LIBERALS WANT TO REPLACE ‘NEVER-READY’ PREMIER

When the
incumbent Liberal government is less popular than the Tories – booted out of
office just sixteen months ago – rumours that some key members of the Liberal caucus are looking for a new
leader just makes sense.

The most
recent Poll by Corporate Research Associates puts support for the P.C’s at 39% (up
from 34%) compared with 33% for the Liberals – a drop of 9% since November 2016.
The NDP benefitted from the Liberals’ loss by 3%, raising their popular support
to 26%.


The decline
in Liberal fortunes is manifested by the poor grade given the Government’s performance.
Now, a whopping 71% are dissatisfied on some level compared with 59% in
the last quarter.  Personal support for the
Premier rests at a mere 21% – down from 27%. Support for Davis also dropped by
2 points to 33% from 35%, though his intention to step down makes the number irrelevant.  NDP McCurdy’s cold fire got icy as support declined
to 26% from 28%.  

What are we
to make of those new Poll numbers?


The reader
should bear in mind that our politics is very leader-centric. It is not unusual
for the Premier to outstrip the Party’s standings, a fact that magnifies Ball’s
poor numbers. Typically a new Premier enjoys a “honeymoon” period, too – a time when
the electorate celebrates political change and exhibits a willingness to cut
the government some slack having shown early signs of back-peddling from promises
deemed unaffordable or just half-baked. Ball did not warrant such deference.

Indeed, it
became quickly evident after the 2015 general election that the Liberals had
not thought for a single moment about the decisions needed in the days that
followed. Ball’s own recent confession as to his ignorance of the province’s
fiscal condition – “I wish we had had better information going into the
election campaign last year” – is just the latest proof of an unready –
perhaps ‘never-ready’ Premier.

Likely, the
public knew during the election it had been presented with a Hobson’s choice –
that is to say, no choice at all. The Tories had to go. A mere seven months
later, May 2016, the Liberals were the choice of only 27% of the electorate (according
to the CRA) despite having won 57.2% of the popular vote.

The hope of
everyone, Party stalwarts and the public, is that having been ill-prepared at
the start the Premier might learn quickly on the job. That did not occur. Ball
is both inarticulate and a ditherer. He is unable to inspire confidence. His
Cabinet have shown no capacity to compensate for his shortcomings.

In the
current political circumstance, it doesn’t much matter whether the Liberals
have the support of 33% or 27% of the voting public. Any number within this range is the equivalent to chomping on bone. Ball is eroding the “core” of Liberal partisans. 



A Premier with a 21% personal approval rating won’t find anyone – including
the Liberal caucus – waiting for more data to confirm his unsuitability to lead.

This Blog
caught the sentiment of a souring public mere days following Ball’s investiture.  On December 21, 2015 this headline appeared:
Disingenuous or Dumb (or both) Early Days of the New Liberal Government
A year
later, December 1, 2016 Ball’s bumbling confirmed a lack of progress, such
improvidence reflected in the title: “A Tale of Jethro Bodine in the Premier’sChair

Ball will
excuse his performance blaming poor public support on self-defined “tough
decisions”. No one will argue the Liberals inherited a serious financial and
mess from the Tories characterized by an overwhelming deficit, a fast climbing
debt, and a shipwreck of a hydro project at Muskrat Falls.  But capable politicians describe such a situation
– notwithstanding its irresponsible origins or the cost of any fix – as “opportunity”.  



Ball had a chance to exhibit strong leadership talent and to possibly bury the Tories for a very long time. After all, our
fiscal crisis is real. The expectation of him was not so much to be creative as
to be honest and decisive.  Bewilderingly, he took
ownership of the Tories’ gross mismanagement and confirmed only that he wants
to be like them. Little wonder people shake their heads over such self-destruction.

It would be
foolish not to think that the gasoline tax and the levy played a role in the
rise of the public’s disfavour towards the Liberals. But what government –
having engaged in months of public consultations, and begged for ideas to deal
with the fiscal morass, as did Ball, Coady and Bennett – not expect to be
severely chastised for having confirmed it was a charade?

