Premier Dwight Ball got angry on Tuesday.He’s angry at the suggestion that he approved paying severance to Ed Martin.Well, really he’s angry at is how much Martin wound up getting now that the amounts are becoming known and unpopular but we’ll get back…
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Alarums and Excursions #nlpoli
Dwight Ball is hiding details of his involvement in the decision to give an enormous and unwarranted severance package paid to Ed Martin despite the fact Martin had quit as Nalcor’s chief executive.That became plain in Ball’s responses to repeated ques…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ball digs himself deeper into hole #nlpoli
Dwight Ball’s latest version of Ed Martin’s departure from Nalcor only deepens the political quagmire into which the Premier and his staff have worked themselves with diligent effort and persistence.Here’s how.Ed Martin told Premier Dwight Ball on…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Offense and Defense #nlpoli
If you’re not on offense, you are on defense.And in politics, if you are on defense, you are losing.The Liberals wound up on the defensive yet again Wednesday with the resignation of Ed Martin and the entire Nalcor board.To be sure, Williams-era appoin…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Getting while the getting is good. #nlpoli
As if on cue, Danny Williams’ publicist tweeted praise for Ed Martin as soon as news broke that Danny Williams’ right-hand for so many years was leaving the energy corporation Williams created.Almost an hour later, she flipped out a statement fro…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Actions and words #nlpoli
The provincial cabinet has known since January – at least – that the powerhouse at Muskrat Falls is only 15% completed despite a huge payout to the contractor.That’s what Nalcor reported to the committee of provincial bureaucrats named by the Conservat…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Old whine still sour #nlpoli
“I’m concerned that we have an aging asset,” natural resources minister Siobhan Coady Siobhan Coady told CBC in explaining the most recent break downs at the Holyrood generating station.About two years ago, in the midst of darknl, then-Pr…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Third Line #nlpoli
Most people in Newfoundland and Labrador never think about the electricity into their homes. They don’t know where it comes from and they certainly don’t have any idea how it gets from the generating plants to their fridges, washing machines, and television sets. People are thinking about those things a
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Confidence Campaign #nlpoli #darknl
The provincial government started its campaign to gain control of the political agenda on Thursday with its announcement that it would appoint someone to do something sometime in the future. The conventional media outlets didn’t report Premier Kathy Dunderdale’s announcement that way. The Telegram, for example, called it an “independent”
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Dunderstan #nlpoli
In January 2012, Ed Martin and his nasally drone ridiculed the idea of shifting demand for electricity from one part of the day to another so that his company wouldn’t have a problem meeting spikes in demand during the winter. He dismissed the idea as “theoretical” even though it’s widely
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Great Blizzard/Blackout 2014 #nlpoli
Some observations: 1. Yep. It’s a crisis. When you have a major utility cutting electricity to people in a blizzard at random, for random periods of time because it cannot supply enough electricity to meet demand, you have a crisis. That’s what it feels like to the people in it.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat, Martin, and Meaning #nlpoli
Note number of times Ed Martin says “open” or “transparent” within the first five minutes of his weekend interview for On Point with David Cochrane. Odds are very high that these words relate to a very sensitive issue for Nalcor, revealed by their extensive polling. Put the On Point interview
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Looking beyond the Hebron sandbox #nlpoli
ExxonMobil drew a line in the sand this morning, and the minister and I are here to draw another line in the sand, as far as this project is concerned. Premier Kathy Dunderdale, 21 June 2012 Premier Kathy Dunderdale and natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy spent more than a half
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