More from your state broadcaster

"Dear Newfoundlanders, don't read the Globe and Mail, nor its business magazine. Let us read it for you and tell you what parts of it you ought to know."

- signed,
The Newsroom
VOCM



"Remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter. No argument must lead you astray."

- George Orwell, Animal Farm

They're actually starting to notice

From the Telegram:

"The legislature hasn't been open for House business in more than seven months."

Said the waiter, don't shout and wave it about, or the rest will be wanting one too...

Great excerpt from Finance Minister Tom Marshall's release of the 2006-07 Audited Financial Statements:

"...the province was able to maintain strong economic growth while experiencing decreases in equalization payments."

Think about that quote for a minute.

Only in Newfoundland and Labrador would the decrease of Equalization payments concurrent with strong economic growth be an item of news. Had the release come from the Premier, it would have been an item of outrage.

What do you suppose happens to Equalization payments in other provinces which experience "strong economic growth"???

VOCM - state sanctioned newscasts

As per usual, someone's raising a very good point.

The Premier getting purportedly busted for using a cellphone while driving might be trivial, but is it newsworthy?

It made national newspapers. It's the "editor's choice" story on the Globe and Mail website today. It's been a story on the local CBC for two days running, and made the CTV national news. Pierre Bourque is running it as a headline.

Yet the media outlet that actually received the story ahead of everyone else has refused to cover it.

Why is that?

Quebec City Mayor thinks Jacques Cartier was a Viking

«Ç'est de la rigolage...je vais appeler M. Wells et l'inviter à venir à Québec et on va lui donner un cours d'histoire et lui montrer des choses. Ce que je connais de l'histoire c'est que des Vikings sont passés par Terre-Neuve»

- le maire de Québec, Régis Labeaume, aujourd'hui dans le journal de Québec

Et voici, pour mon cher Monsieur Labeaume, un tel cours d'histoire:

«...Cartier prend la mer, le 23 mai, avec cinq navires et un équipage de près de 1500 hommes. Il arrive de nouveau à Stadacona le 23 août 1541, annonce la mort de Donnacona, et se dirige vers la partie ouest du Cap Diamant [Cap-Rouge]. Il fait un autre voyage à Hochelaga et se trouve une fois de plus en mauvais termes avec les habitants de Stadacona, qui gardent les Français en état de siège constant. Convaincu d'avoir trouvé des diamants et de l'or dans les rochers, Cartier s'installe en juin 1542. Il rencontre Roberval dans le port de St. John's, à Terre-Neuve. Ce dernier lui ordonne de retourner à Stadacona, mais Cartier disparaît à la faveur de la nuit et met le cap sur la France. L'or se révèle n'être que de la pyrite de fer, et les diamants, du quartz sans valeur. On ignore s'il fut réprimandé, mais plus aucune autre expédition à long terme ne lui fut confiée. Il se retire dans son domaine seigneurial à Limoilou et meurt à l'âge de 66 ans. Cartier mérite de figurer parmi les grands explorateurs du XVI^e siècle. Il a découvert l'un des plus grands fleuves au monde, un fleuve qui sera appelé à devenir l'axe du pouvoir français en Amérique du Nord.»

- Marcel Trudel, historien

Stephen Harper on "winning"

Ok, forget all that Harper/Williams nonsense for a minute. Better still, forget it for even longer.

This is actually cause for concern.

From the Globe:

Stephen Harper told more than 400 Conservative supporters in Prince Albert Wednesday night that Saskatchewan is “a winning province.”

Mr. Harper said Saskatchewan is back to being “a have province” and ready to take on a bigger role in Confederation.

What the hell does that mean?

Maybe the Globe and Mail took his remarks out of context, but if they didn't, then Harper is a glutton for punishment. Each of these is a relative statement, and each has a corollary unbecoming of a Prime Minister. Confederation isn't a competition, or a grouping of winners and losers, nor are province's roles "taken on" by virtue of their "have" status.

This is exactly the kind of rhetoric that Harper campaigned on in Newfoundland while he was in Opposition. It hasn't turned out well for anyone. Clearly, he has learned nothing from that experience.

Announcement

"In keeping with the Williams Government commitment to openness and accountability...

...the legislature will remain closed for at least another couple of months."

la capitale nationale (II)

Now what are the odds that:

(a) I'd mention Quebec City twice in one day; and
(b) I'd actually agree with St. John's Mayor Andy Wells about something?

But in this case, he's absolutely right. Quebec City is not the oldest city in Canada. Most beautiful - maybe. Hardest to get to by plane on a Tuesday in mid-January, perhaps. But oldest? Nope. Not by a longshot. And it's historically incorrect and unfortunate that the federal government would publish such nonsense.

Cartier stopped in the already established Port of St. John's for provisions on his way back to France, and that was 70 some years before Champlain even set sail. Gilbert landed in a bustling St. John's in 1583, claiming it for the British Crown nearly half a century later.

Although, as Wally notes today, if Premier Williams gets his way, Quebec City could once again become the oldest city in Canada, but that's a story for another time...

la capitale national

Off to Quebec City to go and ramble on about Constitutional law and whatnot with a veritable list of others who like to ramble about such things. Although judging by this list I won't find many kindred spirits at the front the room. But what to ramble on and on about?

I don't know. I'm sure I'll think of something...

Whatever happened to Senate Reform?

NDP Leader Jack Layton met with fellow provincial and territorial party leaders today. It wasn't all peaches and cream, so to speak, but it's fair to say that the meeting was a good idea for the party as it prepares to launch its "biggest campaign ever".

One wonders however, why the "biggest issue ever" didn't figure into their discussion.

