From Hansard, April 7th:
"If I could, Mr. Speaker, I will provide an update to the member opposite and to the House."
[In response to the question, "where is the evidence that communications and protocols are being put in place and being followed within Eastern Health?"]
"Mr. Speaker, the real answer to that question is that there is an issue of reasonableness here. What is the role of the government, what is the role of the health authority, and what should they do? If you look at Hansard, Mr. Speaker – this is ironic, if you read from Hansard, because Hansard records what people say in this House."
[In response to the question, "Why are you and your department not practicing proper follow up on this issue?"]
"Mr. Speaker, I need to understand what goes wrong so we can find a remedy."
[In response to the question, "Have you identified who made the judgements on Friday, and has the shot yet been fired across their bow, as the Premier indicated yesterday?"]
"If the member opposite has some information about her recent resignation, then I will commit to investigate in terms of that particular resignation and what plans are in place, actually, to provide a replacement for her, but the most current information I had was that the individual was going to be on a sick leave and returning around the middle of April, I say, Mr. Speaker."
[In response to a question on the resignation of the nurse practitioner at the HIV/AIDS clinic.]
"I understood that Eastern Health had made arrangements as an alternate plan while that individual was on sick leave and pending to come back around the middle of April. I will undertake to find out what the new plan will be, now that the member opposite has become aware that the resignation was tendered this morning....That is not something that I would ordinarily know...."
[In response to a question on the resignation of the nurse practitioner at the HIV/AIDS clinic.]
http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-07.htm
No wonder he's such a very busy minister: that's a lot of non-knowing for one question period. So let's do a tally of where things stand before he speaks in public again.
In just three weeks of work, Wiseman didn't know:
1) That the only nurse-practitioner of the HIV/AIDS clinic had resigned:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/08/aids-clinic-nurse-048.html
2) That Eastern Health would release the new cancer test information last Friday: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/04/fantasy-island.html
3) Changes in the rates for personal care homes in Newfoundland and Labrador: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/04/freudian-slips.html
4) What is happening on a day-to-day basis at an operational level at many health authorities: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-wisecracks.html
5) That he was supposed to show up at a major health conference: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/busyness_31.html
6) That he was supposed to let the media in to hear him speak:
http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/wisecrack.html
Here's some food for thought: Wiseman is surrounded by an army of communications people. He faces a decimated opposition. After the coverage of the Cameron Report, there have been five major news cyclyes, none of which have focused on Wiseman's portfolio: Curious George Baker's circus and its aftermath; the tragedy of the helicopter crash; the bold and brilliant Throne Speech and budget; the debate and non-celebration of 60 years in Confederation; and the Hydro announcement.
The latest failure in his portfolio was overshadowed by DW shooting off his mouth. As for the current news cycle, the story of the resignation of the nurse practitioner is going up against the announcement of a new discovery of hydrocarbons off Newfoundland. I wonder which story will attract the most attention....http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/08/statoilhydro-offshore-find.html
To put the problems in Health in context, Orwellian News contacted an international expert in unknowledge, Donald Rumsfeld. Reached by phone in Washington, Rumsfeld had this to say: "There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know. And then there's Ross Wiseman."
Rumsfeld recommended that Wiseman view his instructional video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RpSv3HjpEw
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Fantasy Island
Only on Fantasy Island would the following exchange be acceptable:
"MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One of the key elements of this process has been ensuring that information is released and communicated properly. What we saw on Friday was a press release from Eastern Health showing up at 4:00 in the afternoon with no media briefings or press conferences, and very little detail attached to it.
I ask the minister again – because it was told this morning that your office had been informed and knew about this since Wednesday. I ask: Why was it not communicated to the public more appropriately, in a more effective fashion than it was, instead of waiting until the end of the day on Friday?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: I will not try to explain the actions of Eastern Health’s communication strategy on Friday. I, too, would concur that late Friday afternoon, to make a release available to the public and not have anyone from Eastern Health available to provide comment, is not something that I would have directed. It is not something that I condone. It is not something that I agree with. Let me be perfectly clear about that particular piece.
Yes, I was aware that they were going to be doing that release. The conversation that my office had with Eastern Health was midday on Thursday, and the understanding and direction was pretty clear: that this information needed to get out immediately. The fact that they were late on Friday afternoon releasing it, I had no control over, Mr. Speaker. That was their call, their decision to release it. I received the notice of the release just moments before it was out. I was out of the Province on government business, meeting with my colleagues in Halifax and with other health regions.
Mr. Speaker, that was their call, but I would agree with the member opposite that getting a release out late Friday afternoon and not having anyone available from the organization to comment on it is not something that I would agree with either." http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-06.htm
Here's a translation of what Wiseman is trying to say. He knew about the piece. He even had a conversation about said piece. But then he got on a plane and...well...pretty much nothing that happened after that had anything to do with him.
To recap: he would not have directed what happened; he would not condone it; and he would not agree with it. Not in an office or in the House; not over lunch or to a mouse. He does not like green eggs and ham.
But on a plane? On a plane, he has no control; at a meeting, he's never droll. He may be told in Newfoundland, but it's not his call once on Mainland. He received notice, yes it's true, but while away over the ocean blue.
Wonderful place, this Fantasy Island. You can get on a plane and leave all your troubles and responsibilities behind. No wonder cabinet ministers travel so much.
"MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One of the key elements of this process has been ensuring that information is released and communicated properly. What we saw on Friday was a press release from Eastern Health showing up at 4:00 in the afternoon with no media briefings or press conferences, and very little detail attached to it.
I ask the minister again – because it was told this morning that your office had been informed and knew about this since Wednesday. I ask: Why was it not communicated to the public more appropriately, in a more effective fashion than it was, instead of waiting until the end of the day on Friday?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: I will not try to explain the actions of Eastern Health’s communication strategy on Friday. I, too, would concur that late Friday afternoon, to make a release available to the public and not have anyone from Eastern Health available to provide comment, is not something that I would have directed. It is not something that I condone. It is not something that I agree with. Let me be perfectly clear about that particular piece.
Yes, I was aware that they were going to be doing that release. The conversation that my office had with Eastern Health was midday on Thursday, and the understanding and direction was pretty clear: that this information needed to get out immediately. The fact that they were late on Friday afternoon releasing it, I had no control over, Mr. Speaker. That was their call, their decision to release it. I received the notice of the release just moments before it was out. I was out of the Province on government business, meeting with my colleagues in Halifax and with other health regions.
Mr. Speaker, that was their call, but I would agree with the member opposite that getting a release out late Friday afternoon and not having anyone available from the organization to comment on it is not something that I would agree with either." http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-06.htm
Here's a translation of what Wiseman is trying to say. He knew about the piece. He even had a conversation about said piece. But then he got on a plane and...well...pretty much nothing that happened after that had anything to do with him.
To recap: he would not have directed what happened; he would not condone it; and he would not agree with it. Not in an office or in the House; not over lunch or to a mouse. He does not like green eggs and ham.
But on a plane? On a plane, he has no control; at a meeting, he's never droll. He may be told in Newfoundland, but it's not his call once on Mainland. He received notice, yes it's true, but while away over the ocean blue.
Wonderful place, this Fantasy Island. You can get on a plane and leave all your troubles and responsibilities behind. No wonder cabinet ministers travel so much.
The French Connection
It turns out that an international leader is emulating DW. But it's not Obama, despite what the Globe reported last year.
It turns out that DW's doppelgänger is Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also relentlessly bold, aggressively optimistic, and incredibly ambitious: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090406.wcosarko07/BNStory/specialComment/home
The problem is that Sarkozy hasn't listened hard enough to DW. According to David Rieff, after less than three years in power, "Many in Mr. Sarkozy's governing Union for a Popular Movement have become increasingly public in expressing their unhappiness. In effect, rather than according serious room for decision-making to Prime Minister François Fillon or his cabinet, Mr. Sarkozy has arrogated almost every lever of power to himself and advisers."
For a cabinet revolt to happen in NL, there would have to be an actual cabinet, rather than the current simulacrum.
That's not all. Rieff continues, "But Mr. Sarkozy has not governed effectively, as polling and his party's disenchantment make abundantly clear. His manic character - initiative spilling into initiative, each being the transformative solution to the problem at hand, and all opposition denounced as lies or cowardice - has worn thin."
Sure sounds like DW: manic character, manic initiatives, manic insults. Denounce anyone who disagrees with you. But Sarkozy did not have DW's secret weapon: CRAPolls.
Insulated by CRAPolls, a simulation cabinet, and deep coatings of Teflon, DW will surely outlast the President of France.
In the last paragraph of his essay, Rieff compares Obama and Sarkozy: "At a recent press conference, U.S. President Barack Obama said he was loath to comment immediately on matters of great public importance before being certain he knew the subject in question. Many French wish such self-discipline could rub off on Mr. Sarkozy. Given his temperament, however, that hardly seems likely. As a result, an administration in which many had placed high hopes is lapsing into demagoguery and ineffectiveness."
