this time would undo the real progress of recent years and seriously harm the future of individual persons of our Province. We now ask our Government not to impose funding cutbacks on the education of our children.'

Mr. Speaker, I see the Minister of Education looking somewhat bewildered by the prayer of the petition. I do not know why.

That would have been Glenn Tobin who's petitions eventually landed him as boss of the Liquor Corporation.

Now the Tories want a change. Tradition - authenticity- that's what they're after.

All this while they TWEET in the House of Assembly from a BlackBerry.

What an absolute embarrassment they are - these Tory puppets. On high we shall preach that which we do not follow. 

Damn Kirby's Tweet - The Premier should Resign!

MHA Dale Kirby said that somebody lied in the House of Assembly! Oh my Stop the Presses!

And imagine he did not even identify who he was talking about!! Stop the Presses!

Kathy Dunderdale said not to long ago: “The criticism can sometimes be relentless, and from a small handful of people, but they tend to be very loud and scathing, and personal, and mean”.

These comments were about who? She did not name the individuals and therefore she labelled all local bloggers and people who call open-line programs.

I want her to apologize in the House of Assembly to the people of this province. I want the Premier to acknowledge that her remarks were reckless, unfair, and unwarranted.

It is more important that she apologize as she was making the comments about the people she is employed by. Absolute insubordination by our Premier.

AND WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ALL OF THIS?

In my opinion the purpose is to deflect from her government's dismal performance on all levels. The purpose is to deflect away from the disaster on the Burin Peninsula and other rural areas of our province. It is to deflect away from the collapse of our fishing industry, and the fiasco which is the Emera deal. It is to deflect away from the loss of the Marine Rescue Sub-Centre, the loss of jobs in Federal parks and other federal offices. It is to deflect away from the Search and Rescue inadequacies and most importantly away from the loss of a young Labradorian's life.

AND NOW?

A Newfoundland fisherman gets ill at sea and the crew calls for a Doctor's assistance. The crew seeks to determine if they need a medevac. Their call goes to Italy! That's right people Italy! The crew is unable to get anywhere with the call and are left stranded with their medical emergency. Meanwhile...


From the Canadian Forces: 09/05/2012
 

HALIFAX – A CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 103 (Search and Rescue) Squadron, Gander NF and a CC-130 Hercules aircraft from 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron from Greenwood NS are currently involved in a medical evacuation for a crewmember aboard Spanish fishing vessel, F/V Calvao, located approximately 445 kilometres southeast off St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Both aircraft were tasked early Wednesday afternoon, when Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax received a request from the United States Coast Guard ‘s (USCG) Rescue Coordination Centre in Boston to perform the medevac, as the vessel is in the Boston Search and Rescue region but Canadian assets were in closer proximity at the time of the incident.
This event is an excellent example of the close coordination that exists between US and Canadian Search & Rescue assets on a daily basis. To offer context, the distance from St John’s NF to the vessel is slightly further than the distance between Halifax and Sydney NS (434 km).


The Premier and her Cabinet should all be removed from office - the absolute dismantling of rural Newfoundland and Labrador and the treatment of our province in this nation is all a result of the Premier, her Cabinet, and Caucus. Anything for the loan guarantee right? Who and what is driving this? We demand to know!

Premier Dunderdale if you want to deal with the word LIAR - deal with Stephen Harper who is a LIAR. His lies to this province will cost us billions. Deal with that!

Dale Kirby and Terry French - Who has a REAL job?

 

Last Wednesday in the House of Assembly Dale Kirby asked Terry French a question regarding legislation on replacement (scab) workers. French responded in a manner not becoming a Minister but very telling of his own character. 

Here is the quote:   

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is referring to a couple of incidents, but the hon. member has two jobs, as we all know here in the House, and he is an academic in his real job. So, Mr. Speaker, to speak to him being an academic, I would like to challenge him to read some of the work that some of the academics have done throughout this country and throughout the world, and he will quickly discover that there is a great divide on the usefulness of replacement worker legislation... 

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As many of you already know - I am not always in agreement with Dale Kirby - however I respect his profession and his work. 

Currently Dale Kirby is the MHA for St. John's North and that is a REAL job. In the past and at present Dale Kirby does not NEED to be a politician to be gainfully employed. It's not likely the best gig he will ever have. That is refreshing to a voter. 

You on the other hand Mr. French are looking like a career politician more and more each day. That is a problem. How and why did you go into politics? If you were in Opposition today - what else would you be doing? 

You Mr. French want the people of the province to provide you with a job and pension as a politician. This is not so good - particularly when you consider the situation of public service pensioners. In my opinion Mr. French - this is the best gig you will ever have and that is worrisome.

Oompa Loompas use Twitter to debate the Emera Chocolate Factory

I woke up this morning only to hear that the House of Assembly was open last night and I missed it.

Tweeter was alive with NDP member Dale Kirby fending off Ministers and PC backbenchers on the issue of Muskrat Falls.

The use of Twitter by Dale Kirby is reasonable as the Tories will NOT open the House of Assembly. The use of Twitter by backbench Tories may be the only real opportunity to show their zealous loyalty.
The use of Twitter by Ministers is an insult to the public they serve.
The use of Twitter by Ministers to debate a 6 billion dollar deal represents regime tactics you'd expect from North Korea.

We live in a modern democracy but we would be hard-pressed to defend that.

We are living under a government that will not listen to critics - regardless of their background or expertise.

We are living under a government that will block and thwart due processes that were established to protect our system from incompetence and corruption.

We are living under a government that will not provide open access to information to the people, the media, and the Auditor General.

We are living under a government that does not serve the people - but abuses the power the Premier says she is humbled by.

Remember Wonka had a chocolate factory and so did we under Joey - and apparently we will get another Upper Churchill too. 

One thing we should remember - is that the government we get is the government we deserve so perhaps we should all reflect - and then take the action necessary to advise the oompa loompas that this project is not on.