If he can't bring himself to discuss the issue of Senate reform in the friendly confines of a roomful of purported provincial sympathizers, what hope could he possibly have at a First Ministers' Meeting?

Maybe it's time Jack Layton admit that last fall's publicity stunt with Stephen Harper was pretty dumb.

RELATED: Gary Doer's advice to Jack Layton: be more like Dion...

Look! Over there!

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has clearly decided he needs a distraction from the ongoing ethical storm clouds swirling around his Deputy Premier.

Hmm... how about a fight with Ottawa? Maybe a war of words with the Prime Minister? Cue the marching band! Feigned outrage can be bottled and stored on the shelf for a later date.

Williams says Harper told him N.L. support not needed to win election Source: The Canadian Press Jan 14, 2008 11:36

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. _ Premier Danny Williams says the prime minister told him last year that he doesn't need to win seats in Newfoundland and Labrador to win a federal election.

Williams told reporters today that Stephen Harper offered "a very telling'' comment when they met in St. John's in November that he hasn't previously disclosed.

The premier says at one point, Harper told him he doesn't need the province's support to win a future election.

Williams says that shows the kind of disdain the prime minister holds for his province.

The full "story" is here.

Don't get me wrong - Williams' version of events just might be true.

But at some point it just becomes boring.

UPDATE: Mere minutes after trying to deflect attention form the Rideout scandal by starting a war of words with Ottawa, the "Williams Government" turns to page two of its playbook - Look! Lower Churchill is just around the corner!

This, too, is becoming boring.

PM dines with the Premiers

Flashback - remember this?

Rona Ambrose, Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, seven months ago:

"Mr. Speaker, we have had negotiations and talks with the Quebec government and other provincial governments on the federal spending power..." (emphasis mine)

Let's assume for a moment that she was telling the truth.

One would think that seven months after telling Parliament that she had already had negotiations with the provinces about the federal spending power, we would have heard something, from any one of the provinces, or the feds, about progress to date.

Yet seven months later, and on a day that the Premiers and Prime Minister meet for the first time in ages, there's not a peep out of anyone. Not a position paper, not a policy statement, not even a press release, or a rumour or a leak. Has anyone seen Rona in a provincial capital in the past year? Anywhere?

Either all of the premiers are keeping one big secret from the Canadian people, or this statement was an ill-considered outburst of perceived self-importance from a minister with no real mandate to do anything.

Let's hope it's the latter.

Kerry endorses Obama

This is pretty big.

The votes are in...

Pardon me, but I think the biggest winner in any vote held in the U.S. over the past 24 hours was Goose Gossage, who made it to Cooperstown with 85.8% of the vote. Jim Rice and Andre Dawson will have to wait another year, and former Expo Tim Raines had a good first showing at 24.3%. As in all American elections there are anomalies. Someone voted for Todd Stottlemyre.

Some thoughts about New Hampshire -

1. Remember several months ago when everyone was counting John McCain out? Well around the same time, the same pundits were counting Al Gore in? After the Oscars, and the Nobel nomination, and the prolonged movie screening tour, and a new book on the way, and with the nostalgia of his 2000 "defeat" in high gear, poll after poll showed Americans cared about global warming and Democrats believed Al Gore would ignite any pending primary race. Remember that? Anyone?

Ok, now go back and revisit the candidates' speeches from Iowa, and from New Hampshire. Check out the issue-based exit polling from last week's caucus and last night's primary that CNN spewed out every five minutes. See if you can find the word "environment" anywhere. It's been a complete non-issue to date, and might offer a partial explanation for Gore's early decision to stay out of the race. The environment remains a top issue in Canadian polls, but one has to wonder...

2. Theories abound on why Clinton won, or why the predicted Obama margin of victory (in some instances as high as 13 per cent) never transpired. Most theories out there make more sense than anything I can offer up, but here it is in a nutshell:

• You can only put so much free gas in a small car. Momentum can't beat organization all on its own, especially when you are relying on younger voters;
  
• The fact that I prefer a Teen Burger over a Mama Burger at A&W is irrelevant if I'm in line for a Big Mac at McDonalds. Convincing an independent to choose Obama over Clinton might be easy, but meaningless if they're casting a Republican primary ballot for McCain, or voting to stop a religious zealot like Huckabee, or whatever. If Obama is relying on Independents in close states, he's going to be disappointed as long as the Republican race remains so up in the air, and contains viable nutbars. This is particularly true in those states where the primaries or caucuses of both parties are held simultaneously. Last I checked, that's most of 'em.

3. Why is this news? And if it is news, is it an illustration - in reverse of a certain midas touch?

4. The Globe (and I suspect countless other Canadian papers) are choc-full of New Hampshire primary coverage today. I challenge anyone to find a comparable effort by any of our daily papers to devote as much ink to explaining how political parties in Canada choose their respective "nominees" in the leadup to any of their conventions. Bonus points to anyone who can find a single article in the past 30 years which extols the importance of, say, the selection of New Brunswick leadership delegates in the grand scheme of choosing an eventual Canadian Prime Minister. New Brunswick, by the way, represents a much larger chunk of Canada than New Hampshire does of the United States. These may be poor examples of a greater idea - the notion that as these primary races progress in the United States, the number of Canadians who can accurately describe how a presidential candidate is chosen in the United States for either party will likely - by the time November roles around - far outnumber those who can adequately describe how Canadian leaders of any party are selected. Food for thought.

Not to be missed

I know it's a big day south of the border, and everyone's buzzing about what'll happen in New Hampshire tonight, but if you 're a political junkie and want a real online treat, check out Geoff Meeker's blog today, in which he unearths an audio clip of former Premier Joey Smallwood chastising a current VOCM talk radio host as a propagandist, and other terms not fit for print.

It's all here.