Message to Nicolas -- Don't worry, just contact these guys and soon you'll be soaring high above the maddening crowd: http://www.cra.ca/en/home/Locations/default.aspx
It turns out that DW's doppelgänger is Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also relentlessly bold, aggressively optimistic, and incredibly ambitious: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090406.wcosarko07/BNStory/specialComment/home
The problem is that Sarkozy hasn't listened hard enough to DW. According to David Rieff, after less than three years in power, "Many in Mr. Sarkozy's governing Union for a Popular Movement have become increasingly public in expressing their unhappiness. In effect, rather than according serious room for decision-making to Prime Minister François Fillon or his cabinet, Mr. Sarkozy has arrogated almost every lever of power to himself and advisers."
For a cabinet revolt to happen in NL, there would have to be an actual cabinet, rather than the current simulacrum.
That's not all. Rieff continues, "But Mr. Sarkozy has not governed effectively, as polling and his party's disenchantment make abundantly clear. His manic character - initiative spilling into initiative, each being the transformative solution to the problem at hand, and all opposition denounced as lies or cowardice - has worn thin."
Sure sounds like DW: manic character, manic initiatives, manic insults. Denounce anyone who disagrees with you. But Sarkozy did not have DW's secret weapon: CRAPolls.
Insulated by CRAPolls, a simulation cabinet, and deep coatings of Teflon, DW will surely outlast the President of France.
In the last paragraph of his essay, Rieff compares Obama and Sarkozy: "At a recent press conference, U.S. President Barack Obama said he was loath to comment immediately on matters of great public importance before being certain he knew the subject in question. Many French wish such self-discipline could rub off on Mr. Sarkozy. Given his temperament, however, that hardly seems likely. As a result, an administration in which many had placed high hopes is lapsing into demagoguery and ineffectiveness."
Message to Nicolas -- Don't worry, just contact these guys and soon you'll be soaring high above the maddening crowd: http://www.cra.ca/en/home/Locations/default.aspx
Monday, April 6, 2009
Politics of Hyperbole
Reading through the comments posted on the CBC's story, the reason why DW deploys such gross overstatement became clear: it provides cover for action. How so, you may ask?
Let's consider some alternatives. What if DW had said, "It's disgraceful. They should be fired over there." What if DW said, "It's disgraceful. They should be arrested over there." Or what if DW said, "It's disgraceful. They should be forced to meet everyone affected in person."
If you replace "shot" with "fired," then you would get political action. If you remove the hyperbole and make the threat realistic, then the story would be very different.
If DW said someone should get fired, then the public would expect that someone would get fired. But by saying that someone should be shot, he knew that the public would not expect that someone would get shot. He knew that it would attract attention to his emotion (anger) and deflect attention from his action (nothing).
In other words, he let himself off the hook. Like repetition, hyperbole has a specific political function to manipulate appearances and expectations.
I'm sure everyone has seen the story by now but, if not, here's the link. The public comments make for interesting reading: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/06/cancer-count-eastern.html
Let's consider some alternatives. What if DW had said, "It's disgraceful. They should be fired over there." What if DW said, "It's disgraceful. They should be arrested over there." Or what if DW said, "It's disgraceful. They should be forced to meet everyone affected in person."
If you replace "shot" with "fired," then you would get political action. If you remove the hyperbole and make the threat realistic, then the story would be very different.
If DW said someone should get fired, then the public would expect that someone would get fired. But by saying that someone should be shot, he knew that the public would not expect that someone would get shot. He knew that it would attract attention to his emotion (anger) and deflect attention from his action (nothing).
In other words, he let himself off the hook. Like repetition, hyperbole has a specific political function to manipulate appearances and expectations.
I'm sure everyone has seen the story by now but, if not, here's the link. The public comments make for interesting reading: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/06/cancer-count-eastern.html
Political Teflon
Not much that one can add to the latest Danburst. Not even an Orwellian blogger could dream that DW would say in public: "They should be shot over there." I guess doing the separatists' work for them wasn't enough; now he wants to assist Orwellian News, too.
However, Orwellian News still wants to know: How does DW get away with it? DW is, among many things, the premier of NL. As he and his legions of fans never hesitate to shout and yell, he is in charge. He is The Leader. As such, DW is ultimately responsible for the running of government, which includes health care as one of its most important mandates.
Orwellian News can now report the answer: political Teflon. According to an anonymous source in Sector 7-G (West Block), DW and his entire cabinet get secret Teflon applications each day. The Teflon spray prevents any bad news from sticking to them. It enables them, with a straight face, to take credit for anything that goes right (including the price of oil) and to disclaim responsibility for anything that goes wrong.
How does this work? It sounds complicated, but it's actually quite simple. The Teflon contains a semantic cream that alters the way in which the English language is transmitted and received. Specifically, it enables DW and members of cabinet to switch from "we" to "they" (and back again), according to a portable Blamemeter leased from Globex Corporation. Once the Blamemeter reaches a certain level, the speaker simply swaps "we" and "they," depending on which option maximizes political gain and minimizes actual responsibility.
You can see the results in today's interview. In the CBC story, DW is quoted as saying, "They should be shot over there," and "They've learned absolutely nothing."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/06/cancer-count-eastern.html
By contrast, when DW speaks about NALCO -- an analogous agency -- he always uses we. It's not NALCO but "we" who are looking forward to working with Emera. It's not they but "we" who have concluded a sale agreement. http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2009/exec/0402n06.htm
Dupont, the maker of Teflon, denies that there are any health risks associated with long-term exposure to political Teflon. Studies examining the link between use of non-stick coating and the election of George W. Bush proved inconclusive.
In one scientific experiment at Harvard University, subjects who faced long-term exposure to political Teflon reported poor memory and persistent verbal tics, such as a compulsion to say the words, "master," "you know," "go forward," and "traitor." But before the experiment could be finished, the participants began fighting with each other and ran outside to take down the university's flag.
Nonetheless, the New York Times has continued to investigate the health affects of political Teflon. As the headline to one story put is, "Teflon Is Great for Politicians, but Is It Safe for Regular People?" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/14/business/14shortcuts.html
However, Orwellian News still wants to know: How does DW get away with it? DW is, among many things, the premier of NL. As he and his legions of fans never hesitate to shout and yell, he is in charge. He is The Leader. As such, DW is ultimately responsible for the running of government, which includes health care as one of its most important mandates.
Orwellian News can now report the answer: political Teflon. According to an anonymous source in Sector 7-G (West Block), DW and his entire cabinet get secret Teflon applications each day. The Teflon spray prevents any bad news from sticking to them. It enables them, with a straight face, to take credit for anything that goes right (including the price of oil) and to disclaim responsibility for anything that goes wrong.
How does this work? It sounds complicated, but it's actually quite simple. The Teflon contains a semantic cream that alters the way in which the English language is transmitted and received. Specifically, it enables DW and members of cabinet to switch from "we" to "they" (and back again), according to a portable Blamemeter leased from Globex Corporation. Once the Blamemeter reaches a certain level, the speaker simply swaps "we" and "they," depending on which option maximizes political gain and minimizes actual responsibility.
You can see the results in today's interview. In the CBC story, DW is quoted as saying, "They should be shot over there," and "They've learned absolutely nothing."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/06/cancer-count-eastern.html
By contrast, when DW speaks about NALCO -- an analogous agency -- he always uses we. It's not NALCO but "we" who are looking forward to working with Emera. It's not they but "we" who have concluded a sale agreement. http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2009/exec/0402n06.htm
Dupont, the maker of Teflon, denies that there are any health risks associated with long-term exposure to political Teflon. Studies examining the link between use of non-stick coating and the election of George W. Bush proved inconclusive.
In one scientific experiment at Harvard University, subjects who faced long-term exposure to political Teflon reported poor memory and persistent verbal tics, such as a compulsion to say the words, "master," "you know," "go forward," and "traitor." But before the experiment could be finished, the participants began fighting with each other and ran outside to take down the university's flag.
Nonetheless, the New York Times has continued to investigate the health affects of political Teflon. As the headline to one story put is, "Teflon Is Great for Politicians, but Is It Safe for Regular People?" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/14/business/14shortcuts.html
Pick Your Partner
For all the prattle about going it alone and self-reliance, the 2 April press release makes it clear that Dangovt is not talking about developing Hydro power all by itself.
In fact, Dangovt is highlighting its new partnership. This partnership is not with Ottawa, Quebec, or any other province or state but, rather, a corporation: Emera.
The press release makes it clear that this deal is being touted as the beginning of a longer-term business relationship. For all the rhetoric about a "historic and momentous occasion for the people of our province," it was framed in terms of two businesses (both of which operate monopolies) forming a strategic partnership.
To make sure that this special relationship was lost on no one, Emera was cut a slice of the publicity pie. “This is an exciting opportunity for both Nalcor and Emera Energy,” said Wayne O'Connor Chief Operating Officer of Emera Energy. “We are proud to play a part and look forward to working together to bring this valuable resource to markets across northeast North America.”
“At the present time, we are working with Emera Energy to have our power get to these markets,” said Premier Williams. “In other words, we have concluded a sale agreement with them so that with their considerable expertise in the industry, this power, originating from our province may be sold into markets. Obviously, this is something entirely new for us as a province and so we retained the best expertise possible in these early days. Our goal is to eventually develop the expertise at Nalcor so that we can act as seller into final markets. We understand from Emera that power from Labrador today is being sold directly into the United States; destination – New York. Newfoundland and Labrador is taking a bite out of the big apple.” See http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2009/exec/0402n06.htm
To certify that this is, in fact, an authentic Dangovt proclamation, it contains a nonsensical code sentence: "Having assessed all options, Nalcor Energy determined the most strategic and valuable decision moving forward is this arrangement as opposed to entering another power purchase agreement with Quebec at this time." When you see such Danspeak, you know that you're dealing with an important Dannouncement.
