It’s Time to Have a Talk About Rural Newfoundland & Labrador

It’s Time to Have a Talk About Rural Newfoundland & Labrador

By: Ryan Young

It’s time to have a talk about rural Newfoundland & Labrador. Actually, it is about twenty years past the time when we needed to start talking about issues in rural areas of the province, but here we are, and better late than never I suppose.

If you pay attention to the news, you’ll know that a recent school board decision has allowed several schools to stay open, despite dwindling enrollments. This has caused quite a buzz on social media, with sentiment predictably split between those who beg to recognize the cultural value of rural areas and those who would rather we move now to stop the bleed on the provincial treasury and move everyone out of the smallest towns, or at least turn the lights out until they are ready to leave themselves.

It is a tricky discussion. The province is in dire financial straights and needs to find savings everywhere it can, but it also depends on a billion-dollar tourism industry that markets rural charm to draw the world in. Finding the right balance between crunching numbers and evaluating the cultural value of our outport communities is key to our future success. We can’t afford to keep slashing services based on balance sheets alone, but we also can’t afford to do nothing. An aging population spread over such a large geographical area have already left many holes in services provided to rural residents and with the absence of a long-term plan we can expect things to get worse before they get better.

We all know that many of our smaller communities will not last another generation. Many never really recovered after the moratorium, leaving plenty of towns with no children, and no hope to be able to hang on far into the future. Other areas, however, have some great potential for growth and are holding steady, if not thriving, despite the challenges. The real hard part is deciding where that threshold is, and how we chart the course as we move forward.

The decision by the school board to keep those seven schools open was a surprising one for many, and it has many people divided on the issue. But in the absence of a long-term plan, I think it was the only responsible decision they could have made at this time. Student safety must remain first and foremost and busing a handful of students for two hours each day is not a responsible option, even if we need to crunch our dollars. A rural town with children is a town that still has a chance at survival, and we need to think very hard about which of those communities we want to abandon, and which ones have the potential to grow and help to support themselves. In the case of schools, maybe we need to change the delivery model for education in rural communities. Online learning is already heavily utilized in these smaller schools, and with such small numbers perhaps there are options that can be looked at that do not involve the overhead cost of maintaining large old buildings. Most residents in small communities know that they will have to make sacrifices in order to live where they want to be, and it is worth exploring what options might be available before we decide to close the doors and turn out the lights.

It’s easy to look at things like schools and ferry services to many small communities and wonder if it is worth the money when so many other things are getting cut. If we are going to weigh the negatives though, should we not also look at the positives and the potential value in our rural communities? This is a great opportunity for our province to reinvent itself and invest in rural communities in a meaningful way. While the fishery may be going through some tough times, it is far from dead, and with proper management and cooperation from Ottawa we could help to restore the inshore fishery and ensure that many communities still have a future. Instead of looking for smallwood-esque outside intervention and new industries to bring in, maybe we should focus on finding new ways to utilize the resources and industry expertise that we already have. We know we need to grow our agricultural capacity and our tourism industry continues to thrive. Add in the forestry industry and you have a very solid foundation to start re-building the rural economy.

A focus on young entrepreneurship in rural areas is also key. Many industries, especially fishing, are facing a quickly aging workforce and we need new regulations that encourage youth to become involved. Getting young people involved in business innovation, especially in areas such as tourism and agriculture would also be a great way to keep our youth here in the province. Things like offering specialized training at the college/university level and expanding support for the creation of new business ventures are just a few ways we could retain youth and grow the rural economy.

I could go on, but my point is that there is still hope for much of rural Newfoundland & Labrador, but we need a realistic plan to figure out the best ways and best places to invest. We need to create a strategy for how we plan to deal with our rural issues and develop some measurable goals and expected outcomes that we can look to to determine our progress. Regionalization needs to be a big part of the conversation, but not the added layer of bureaucracy that our current government has proposed. If we are going to be serious we need to create a system that shifts the power from each tiny town council and directly into the regional structure. Once such a regional structure is in place, we can begin the hard work of determining where services should be located and where investment dollars should flow. Decisions would have to consider the current situation, as well as plans for growth for the future.

