FUREY’S ELECTION CLAIM NOT A “MODEL” OF HONESTY

Premier’s Furey’s claim that he had a window of opportunity to call a General Election when “the (Covid) numbers were low” and that “no one could have predicted the outbreak that occurred” simply does not square with the facts.

The two leaders of the Opposition and the media are right in calling on the Premier to release the probabilistic modelling data “from different jurisdictions” that he says helped him make the call. 

At this point, the issue is less about an ill-timed election than it is about the Premier’s integrity. Furey could have said that the Covid numbers in this province were low – and they were – and that he took a gamble - and lost the bet. That is not what he claims, however. He has  fabricated an argument around evidence of “modelling” for which no known agency has claimed ownership. The knock-on implications of his assertion should not be dismissed either.

An Election in the time of Covid: Is a special ballot election legal and legitimate?

Guest Post by Ron Penney

For part of my public service career I drafted legislation for a living. It sounds boring I know,  but it has proven very useful as I learned how to draft a statute and also how to read one. Not something we were taught in Law School. 

In my younger years I participated in elections as a campaign manager, all successful I might add! So I learned the practical side of elections and election law. I also participated in the famous judicial recount in 1971 when it was discovered that the ballot box for Sally’s Cove contained no ballots, as it turned out that in accordance with local tradition they had been burned! 

The 1971 election had lots of interesting twists and turns and the 2021 one has already had them even before the votes have been cast and results announced. 

The resurgence of the virus just before the election date is the proximate cause of the election delay and the change of voting methods but the risk was always there. Should it have been anticipated as a possible impediment to the holding of an election and should have there been contingency plans.  The answer has to be yes. 

A FOOL'S PARADISE

 Guest Post by Ron Penney

In my recent guest blog, the Timing of the Next Provincial Election, I urged Premier Furey to await Dame Moya Greene’s interim report, due at the end of February, and her final report due at the of April, before calling an election. 

Not surprisingly, that advice was ignored and the resulting campaign is exactly what I had worried about. One conducted in total denial of the reality of our situation. 

As former Premier Smallwood used to say, “the first job of a politician is to get elected, the second job of a politician is to get elected, and the third job of a politician is to get elected.” You get the point. 

Premier Furey, while a political novice, has taken this to heart, with advice no doubt from a certain former Premier considerably more experienced than him in running successful campaigns.