Now that we've been told that Emera is going to be such a bold part of such a historic arrangement, it might be helpful to know a thing or two about this company and its operations in the Maritimes: http://www.emera.com/en/home/default.aspx
With Emera comes a Maritimes connection that has been overlooked in NL, but not in NS. The announcement has already fueled speculation about the role NS will play in the hypothetical Labrador-Newfoundland-Maritimes transmission line. With Graham already talking tough about the prospect of wheeling power through NB, speculation has turned to how NS faces a "squeeze play": http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1114709.html
While NL was in the frenzy of its initial Hydro spin, trash talk was already breaking out in the NS media, with one Chronicle Herald story headlined, "Premier zaps N.B.’s Graham: If you don’t want to be part of the Churchill power project, then you can be bypassed, N.B. premier told." At least the reporters managed to point out that no decision has been made about the hypothetical transmission lines, and the projected cost of the hypothetical project could top $9 billion: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1114763.html
In Nova Scotia, Emera is known for providing, via Nova Scotia Power, inferior service for inflated prices. Here's a sampling from CBC's coverage:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/02/10/ns-power-bennett.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/novascotia/story/2007/04/03/macdonald-nsp.html
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/11/05/nsp-rate-increase.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2007/08/28/survey-utilities.html
As any Nova Scotian can tell you, at length, mixing a public monopoly with private business can give you the worst of both worlds. NALCO loves to present itself as a savy business, but nothing -- repeat, nothing -- will happen with the Lower Churchill without gobs and gobs of taxpayers' money.
And nothing will happen until the music stops in the pick-your-partner Hydro dance. Perhaps that's the point.
In fact, Dangovt is highlighting its new partnership. This partnership is not with Ottawa, Quebec, or any other province or state but, rather, a corporation: Emera.
The press release makes it clear that this deal is being touted as the beginning of a longer-term business relationship. For all the rhetoric about a "historic and momentous occasion for the people of our province," it was framed in terms of two businesses (both of which operate monopolies) forming a strategic partnership.
To make sure that this special relationship was lost on no one, Emera was cut a slice of the publicity pie. “This is an exciting opportunity for both Nalcor and Emera Energy,” said Wayne O'Connor Chief Operating Officer of Emera Energy. “We are proud to play a part and look forward to working together to bring this valuable resource to markets across northeast North America.”
“At the present time, we are working with Emera Energy to have our power get to these markets,” said Premier Williams. “In other words, we have concluded a sale agreement with them so that with their considerable expertise in the industry, this power, originating from our province may be sold into markets. Obviously, this is something entirely new for us as a province and so we retained the best expertise possible in these early days. Our goal is to eventually develop the expertise at Nalcor so that we can act as seller into final markets. We understand from Emera that power from Labrador today is being sold directly into the United States; destination – New York. Newfoundland and Labrador is taking a bite out of the big apple.” See http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2009/exec/0402n06.htm
To certify that this is, in fact, an authentic Dangovt proclamation, it contains a nonsensical code sentence: "Having assessed all options, Nalcor Energy determined the most strategic and valuable decision moving forward is this arrangement as opposed to entering another power purchase agreement with Quebec at this time." When you see such Danspeak, you know that you're dealing with an important Dannouncement.
Now that we've been told that Emera is going to be such a bold part of such a historic arrangement, it might be helpful to know a thing or two about this company and its operations in the Maritimes: http://www.emera.com/en/home/default.aspx
With Emera comes a Maritimes connection that has been overlooked in NL, but not in NS. The announcement has already fueled speculation about the role NS will play in the hypothetical Labrador-Newfoundland-Maritimes transmission line. With Graham already talking tough about the prospect of wheeling power through NB, speculation has turned to how NS faces a "squeeze play": http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1114709.html
While NL was in the frenzy of its initial Hydro spin, trash talk was already breaking out in the NS media, with one Chronicle Herald story headlined, "Premier zaps N.B.’s Graham: If you don’t want to be part of the Churchill power project, then you can be bypassed, N.B. premier told." At least the reporters managed to point out that no decision has been made about the hypothetical transmission lines, and the projected cost of the hypothetical project could top $9 billion: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1114763.html
In Nova Scotia, Emera is known for providing, via Nova Scotia Power, inferior service for inflated prices. Here's a sampling from CBC's coverage:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/02/10/ns-power-bennett.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/novascotia/story/2007/04/03/macdonald-nsp.html
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/11/05/nsp-rate-increase.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2007/08/28/survey-utilities.html
As any Nova Scotian can tell you, at length, mixing a public monopoly with private business can give you the worst of both worlds. NALCO loves to present itself as a savy business, but nothing -- repeat, nothing -- will happen with the Lower Churchill without gobs and gobs of taxpayers' money.
And nothing will happen until the music stops in the pick-your-partner Hydro dance. Perhaps that's the point.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Danny Chavez Reconsidered
When Danny Williams gets compared to Hugo Chávez, the assumption is that this means that Williams' political apoplexy prevents him from cutting deals with enemies.
The assumption is that this occlusion (rooted in some combination of grandiosity and sociopathy) draws on a genuine ideology that subordinates commerce to politics.
This assumption is wrong. If Danny Williams is, in fact, anything like Chávez, the results may surprise some observers.
For all Chávez's socialist rhetoric, Venezuela continues to enjoy a close economic relationship with the United States. The US is still one of Venezuela's most important trading partners; even during the nadir of the Bush presidency, trade between the two countries actually increased. The US is Venezuela's largest oil customer and a major foreign investor.
James Surowiecki raises some interesting parallels. He writes, "Chávez has been the beneficiary of excellent timing: oil prices have quintupled since he took over, allowing him to hand out billions of dollars to the poor. But he has done little to diversify the nation’s industrial base and lessen the economy’s dependence on oil, while his few tepid ventures into state ownership or coöperatives will have no meaningful economic impact. The result is that the ties between the U.S. and Venezuela have actually tightened."
Surowiecki's short article is worth a full reading, especially the last paragraph. Try substituting anti-Canadianism for anti-Americanism: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2007/01/08/070108ta_talk_surowiecki
As the Hydro spin cycle continues, it's worth keeping in mind that NL faces essentially the same constraints as it did three years ago. For a sense of perspective, see this 2006 piece in Maclean's:
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20060731_130820_130820
One quotation in particular jumps out: "although the science fiction of a marine route that bypasses Quebec and flows energy from Labrador to, say, Boston, would have a price tag worthy of NASA."
Ottawa may be a planet away from this story right now, but sooner or later the federal government will play an important role in the Hydro drama. Whether it acts as the Deus ex machina is anyone's guess, but the emergence of a modus vivendi between Ottawa and St. John's remains a necessary condition for any major development of Churchill Falls.
It's no accident that the Hydro story remains enmeshed in the rhetoric of Newfoundland nationalism; for DW, the separatist threat remains a useful political tool. But while it's still useful in provincial politics, federal politics is an entirely different matter: 2009 is not 2004.
Here's a flashback to 2004, courtesy of Bond Papers: "Public optimism was shattered as Williams stormed from the meeting, flew back to St. John's and scheduled a media briefing for December 22. He announced there was no Christmas present from Paul Martin. Williams' talked of getting a slap in the face.Then he ordered Canadian flags to be taken from every provincial building. "Why would we fly their flag and pretend everything is rosy?" he told reporters at Confederation Building." [my emphasis]. See http://bondpapers.blogspot.com/2005/07/getting-deal-danny-williams-and.html
So here's a question: is DW more captive to his populist nationalism than Chávez is to his populist socialism?
For further reading on Chávez, see: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_anderson
The assumption is that this occlusion (rooted in some combination of grandiosity and sociopathy) draws on a genuine ideology that subordinates commerce to politics.
This assumption is wrong. If Danny Williams is, in fact, anything like Chávez, the results may surprise some observers.
For all Chávez's socialist rhetoric, Venezuela continues to enjoy a close economic relationship with the United States. The US is still one of Venezuela's most important trading partners; even during the nadir of the Bush presidency, trade between the two countries actually increased. The US is Venezuela's largest oil customer and a major foreign investor.
James Surowiecki raises some interesting parallels. He writes, "Chávez has been the beneficiary of excellent timing: oil prices have quintupled since he took over, allowing him to hand out billions of dollars to the poor. But he has done little to diversify the nation’s industrial base and lessen the economy’s dependence on oil, while his few tepid ventures into state ownership or coöperatives will have no meaningful economic impact. The result is that the ties between the U.S. and Venezuela have actually tightened."
Surowiecki's short article is worth a full reading, especially the last paragraph. Try substituting anti-Canadianism for anti-Americanism: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2007/01/08/070108ta_talk_surowiecki
As the Hydro spin cycle continues, it's worth keeping in mind that NL faces essentially the same constraints as it did three years ago. For a sense of perspective, see this 2006 piece in Maclean's:
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20060731_130820_130820
One quotation in particular jumps out: "although the science fiction of a marine route that bypasses Quebec and flows energy from Labrador to, say, Boston, would have a price tag worthy of NASA."