It will be sad to see us lose many beautiful communities over the next generation, but if we do the hard work now, we might be able to do it in a way that is less painless, and is an overall benefit to rural Newfoundland & Labrador and the province as a whole. It will require long-term thinking that goes beyond the usual political attention span of 4 years, but if we take the energy we are using to argue over schools and ferries and use it to demand that government develop a real strategic plan for our rural areas then maybe, just maybe we might force our elected overlords to begin a real conversation on the issue.

Bam-booze-led

Bam-booze-led

By; Ryan Young

It seems like the only time I want to break away from the worlds of work and family life to give the Rogue Bayman a voice lately, is directly following a Friday evening press release from government. The release from last Friday regarding the dismissal of NL Liquor Corporation CEO Steve Winter has been predictably ill received, and it makes me wonder how the Liberal’s still have not learned their lesson.

The whole issue is tricky to write about as it is saturated with side stories and political innuendo. As was the same with the Canopy Grow announcement before Christmas, instead of being upfront and factual with us about what is going on up on the hill, the government opted to do the late Friday release thing and hope that it would disappear or blow over long before they would be forced to answer any questions on Monday morning.

Unfortunately for the Liberal’s, by the time Paddy Daly had finished his opening monologue, the phone lines were lighting up with cynical citizens and opposing politicians chomping at the bit to lash out at the government for its obvious political patronage. By the time Tom Osborne was able to get his staff at finance to draft a statement for him to deliver to the public, the damage had already been done, with social media playing judge, jury, and executioner.

If one is willing to dig a little deeper than the obvious rhetoric and look at the facts, maybe getting rid of Winter and shaking things up a bit at the NLC was not a bad thing. Mr. Winter certainly did a fine job in a financial sense. He was able to constantly keep profits up and transformed the NLC into one of the top organizations in Atlantic Canada as recognized by being a regular name of the list of top 50 Atlantic Canadian CEO’s. On the other hand, organizations such as RANL and individual liquor license holders have long complained about antiquated liquor laws and rules within the NLC. Certainly, Winter can’t be blamed for legislative shortcomings, but as a veteran CEO he seemed unwilling to be a catalyst for any of the change that was desired by business owners throughout the province.

According to Minister Osborne, Winter was not comfortable with the implementation of the new plan to regulate legal marijuana and that played a big part in the CEO’s departure. With only months to go before legalization, that would certainly give the government reason for concern, and a very good reason to replace Winter at the top. The pot plan seems to be one of the few files that the Liberal’s actually seem committed to doing a good job with, and it should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to how things have progressed, that anyone not on board with the plan would be shown the door.

That brings us back around to our most popular theme here on the Rogue Bayman, openness and transparency…or a lack thereof. If Osborne’s comments about Winter’s opposition to marijuana legislation are true, then why not wait till Monday morning and come out with a proper release and be willing to answer questions to explain the decision? Why play so many of the same games that always backfire and end up with people having even more scorn and distrust towards the government? In a bizarre twist, the former CFO at NLC, Sharon Sparks, will now be replacing Winter, even though she was fired by him just last month. Did government not think people would have questions about that? And what about former Liberal candidate Lynn Sullivan being appointed to Sparks’ now vacant CFO position? I guess they didn’t think that was worth mentioning either.

Instead of getting out in front of the story and explaining their decision with rational discussion, they decided to once again push aside promises of openness and transparency and hope that nobody noticed or cared. It would be shameful for any government to act this way, but it is especially hard to swallow when it comes from a government whose whole campaign hinged on promising to be more open and accountable. Either the communication staff in the Liberal office is the worst in history, or the ministers themselves are too stubborn to take good advice or at least stop repeating the same mistakes. It seems like this government is not able to pass up a chance to make themselves look bad.

Even though we want to be mad at the Liberal’s, we shouldn’t be mad because Winter was fired or because Sparks got the job. Also, we should not be shocked at Sullivan’s patronage appointment, as we know that is just how things are done in politics. What we should really be mad at, is the fact that our government thinks we are either a) too stupid to understand or b) that we don’t deserve to know about the decisions that are supposedly being made in the best interests of the province. We should be mad that they have such an aversion to telling us the truth that they are willing to continuously put themselves on the defensive rather than to give us the full facts without having to be dragged out of them.

In the age of social media and digital ATIPP requests, the government can’t hide from these sorts of decisions. What they could do, however, is start being straight with us about why decisions are being made. Lard tunderin by’s just try it out once. It might even feel good…

Can't Someone Else Do It?