Even the
dullest practitioner of the political arts can deduce that a bloated
bureaucracy ought to be trimmed before an egregious level of taxation is
imposed. Equally, the worst partisan toadies feel obligated to suffer offense over Ball having failed to prevent the Nalcor Board from rewarding former Nalcor
CEO, except with a firing.  

Ball
couldn’t even do the easy stuff – like “open the books” on Muskrat Falls,
install independent oversight, or conduct the Humber Valley Paving Inquiry – the
latter another tawdry Tory episode that cost taxpayers more millions and brought
the political system into greater disrepute.

Little
wonder that so many people ask aloud if Ball is under Danny Williams’ thumb,
too.

Why would anyone,
including the Liberal caucus, expect the Polls to be different?

Naturally, they
are looking for someone to replace Ball. One of those names is not elected – a measure of how poorly the Liberal caucus assess themselves.

And, in case
the Tories find reason in the CRA Poll to be cocky, I suggest defeat in the
last election is but a slap on the wrist compared to the rebuke that still
awaits Williams and his successors.
Hell has no
fury like decent, hardworking people who feel they have been screwed. 
Des Sullivan
Des Sullivan
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Uncle Gnarley is hosted by Des Sullivan, of St. John's. He is a businessman engaged over three decades in real estate management and development companies and in retail. He is currently a Director of Dorset Investments Limited and Donovan Holdings Limited. During his early career he served as Executive Assistant to Premier's Frank D. Moores (1975-1979) and Brian Peckford (1979-1985). He also served as a Part-Time Board Member on the Canada-Newfoundland Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB). Uncle Gnarley appears on the masthead representing serious and unambiguous positions on NL politics and public policy. Uncle Gnarley is a fiscal conservative possessing distinctly liberal values and a non-partisan persusasion. Those values and opinions underlie this writer's views on NL's politics, economy and society. Uncle Gnarley publishes Monday mornings and more often when events warrant.

REMEMBERING BILL MARSHALL

Bill left public life shortly after the signing of the Atlantic Accord and became a member of the Court of Appeal until his retirement in 2003. During his time on the court he was involved in a number of successful appeals which overturned wrongful convictions, for which he was recognized by Innocence Canada. Bill had a special place in his heart for the underdog.

Churchill Falls Explainer (Coles Notes version)

If CFLCo is required to maximize its profit, then CFLCo should sell its electricity to the highest bidder(s) on the most advantageous terms available.

END OF THE UPPER CHURCHILL POWER CONTRACT: IMPROVING OUR BARGAINING POWER

This is the most important set of negotiations we have engaged in since the Atlantic Accord and Hibernia. Despite being a small jurisdiction we proved to be smart and nimble enough to negotiate good deals on both. They have stood the test of time and have resulted in billions of dollars in royalties and created an industry which represents over a quarter of our economy. Will we prove to be smart and nimble enough to do the same with the Upper Churchill?

47 COMMENTS

  1. Both NTV and CBC have video of the Liberal campaign launch wherein the Master of Ceremonies and failed Liberal leadership candidate Paul Antle told those assembled "We made the right choice." when intoducing Ball. Antle later lost his bid for election to the House. He is not the heir apparent.

  2. During the Liberal AGM held a few months ago Ball received over 90% support to remain as leader. As one person described it to me a lot of people were holding their noses when giving him this support. The only reason he did get that support was because if a leadership race was initiated it would trigger a general election within one year of a new leader being chosen. As with all parties the most important function is to stay in power for as long as possible so they were not willing to put their power at risk any earlier than they had to. Going forward at the 2017 AGM Ball will not be in this position. Unless he takes things up a giant notch the party will replace him to get someone who might be electable in the next general election.

  3. I just wonder what reshuffling the deck chairs on Titanic NL will do?

    Unless a promise of transparency is followed with rending the Nalcor rathole wide open not a thing will change. Unless the PUB is restored, the contracts and engineering for MF are open to scrutiny by readers of this blog and others it can't help but be more more of the same.