Ottawa may be a planet away from this story right now, but sooner or later the federal government will play an important role in the Hydro drama. Whether it acts as the Deus ex machina is anyone's guess, but the emergence of a modus vivendi between Ottawa and St. John's remains a necessary condition for any major development of Churchill Falls.
It's no accident that the Hydro story remains enmeshed in the rhetoric of Newfoundland nationalism; for DW, the separatist threat remains a useful political tool. But while it's still useful in provincial politics, federal politics is an entirely different matter: 2009 is not 2004.
Here's a flashback to 2004, courtesy of Bond Papers: "Public optimism was shattered as Williams stormed from the meeting, flew back to St. John's and scheduled a media briefing for December 22. He announced there was no Christmas present from Paul Martin. Williams' talked of getting a slap in the face.Then he ordered Canadian flags to be taken from every provincial building. "Why would we fly their flag and pretend everything is rosy?" he told reporters at Confederation Building." [my emphasis]. See http://bondpapers.blogspot.com/2005/07/getting-deal-danny-williams-and.html
So here's a question: is DW more captive to his populist nationalism than Chávez is to his populist socialism?
For further reading on Chávez, see: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_anderson
The Secret to Happiness
Want to know the secret to happiness on this mauzy morning? Positive psychology has reduced it to a neat formula: H=S+C+V.
H is your level of happiness, S is your set point, C is the conditions of your life, and V is the voluntary activities you do.
As John Lachester explains in his New Yorker article, "In other words, your happiness consists of how happy you naturally are, plus whatever is going on in your life to affect your happiness, plus a bit of voluntary work. Well, duh. The only vaguely surprising thing about this is how useful voluntary work can be to the person doing it—and even that isn’t really news. At the end of the nineteenth century, Emile Durkheim performed a huge cross-cultural study of suicide, and found, in Haidt’s words, that “no matter how he parsed the data, people who had fewer social constraints, bonds and obligations were more likely to kill themselves.” The more connected we are to other people, the less likely we are to succumb to despair—a conclusion that isn’t very distant from the common-sense proposition that lonely people are often unhappy, and unhappy people are often lonely."
Lanchester's entertaining and informative article is well worth reading. He begins with a hypothetical account of Ig and Og that bears on optimistic correctness: "It is the year 100,000 B.C., and two hunter-gatherers are out hunter-gathering. Let’s call them Ig and Og. Ig comes across a new kind of bush, with bright-red berries. He is hungry, as most hunter-gatherers are most of the time, and the berries look pretty, so he pops a handful in his mouth. Og merely puts some berries in his goatskin bag.
A little later, they come to a cave. It looks spooky and Og doesn’t want to go in, but Ig pushes on ahead and has a look around. There’s nothing there except a few bones. On the way home, an unfamiliar rustling in the undergrowth puts Og in a panic, and he freezes, but Ig figures that whatever is rustling probably isn’t any bigger and uglier than he is, so he blunders on, and whatever was doing the rustling scuttles off into the undergrowth. The next morning, Og finally tries the berries, and they do indeed taste O.K. He decides to go back and collect some more.
Now, Ig is clearly a lot more fun than Og. But Og is much more likely to pass on his genes to the next generation of hunter-gatherers. The downside to Ig’s fearlessness is the risk of sudden death. One day, the berries will be poisonous, the bear that lives in the cave will be at home, and the rustling will be a snake or a tiger or some other vertebrate whose bite can turn septic. Ig needs only to make one mistake. From the Darwinian point of view, Og is the man to bet on. He is cautious and prone to anxiety, and these are highly adaptive traits when it comes to survival. We are the children of Og." Here's the link: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/27/060227crbo_books?currentPage=1
And for a thoughtful essay on the politics of optimism (and a break from reading about the latest Dannouncement), read Adam Gopnik's article on Voltaire. It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of satire: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/03/07/050307crbo_books
H is your level of happiness, S is your set point, C is the conditions of your life, and V is the voluntary activities you do.
As John Lachester explains in his New Yorker article, "In other words, your happiness consists of how happy you naturally are, plus whatever is going on in your life to affect your happiness, plus a bit of voluntary work. Well, duh. The only vaguely surprising thing about this is how useful voluntary work can be to the person doing it—and even that isn’t really news. At the end of the nineteenth century, Emile Durkheim performed a huge cross-cultural study of suicide, and found, in Haidt’s words, that “no matter how he parsed the data, people who had fewer social constraints, bonds and obligations were more likely to kill themselves.” The more connected we are to other people, the less likely we are to succumb to despair—a conclusion that isn’t very distant from the common-sense proposition that lonely people are often unhappy, and unhappy people are often lonely."
Lanchester's entertaining and informative article is well worth reading. He begins with a hypothetical account of Ig and Og that bears on optimistic correctness: "It is the year 100,000 B.C., and two hunter-gatherers are out hunter-gathering. Let’s call them Ig and Og. Ig comes across a new kind of bush, with bright-red berries. He is hungry, as most hunter-gatherers are most of the time, and the berries look pretty, so he pops a handful in his mouth. Og merely puts some berries in his goatskin bag.
A little later, they come to a cave. It looks spooky and Og doesn’t want to go in, but Ig pushes on ahead and has a look around. There’s nothing there except a few bones. On the way home, an unfamiliar rustling in the undergrowth puts Og in a panic, and he freezes, but Ig figures that whatever is rustling probably isn’t any bigger and uglier than he is, so he blunders on, and whatever was doing the rustling scuttles off into the undergrowth. The next morning, Og finally tries the berries, and they do indeed taste O.K. He decides to go back and collect some more.
Now, Ig is clearly a lot more fun than Og. But Og is much more likely to pass on his genes to the next generation of hunter-gatherers. The downside to Ig’s fearlessness is the risk of sudden death. One day, the berries will be poisonous, the bear that lives in the cave will be at home, and the rustling will be a snake or a tiger or some other vertebrate whose bite can turn septic. Ig needs only to make one mistake. From the Darwinian point of view, Og is the man to bet on. He is cautious and prone to anxiety, and these are highly adaptive traits when it comes to survival. We are the children of Og." Here's the link: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/27/060227crbo_books?currentPage=1
And for a thoughtful essay on the politics of optimism (and a break from reading about the latest Dannouncement), read Adam Gopnik's article on Voltaire. It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of satire: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/03/07/050307crbo_books
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Truth Slips
DW admitting he may be out to lunch: "I hope it's not blissful ignorance." Listen for yourself, it's at the 5:35 mark: http://watch.ctv.ca/news/power-play/thursday-april-2#clip157120
VOCM reporting that things are already bad: "Things may be about to go from bad to worse in Labrador West as the Iron Ore Company of Canada has given notice the planned one month shutdown this summer may be extended to 13 weeks." http://www.vocm.com/news-info.asp?id=35277
Minister Dunderdale complaining about her colleagues' incessant shouting and hollering in the Legislature: "I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, I am not absolutely clear on the question. I could not hear her, in the noise of the House."
http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-02.htm
Minister Wiseman admitting he's out of his depth: "I think, Mr. Speaker, since we have been in government, I think there has been about – I stand to be corrected on this, but since we have been in government this is probably the third, if not the fourth increase we have provided in rates for personal care homes in Newfoundland and Labrador." http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-02.htm
Globe article explaining the perils of reckless optimism: "Ultimately, it isn't undue pessimism that is dangerous, but undue optimism. Over the past two decades, undue optimism produced irrational exuberance, housing bubbles and unbridled confidence in the benefits of financial innovation. Undue optimism also encouraged commentators to label anyone who expressed doubts about the trajectory of the global economy or about the dangers of financial innovation as a crank, which served only to discourage healthy skepticism."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090404.SHIFT04/TPStory/?query=make+room+for+doom+and+gloom
VOCM reporting that things are already bad: "Things may be about to go from bad to worse in Labrador West as the Iron Ore Company of Canada has given notice the planned one month shutdown this summer may be extended to 13 weeks." http://www.vocm.com/news-info.asp?id=35277
Minister Dunderdale complaining about her colleagues' incessant shouting and hollering in the Legislature: "I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, I am not absolutely clear on the question. I could not hear her, in the noise of the House."
http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-02.htm
Minister Wiseman admitting he's out of his depth: "I think, Mr. Speaker, since we have been in government, I think there has been about – I stand to be corrected on this, but since we have been in government this is probably the third, if not the fourth increase we have provided in rates for personal care homes in Newfoundland and Labrador." http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-02.htm
Globe article explaining the perils of reckless optimism: "Ultimately, it isn't undue pessimism that is dangerous, but undue optimism. Over the past two decades, undue optimism produced irrational exuberance, housing bubbles and unbridled confidence in the benefits of financial innovation. Undue optimism also encouraged commentators to label anyone who expressed doubts about the trajectory of the global economy or about the dangers of financial innovation as a crank, which served only to discourage healthy skepticism."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090404.SHIFT04/TPStory/?query=make+room+for+doom+and+gloom
Hydro Spin (updated)
In just a couple of days, the Hydro story has gone through several early spin cycles. In the Telegram's initial story, DW was focused on gloating about his great achievement. "Newfoundland and Labrador is now taking a bite out of the Big Apple," Williams said.