Can’t Someone Else Do It?

By: Ryan Young

As the governing Liberals enter campaign mode for 2019, the most common thing I hear and see on social media is: “people can’t be dumb enough to vote them back in again.”

I disagree, because a certain number of hyper partisans will in fact vote either them, or the PC’s back in again, just like they always do. And we all keep letting it happen. In the age of ultimate political apathy, these partisans, who choose and support their political colors the same as they would their favourite sports team (you know, the one dad cheered for) have all of the real power in our so called “democracy.” It is these people, not the politicians, who drive the election machines that come to life every four years to dupe the gullible public into believing that this time things are really going to change. They are the ones who really ensure that things never change in politics, and the rest of us just stand by and try to ignore it all as best as we can.
 

The people in NL who vote, for the most part, are not voting for policy or good people. They are voting for “their” party. I suspect many would vote for the devil himself if he asked them too, and provided he was wearing the right color button… Blind faith that a party will best represent your needs based on the color of their banner is a very dangerous thing, and it is the single biggest contributor to the current problems we now face in this province. It’s not the politicians who are to blame. We are the ones that keep voting them in after all, and fail to hold them accountable.

But what are we to do? The Liberals and the PCs have both failed over and over to deliver for the people of this province. They have been allowed to get away with so much that nobody even bats an eyelash when it becomes public knowledge that we were lied too. “That’s just politics by.”

Somehow, despite the poor performance of Dwight Ball’s Liberal’s, the NDP are actually losing ground with voters. With Earle McCurdy out as leader they have a golden opportunity to try to rebuild themselves in rural parts of the province, but halfway through this term, they still have not laid the groundwork needed to attract new voters outside of St. John’s. It is hard to imagine them being a serious contender in 2019 unless things change dramatically within the party…and fast.

Many people are calling for all independents to run and get elected but unfortunately those people do not realize that under the current system, a majority of elected independents cannot form government. Only a registered party can form government. So, while the idea of 40 Independent MHAs who only serve their constituents may sound very democratic, it can’t work as a solution under the current framework.

So, where does that leave us? As I see it we have two options. The first one would be to join the Liberals or the PCs and attempt to change the parties from the inside. Doing so would be no easy task and would be met with fierce opposition from insider party loyalists, and I’m not sure that many people would have the stomach for that difficult work. Certainly not the critical mass it would take to be able to have a meaningful impact on policy decisions. The other option would be to start a new party, committed to restoring democracy and real transparency to our political process. Again, this would be no easy task, and it could be several election cycles before any new party was able to gain enough traction to make a real difference. People would need to be in it for the long haul, and other than the partisans, we don’t really have long attention spans when it comes to politics.

And who would lead such a lofty initiative? That’s what people really want to know. Our inherent saviour complex has somehow convinced us that democracy and our own well being are not our responsibility, but that of some mysterious omnipotent overseer called “government.” As long as we have a smooth talker to win us all over and make us feel like everything will be taken care of, we don’t have to become engaged, or even think about politics. We can just live our lives knowing that the folks running the show at Confederation Building are taking care of everything and we don’t have to worry. You know, because look at how good that has worked out for us so far…

Our political culture is one of angry apathy. We like to get mad when things don’t go our way or if we see that someone might get something that we are not getting, but when it comes to actually getting engaged, we just don’t. You don’t need to look much further than the 55% voter turnout for the last election to see the truth of that.

We like to get riled up and moan and complain, but when it comes down to it we are all talk and no action. That’s why we will always need that saviour to come in and quell our fears like the quivering sheep that we are. I know that may sound harsh but it’s the truth. People seem uninterested and unwilling to participate in the democratic process, no matter how many times we keep getting burned. Picture a forest fire burning and all the people that live in the forest are all arguing about who should carry the bucket of water. Meanwhile, the whole place burns down around them. That’s where we are right now, and as many will sadly soon find out, things are likely to get a lot worst before they get better.

We have some big problems here in this province and there are no easy solutions. Each and every one of us is going to have to get used to paying more to do our part to keep the lights on and the roads somewhat paved. We are also going to have to start having real conversations about the future of rural communities, even if they are uncomfortable. What we can’t do, is keep sitting around waiting for someone else to do it.

