Perhaps one of the most disconcerting aspects of former Premier Paul Davis’ testimony at the Barry Inquiry last week is the clear evidence that he still lacks a level-headed, rational perspective on the events of April 2015 and afterward. In response to questions, Davis said that “very quickly [after the
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Davis’ paranoia #nlpoli
Perhaps one of the most disconcerting aspects of former Premier Paul Davis’ testimony at the Barry Inquiry last week is the clear evidence that he still lacks a level-headed, rational perspective on the events of April 2015 and afterward. In response to questions, Davis said that “very quickly [after the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Eeyore and the Blustery Day #nlpoli
Premier Dwight Ball stood up before a hand-picked crowd at The Rooms on Tuesday and told them they were there to help develop a strategy for the future of our province. They would look over some ideas the government crowd had worked up, sit around tables talking with “facilitators” as
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Grits and Cons play dodge-fact over Labrador hydro talks #nlpoli
“There are no discussions between this government and the Quebec government.”
That’s part of a statement sent out by email to local reporters from natural resources minister Siobhan Coady’s office. You can’t find it on the government website or the party website. Coady was responding to a release from provincial Conservative leader Paul Davis challenging Dwight Ball to state the administration’s plans for the province’s hydro resources in Labrador.
Words matter. No one has suggested that the two governments were talking about anything. The talks would take place between Nalcor and Hydro-Quebec and, whether we take Nalcor boss Stan Marshall’s own words or the local scuttlebutt, the talks are going on between the two companies.
They can’t dodge a wrench, either
Coady and Premier Dwight Ball need to stop playing dodge-fact. They suck at it.
Coady’s misleading denial is the same as Ball’s deceptive statement mentioned in yesterday’s post that there are “no talks about Hydro-Quebec taking over Muskrat Falls.”
No one said anything about HQ “taking over” Muskrat Falls then or now. The rumble around town is that Nalcor and HQ are in talks that would see HQ taking a major role in an expanding Lower Churchill project.
To really signal the administration’s her difficulty with a simple, true statement, Coady tried to claim the Tories were “fearmongering.” That just comes across as looks silly. The simple truth is that if Nalcor and HQ weren’t talking, both Coady and Ball would have said precisely that. Based on the way Ball and Coady are carrying on, we know something’s up. We should be even more concerned given the fact that – yet again – Coady and Ball prefer to be cute rather than make simple statements that deal directly with the issue.
Constable Clueless Strikes Again
As for the Conservatives, they don’t get off much better in the fact department. Davis’ statement said that the “Muskrat Falls project was designed to end Quebec’s longstanding stranglehold on our hydro exports by creating a new route through the Maritimes to give our province new leverage after Quebec played hardball for decades, costing us enormous amounts of potential revenue a year,.”
That was what Danny Williams claimed in 2010 but, as Williams surely knew at the time and Davis should know now, it just isn’t true. Changes to American trade rules in the late 1990s made it impossible for Quebec to trade electricity into the United States without opening up their grid to competition. They did, which is how Nalcor was able to sell electricity to Emera starting in 2009. In fact, when Williams announced the deal in 2009 he said that the deal proved the stranglehold was a thing of the past. Williams claimed the Muskrat deal with Emera broke the stranglehold, but it wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now.
The Road to Perdition
Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes came as close as possible to developing the Lower Churchill successfully. They had a market for the power, interest in developing the transmission grid and, as it turned out, enough cash from oil to ensure the provincial government and its energy corporation could have covered any cost over-runs.