  4. Des, your articles usually have a photo of the subject, in this case Mr Ball. I believe one writer to the Telegram used to refer to him as `old horse face`. Well he does have a rather long face. But I am struct by the large size of his chin. Forthingtham, I think it was McCleans magazine used to refer to Mullroney as THE MAN THAT WALKS LIKE A CHIN. Is this not Premier Ball.
    I like when you add a little humour to your pieces,so I can check off funny as well as informative, hard to do when things are so serious. Maybe OLD HORSE FACE is the better one, I wonder.
    PF

  5. Interesting that Paul Antle is raising his profile with the Turning the Tide marine awards considering that board members Leo Power ( PC bagman) and Paul Snow (Tobin's university roommate and eventual advisor) are political hacks.

  6. The only way for Premier Ball to survive is to put the Muscrat Dam on pause or hold. He has many reasons to do this. Water Management agreement, Exorbitant cost overruns, North Spur instability, mismanagement.
    Nalcor and Government say the project has gone to far to stop.no one says its gone to far to pause. Make them show the figures of stop or go before we pour any more money into this fiasco.
    Gerry Goodman

    • This is a good formula for a graceful way stop the madness. Any or all of the reasons you raise Gerry would do the job.

      Do the Libs have the intelligence to avoid the avalanche screaming down on them? So far they show no inclination to distance themselves from Danny's dream, AKA that avalanche. Earle McUrdy shows no leadership ability or see the opportunity to emerge from the political wilderness. The PC's are still afraid to distance themselves from the laird of Gall Way.

      Only a public uprising will force the politicians to do the only thing that can save the treasury from collapse.

  7. Ball had a lot going for him in the last election, with the unpopular PC's at the time, he lacked one thing and that is the "capacity" to lead, and he as shown us this quite often in the past sixteen month's.If the liberal caucus don't find a suitable leader before the next election they will be in very hot water.

  8. I'd love to see an uprising, but we also need a viable organization that can take over (get elected). With the current sorry state of affairs, we run potential politicians that can get elected because people know them (a school teacher or business person) and end up with a motley collection of absolute incompetent department leaders. There are exceptions of course, you might elect a teacher and let him run education, or a medical doctor to run healthcare, or a genuine genius that has no use for school – but for the most part, we end up with the ridiculous. Cathty's wikipedia entry lists high school as education and she is not only in charge of the financial mess equivalent of Greece or Zimbabwe, she is also "Minister of Finance, President of Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Minister Responsible for the Human Resources Secretariat. Minister Responsible for the Public Service Commission, Minister Responsible for the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor".

    In order to end this madness, we need a group of highly intelligent, motivated and non-sociopathic people to run for a new party. Collectively, we need to have the skills necessary to lead and recruit good deputy minsters, or worst case, guide the departments ourselves. We also need to be masters of social media, target messages to specific age groups (like geriatric issues to the elderly, employment initiatives to the young) and overcome corporate media propaganda.

    I work for this government and what I see from within appals me. I have tried to help all three parties and have come to the conclusion that they are all hopeless. Other than perhaps taking over the NDP, I think that a new party with a mastery of social media is the only hope – or we could wait for the inevitable commission of government when things eventually collapse.

    • It's a relief to see this comment. It brings faith that some (I like to believe most) who work in the Con Bldg have some integrity. We need to hear those voices too (nobody is any longer safe from this economic fraud, so NOW's the time to speak and act), and we need their support to right this farce of a province from the inside as well as from the outside. All good citizens must stand up to this heinous corruption that has ALL but destroyed our homeland. This time in our history, (with blogs & social media channels to reveal truths and with all citizens concerned about our futures), presents an opportunity that has never occurred since before confederation, a time to clean up NL's governance once and for all. It's not about prosecutions, though there may have to be some fallout, it's about a future for citizens so (all) of our children don't have to move elsewhere. Many already have and will.

