Cheers: to irony. MHA Tom Osborne leaves the provincial Tory party, saying he’s tired of being muzzled and told what to say on issues. In response to his departure, CBC Radio does a story interviewing three different Tories, who miraculously find the exact same language to trash Osborne, saying he wasn’t “engaged” in the PC caucus (one changes the message enough to say Osborne was “disengaged” from the caucus). If nothing else, it kind of proves that someone else is in the back room, writing their lines for them and pulling the strings needed to make their mouths move. Oh well: if you elect a lapdog, you shouldn’t be surprised when you see that it’s been trained to heel.
Jeers: to geography. Tropical storm Leslie blows into Newfoundland, and both the National Post and the Globe and Mail have stories up quickly on their websites with the headlines “Leslie pounds Newfoundland” and photos of the storm — from Truro, N.S. Truro, Trepassey, potato, po-tat-o. Those pesky little Atlantic provinces — they’re really all interchangeable anyway.
Jeers: to pesky timetables. Here’s part of a Friday news release from the provincial government: “The Sir Robert Bond Bridge is the only highway crossing of the Exploits River. It is a critical link on the Trans-Canada Highway, and a vital part of the national and provincial transportation network. The bridge, which underwent repairs in 2011, has an estimated remaining life span of five years. Construction of the new bridge is expected to begin this fall and be completed during the summer of 2015.” OK, so three years — and $22 million — to replace a highway bridge. Then again, the province announced in 2010 the Kenmount Road overpass would be rebuilt and reopened by the late summer/fall of 2011, and the work there continues. All of which makes you look at the ambitious plan to build a massive hydro dam in Labrador, on time and on budget, and wonder if you can’t seem to build a highway bridge in under two years …
Cheers: to details. Newfoundland Power’s capital plan — a plan that sees the utility spending $80,788,000 on renovations and upgrades in 2013 — includes the utility wanting to refurbish eight washrooms at its Kenmount Road building: four of the washrooms haven’t been renovated in 33 years, the other four, in 44 years. The consumer advocate is battling the renovations, saying the changes are cosmetic. Nice to see the advocate is on his toes and ready to fight the good fight over the planned $134,000 expenditure, but really: a 44-year-old bathroom is pretty darned old. With Newfoundland Power releasing Friday that it is looking for a 7.2 per cent increase for residential customers, there must be better battles to fight.
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down Johnny, down....get off my lap you lap-dog lackey.