CROSBIE AND COFFIN CONTRIBUTING TO WEAK GOVERNMENT

One year after the General Election, Ches Crosbie’s
pathetically weak Opposition should not go unnoticed. Neither should NDP Alison
Coffin’s entirely un-influential role, despite holding the balance of power holding
up a minority government. 

Another year of the same is layered onto a fifteen year legacy
of disastrous public administration under Williams, Dunderdale, Marshall, and Davis
and Ball. Each has built on the thesis of Lord Amulree, whose Royal Commission
Report suggested that the British Constitution is not suited to the people of
Newfoundland. That is to say, we are incapable of self-government. Crosbie and
Coffin have done their part, too, to strengthen Amulree’s claim.


The problem of perennially weak and fiscally irresponsible
leadership is exacerbated by weak institutions and a belief in government as a
“bottomless pit” of largesse. Few, it seems, including the Opposition leaders, want
to be associated with public policies that are directed towards the goal of a
progressive, fiscally prudent, and productive society.  A fact, poorly understood, is that not just
Governments but weak Opposition Parties also play a role in fostering an
environment in which poor public policy is applauded.

Oppositions are every bit as critical to the functioning of the
democratic state as is any government. In this province, weak Governments are
thought of as “opportunity”; Oppositions believe that their function is that of
a “government-in-waiting” when it is solely that of “loyal opposition”, the
basis of parliamentary government.

We should cringe when people opine — as they often do — that
Government and Opposition Parties should “work more closely together”. Likely,
the mantra is nothing more than an expression of frustration with bad
government. Still, sensible people ought to encourage Oppositions to do their
job: to “oppose unwise public policy”, to “communicate better”, to “espouse their
ideas (if they have any)” and to be “loud and boisterous.”

“Co-operation” from Oppositions is license for governments to
suppress information, limit public debate, hide abuses of power, and shield
their most grievous errors.

What is it about Muskrat Falls that we still do not
understand?


Whether your views accord with this traditional view of the
role of “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition” or not, you might ask yourself: what public
policy has Tory Leader Ches Crosbie influenced — even minimally — since his
election in 2018?

Has he railed against the Liberals’ successive deficit Budgets,
which have entrenched a massive “structural deficit” begun by Danny Williams?

Did he admonish the Ball Government’s continued march over our
fiscal cliff?

Has he been engaged in the Muskrat Falls fiasco which, while
begun by Williams, continues to be mangled under Ball beyond a state of mere incompetence
to one of abject neglect and irresponsibility?

Has he brought any air to an airless Legislature, the very
place where scrutiny and official accountability ought to find expression?

Can you think of one clever question that challenged the (not
terribly bright) Members opposite?

(Let’s not use “clever” to described the Opposition’s tepid
handling of the Government’s support for Bill C-69 giving the federal
government control over the environmental assessment process for offshore oil
industry.)



The Province is dealing with a pandemic. Our “island”
geography has afforded a rare advantage to keep it at bay. It took the Ball
Administration 5–6 weeks — and not a small amount of cajoling by private
citizens — to get the Premier and his Health Minister to stop “talking” for a
minute, and to deal with the most viable sources of threat from the Coronavirus:
the air and seaports.

This was a time for Ches Crosbie to bang on the doors of the
Telegram, CBC, NTV and VOCM and to demonstrate his own energy and engagement,
his proximity to the issue. No such luck! He couldn’t even get Bill 38 right —
which restricts travel by temporary residents — having aided in its construction
and voted for it.

Then there is the existential issue.

Little imagination is required to shutter an economy and to
pay people to stay home. Political leadership, however, is found not in the
convenience of deferring decision-making to the bureaucrats in the Department
of Health, but to the weighing of the public health threat with the substantial
shutdown of the whole economy. The Chief Public Health Officer does not have an
economic mandate; Fitzgerald’s job is to use her resources — such as they are —
to minimize the spread of the virus. Achieving that objective, while not
crashing the economy, is the role of the Premier and the Government – not Fitzgerald’s.

The Leader of the Opposition ought to have played a very
public role in this process, but he has been as absent from the periphery as much
as from the epicenter of pandemic issues and how they ought to be addressed.

Whether he personally agrees with the Government’s approach or
not is secondary; he has an obligation to articulate the concerns of the public
and of business, many of whom will not get back up from the much-exaggerated period
of shutdown. His May 19th tweet is hardly an example of earnest
preoccupation with an economic and heath care debacle, either.

Equally, Crosbie’s re-tweet of David Brazil’s comment on the healthcare
backlog system — largely shuttered by the lack of Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE) — is hardly indicative of an Opposition that is knowledgeable or even
empathetic of the 14,500 deferred surgeries that are playing havoc with people’s
physical and mental health.

He has no views on our having the lowest rate of testing per
capita, no views on why other Island states — Iceland, New Zealand, South Korea
— have re-opened their economies so much earlier. With little in place to ward
off a dreaded “second wave” of the virus, he offers no assurance that he has
even checked on whether the belated protocols at air/seaports are being
enforced or taken seriously (tracing).  

Someone with more energy and a desire to work for the
Premiership, rather than feeling entitled to it, might even have had the
courage to nudge a few reporters and suggest their slavish attention to, and
repetition of, mind-numbing – and often mindless – “official” pandemic
verbosity has strong echoes of “we need the power” and “lowest cost option”. Change
does not come easily from any quarter!



Still, it is Crosbie’s job to get their attention except that you won’t find him banging his shoe on anyone’s podium.


The reward of “high-office” is an unfortunate reward for someone so laid back.



A no different view applies to NDP Leader Alison Coffin, if anyone remembers her name. 

Someone must have told her that her job description does not
include politics.

Both should get in the game or follow Dwight Ball out to pasture.

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.

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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?