The Bow Wow Parliament The first casualty of the current pandemic in Newfoundland and Labrador was democracy and on Tuesday, the pandemic added to its draconian toll. A handful of members of the House met with the permission of a government official and passed without much discussion a measure that
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Political Foote Ball #nlpoli
Since 2003, the legislature has become more about political theatre than the public interest. This past sitting of the House proves how much that is so. Public discussion of policy issues in Newfoundland and Labrador takes place inside an echo chamber. It tends to stay inside arbitrary, artificial boundaries. Participants ride
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Chaulk and Cheese #nlpoli
If the members of the House of Assembly vote to accept the reports fromtwo statutory officers as presented they will have to accept that Chris Mitchelmore committed an act that does not rise to any reasonable definition of gross mismanagement. If they accept that he has committed such an act,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Rookies, the House, and the Orchestra Pit #nlpoli
What is reported is seldom what happened even though what happened is far more interesting than the stuff that falls into the orchestra pit. Events in the House of Assembly are the result of decisions by members of all three parties. Any analysis that ignores the simple realities of the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The House and Twitter #nlpoli
Guest post by Simon LonoThe latest House of Assembly Twitter flap raises more issues that it first appears. Leaving aside the wisdom of the timing, it’s worth understanding why the point was raised at all.The Telegram, in their Saturday th…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: How government decides – From Bow-Wow to Basenji #nlpoli
The Liberals’ signature policy initiative is Bill 1.It is so important that it is the only piece of new legislation the Liberals have introduced in this session that is directly connected to their election promises.Bill 1 creates a new appointments com…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Tiny pebbles in an empty washtub #nlpoli
For the third day in a row, the opposition has asked one question over and over again, with a couple of minor variations.They’ve asked education minister Dale Kirby why the New Liberal government that took over last December hasn’t called ele…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Mr. Speaker Osborne #nlpoli
Members of the House of Assembly had the good fortune of having two fine candidates for Speaker.While SRBP endorsed Scott Reid, the House made an excellent choice in Tom Osborne. Tom is the longest-serving member in the House having first been ele…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Scott Reid for Speaker #nlpoli
Liberal member of the House of Assembly Scott Reid is a candidate for Speaker of the House. By the looks of things, members will have a competition for the Speaker’s chair. That will be a first.In the past, nomination of the Speaker w…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Moveable Fixed Election Date #nlpoli
Arguably, the greatest fairy tale the Conservatives spread after 2003 was that Danny Williams didn’t take a salary from the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. The truth was he collected every penny of his salary from the day he entered the House of Assembly until the day he left. The
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A swing and a miss #nlpoli
The usual round of Saturday chores this weekend brought with it the usual accidental meetings with all manner of friends and acquaintances. Even the least political among them wondered what went on in the House of Assembly last week. Good news. There is help for them. Your humble e-scribbler laid
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Review faces stiff competition from province’s politicians #nlpoli
If Paul Davis and his beleaguered band of provincial Conservatives started the week on a high, it didn’t last very long. They opened the House on Monday to debate a bill that would reduce the size of the House of Assembly by 10 members. They had the instant support of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Ballsiness #nlpoli
Before Christmas, Liberal leader Dwight Ball had been calling for an election as soon as possible. After Christmas, faced with the chance to chop a few seats from the House as he had already pledged to do, Ball was quick to agree both to the cuts proposed by the Conservatives
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Not fit for it #nlpoli
It’s not surprising that the provincial Conservatives and their supporters want to reduce the representations the people of the province have in the House of Assembly. After all, the plan to cut 10 seats from the House of Assembly and make other changes in the interest of “modernisation” fits their
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Anti-democratic, regressive, and unprincipled #nlpoli
The idea of reducing the size of the province’s legislature because the provincial government has a massive financial crisis didn’t get any smarter when the provincial government announced its plan on Thursday to slash the House from 48 seats to 36. People who want to start government cutbacks at the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The House comes back… what’s on the menu? #nlpoli
As far as when Frank Coleman might find the time to get around to taking over the Premier’s job, not much as it seems. It’s till vague, undefined, and potentially will happen quite some time from now. He appeared on VOCM Open Line on Friday and still talked about wanting
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: And you want to be my latex salesman? #nlpoli
Last week SRBP noted that the provincial cabinet seems to be having some difficulty getting legislation into the House for debate. Normally, we’d see upwards of 30 bills handled in the spring session. In 2011 they had almost all the bills introduced by the early part of May. In 2012,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Light Session #nlpoli
As of May 2, there are a mere six pieces of legislation on the list of bills currently set for debate in the House of Assembly. It seems to be up to date because on Thursday they added links to a couple of the bills that are ready to start
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Not with a bang, but a whimper #nlpoli
The longest filibuster in Newfoundland and Labrador legislative history ended quietly Saturday morning. This was the second filibuster this year and the Telegram’s legislative reported posed a simple question via Twitter before the House closed. What does it say about current Newfoundland and Labrador political culture that we’ve had two
Continue readingPressing Politics: Pressing Politics Stars in House of Assembly, Tories Elicit a Warning from Dean MacDonald
Yesterday I had a fair bit of time to kill, so I decided to head to the legislature and take in some of the Muskrat Falls filibusters. As I was sitting in the gallery, with the security people watching me … Continue reading →
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