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Using his words #nlpoli
Politicians are usually very careful about the words they use.That’s why it’s important to notice the words Premier Dwight Ball used this weekend in an interview with Tom Clark for Global’s current affairs show The West Block.Ball said there was …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Downfall #nlpoli
On Day Two of the official provincial general election campaign, a new poll by a different polling method lines up with the Abacus Data poll. In both Abacus and Forum Research, results are shown for decideds and leanings. Forum goes farther than others, though, by showing demographic breakdowns of the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Setting fire to your own ass is never a good idea #nlpoli
While Paul Davis and the Conservatives were launching their official election campaign, Ryan Cleary turned up in a recorded interview on NTV to talk about the controversy he embodies. The single biggest thing Cleary did was confirm that his answer to David Cochrane last week was a lie. Did you
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Blue balls #nlpoli
Ryan Cleary didn’t become the punchline to any New Yorker cartoon at 3:00 PM last Friday afternoon. Peg Norman and other local New Democrats may want to believe he did. But he didn’t.’t Norman laced into Cleary on Facebook Friday afternoon, calling Cleary’s decision to join the Tories “an indictment
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Real change #nlpoli
“A positive, optimistic, hopeful vision of public life isn’t a naive dream,” Justin Trudeau told Canadians after he won a truly historic victory in the October 19th federal general election. That victory, said Trudeau, “is what positive politic can do.” “We beat fear with hope, we beat cynicism with hard
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Leadership and opportunity #nlpoli
On Tuesday, the provincial Conservatives launched their election campaign. It was to be built solely on the image of Paul Davis as a great leader. They labelled the campaign Davis 15. The revamped the party website and they launched a second site – with the clever address davis15.ca – that
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Omega Man #nlpoli
The word that comes to mind when you look at the new provincial Conservative party website or the davis165.ca site isn’t fresh, new, rebounding, or even trying. It is “alone”. You see lots of pictures of Paul Davis. By himself. (Read more…)
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: That’s gotta suck, big time #nlpoli
All the country’s provincial and territorial leaders – except for Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia – are in Newfoundland and Labrador this week for their annual conference. What an opportunity for Paul Davis in an election year. He gets to show himself off looking all leader-like and premieral or whatever the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A lot can change in three months #nlpoli
The Liberals and the Conservatives dropped in the most recent Corporate Research Associates poll and all that vote went to the New Democrats. Let’s look at the party choice numbers without the skew of looking only at decideds. Here’s a chart showing the CRA results since the last general election,
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Small ball, election dates, and other minutae #nlpoli
Later today, Premier Paul Davis will introduce a bill in the House of Assembly that, among other things, sets the next provincial general election for the last week of November. The most likely day for voting is November 24, with the official campaign starting 21 days before that. There’s no
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Politics, CETA, and the fishery #nlpoli
The European trade deal came up in the House of Assembly on Monday. Everyone kept to the same lines they’ve been kicking around for months. Believe it if you want, but if you want to find out what is really going on, check out the interview your humble e-scribbler did
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: TBT: a cabinet divided #nlpoli
The latest case of the Premier and one of his ministers saying different things can’t be put down to brain farts. You also cannot dismiss this because fisheries minister Vaughan Granter can’t speak in short spurts or whatever the heck that line was from last weekend’s On Point. This one
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: List: What’s happened since Alberta’s historic election
It has been an incredible 15 days since Alberta’s historic 2015 election. Here is a quick look back at what has happened in the past two weeks and what will happen in the months ahead. May 5: Rachel Notley‘s New… Continue Reading →
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: And it’s only Wednesday #nlpoli
Imagine, if you can, what it must be like to be Sandy Collins. Sandy is a very young man who is - right now - living the first line of his epitaph. Imagine, if you can do two at one, what it must be like to be Veronica Hayden. Veronica
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: You know things are going badly when… #nlpoli
… you launch your election campaign at at huge fundraiser and your signature policy announce gets slaughtered on Twitter within seconds of the words leaving your lips. Yes, friends, Paul Davis told the world he will create some kind of savings fund from oil royalties. In 2021. If, and only
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Felix the Half A-G #nlpoli
If politicians are good at one thing, they are usually good at telling a story that serves their purpose even if it isn’t, strictly speaking, actually what happened. Last week’s cabinet shuffle is a fine example of that. The story started on the day of the shuffle. The story appears,
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