During a VOCM roundtable last week, some comments made by former Port au Choix mayor Carolyn Lavers really hit home to me. While stressing that rural towns that want to survive must start finding ways to do things for themselves, she reflected that during all of the meetings in her many years on council, that not once did anyone say:” What can we do?” The discussion was always about what could the government do. I think the anecdote sums up our problem nicely. We have been so dependent on the crumbs from government for so long that all we know how to do is fight over who gets the bigger piece when we should be learning how to bake our own bread.

The point of this post is not to be nasty or belittling. I know I will take heat from some who will say that I have it all wrong, but at the end of the day, if we can’t find ways to come together and truly become masters of our own destiny, we are already as good as sunk. We can continue to argue about our favourite teams or we can be the change we want to see. We need to check the anger and try to listen to each other instead of arguing over uninformed opinions because we want to be right. I am sick to death of all of the negativity I see and hear on a daily basis, when we all live in a place that has so much potential. We can either figure it all out together or we can keep arguing until the forest is completely burned down around us. Nobody else is going to do it for us…

The Race Is On

The Race is on

By: Ryan Young

The writ has officially been dropped and the by-election to replace Steve Kent’s vacant seat in the House of Assembly for the district of Mount Pearl North will be held on November 21^st. Traditionally, by-elections do not experience large voter turnouts, but they are often a good measure of how the current government is performing and perceived among the people. It should be an interesting election to watch.

The Liberal’s badly wanting to win this seat. With the massive drop in public support since the last general election, Dwight and his crew are going into panic mode and are already trying to prep for the next election in 2019. Real estate mogul Jim Burton is the Liberal nominee, and the party has put its full weight behind his candidacy, with the premier and federal cabinet ministers joining him at the doors. Burton is well known in the region as a successful businessman who gives a lot back to the community, but he does not live in the district and may find himself hard-pressed to find support as a candidate representing a weak government. Still, his name recognition and community involvement may see him carry enough of the vote to win the seat for the Liberal’s.

Jim Lester is the PC nominee. Lester ran in the 2015 general election and narrowly lost to Paul Lane who was then a member of the Liberal’s. He is well known in the region, but he does not reside in the district and recent media attention regarding a possible attempt to run as a Liberal may hurt his credibility. All the same, Lester is a familiar face and may be able to pick up the seat based on dissatisfaction with the current governing party. The distract now known as Mount Pearl North has traditionally been a Tory stronghold, with the PC’s holding the seat for all but 5 years since 1975. Lester may be able to ride his way into Confederation Building based on the strong PC support in the district.

The NDP have also fielded a very credible candidate. Nicole Kiely is originally from the distract, and has a long track record of non-profit work and community involvement. She has been committed to speaking to the issues and has been receiving strong support in Mount Pearl North despite the current apathy in the polls towards the NDP. I would not have bet much on Kiely’s hopes originally, but she is establishing herself as a formidable opponent in the race who may have the potential to pull off a big upset.

There is also an independent candidate who has thrown his hat into the ring. Hudson Stratton, a small business owner and family man has decided to run as an independent. While Stratton stresses that he is not trying to make a political statement by running as an independent, he also acknowledges that he is doing so because he no longer believes in the party first political structure that we have in this province. While independent candidate traditionally has a hard time finding support in NL, Stratton may be able to take advantage of a dissatisfied electorate and make a big splash. Even if he does not win, if he can pick up a significant portion of the vote, it will send a strong message to the 3 existing parties that people are ready for real change.

I think the PC’s are still the favourites to win this by-election, but with the negative media attention surrounding Jim Lester, the race is still wide open. All four candidates have a legitimate chance of picking up a significant share of the vote, and depending on the turnout, we could be in for a big surprise. It will be very interesting to see how the people of Mount Pearl North cast their votes and if they are ready to rock the boat or stick with the status quo. If you live in Mount Pearl North, make sure to have your voice heard by voting in this by-election.

Big Changes at St. John’s City Hall

Big Changes at St. John’s City Hall

By: Ryan Young

Yesterday was municipal election day in Newfoundland & Labrador. While perceived by many to be a dull affair, this year’s elections were anything but routine. I truly believe that our municipal elections are the only real example of democracy that exists in Canada today. At both the provincial and federal levels the game is ruled by party partisanship and access to donations, but in the municipal world, the politics are about as pure as you can get. Sure, there are many self-serving people that run for council, but at the end of the day the voters have all the say and democracy is served, for better or for worse.

