DenyAsk

BEST NEW YEAR To all in NL spellbound stand: Lang may yer big lum reek.* Long life and warmth to hand, Good health, and joy at peak. We�re better blest than all the rest: We�ve freedom and fresh air - We�ve space, and room to quest. Of those, make greatest care. Not oppressed, perhaps ass-prest, Bullets, we seldom fear - We�re Royalty, it�s manifest, So have the best New Year. John Tuach December 28, 2017 *   �long may your chimney smoke� - an old Scottish New Year greeting given with the symbolic gift of a lump of coal. With the gift of a birch junk, the greeting could become popular in NL.

The loud and intemperate knocking on the front door didn�t just announce Uncle Gnarley�s arrival. It was a sure sign that Nav would have no peace this Christmas. Suddenly, broken Christmas lights and spouse�s irksome claims regarding Nav�s diminishing utility were forgotten amidst an overcharged sense of anticipation, one that the old man instantly inspired. Nav had not felt so happy since Gnarley visited a couple of years ago on his way to the Charbonneau Commission Hearings in Quebec. �My god, man, I thought you were going to leave me out here the whole bloody winter.� Gnarley�s first words exploded with the gale force of a Wreckhouse wind. He and his single worn suitcase soon filled the foyer, along with myriad ornaments. Spouse was a tiresome devotee � of St. Nick. Ignoring his characteristic bluster, Nav looked his lofty and erect frame up and down, finding not a shred of evidence that the aging economist was slowing. �Am I to be consigned to the porch for the remainder of thi...

Guest Post by David Vardy Response from Minister Disappointing The Labrador Land Protectors presented a petition to government on May 9, 2017 calling for the appointment of an independent expert panel on the North Spur.  It was signed by more than 1000 people. There has been no response. Since that time the urgency of the panel has been raised. It has been raised by new research conducted in Sweden as well as by revelations flowing from the SNC risk assessment report released by the Premier. The recently disclosed and disturbing SNC Lavalin risk assessment report of April 2013, released by the Premier on June 23, 2017, refers to the need for further geo-scientific information to guide remedial measures and assess overall safety and stability. SNC Lavalin rated the risk as �very high.� Whether Nalcor has successfully remediated these risks over the period from April 2013 to the present is as yet unknown. It will take the work of an independent expert panel to measure whether risks...

Even the most politically disinterested observer had to know from the minute the Deputy Minister of Health, John Abbott, uttered the word �change� in relation to the health care system that he would be forced to eat his words � by both government and union. What were they? �We have put in a lot of services and facilities that we no longer need and no longer can afford� We have 45 per cent more nurses than the rest of the country.� Having gotten Nurses� Union head Debbie Forward�s knickers in a knot, the premier�s office sent Abbott out to backtrack. Many of us have long wondered if even one senior public servant had the spine to speak truth to power, successive governments � mostly Tory � having run the province over a fiscal cliff (note the past tense). It seems there is one such person. It is obvious that John Abbott has been given some latitude to assess modifications to an excessively expensive healthcare system. His were not random thoughts but a series of considered reforms. The ...

Skunk (definition): Strong Weed. Ridiculously strong. Usually grown outdoors. It is a guaranteed f**king-up. This is the kind of weed that leaves you sitting there giggling for twenty minutes, your legs numb, your mind completely bricked, and your hands so twitchy you keep spilling the bongwater all over the floor. Another definition - only slightly different - is found on  this link . THE SKUNK CASH MACHINE   The future to pot, Government�s bought, Hundreds of jobs, excitement has caught. Plants plan to proceed, now guaranteed: Twelve tonnes to process has been agreed.   Industry, Innovation, Tourism, Culture, Joints Cannabis Growth, supply to ensure:  All sectors to gain in effort to seed, Farmers and bakers and tokers of weed.   Future is bright when viewed from a High,  The Provincial problems no more stultify. Disfunction and debt disappear in a haze -  Hallucinations!           With eye...

Guest Post by David Vardy SUPREME COURT OF CANADA: NL VS. NS ON CONTRACTUAL INEQUITY The �Good Faith� Argument Finally, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) is hearing the argument that the Churchill Falls contract is inequitable. The SCC hearing began on December 5, 2017. This is an appeal to a decision of the Supreme Court of Quebec, which was in turn an appeal of a decision rendered by Judge Joel Silcoff on July 24, 2014. CFLCo had sought the following declaration (Silcoff, p. 2): CFLCo lost in both tribunals and are now asking the SCC to overturn the decision of the Quebec courts. Their position is that the profits enjoyed by Hydro Quebec were unforeseen in 1969 and Hydro Quebec has a duty to renegotiate. Lawyers for the Churchill Falls Corporation (CFLCo) argued that Hydro Quebec has not acted �in good faith�. CFLCo is basing its case in part on the fact that Quebec civil law recognizes that � long-term, interdependent, collaborative contracts contain implicit good faith duties of lo...

What's behind the recent announcement by federal Energy Minister Jim Carr promoting   an �energy corridor� for the Atlantic provinces? How does it relate to this province? Are there other issues at play that should worry NL? Is the financial �dead carcass� of NL about to be picked over?* ......................................................... T he public should worry when weak governments run the province. For a decade, successive administrations have given little focus to tough public policy issues, worsening an already difficult fiscal situation. They don't see that successful societies harm themselves looking inward when predators come calling.  We forget that, while political parties, labour and business conduct their affairs with a vision narrow enough to be thought �in the moment,� the real business of politics � our business � is being managed in places where strategic self-interest has long been defined. A few weeks ago, a story by La Presse in Montreal contained som...