  9. Without substantial action NL is 2-3 years away from not being able to pay the bills. Every year of 2 Billion dollar borrowings (to fund the deficit, and Muskrat Falls equity) we need 80 million more in debt servicing. Within 3 years we will be spending more on servicing the debt that we collect from income tax, and HST combined.

    We have to accept that we are not getting out of this mess without fundamental change to how we administer government, and our society as a whole.

    Dithering is only exasperating a very bad and inevitable position.

    • The Liberal vs Conservative dichotomy is an illusion. Same as the Democrats / Republicans south of the border. We have been governed by one or the other since confederation. They repay the same sponsors and do not represent the interests of the common man. You will notice that no leader of any party has proposed that we cancel the dam portion of MF or demanded that it should be stopped immediately until we know the cost to complete.

      I have worked under many ministers from both parties. There is no difference between them – they are generally sociopathic political animals who have little understanding of the problems facing us – nor do they care. They will do anything to promote themselves. All are happy to use their ministerial powers to place financial supporters in lucrative jobs and appoint consulting companies who donated during the campaign to run projects. The smart companies donate to both parties to hedge their bets.

      The answer to your question is that NO PARTY has even been good for this province. We are mired in a two party system and good / highly competent people like Dave, Des or JM aren't available to elect and would never sell there souls to the likes of the current political parties.

    • Yes I'm in full agreement…Good people would never run and expose themselves and their name to the system that is so full of corruption….Even when honest people do run they are drawn in to this corrupt swamp…It is frustration and sad really……Work hard…..pay taxes and die I guess what else can you do….Our failure was confederation …..

  10. Readers of this blog interested in low electricity use and new house construction should google FLATROCK PASSIVE HOUSE, this blogger also reads Uncle Gnarley. This is the first Passive House in Nfld, and his latest piece of Mar 10 has a few words , a rant, on Muskrat.
    I have followed this for the last 2 months…….a model to follow likely for the future and a way to help tackle climate change.
    Some of the principles he is using I had adopted to renovate a cottage 30 years old, and now heats 1000 sq ft with 260.oo of electricity energy per year. This passive design goes beyond what I did,and beyond codes. Houses should last 100 years or more…..they are worth doing right. When you google, an older post may come up , but go to the right and see the latest, and over time start at the first, as this is a work in progress, and changes being made along the way. And the look is heritage Nfld style.
    To clip the Hydro peak demand in the bud,and drive it down, we need this approach and should be part of our new government budget for economic growth to invest in serious upgrade and investment in our current houses.Incentives along with people investing their own money stimulates the economy.
    Winston Adams

    • I think we can link directly to the passive house in Flatrock without upsetting Uncle Gnarley. I have relatives with a passivhaus solar home in Nova Scotia that is of a different construction from the blogger in Flatrock plus they have grid connected solar PV that generates some annual income. There are many techniques to achieve low energy homes yet we continue to build subdivisions full of vinyl covered energy hogs. We need to be building new homes differently so that we can be spending our limited income on food rather than electricity. None of this is radical — we can simply adapt techniques that have been used for decades elsewhere.

      From Winston's comment above https://flatrockpassivehouse.blogspot.ca/ Another great link is the cold climate housing research center. This link will take you to housing plans for Alaska. I believe these would work for Labrador. http://www.cchrc.org/construction-plans

      I think it is shame that neither MUN Engineering nor Transportation and Works ever attempted to provide guidance (plans / material choices) for affordable low energy construction in NL. I've tried from within but failed. The NL government employs two architects and a few dozen engineers and MUN Engineering has an entire civil engineering department. Perhaps I am just cynical but it seems that there is an unspoken government goal to thwart electric demand destruction and discourage private electricity generation.

    • You are not cynical, you are staring at the facts. It is the Nalcor plan to use the surplus energy from their wild overestimation of future demand.

      Of course I heard crickets when I pointed out at the JRP that Nalcor was the only utility in North America estimating an increase in demand over the next 20 years. Wasteful inefficient use of electricity was planned BY DESIGN. All political supporters of this travesty (read all 3 parties) swallowed this BS greedily.