The Lower Churchill was in the back seat, with the Tely story offering a follow-up statement: "He also said the agreement may also put the province in a better position to develop the Lower Churchill." See http://thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=238932&sc=79
By contrast, by the time of the CBC's story, the focus had shifted: "Power transfer through Quebec good for Lower Churchill 'leverage': Williams." According to the CBC: "Williams said the deal — which allows Newfoundland and Labrador to export as much as 250 megawatts of power in the summer months, when domestic demand drops but U.S. demand is surging — sets up the Lower Churchill megaproject, which is still in the planning stages." See http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/03/williams-lower-churchill.html
The difference between the two stories may be the result of different reporters' interpretations or different information they obtained. For good measure, the CBC story ends with the Lower Churchill, too: "The Lower Churchill is far from a certainty. The province will require federal government involvement for structuring the financing, and it requires regulatory approval."
The Tely's story dealt with the issue via an interview with Danny Dumaresque. "He told The Telegram there is 'absolutely nothing new' in this agreement. 'It doesn't bring us one inch closer to a Lower Churchill project because it doesn't give us the essential ingredient which is the right to build a transmission line across Quebec, he said. Dumaresque also said there's no space on Quebec's grid to move the projected 3,000 megawatts from the Lower Churchill."
While Geoff Meeker has analyzed the spins taking place in the media coverage, Bond Papers has reported developments in the availability of government information. Whereas the media coverage has been highly fluid and, in some cases, erratic, the provincial state has been busy redacting pubicly available material:
http://thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=239030&sc=88
http://bondpapers.blogspot.com/2009/04/wheeling-deal.html
We'll see what the Tely has to say today, but three unanswered questions come to mind:
1) Where is the Romaine River project in all this? Even in normal times, the amount of available capital for massive hydro projects is finite; during a global recession, access to capital is significantly constricted. It's hard to imagine how the Romaine and Lower Churchill projects can be separated: the development of one will surely affect the other.
2) Where is the federal government in all this? No doubt DW wants this story to unfold in a provincial vacuum -- Ottawa, what Ottawa? -- with the theme of self-reliance eclipsing any disucssion of what role the Harper regime is willing to play in raising capital or supporting regulatory approval.
3) How do the alternate transmission routes fit into this? If DW is now emphasizing how he has leveraged a deal to show the viability of transmitting future Lower Churchill power to the bitten Big Apple, does this mean that the NALCO-Gros Morne transmission line is a red herring?
It looks like there will be quite a few red herrings swimming around this story, so it's useful to keep in mind the etymology of red herring, which originally referred to smoked herring dragged across the trail of the fox (Hydro) to throw the hounds (public) off the scent:http://www.fallacyfiles.org/redherrf.html
Power Play Update:
Check out this interview with DW:
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/power-play/thursday-april-2#clip157120
As others have already reported, DW is clear that there is no deal with Quebec. What's less clear is how the "all options" on the table approach is going to work if actual construction ever starts on the transmission lines.
What's abundantly clear is that it remains metaphysically impossible to discuss Churchill Falls (Upper or Lower) without dragging in the entire kitchen sink of nationalist blather, from über-optimism to Harper to separatism and, curiously, back to George Baker. DW tries to declare that he's over Harper, who is now an official untermensch (DW says, with a straight face, that he doesn't have time for enemies), and he calls Curious George a great guy who doesn't really mean what he says (now how would be know that?).
As I've said before, the road to Newfoundland nationalism runs straight through Churchill Falls. To quote its namesake, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
The Lower Churchill was in the back seat, with the Tely story offering a follow-up statement: "He also said the agreement may also put the province in a better position to develop the Lower Churchill." See http://thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=238932&sc=79
By contrast, by the time of the CBC's story, the focus had shifted: "Power transfer through Quebec good for Lower Churchill 'leverage': Williams." According to the CBC: "Williams said the deal — which allows Newfoundland and Labrador to export as much as 250 megawatts of power in the summer months, when domestic demand drops but U.S. demand is surging — sets up the Lower Churchill megaproject, which is still in the planning stages." See http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/04/03/williams-lower-churchill.html
The difference between the two stories may be the result of different reporters' interpretations or different information they obtained. For good measure, the CBC story ends with the Lower Churchill, too: "The Lower Churchill is far from a certainty. The province will require federal government involvement for structuring the financing, and it requires regulatory approval."
The Tely's story dealt with the issue via an interview with Danny Dumaresque. "He told The Telegram there is 'absolutely nothing new' in this agreement. 'It doesn't bring us one inch closer to a Lower Churchill project because it doesn't give us the essential ingredient which is the right to build a transmission line across Quebec, he said. Dumaresque also said there's no space on Quebec's grid to move the projected 3,000 megawatts from the Lower Churchill."
While Geoff Meeker has analyzed the spins taking place in the media coverage, Bond Papers has reported developments in the availability of government information. Whereas the media coverage has been highly fluid and, in some cases, erratic, the provincial state has been busy redacting pubicly available material:
http://thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=239030&sc=88
http://bondpapers.blogspot.com/2009/04/wheeling-deal.html
We'll see what the Tely has to say today, but three unanswered questions come to mind:
1) Where is the Romaine River project in all this? Even in normal times, the amount of available capital for massive hydro projects is finite; during a global recession, access to capital is significantly constricted. It's hard to imagine how the Romaine and Lower Churchill projects can be separated: the development of one will surely affect the other.
2) Where is the federal government in all this? No doubt DW wants this story to unfold in a provincial vacuum -- Ottawa, what Ottawa? -- with the theme of self-reliance eclipsing any disucssion of what role the Harper regime is willing to play in raising capital or supporting regulatory approval.
3) How do the alternate transmission routes fit into this? If DW is now emphasizing how he has leveraged a deal to show the viability of transmitting future Lower Churchill power to the bitten Big Apple, does this mean that the NALCO-Gros Morne transmission line is a red herring?
It looks like there will be quite a few red herrings swimming around this story, so it's useful to keep in mind the etymology of red herring, which originally referred to smoked herring dragged across the trail of the fox (Hydro) to throw the hounds (public) off the scent:http://www.fallacyfiles.org/redherrf.html
Power Play Update:
Check out this interview with DW:
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/power-play/thursday-april-2#clip157120
As others have already reported, DW is clear that there is no deal with Quebec. What's less clear is how the "all options" on the table approach is going to work if actual construction ever starts on the transmission lines.
What's abundantly clear is that it remains metaphysically impossible to discuss Churchill Falls (Upper or Lower) without dragging in the entire kitchen sink of nationalist blather, from über-optimism to Harper to separatism and, curiously, back to George Baker. DW tries to declare that he's over Harper, who is now an official untermensch (DW says, with a straight face, that he doesn't have time for enemies), and he calls Curious George a great guy who doesn't really mean what he says (now how would be know that?).
As I've said before, the road to Newfoundland nationalism runs straight through Churchill Falls. To quote its namesake, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Friday, April 3, 2009
Health Scare
In just one month, we've gone through at least six discrete news cycles: the release of the Cameron Report and calls for Wiseman to resign; Curious George Baker's circus and its aftermath; the tragedy of the helicopter crash; the bold and brilliant Throne Speech and budget; the debate and non-celebration of 60 years in Confederation; and now the Hydro announcement.
That's more than one news cycle per week (not counting the ongoing negotiations between Dangovt and the nurses union), each with multiple official press releases, media scrums, call-in show prattle, and associated conspiracies.
Throughout all of this, the crises in health care continue. As I mentioned in a previous post, CBC has done the best job of any news agency in reporting the different facets of the crisis:http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/busyness_31.html
Their coverage has been thorough and balanced. But with the relentless series of VODW Events of the Day, the multiple crises in health care are getting lost in the feverish cycles of ranting & roaring. And there is a danger that the intense focus on the Cameron Inquiry and its aftermath will produce a "Cameron Effect," whereby the wide range of problems in health care will get reduced to only cancer treatment.
While today's dramatic headline in the Tely is Power to the People, it's worth pausing to consider the other stories that continue to go unresolved. I have no doubt that these problems stem from many years of funding cuts, neglect, and mismanagement; however, DW has been in power for six years and, despite what cabinent members shout during Question Period, not everything in the entire universe can be blamed on Roger Grimes.
So if you're looking for a break from the latest news cycle, check out this CBC series:
File 1:File Name: Story 05 - Locums.wmvFile Size: 14 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/sdo1df
File 2:File Name: Story 04 - Arthritis.wmvFile Size: 12 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/1ddik9
File 3:File Name: Story 03 - Rural GIM.wmvFile Size: 36 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/bk7wmp
File 4:File Name: Story 02 - Wait Times.wmvFile Size: 43 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/xhcc9w
File 5:File Name: Story 01 - ID.wmvFile Size: 37 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/skoyt6
As with most aspects of governance, money is at the root of many of these problems, but it's more complicated than that. For example, the imbalances between how the Department of Health deals with some specialists, such as oncologists, and other physicians continues to generate serious, and yet avoidable, difficulties for everyone involved. Now that there is a media blackout of the negotiations between the nurses union and the government, perhaps focus can shift back to the NLMA -- that is, until the next big energy announcement.