The St. John’s race was particularly interesting for this bayman, who was participating in his first “townie” election after a very turbulent couple of years municipal politics. A very diverse set of candidates put themselves forward and nobody could predict the way things would go. Danny Breen beat out former mayor Andy Wells and newcomer Renee Sharpe for the Mayor’s chair with a fair majority from the 56% overall turnout. Breen, the former Ward 1 councillor, was expected to win, but at the end of the night he was one of the few “old guard” councillors that earned a return ticket to the chambers at city hall.

While Breen has been criticized at times for having close ties to the provincial PC party, and supporting Muskrat Falls, his experience and business connections made him the safe choice for mayor when compared to his opponents who each represented perceived extremes on the political spectrum. Many people I spoke with during the campaign felt that Andy Wells would emerge victorious, but in the end, the people of St. John’s decided that it was time for Andy to fade back into the shadows and handed the crown to Breen. Renee Sharpe finished third in the race, but I doubt we have seen the last of her. Sharpe’s campaign resonated with many voters who were fed up with the status quo, and she proved herself to be a smart and formidable candidate who should have a bright future ahead of her in politics at some level. The outcome may have been predictable, but the campaign was anything but. Some great ideas were put on the table that I hope the new council will embrace, moving forward.

With the rest of council, the people of St. John’s decided the city needed a new direction. That was evident in the results on Tuesday night. Former Ward 4 councillor, Sheilagh O’Leary won the race for Deputy Mayor, and only Ward 5 returned an incumbent councillor with Wally Collins emerging as the victor. Deanne Stapleton, Hope Jamieson, Jamie Korab, and Ian Froude were elected to council for the first time, in wards 1, 2, 3, & 4, respectively, representing a major shift in the local political landscape in the capital city.

The closest race was for the Councillors-At-Large. With 12 candidates vying for 4 seats, it was a close race that saw 3 incumbent councillors go down in defeat. The top vote getter was newcomer Maggie Burton, followed by Dave Lane, Sandy Hickman, & Debbie Hanlon, respectively. The loss of so many incumbent councillors really highlights the number of people in the city who believe that it is time for a change at city hall. The pressure now falls on those who were elected to live up to those expectations and shift the political compass of the city in a new direction.

5 women and 5 men were elected to council, (not including the mayor) with 5 new faces and the majority of elected candidates under the age of 35. Many of the new councillors have talked about making St. John’s a more progressive place to live, and it looks like the city could be in for some big changes in the way things are done. The people expressed their obvious displeasure with the actions of the old council in the best way they could, and they proved that democracy can work if enough people want change.

There were many great races across the province and I would like to congratulate everybody who participated in this year’s elections, either as a candidate, a volunteer, or a voter. Democracy can only work if people participate, and the only way to engage people is to offer them an opportunity for change and a belief that change can happen if they are willing to step outside of the box and consider a new way of thinking (and voting).

Many people think that democracy in this province is broken, and on many levels, that view is hard to argue with. But when it comes to the municipal elections, the effort put forth across the entire province yesterday just goes to show what can be accomplished when regular people become informed and engaged in local politics. It was a great election year, and I can only hope we will see the same kind of spirit and engagement when the next provincial elections come around in 2019 (or sooner).

Deceit or Incompetence?

Deceit or Incompetence?

By: Ryan Young

Last week I listened closely to Finance Minister, Tom Osborne, during a call with Paddy Daly on the VOCM Open Line show. Mr. Osborne spoke at length about how his government was ready to play hardball with Nalcor, and extricate answers about the project's finances from the board and/or CEO Stan Marshall. At certain points during the conversation, the new minister sounded quite a bit like the old minister, and the tough talk that she had for Nalcor on Budget day 2016. We have heard plenty of tough talk since the Liberals took office in late 2015, but what do we really have to show for it, and what has changed?

More and more people are waking up to the monumental mismanagement and possible corruption afoot within the Muskrat Falls project. Our government, on the other hand, seems to be working as hard as ever to misdirect the public and ensure that the project is finished without the taxpayers ever knowing what really happened to all of that money. The Liberal’s are happy to keep themselves hitched to the “previous administration” bandwagon, feigning ignorance and blaming the old government for everything wrong with the project. Unfortunately, nobody on team red seems to realize that by playing dumb, they are leading the public to believe that they are really as incompetent as the opposition says they are.

