Sonia Furstenau: The Island’s old growth is under attack
Falling-boundary tape in one of the seven old-growth cutblocks that were proposed by B.C. Timber Sales near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. Photograph By TJ WATT By Sonia Furstenau…
unsustainable
The Unsustainability Problem #nlpoli
The annual budget consultation farce started on Monday with a couple of sessions. This year the provincial government has turned out a budget simulator that is supposed “to illustrate the…
“We are an island economy” and other nonsense #nlpoli
CBC’s On Point this weekend delivered up some all-too-familiar conversation on the budget and a political panel talking about Judy Manning but sometimes you have to look closely at things…
The Whizzo Quality Assortment #nlpoli
On the outside, the spring budget for 2014 looks like a delicious assortment of goodies for everyone. You can tell it is delectable because everyone is shouting for joy and…
How do they run things? Budget Lead-Up #nlpoli
Finance minister Charlene Johnson will read the new provincial budget speech on Thursday. In keeping with the provincial Conservative tradition, though, they’ve been announcing bits and pieces of the budget…
The Vibrant Unsustainable Super Energy Debt Warehouse #nlpoli
The Conservatives used to say that Newfoundland and Labrador was eastern North America’s energy warehouse. Once Danny Williams ran for the hills and left Kathy Dunderdale in charge, she kicked…
The Politics of Oil and Budgets #nlpoli
When any country or province depends heavily on the money that comes from resource extraction, it affects politics there. Political scientist Michael Ross is probably the most recent author on…
Not exactly, there, Tom, b’y #nlpoli
As part of the orchestrated campaign to attack the people making the comments instead of the comments themselves , finance minister Tom Marshall trotted out in front of the news…
Marshall’s release doesn’t match DBRS public statements #nlpoli
Simply put, Tom Marshall’s most recent news release about the report by Dominion Bond Rating Service doesn’t match what the bond rating agency said in a news release about the…
The Art of Budget Forecasting #nlpoli
The provincial government set its budget this year based on an oil price forecast of US$124 a barrel in 2012. As we move up on the midway point in the…
Reality Check: drops and buckets version #nlpoli
Via labradore, a chart that plots Conservative unsustainable public spending since 2003 with recently announced controls on discretionary spending. -srbp-
Another call for an oil investment fund #nlpoli
In a column in the weekend Ottawa Citizen, Brian Lee Crowley of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute made a convincing argument for investing provincial government oil revenue in an investment fund: Natural…
The Bow-Wow Parliament lacks bark and bite #nlpoli
In the wake of the latest revelations of financial mismanagement in the provincial government, SRBP has been looking at some of the possible contributing developments over the past decade or…
The Root of the Problem #nlpoli
Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite think that the level of scrutiny that we do over a $3 billion expenditure in health care is to take every single health authority…
The Hard Road Ahead #nlpoli
If the provincial government can actually get control on its spending and head down the road to management reform along the lines that Eastern Health’s Vicki Kaminski talked about on…
More pork for the buck #nlpoli
The CBC’s John Gushue has a tidy analysis of Premier Kathy Dunderdale’s recent suggestion that government employees could work from home in the future as a way of cutting down…
There’s no greater fraud… “unsustainable” version #nlpoli
The provincial Conservatives promised on Tuesday that they had a 10 year plan to reduce the provincial debt. They have been in office since 2003. in that time they boosted…
Significant budget digits #nlpoli
As you try and contain your excitement on provincial budget day, here are a few numbers you might want to keep in mind: Dozens: What CBC reported on Friday as…
If Danny didn’t have the balls for it… #nlpoli
Job cuts in the public service. One of the more spectacular communications frig ups by the Premier lately. Here’s what your humble e-scribbler said on March 6: So if Danny…