It seems that provincial politics has devolved into a type of Announcement Government. Public discourse revolves around the latest bold and brilliant achievement, as Dangovt saturates the media with press releases, media scrums, and call-in blather.
This saturation campaign is highly selective: while some official events get cooked and re-cooked, with the public eating leftovers sometimes for weeks, other issues become non-events, exiled to media Siberia. Whereas NALCO can't seem to get out of the news, the NLMA can't get into it. Whereas the MUN mess and the 60th anniversary were sent to the PR gulag, the apparently modest agreement announced yesterday is absolutely historic.
A lot of things bothered me about the Speech from the Throne and the budget. It wasn't just the prattle and the bombast; it wasn't just Kennedy citing CRAPolls as justification for not defending his budget; and it wasn't just the contempt they showed the nurses union.
No, in the end, what was the most repugnant was their insistence on speaking for everyone in NL, even you. It was their insistence that you must be optimistic about this government. It was their insistence that this optimism be the most optimistic in the western world.
This propaganda does what all propaganda does: it excites some people, turns off others, and feeds the anger of those who feel slighted. If you listen to the physicians in the CBC series, it becomes readily apparent that it's not all about funding; it's about the fact that they feel that no one in the government is genuinely listening to them. But listening is extremely difficult in a world of Optimistic Correctness: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/optimistic-correctness.html
That's more than one news cycle per week (not counting the ongoing negotiations between Dangovt and the nurses union), each with multiple official press releases, media scrums, call-in show prattle, and associated conspiracies.
Throughout all of this, the crises in health care continue. As I mentioned in a previous post, CBC has done the best job of any news agency in reporting the different facets of the crisis:http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/busyness_31.html
Their coverage has been thorough and balanced. But with the relentless series of VODW Events of the Day, the multiple crises in health care are getting lost in the feverish cycles of ranting & roaring. And there is a danger that the intense focus on the Cameron Inquiry and its aftermath will produce a "Cameron Effect," whereby the wide range of problems in health care will get reduced to only cancer treatment.
While today's dramatic headline in the Tely is Power to the People, it's worth pausing to consider the other stories that continue to go unresolved. I have no doubt that these problems stem from many years of funding cuts, neglect, and mismanagement; however, DW has been in power for six years and, despite what cabinent members shout during Question Period, not everything in the entire universe can be blamed on Roger Grimes.
So if you're looking for a break from the latest news cycle, check out this CBC series:
File 1:File Name: Story 05 - Locums.wmvFile Size: 14 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/sdo1df
File 2:File Name: Story 04 - Arthritis.wmvFile Size: 12 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/1ddik9
File 3:File Name: Story 03 - Rural GIM.wmvFile Size: 36 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/bk7wmp
File 4:File Name: Story 02 - Wait Times.wmvFile Size: 43 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/xhcc9w
File 5:File Name: Story 01 - ID.wmvFile Size: 37 MBDownload Link: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/skoyt6
As with most aspects of governance, money is at the root of many of these problems, but it's more complicated than that. For example, the imbalances between how the Department of Health deals with some specialists, such as oncologists, and other physicians continues to generate serious, and yet avoidable, difficulties for everyone involved. Now that there is a media blackout of the negotiations between the nurses union and the government, perhaps focus can shift back to the NLMA -- that is, until the next big energy announcement.
It seems that provincial politics has devolved into a type of Announcement Government. Public discourse revolves around the latest bold and brilliant achievement, as Dangovt saturates the media with press releases, media scrums, and call-in blather.
This saturation campaign is highly selective: while some official events get cooked and re-cooked, with the public eating leftovers sometimes for weeks, other issues become non-events, exiled to media Siberia. Whereas NALCO can't seem to get out of the news, the NLMA can't get into it. Whereas the MUN mess and the 60th anniversary were sent to the PR gulag, the apparently modest agreement announced yesterday is absolutely historic.
A lot of things bothered me about the Speech from the Throne and the budget. It wasn't just the prattle and the bombast; it wasn't just Kennedy citing CRAPolls as justification for not defending his budget; and it wasn't just the contempt they showed the nurses union.
No, in the end, what was the most repugnant was their insistence on speaking for everyone in NL, even you. It was their insistence that you must be optimistic about this government. It was their insistence that this optimism be the most optimistic in the western world.
This propaganda does what all propaganda does: it excites some people, turns off others, and feeds the anger of those who feel slighted. If you listen to the physicians in the CBC series, it becomes readily apparent that it's not all about funding; it's about the fact that they feel that no one in the government is genuinely listening to them. But listening is extremely difficult in a world of Optimistic Correctness: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/optimistic-correctness.html
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Found in Translation
Here is the link to the Radio-Canada story on today's hydro announcement:
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlantique/2009/04/02/003-TNL-hydroelectricite_n.shtml
The story mentions not only the historic grievance in NL and the symbolic value of today's announcement for DW, but also the pending development of the Lower Churchill and the expansion of new transmission lines to transport that energy to the US. Unless I missed something, the story makes no mention of the Romaine River project, which is curious.
Here is the Google translation. It's pretty accurate, though it produced some amusing pronouns:
An historic agreement (Source: Radio-Canada). The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced an agreement with Quebec to move to the United States of electricity on the Churchill River. For the first time in its history, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, under an agreement with Quebec, carries electricity to the North American markets. Premier Danny Williams said that his province sells electricity in the United States since Wednesday. The energy comes from hydroelectric plants on the Churchill River in Labrador.
Premier Williams believes that the agreement for his province is a step towards prosperity. He is a historic moment for the entire population of Newfoundland and Labrador. The government explained that the Williams energy company of Newfoundland and Labrador, through its subsidiary, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, has concluded an agreement with Hydro-Quebec for the transmission of electricity up at the U.S. border. The electricity is then sold on the Canadian side to the company Emera Energy. The latter then sells electricity in Canada and the United States.
The priority of the energy company of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to supply electricity in the province. Only the excess energy is sold outside the province. Since 1969, Quebec enjoys an agreement to use the electricity generated by the top Churchill in Labrador. Quebec will benefit from this agreement until 2041. Until now, the top Churchill reported 19 billion dollars in Quebec, but only 1 billion dollars in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Even today, Premier Danny Williams said that the 1969 agreement is unfair. Meanwhile in 2041, when Newfoundland and Labrador may negotiate a new agreement, the province tries to make the most of its hydropower. Since 1998, Newfoundland and Labrador can use 300 megawatts produced at the top Churchill. It can now get electricity from the province by paying a right of passage. She started to export 130 megawatts in the New York area. This small production may relate to Newfoundland and Labrador $ 40 million to 80 million per year.
For Premier Williams, the sale also has a symbolic value because his province was finally able, despite the obstacles, to sell electricity to its neighbors. Newfoundland and Labrador will soon undertake a hydroelectric megaproject on the lower Churchill. Le ministre des Ressources naturelles du Québec, Claude Béchard, acknowledges that it will build new lines in Quebec to deliver that electricity to the United States, and it is best to cooperate with the Atlantic province.
"For us, it's a win-win situation with Newfoundland," said Minister Claude Béchard. For Newfoundland and Labrador, it will be a step toward self-sufficiency.
Radio-Canada.ca avec Presse canadienne Radio-Canada.ca avec Presse canadienne
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlantique/2009/04/02/003-TNL-hydroelectricite_n.shtml
The story mentions not only the historic grievance in NL and the symbolic value of today's announcement for DW, but also the pending development of the Lower Churchill and the expansion of new transmission lines to transport that energy to the US. Unless I missed something, the story makes no mention of the Romaine River project, which is curious.
Here is the Google translation. It's pretty accurate, though it produced some amusing pronouns:
An historic agreement (Source: Radio-Canada). The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced an agreement with Quebec to move to the United States of electricity on the Churchill River. For the first time in its history, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, under an agreement with Quebec, carries electricity to the North American markets. Premier Danny Williams said that his province sells electricity in the United States since Wednesday. The energy comes from hydroelectric plants on the Churchill River in Labrador.
Premier Williams believes that the agreement for his province is a step towards prosperity. He is a historic moment for the entire population of Newfoundland and Labrador. The government explained that the Williams energy company of Newfoundland and Labrador, through its subsidiary, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, has concluded an agreement with Hydro-Quebec for the transmission of electricity up at the U.S. border. The electricity is then sold on the Canadian side to the company Emera Energy. The latter then sells electricity in Canada and the United States.
The priority of the energy company of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to supply electricity in the province. Only the excess energy is sold outside the province. Since 1969, Quebec enjoys an agreement to use the electricity generated by the top Churchill in Labrador. Quebec will benefit from this agreement until 2041. Until now, the top Churchill reported 19 billion dollars in Quebec, but only 1 billion dollars in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Even today, Premier Danny Williams said that the 1969 agreement is unfair. Meanwhile in 2041, when Newfoundland and Labrador may negotiate a new agreement, the province tries to make the most of its hydropower. Since 1998, Newfoundland and Labrador can use 300 megawatts produced at the top Churchill. It can now get electricity from the province by paying a right of passage. She started to export 130 megawatts in the New York area. This small production may relate to Newfoundland and Labrador $ 40 million to 80 million per year.