      What doubling (at least) power rates will do for NL society, the old and poor and middle class especially, was ignored in the fawning fealty to Emperor Danny. Yet they all still are afraid to say stop now, save at least 5 billion and take stock and examine the north spur for the existential threat to the dam and human lives.

      And yet the naked emperor walks in safety and freedom among his serfs.

  11. Brian Jones of the Telegram, today acknowledges that at least 37 people were actively opposed to Muskrat from the beginning, and about 1/3 the population against it, according to polling. And only since Jan this year has the majority opposed it.
    He points out that most were therefore some stunned, a mild form of saying stupid.
    Lets say he is correct, and ask the question why were most so stunned. I would suggest that the main media did a terrible job of finding and informing the population of the false assumption (fake news), some of it contrived, that kept the population in the dark. Much of this fake news was pointed out by the critics, but the media let it slide by with no independent investigative journalism to further expose the false assumptions.
    I am sure most of the critic were shut off to some extent by the media when they tried to press their opinions.
    A stunned population will remain stunned if our journalists are stunned. Stunned journalists are ones that do little research to dig out facts and expose falsehoods. Brian has long opposed Muskrat, but not on excellent journalism that we should expect. But at least he has admitted that not all of the population were stunned….a good start. Now he should say that he could have and should have done more.
    And Russell says we owns up to his mistakes……..but has not identified what mistakes he has made, except that he is a poor tree cutter.
    And Ashley………who might not suspect that she was way way too cozy with Nalcor and all the power companies? What false assumption did she expose? She has not written much on muskrat lately…….wonder why?
    I read an item in The Independent, that there was a seminar in Nova Scotia titled "Is journalism in Atlantic Canada F–ked" Good question.
    Should be ask "Is Nfld and Lab F–ked because of poor journalism'? Excuse my French, as one of my relatives says when using such a word.

    • Speaking of stunned journalists…….my last post,…..
      I see there is a seminar at MUN, including a session on the Beothic. That is the Red Indians, not the wind developers on the west coast.
      This is in the Telegram piece by Ashley.
      It deals with MUN's Aboriginal peoples week….words matter, like they have a language would you believe. I know that McCormick got a few dozen words of Beothic language about 320 years after John Cabot, from the last survivor in the early 1800s. Not much chance of restoring that, and not enough to teach a MUN course on.
      Ashley's piece notes that children in North West River were not allowed to speak their own language, and were often severely punished for doing so. The significanceof language has been recognized by both the United Nations and our Supreme Court and part of Treaty rights.
      But then, in Nfld and Lab there were never any treaties, so no rights.
      Where has our stunned journalists been this last 500 years ,that only now this is newsworthy, and MUN taking up the cause? Carry on Ashley……a lot of catch up to do, on mistreatment of the Beothic to the present day. Have they brought back the skull yet of Mary march and her husband from Scotland?
      And poor Shandiditti…. sent her skull to London, and Hilter blew it up with a bombing raid. She never had blond hair, see…….
      And the rest of her remains…..no body knows for sure its location. Oh Ashley………what a subject for investigation, you go girl,never too late.
      Winston Adams

    • Valid points perhaps, but journalists are essentially bullied and/or bribed to conform, as are employees in Govt and in private sectors. One Chef got fired from Ball's (private and corrupt) employ for speaking out and attending protests. God only knows how many careers "Mr. Williams" directly or indirectly (covertly) screwed. The problem is not (just) poor journalism… it's the corruption behind the scenes, (the cause). Fundamental change is required. The time for simply asking questions is over. Now we need to implement answers…. such as what form of government shall we adopt to replace the "parties". The hangover is here. It's time to clean up the Wreck(ed) Room and put out the empties (Ball/others) and the trash & vomit (Williams & supporters) once and for all.

