The concern,
now, is that her departure has deflected blame that should be accorded her
uninspired cabinet, particularly the two most senior cabinet ministers, Tom
Marshall (now Premier) and the recently retired Jerome Kennedy.
The truth is
that not just the leader, but the whole Government, suffered a malady whose
symptoms span spinelessness and unbridled pigheadedness.
An isolated electorate,
mad as hell, understands it has the last laugh. They will have their say in a year’s time; but
if this Government wishes to survive the ignominy of history’s dustbin, it will
acknowledge that it is ship-wrecked. It
ought to claim salvage while there is still something to save.
The
electorate is not laughing, at least not now.
It knows that the Dunderdale Government has unleashed an agenda whose
worst parts may be irreversible.
Admittedly, many do not recognize the Muskrat Falls Project as containing huge risk. But many of these same people claim it was a just problem of perception that brought the Premier down.
Admittedly, many do not recognize the Muskrat Falls Project as containing huge risk. But many of these same people claim it was a just problem of perception that brought the Premier down.
At 20% in
the Polls, it might occur to some Ministers that the other 80% of voters were
turned off well before Nalcor’s Black-Out 2014. Some are appalled by the huge budgetary
deficits in a time of prosperity, many by Bill 29, still others by the failure
to deal with the mounting pension crises, the politicisation of Nalcor and the
Government’s endeavour to hold its own ‘independent’ inquiry into the power
fiasco.
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Related Article: A BATTERED P.C. PARTY MUST CHANGE (PART I)
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Every member
of Cabinet supported these policies.
The new
Leader will have a year to restore public confidence; the work needs to begin
now.
A
beleaguered public will not be an easy sell.
Some
recognition of the current state of affairs was elicited from Cabinet Ministers
Susan Sullivan and Kevin O’Brien on CBC last Friday. Yet, their admission that the Government’s communications
has been poor, hardly registers on the spectral analysis of entrenched public
opinion.
The public demands far more
revealing confessions of public policy failures. It seeks an acknowledgement of guilt; it wants
immediate change.
Unfortunately
the new temporary Premier, Tom Marshall, exemplifies the Government’s state of
denial. What does he say after taking
the Oath of Office: “If we’re doing something wrong and need to do better tell
us." We have been telling you for
more than two years, Sir. You have not
been listening.
Let’s be jack-blunt.
How is it
possible that an entire Cabinet and most of the backbench, for a period of 27
months, could outwardly support or quietly play along as the Premier pursued a
ruinous agenda?
Though Finance
Minister Jerome Kennedy quit, even he feigned support for the Premier and the
Muskrat Falls initiative as he went through the door.
None were
prepared to put their Cabinet positions on the line or go public as a warning
signal that parts of the Government’s program had not passed scrutiny, needed
further assessment or should not proceed at all.
In a Cabinet
of 15 Ministers, not a single person raised a hand to publicly signify a need
for more sober judgment.
Now, as a
shallow media engages in the prattle of speculation, we too, are expected to
play along. We are asked to consider
which of that diminished group might become the new Premier!
Little
wonder some see politics as facile and temporary as a magazine cover.
How can one muster
respect for an elected Government that succumbed to arbitrariness; that mistook
overbearing arrogance for a concept of leadership; that saw pillorying
legitimate critics an acceptable tactic to suffocate citizen involvement?
I am
sceptical that a group entrusted with the mantle of leadership, one that saw excessive
public spending, speculation and unbridled risk as portals for progressive policy,
can ever be reformed.
I am dubious
that Nalcor can be reined in after it has been handed public policy roles that
ought to be the purview of the Department of Natural Resources.
But, we are
compelled to be optimists.
Premier
Marshall stated his will not be just a caretaker government.
If he is as
good as his word he can begin, immediately, with this short list of changes:
The Premier can
call the House of Assembly together tomorrow
and repeal Bill 29 as a signal the Government is listening and is ready to
respond.
He can declare
that Muskrat Falls is put “ON HOLD”
pending a thorough public review; one that gives special emphasis to current
information as to its cost and the prospect of huge cost overruns.
He can ask
the Legislature to Repeal Bill 61, which provided a monopoly for Nalcor, contrary
to the path taken by jurisdictions in the US and the rest of Canada.
He can
set up a financial and technical committee inside the Department of Finance,
answering to a Cabinet committee, to monitor Nalcor’s expenditures on Muskrat
Falls and other investments, particularly offshore investments, should the
Project proceed.
He must insist
that the Auditor General audit the books of Nalcor.
The new
premier must let the Public Utilities Board (PUB) proceed with its enquiry into
the recent blackouts and do nothing to impede this investigation. If the PUB enquiry finds that poor management at
Nalcor was the cause of the problem, heads should roll.
The
Government should scrap its own ‘independent’ inquiry, which would not be independent at all, unless it is prepared to
ask a Justice of the Supreme Court to head it up.
It should be
prepared to compensate individuals and businesses that lost considerable money
during the blackouts of 2014.
The
Government may be a ship wreck but the forthcoming Budget should not look like
it has been prepared by drunken sailors.
There are a
plethora of additional issues which deserve attention but let’s not be too
hopeful that Marshall will act on even one.
Though
Dunderdale’s departure will lower our collective blood pressure, no one should feel
safe that the arteriosclerosis of this Administration is at an end.
A shell-shocked
electorate seeks reassurance. It demands
analysis and reflection. It needs to
know not just what went wrong but more importantly, confirmation that the ship
of state is being righted, that it will not have to wait another full year to
see it sunk.
If there are
legitimate leadership contenders in the Cabinet, eager to win the mantle of
Premier, we will know soon if the cleansing has started.
Who among
them is bold enough to push Tom Marshall along?
Can the Tory ship-wreck be salvaged? Don't get your hopes up.