For Premier Williams, the sale also has a symbolic value because his province was finally able, despite the obstacles, to sell electricity to its neighbors. Newfoundland and Labrador will soon undertake a hydroelectric megaproject on the lower Churchill. Le ministre des Ressources naturelles du Québec, Claude Béchard, acknowledges that it will build new lines in Quebec to deliver that electricity to the United States, and it is best to cooperate with the Atlantic province.
"For us, it's a win-win situation with Newfoundland," said Minister Claude Béchard. For Newfoundland and Labrador, it will be a step toward self-sufficiency.
Radio-Canada.ca avec Presse canadienne Radio-Canada.ca avec Presse canadienne
The Tunnel That Never Was
Looks like the Dunnel may never get completed after all. It also looks like the NALCO-Gros Morne transmission line controversy and the Romaine non-story story were likely secret black-ops designed to give Quebec the false sense that something was up and to keep the media off the scent.
Oh well, I hope they use humane methods to kill off the bioengineered giant crabs imported from the US: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/american-technology-to-build-nl-tunnel.html
The celebration hyperbole will likely be historic. Health Canada is recommending that those in the blast zone wear protective ear plugs. Lost in the frenzy will be the other side of the negotiations. If it's a historic victory for DW, is it a historic loss for Quebec? It is interesting, for example, to note that the Globe's headline is "Quebec signs historic power deal:" http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090402.wpower0402/BNStory/National/home
Here's an extract from the Globe's story:
"Quebec's Minister of Natural Resources, Claude Béchard, explained that Newfoundland and Labrador have finally come to the realization that it cannot seek federal funding to build a costly transmission line to bypass Quebec.
Quebec argued that if Newfoundland and Labrador wants to develop the Lower Churchill project they will need to play by the rules and use Quebec's transmission lines. But he said that once Quebec's 1,550-megawatt La Romaine project – to be built at a cost of $6-billion – is completed, there may not be room for Newfoundland and Labrador to export power on Hydro-Quebec's transmission lines.
Building another transmission line would be necessary and also very costly, ranging in the billions of dollars. But Mr. Béchard said nothing was excluded.
'Everything is possible as long as everyone plays by the rules of the game. Quebec is well positioned to become the next Alberta and respond to U.S. President Barack Obama's call for greener energy from the North. We don't want to stop others to get into the market. … As for other projects, our door is always open,' Mr. Béchard said."
As for MOU's, proposed deals, ongoing negotiations, binding agreements, and legal contracts, there is going to be so much information and disinformation sloshing around for the next week that it will take quite a while before we know what really happened today.
As for the details of the story, I'll leave it to the experts to parse the fine print. As for the political spectacle, I'll borrow a quote from DW's speech last September: you ain't seen nothing yet.
For the Romaine non-story story, see:
http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/02/non-story-story-ii.html
http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/02/non-story-story.html
Geoff Meeker Update:
I forgot to re-check the Globe story. As Geoff Meeker notes in his incisive analysis of the press coverage, the story's headline has been changed to "Newfoundland touts historic hydro deal with Quebec." Here's the link: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=239030&sc=88
He's right about the Tely doing a better job than CBC on this story (though I still think CBC's coverage of health issues is better than anyone else's); but the Tely's excited Power to the People headline was a poor match for the actual story, despite the alliteration.
Oh well, I hope they use humane methods to kill off the bioengineered giant crabs imported from the US: http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/american-technology-to-build-nl-tunnel.html
The celebration hyperbole will likely be historic. Health Canada is recommending that those in the blast zone wear protective ear plugs. Lost in the frenzy will be the other side of the negotiations. If it's a historic victory for DW, is it a historic loss for Quebec? It is interesting, for example, to note that the Globe's headline is "Quebec signs historic power deal:" http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090402.wpower0402/BNStory/National/home
Here's an extract from the Globe's story:
"Quebec's Minister of Natural Resources, Claude Béchard, explained that Newfoundland and Labrador have finally come to the realization that it cannot seek federal funding to build a costly transmission line to bypass Quebec.
Quebec argued that if Newfoundland and Labrador wants to develop the Lower Churchill project they will need to play by the rules and use Quebec's transmission lines. But he said that once Quebec's 1,550-megawatt La Romaine project – to be built at a cost of $6-billion – is completed, there may not be room for Newfoundland and Labrador to export power on Hydro-Quebec's transmission lines.
Building another transmission line would be necessary and also very costly, ranging in the billions of dollars. But Mr. Béchard said nothing was excluded.
'Everything is possible as long as everyone plays by the rules of the game. Quebec is well positioned to become the next Alberta and respond to U.S. President Barack Obama's call for greener energy from the North. We don't want to stop others to get into the market. … As for other projects, our door is always open,' Mr. Béchard said."
As for MOU's, proposed deals, ongoing negotiations, binding agreements, and legal contracts, there is going to be so much information and disinformation sloshing around for the next week that it will take quite a while before we know what really happened today.
As for the details of the story, I'll leave it to the experts to parse the fine print. As for the political spectacle, I'll borrow a quote from DW's speech last September: you ain't seen nothing yet.
For the Romaine non-story story, see:
http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/02/non-story-story-ii.html
http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/02/non-story-story.html
Geoff Meeker Update:
I forgot to re-check the Globe story. As Geoff Meeker notes in his incisive analysis of the press coverage, the story's headline has been changed to "Newfoundland touts historic hydro deal with Quebec." Here's the link: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=239030&sc=88
He's right about the Tely doing a better job than CBC on this story (though I still think CBC's coverage of health issues is better than anyone else's); but the Tely's excited Power to the People headline was a poor match for the actual story, despite the alliteration.
Dunderisms
A sampling of yesterday's Dunderisms, as reported in Hansard:
1) "All I can say is we should all give thanks that the Leader of the Opposition is not a general in some war, because she would be posting regularly when her next surprise attack is coming."
2) "Mr. Speaker, there is no trouble to know that Roger has been around for the last couple of weeks. The only problem is, Mr. Speaker, it is great when they ask questions but it is just too bad that they waited seven years to do so."
3) "Mr. Speaker, I know the Leader of the Opposition spends an awful lot of time listening to the radio - that is where they get most of their questions for Question Period - but she missed an exciting announcement again from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro yesterday when they reduced again the sulphur content of the fuel that is being used at Hydro."
4) "Now, Mr. Speaker, this energy plan has been lauded right throughout this country and through the world as a visionary statement, and lays down very clearly a plan for energy development for the next forty, fifty years, Mr. Speaker. I would suggest that the Leader of the Opposition spend a little bit more time with it and get some feedback from people outside of the Province, and outside of her own office."
5) "We share this information on a regular basis. It is important to us that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador know what we are doing. Not like the last deal, Mr. Speaker, not like the last deal that these people tried to negotiate back in 2002. We have developed the expertise within Nalcor and within Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to be able to facilitate this kind of planning and to make these kinds of commercial arrangements."
6) "This is not all being done from the Premier’s Office like it was done under Premier Grimes [sic] Administration, Mr. Speaker."
7) "It runs right across the full membership of the Opposition. They never let the facts get in the way of a good story."
Blowing that much hot air must be a hard afternoon's work. Seven gratuitous insults hurled at the Opposition in just one question period, plus three irrelevant references to an administration that held power six years ago.
Who knew that Roger Grimes still loomed so large in the minds of such masterfully optimistic cabinet ministers? Who knew that a decimated Opposition with so few members could get a bold and brilliant cabinet minister so agitated and spiteful?
No wonder DW wanted a clean sweep in the last election. Here's the link to Hansard:
http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-01.htm
NOT(X) = X Update:
http://labradore.blogspot.com/2009/04/dundredale-denies-deed-done.html
1) "All I can say is we should all give thanks that the Leader of the Opposition is not a general in some war, because she would be posting regularly when her next surprise attack is coming."
2) "Mr. Speaker, there is no trouble to know that Roger has been around for the last couple of weeks. The only problem is, Mr. Speaker, it is great when they ask questions but it is just too bad that they waited seven years to do so."
3) "Mr. Speaker, I know the Leader of the Opposition spends an awful lot of time listening to the radio - that is where they get most of their questions for Question Period - but she missed an exciting announcement again from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro yesterday when they reduced again the sulphur content of the fuel that is being used at Hydro."
4) "Now, Mr. Speaker, this energy plan has been lauded right throughout this country and through the world as a visionary statement, and lays down very clearly a plan for energy development for the next forty, fifty years, Mr. Speaker. I would suggest that the Leader of the Opposition spend a little bit more time with it and get some feedback from people outside of the Province, and outside of her own office."
5) "We share this information on a regular basis. It is important to us that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador know what we are doing. Not like the last deal, Mr. Speaker, not like the last deal that these people tried to negotiate back in 2002. We have developed the expertise within Nalcor and within Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to be able to facilitate this kind of planning and to make these kinds of commercial arrangements."
6) "This is not all being done from the Premier’s Office like it was done under Premier Grimes [sic] Administration, Mr. Speaker."
7) "It runs right across the full membership of the Opposition. They never let the facts get in the way of a good story."
Blowing that much hot air must be a hard afternoon's work. Seven gratuitous insults hurled at the Opposition in just one question period, plus three irrelevant references to an administration that held power six years ago.
Who knew that Roger Grimes still loomed so large in the minds of such masterfully optimistic cabinet ministers? Who knew that a decimated Opposition with so few members could get a bold and brilliant cabinet minister so agitated and spiteful?