    • Agreed Peter, many "go with the flow"….a line from from one of Don William's songs.
      4 years ago an engineer told me, with a smile. "who cares if Muskrat is a waste of money, we're all busy and making lots of money. I heard a tradesman say the same. While not all think that way, too many do. And they are not the big wigs making lots of money from this blunder,……follow the money they say. our CULTURE, I guess? poor Sunday School lessons?
      WA

    • A quote by Les Jones (now deceased): There are three types of people , "the fit , the unfit and the misfits". he considered himself the first type. He was a member of the LOL group……..not Lots of laughs, nor lots of love, but the Loyal Orange Lodge, a red crossman.

    • That is not what I heard from first hand accounts at the JRP hearings in Sheshashi (forgive the spelling). The physical pain inflicted for speaking their native tongue was horrific, the psychological pain still present. I felt privileged to witness the healing the opportunity speaking their truth brought to the victims.

      Your comment was misguided at best.

    • I went to the school in NWR. You didn't.

      Sheshatshiu is an Innu community. There were never any more than a handful of Innu kids in the dorm in NWR – they were Catholics and the priest wouldn't have them at a "protestant" school.

      Most of the Inuit kids in NWR were already unilingual English by the time they started being sent to NWR because the Moravians stopped teaching in Inuktitut three years before Confederation.

  12. More on Energy efficiency:Take Charge is having a seminar at the Nfld Construction Ass,next week, as to how business can get 50,000. 00 in rebates for saving energy. However they must spend about half a million to get 10 to 20 percent back. There is a lunch and some trivia questions and a chance to win a prize, the cost of the session 75.00 (85 to non members)
    Suggestions for trivia questions:
    Q:How much do Nova Scotia offer as rebates to business: Answer $500,000. Ten times more,and also assists with the design cost.
    Q: If you knock off a kilowatt of demand with a minisplit, what rebate would you get? Answer 2000, more or less per kw.
    Q: If as a homeowner I knock off a similar kw , what rebate do I get?Answer :F–k all, as you are not a business. We discriminate given the chance. The PUB and Consumer Advocate has always been on our side, and especially the government, of all stripes.
    Q: what is the Take charge overall efficiency budget as compared to NOva Scotia. Answer 5 or 6 million gross(subject to hefty in house administration costs of about 1/3) as to 35 million in Nova Scotia.
    Q: What reductions in energy and demand do you achieve o the grid, as compared to Nova Scotia? Answer . NS gets about 10 times more. But they also get free power from Nfld via the Maritime link, and now also profits from the line to the Avalon, so they can be generous on the backs of Nflders…the suckers
    Q: when will home owners get a break with decent rebates on mini-split heat pumps, and a dozen other energy saving measures, like Nova Scotia? Answer, Never. since you all say in our surveys that you are 90 percent satisfied with what we do screwing you, as you do not read what goes on in other jurisdictions, so suffer.
    Any journalists wanting to take my place , at my cost , and ask some tough questions………I'm in the book 725-6512 or 589 2720…….your chance Ashley.a free lunch
    Winston Adams

  13. I think Dwight earned lots of brownie points in the business community today. Given the secrecy around the horrible MF contracts (Astaldi sort of cost plus, the transmission line being sole sourced, EMERA getting to have a majority stake and who knows what else), I can just imagine all the lopsided contracts that will be drafted by industry for these P3 projects. There are eight directors in TW competing for their own jobs. How many of them will now be hired by the companies that plan to bid on these P3 projects so that they have special connections.

    The looting will continue unabated.

  14. Don't be so quick to rule out Paul Antle. He is smart, educated, and successful. He can run big organizations. He knows about large-scale infrastructure projects and finance. He can answer a question sensibly. He's a businessperson who has built big, sophisticated, international companies from scratch. Not a small-town pharmacist. Not a franchise owner. If he had been chosen Liberal leader instead of Ball, I bet he would have had the province heading in the right direction by now. But it is my understanding the Liberal old guard wanted Ball, probably because they thought they could control him. I bet they're sorry now. If they have any sense, the very first chance they get they'll turf Ball and elect Antle.

    • A recently posted script on this Blog has been ascribed to pat White.

      As the surname white is a very dominant name in our Province I am sure there are number of Pat Whites.

