Deflated but Unbroken, Dwight Ball Finally Bounces
With the premier out of the picture, it is harder to hide the hungry abyss at the heart of Newfoundland and Labrador politics.
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The Dwight Ball Exit Interview
In his own words, Dwight Ball reflects on his resignation, achievements, and legacy as the 13th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Indy Inks (18 February 2020)
And it seems to me, you ran the place like a candle in the wind… and that candle’s burned out long before the legend ever will…
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Premier Ball Wearing Out the Emperor’s New Clothes
Well, there it was. The big announcement. The big rate mitigation plan. The rescue plan to save us all from Muskrat Falls, the hydro megaproject that was sold as the province’s future and instead has morphed into the self-destruct button. Ever since they were elected, it seems, the Liberals have been announcing plans to save us from Muskrat Falls. Or more properly speaking, they’ve been announcing plans to come up with plans to save us from Muskrat Falls. Or rather, plans to make plans to come up with plans to save us from Muskrat Falls. Well, you get the idea. Even if you don’t get the plan. (But it’s the Progressive Conservatives’ fault, of course! Have they mentioned that yet?) But this was supposed to be it—the big one. The one we’ve all been waiting for. And what did it turn out to be? You guessed it. They’ve welcomed the…
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Milestone or Millstone?: Unpacking the Premier’s “Plan”
Several days after the premier’s “significant announcement,” neither the plan—or Dwight Ball’s political future—is clear.
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The Power of Positive Thinking: Gordon McIntosh Edition
It’s hard to tell what Newfoundland and Labrador’s leaders are thinking these days. So here’s some speculative satire.
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“Pulling on the Same Oar”: Meet Labrador’s Unlikely Alliance
Political shakeups in the Big Land sent Lela Evans & Jordan Brown to the House of Assembly. Now they’re working across party lines to shine light on Labrador.
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Dwight Ball is Untouchable
If Dwight Ball has learned anything amid all the turmoil and unrest of his first mandate, it’s that it can’t touch him. He just needs to ride it out.
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Indy Inks (4 December 2019)
Newfoundland’s Very Good Boy is having a few bad days in the House of Assembly this week.
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There are No Captains at the Wheel
This election is a referendum on Newfoundland and Labrador’s political class, and the status quo is losing. All we’re missing is a way to vote “no.”
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The Phony War
Well, the provincial election is finally here. After months of rumours and weeks of high-volume spending announcements, Premier Dwight Ball this week called a snap election for 16 May 2019. If your democratic morale is low, fear not—this will all be mercifully over by May Two-Four, so we’ll be able to flee into the woods and get drunk to process what’s happening. Lord knows it will be necessary. To be honest, this barely even feels real. The whole campaign is already a giant fever dream. Twirling Towards the Future Even though everything is happening according to their schedule, it’s hard to avoid the impression that the Liberals are flying through this by the seat of their pants. They spent the last month making major funding announcements obviously meant to shock and awe the electorate into submission. We got the $2.5 billion Hibernia Dividend; we got the elimination of tax on…
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Confederation Chic
Every history, so they say, is a history of the present. The past is brutally unchanging, but what flares up through its wreckage to the observer hinges on the moment they turn to look back. (“The way to see,” according to one French mystic, “is to not always be looking.”) This is especially true in the case of historical ruptures that never quite get stitched up, or those regularly reopened under political strain. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Confederation with Canada in 1949 certainly fits this bill. Confederation was legendary in its own time, thanks to both the propagandist in the Premier’s chair and the romantic reaction he generated. As it recedes from living memory its mythic stature will only grow. You need only see Joe Smallwood, ‘Last Father of Confederation’, decked out in a Newfie Republican tricolour bowtie to realize we regard our past through a thickening stained-glass windowpane. It’s been…
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Food for Thought about Charity
Don’t let philanthropy, government or otherwise, work as a silencer, even if our media opts for cheerleading the charity game instead of asking the hard questions.
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“We feel powerless and terrible”: Inuit artist galvanized by Muskrat Falls
Heather Campbell’s “Methylmercury” is now part of the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s contemporary Inuit art collection. The Rigolet-born artist is also selling prints to raise money for the Labrador Land Protectors.
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Make Muskrat Inquiry right, say critics
An inquiry must include a forensic audit of Nalcor Energy, many argue.
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Muskrat Falls Inquiry doomed before it starts?
An Inquiry is too important to be dragged into partisan bickering.
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“We are not a bunch of criminals, we’re people trying to protect our land”
Elders, land protectors speak out from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary.
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Elders jailed after refusing to stay away from Muskrat Falls
“We don’t understand why we’re being treated like terrorists,” says land protector.
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Government and industry cash-for-access dates are wrong
And members of the public are understandably upset.
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Major questions on SNC-Lavalin report remain unanswered
Former premier and natural resources minister Tom Marshall says Muskrat Falls report “would have rung all kinds of alarms.”
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