No wonder DW wanted a clean sweep in the last election. Here's the link to Hansard:
http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/hansard/ga46session2/09-04-01.htm
NOT(X) = X Update:
http://labradore.blogspot.com/2009/04/dundredale-denies-deed-done.html
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Trivia Pursuit
In the spirit of April Fools, Orwellian News is offering a Trivia Challenge. Email your answers to orwellianspin@gmail.com.
The answer key is given at the bottom of the page. Until we get our provincial government grant, all we can offer the winner is an official email from Winston Smith certified with a happy face.
1. Who did Williams not quote directly in his September 2008 speech to the Board of Trade, in which he said Harper was a fraud?
A) Katherine Hepburn
B) Benjamin Disraeli
C) Stephen Harper
D) Bachman Turner Overdrive
E) The federal Natural Resources Minister
F) The Tory candidate for St. John's East
2. What have Williams and/or members of his cabinet not claimed to be masters of?
A) House
B) Domain
C) Destiny
D) Government
3. What did Williams say to the Telegram in 2007?
A) We're really the centre of Atlantic Canada
C) We're really the centre of Canada
D) We're really the centre of North America
E) We're really the centre of the planet
F) We’re really the centre of the universe
4. In a media scrum in February 2009, Williams said "ya know" how many times?
A) 7
B) 55
C) 18
D) 10
E) 37
F) 21
5. In his post-budget news conference in March 2009, Jerome Kennedy said that he did not need to convince the NL public because:
A) He knew in his heart that he was pursuing the right course of action
B) Williams told him so
C) The budget offered a sober, nonpartisan economic projection
D) Poll numbers
E) He carefully took the Opposition's views into account
F) He has always treated the nurses union with deep respect
6. Who used the word "conspiracy" when talking about the Cameron Report?
A) Blogger
B) Liberal Opposition
C) Danny Williams
D) Cancer Patient
E) Journalist
F) Justice Cameron
7. What did Joan Burke say when asked about the situation at MUN in February 2009?
A) I'm attempting to mitigate the effects of my erroneous decisions
B) And you know, it's certainly a lot of people employed there at the university, and the leadership, I think, certainly see us through
C) I made a mistake in my handling of the presidential appointment process, and I'm sorry
D) I did nothing wrong
8. The proposed transmission line and tunnel linking Labrador with Newfoundland will be built using technology from which country?
A) Iceland
B) Ireland
C) Mexico
D) Canada
E) United States
9. True or False? Danny Williams has stated publicly, “You know what I like the most is Barack Obama is listening to what we're doing here."
10. In the Throne Speech, the Williams government made which claim?
A) Newfoundlanders are worried about their future during this time of global recession
B) Newfoundlanders are realistic and skeptical about grandiose rhetoric
C) Nefoundlanders don't like to give their premiers a blank cheque
D) Newfoundlanders are more optimistic than any other region in the western world
E) Newfoundlanders are not as supportive of the government as the polls indicate
11. What response did Williams get when he made the sick joke, "Instead of making money, I'm just turning grey and trying to stay away from getting sick because I'll have to face the doctors and the nurses if I end up going to hospital"?
A) Silence
B) Boos
C) Quiet applause
D) Loud applause
E) Someone in the audience shouted back: "that's an inappropriate thing to say!"
12. What happened to the Federal Tories in the space of a few weeks this winter?
A) Their popular support dipped
B) The media ate them for lunch
C) The Science Minister was forced to say he believes in evolution
D) The Industry Minister was forced to say that his research and development includes the humanities
E) All of the above
13. What secret weapon is the Harper regime developing?
A) Mind-control device
B) Giant snowball
C) Media pepper-spray
D) AT-AT Election Walkers
E) Stink bomb
14. Which lawn weed has infested St. John's?
A) Digitaria cruciata
B) Gomphus clavatus
C) Trifolium repens
D) Ranunculus sceleratus
E) Taraxacum officinale
F) All of the above
Below is the answer key. If you'd like to submit a question for the next edition of Orwellian Trivia Pursuit, please email orwellianspin@gmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Answer C. http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/speeches/2008/Premier_Board_of_Trade_September_10.htm
2. Answer D. If you can find an instance where they claimed to be masters of government, email me.
3. Answer F. http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=93275&sc=79
4. Answer B. http://bondpapers.blogspot.com/2009/02/verbal-tics-3.html
5. Answer D. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-cra-buys.html
6. Answer C. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/conspiracy-theories.html
7. Answer B. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/02/mun-follies-ii.html
8. Answer E. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/american-technology-to-build-nl-tunnel.html
9. True. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081209.wwilliams1209/BNStory/politics/home
10. Answer D. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/optimistic-correctness.html
11. Answer D. http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=217282&sc=82
12. Answer E. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/he-blinded-me-with-science.html
13. Answer D. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/national-non-news-news.html
14. Answer F. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/political-biology.html
The answer key is given at the bottom of the page. Until we get our provincial government grant, all we can offer the winner is an official email from Winston Smith certified with a happy face.
1. Who did Williams not quote directly in his September 2008 speech to the Board of Trade, in which he said Harper was a fraud?
A) Katherine Hepburn
B) Benjamin Disraeli
C) Stephen Harper
D) Bachman Turner Overdrive
E) The federal Natural Resources Minister
F) The Tory candidate for St. John's East
2. What have Williams and/or members of his cabinet not claimed to be masters of?
A) House
B) Domain
C) Destiny
D) Government
3. What did Williams say to the Telegram in 2007?
A) We're really the centre of Atlantic Canada
C) We're really the centre of Canada
D) We're really the centre of North America
E) We're really the centre of the planet
F) We’re really the centre of the universe
4. In a media scrum in February 2009, Williams said "ya know" how many times?
A) 7
B) 55
C) 18
D) 10
E) 37
F) 21
5. In his post-budget news conference in March 2009, Jerome Kennedy said that he did not need to convince the NL public because:
A) He knew in his heart that he was pursuing the right course of action
B) Williams told him so
C) The budget offered a sober, nonpartisan economic projection
D) Poll numbers
E) He carefully took the Opposition's views into account
F) He has always treated the nurses union with deep respect
6. Who used the word "conspiracy" when talking about the Cameron Report?
A) Blogger
B) Liberal Opposition
C) Danny Williams
D) Cancer Patient
E) Journalist
F) Justice Cameron
7. What did Joan Burke say when asked about the situation at MUN in February 2009?
A) I'm attempting to mitigate the effects of my erroneous decisions
B) And you know, it's certainly a lot of people employed there at the university, and the leadership, I think, certainly see us through
C) I made a mistake in my handling of the presidential appointment process, and I'm sorry
D) I did nothing wrong
8. The proposed transmission line and tunnel linking Labrador with Newfoundland will be built using technology from which country?
A) Iceland
B) Ireland
C) Mexico
D) Canada
E) United States
9. True or False? Danny Williams has stated publicly, “You know what I like the most is Barack Obama is listening to what we're doing here."
10. In the Throne Speech, the Williams government made which claim?
A) Newfoundlanders are worried about their future during this time of global recession
B) Newfoundlanders are realistic and skeptical about grandiose rhetoric
C) Nefoundlanders don't like to give their premiers a blank cheque
D) Newfoundlanders are more optimistic than any other region in the western world
E) Newfoundlanders are not as supportive of the government as the polls indicate
11. What response did Williams get when he made the sick joke, "Instead of making money, I'm just turning grey and trying to stay away from getting sick because I'll have to face the doctors and the nurses if I end up going to hospital"?
A) Silence
B) Boos
C) Quiet applause
D) Loud applause
E) Someone in the audience shouted back: "that's an inappropriate thing to say!"
12. What happened to the Federal Tories in the space of a few weeks this winter?
A) Their popular support dipped
B) The media ate them for lunch
C) The Science Minister was forced to say he believes in evolution
D) The Industry Minister was forced to say that his research and development includes the humanities
E) All of the above
13. What secret weapon is the Harper regime developing?
A) Mind-control device
B) Giant snowball
C) Media pepper-spray
D) AT-AT Election Walkers
E) Stink bomb
14. Which lawn weed has infested St. John's?
A) Digitaria cruciata
B) Gomphus clavatus
C) Trifolium repens
D) Ranunculus sceleratus
E) Taraxacum officinale
F) All of the above
Below is the answer key. If you'd like to submit a question for the next edition of Orwellian Trivia Pursuit, please email orwellianspin@gmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Answer C. http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/speeches/2008/Premier_Board_of_Trade_September_10.htm
2. Answer D. If you can find an instance where they claimed to be masters of government, email me.
3. Answer F. http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=93275&sc=79
4. Answer B. http://bondpapers.blogspot.com/2009/02/verbal-tics-3.html
5. Answer D. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-cra-buys.html
6. Answer C. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/conspiracy-theories.html
7. Answer B. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/02/mun-follies-ii.html
8. Answer E. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/american-technology-to-build-nl-tunnel.html
9. True. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081209.wwilliams1209/BNStory/politics/home
10. Answer D. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/optimistic-correctness.html
11. Answer D. http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=217282&sc=82
12. Answer E. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/he-blinded-me-with-science.html
13. Answer D. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/national-non-news-news.html
14. Answer F. http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com/2009/03/political-biology.html
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