      For the purposes of clarity and my peace of mind I would like to state that the comments on this blog, may have been from a person by the name of Pat White they are not from the person Pat White a resident of Norris Arm. This Pat White from Norris Arm does not tweet, blog, participate with Facebook and has a very low digital footprint. I wish all your tweeters and bloggers the very best in your Social Media Ventures and I thank you kindly for reading this message

      Pat White

  15. Antle, like Ches Crosbie, shies away from the Muskrat boondoggle. I asked both in emails where they stood on this subject, and if they would advance homeowner energy efficiency measures similar to other provinces……..silence.
    WA

  16. Danny Williams was in debt to those that helped put him in power. So it should not be surprising that he would be kind in his works when those friends pass on from this world.
    Danny writes of his frind, Edwin Drover, in todays "In Memoriam", in the Telegram. Worth reading. Edwin was born and raised in upper Island Cove , Conception Bay. I knew him somewhat. He would pass me by with his Cougar on the TCH in the early 1970s, with the tail lights that came on in sequence (nice car). I played poker with him once, he hated to lose, even if a small amount. He had a big smile, and was a first class salesman. I have heard it said he was a Tory bagman. He certainly had connections in high places.He had little education, but he had drive and ambition. He had pride, lots of self pride. Perhaps a smaller version of Donald Trump, without the jet. He had ill health for some 15 years or more, but faced it bravely. No doubt, he will be missed by those close to him.

  17. Ball..sure he can't even figure out how to tie his shoes laces let alone understand what it means to govern….and what support does he have..none..nor is there anyone in the liberal caucus that has anything more to offer…Cathy Bennett…Gerry Byrnes ..Please..and Paul Antle is no savour though he may think he is able to walk on water….maybe it's time for a new COMMISSION of GOVERNMENT since it's obvious we Newfoundlander have not got the sense God gave us for putting this bunch in power…and the tories are no better…We allowee Williams..Dumbledorf. and Davis to get us into this mess when they would not listen to common sense.

    Oh and not forget our Economist Wonder Boy..Mr Locke who gave us such an uplifting rationale for sanctioning Muskrat..boy was he right with his analysis….another dumbo who say whatever he was paid to say. though don't hear much from him now about vehemently economic supporting Muskrat..we should bundle the whole bunch up and put them all out on the Funky maybe there they can make a difference….if nothing else they can add to the excrement accumulating on the rocks…

  18. Totally agree it's time for Ball to go as well as Siobhán and Cathy Bennett. This Liberal government has reneged on most and all of its campaign promises. I guess he thought he could change the way our outlook but has made it a dismal Province that needs bailing out. (Feds or Quebec). Tax this tax that, increase other taxes, keep all salaries the same and lay offs, I guess he was absent on Economics 101 that day? He put Stan Marshall in as CEO of Nalcor and tied his hands after he spoke his true beliefs, didn't want to see dramatic change so he sent Mr. Marshall off to negotiate with Astaldi and the other contractors that are destroying our economy and reaping in the millions of dollars (lining their pockets) with our tax dollars. We look like idiots to the rest of the world, a great place to invest in? There is an abundance of staff located at Torbay road that are totally useless. Starting with Gilbert Bennett (the cable guy), Paul Harrington, Scott O'Brien and at site Dave Pardy (Site Manager) who during the summer didn't come out of his office when approached by contractors to deal with issues. The contracts that were negotiated, great job, but has there been change orders applied to any of these (lol), Housing, transmission line, clearing, powerhouse, NorthSpur, etc. Has this been made public yet? or will they? Mr. Marshall time to take the bulls by the horn and do us all a favor and yourself, fire these incompetent excuses and hire the right people, remember the Auditor General that is sitting nice and comfy in Nalcors' bulding they might find DISPARITIES during their review? Conflicts of interest? Hey Paul Harrington! Siobhan remember to do your homework before attending meetings concerning Nalcor. You just don't have a clue! And we elected this bunch of uneducated incompetent nimrods? Keep this in the news as not to let these inadequate embezzles continue to drain our Province of the wealth that we have.