The most telling part of Minister Osborne’s VOCM conversation was when he told Mr. Daly that he was in the presence of the premier when he learned about the massive cost of embedded contractors being used by Nalcor. He claimed the premier was upset about the lack of transparency regarding the use of these contractors, and told us that Ball is committed to a public inquiry on Muskrat Falls. The question he didn’t answer, however, was did the CEO, the Minister of Natural Resources, and/or the Premier know about the extent of the use of these contractors before James McLeod broke the story in The Telegram?

The Liberals have been in power for nearly 2 years. They have brought in a new CEO and Board of Directors for Nalcor, they have claimed to have beefed up government oversight of the project, and they have paid millions of dollars to Ernst and Young to study and report on the finances of Muskrat Falls. They publicly claim that the administration knew nothing about the project management team being made up of 90% contractors or that they had billed Nalcor for $4.6 million hours of work. By telling us that the government was in the dark on this issue proves one of two things. Either our government is directly lying to us about Muskrat Falls or they are so completely incompetent, that in 2 years they have not even managed to identify this glaring issue on their own.

While most people could easily latch-on to the incompetence theory, it is quite unlikely that nobody in the decision-making process was aware of the billing free-for-all that was going on right under their noses. Despite what Ball might be spinning to the public, the issue of embedded contractors seemed to be passing the small test just fine until someone in the media remembered how to do some investigative journalism.

So where does that leave us? Mere hours after the backlash from The Telegram story began to bombard government, Ball announced that a Muskrat Falls inquiry would happen, and that he had reached out to the various departments for help in drafting the terms of reference. While that is great news on the surface, as Uncle Gnarley and others have pointed out, ordering an inquiry before a complete forensic audit of the project is completed is rather like putting the cart before the horse. The other concern many have about a possible inquiry, is that if the leadership group was telling the truth about their lack of knowledge and understanding of the project finances, then how can we trust them to draft terms of reference that will actually reveal the truth about Muskrat Falls?

I’d really like to believe the premier when he says that he and his government are committed to getting to the bottom of the Muskrat money pit, but words are just that, words, and actions speak so much louder. Take for instance the Ball’s concern over the standoff at the Muskrat camp and  the three hunger strikers from Labrador that forced the government's hand last fall. After a marathon meeting with indigenous leaders, a deal was reached in which further mitigation measures were promised. In a letter from the Nunatsiavut government that was released yesterday, President Johannes Lampe made it very clear that after several meetings with government and Nalcor, those promises of additional mitigation measures will not be honored.

Ball stood in front of reporters after the meeting last fall and told the province that the meeting was about one thing, the health of Labradoreans. He also said that going forward, their decisions would be based on science and research and that his government was committed to working with aboriginal leaders and that he was “confident” that they could achieve the goals that were outlined in the agreement.

While a big to-do was made about a chair being appointed and terms of reference drafted for the promised independent expert advisory council (IEAC), it was made very clear from Lampe’s letter that there was never any intention of lowering water levels so that additional mitigation measures could proceed. Indigenous leaders were told during a meeting with the premier and other provincial officials on September 6^th that water levels in the reservoir would be raised to 25m this fall, and once they reached that point they would not be lowered again.

Dwight Ball already has a huge credibility problem. He has failed to be honest with the people of this province at every opportunity. Despite their best efforts of getting out in the media and telling people they are going to do something positive, they can’t hide from their record, and the revelations brought forth by Johannes Lampe just further prove that this premier will say anything to ensure that Muskrat Falls goes ahead.

Deceit or pure incompetence? Either way, Ball and his government seem to be willing to throw away every shred of their credibility in order to deliberately mislead the people of this province about Muskrat Falls. The real question is: How long will we, the people, continue to stand for it?

Politics as Usual

Politics as Usual

By: Ryan Young

When I decided to take a summer hiatus from all things politics, I made the decision because I found I was becoming a very angry person. Every time I checked the news or my social media feed there seemed to be another story revolving around arrogant MHA’s and/or incompetent ministers.  Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am very far from a naturally angry person, so I decided to take a break to try to find some balance in my life.

The break did wonders for my spirit, but no matter how much I tried to avoid reading, writing, or talking about politics, it was damn near impossible to keep a blind eye to everything that has been happening in our provincial political whirlwind. Oh, to be a sheep…

A lot happened over the summer. So many stories to read and mull over. The biggest story of the summer may have been the cabinet shuffle that was triggered when Cathy Bennett decided that being finance minister was not what she thought it would be. Other than replacing her with former Speaker of the House, Tom Osborne, the shuffle didn’t really do much to encourage the public that things would improve much in her absence. After all, it is still all of the same monkey’s running the same circus.

Tom Osborne may be the only bright spot in the shuffle, promising a tax review and some possible relief to come from the more than 300 additional taxes and fees that his government brought in with their 2016 budget. Many applauded Osborne’s new position within cabinet, but he certainly has his work cut out for him in cleaning up the mess Bennett and Ball have left him.

Gerry Byrne was sworn in as the new fisheries minister and quickly took a hard line in front of the TV cameras, but the fishery is still very much in turmoil, and other than his TV tough talk, Byrne has not delivered anything concrete to convince fish harvesters and processors in this province that there is a future for them in this government’s plans. People want real answers and all Byrne has had to offer is platitudes. He certainly does not seem like the kind of minister that would be willing to go toe-to-toe with his former federal colleague in Ottawa, which unfortunately is exactly what our fishery needs. I wouldn’t expect any major action on the fisheries file unless Uncle Ottawa says so, and that is about as likely as Gerry Byrne speaking up when there are no TV cameras in the room.

Eddie Joyce has managed to allow a complete fiasco to unfold in the town of Witless Bay, where a former councillor was forced to resign from his position on council over fraudulent residency claims, and just a few weeks later was allowed to run again and be acclaimed to the new town council. Joyce assured residents that the issue would be resolved by the fall elections, and has yet to comment on the acclimation of the Witless Bay Town Council and allegations of election fraud being put forth by residents of the community. The town has not had a functioning council in months and one can only assume that the current goings-on will not be beneficial to the town, moving forward.

Dale Kirby has continued to prove that he has no trouble at all in abandoning the oath he swore when he became an MHA and a minister in cabinet. New childcare regulations have sparked the ire of the industry and an ongoing battle of words with school board trustees and concerned parents about the fate of Mobile Central High has put the minister back in the hot seat. Most recently, a post circulated on Facebook that showed a conversation between Kirby and a constituent who was asking legitimate questions about education for hearing impaired students. Kirby’s response was to block her. It really makes you wonder about the quality of our government when the premier offers “total confidence” in a man who would act this way in his position. Kirby has done nothing but create barriers and destroy professional relationships and yet he is still allowed to be in charge of decisions that directly affect our most valuable resource of all, our children. It really makes you scratch your head…

Oh, and then there is ole Dwight himself. The man, the legend. The premier who will probably be remembered as the worst of a very bad lot of grinning shyster’s who managed to play our eternal saviour complex just well enough to land himself in the premier’s chair. Since The Telegram revealed that 4.6 million hours have been billed by embedded contractors working for Nalcor, Ball has hinted for the first time that a Muskrat Falls inquiry could be in the works. The premier says he has reached out for advice on the terms of reference, but very few people that I have spoken with have confidence that the inquiry will have any teeth. The terms of reference need to very broad in scope and the inquiry needs to be run by someone with integrity and who has no connection to the current or previous administration. Likely the only way that will happen is if someone is brought in from outside the province, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that either.

I could use many more examples, but what is the point? The media either ignores or can’t be bothered to do any real investigative journalism anymore, and we lap it up like fresh kibble after a week-long fast. The only truth that most people ever get to see is the filtered tidbits that they are fed daily, with no real insight into what is actually happening in our province. If the people ever want to see things change, they need to be the catalyst that start that change. Sadly, there seems to be little will outside of a handful of “known critics” and “nay-sayers” to actually drive any sort of meaningful change for our future. It often makes me wonder what it will take before people finally wake up and wonder how we let this happen. My prediction is that it will come for many right around the same time their electricity bills double to pay for Muskrat Falls. In the meantime, It’s all just politics as usual in Newfoundland and Labrador.