Conservative kisses

Were kisses all the joys in bed,
One woman would another wed.
— William Shakespeare, Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music, IV

The signs are pretty clear that a kiss is being exchanged between Steve and Danny and they’re on their way to making up.

So what if the PM’s lips are planted on Danny’s arse?

A kiss is still a kiss.

Don’t be fooled — the federal Conservatives are still no friends of ours.

Harper’s crowd doesn’t want to be shut out in NL again come the next federal election (0 for 7 in 2008), but they will be if Danny’s agin them.

If Danny B’y uses his considerable pipes to broadcast the ABC song from glen to glen and down the seaside, Harper will be history.

And make no mistake, what Danny says and does makes waves across Canada.

He may be God the Father in NL, but he’s practically Jesus Christ on the mainland.

With a local approval rating of 93 per cent (probably 100 per cent for the new parted-to-the-side hairdo), what Danny Williams says here pretty well goes.

Arse-kissing sign No. 1:

There’s a story in the National Post today about how federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty may be warming up to the idea of selling Ottawa’s 8.5 per cent stake in Hibernia to NL. Ottawa paid $290 million in the early ’90s for the stake.

It isn’t clear how much Ottawa would sell it for, but the newspaper article says that over the past 7 years the feds have pocketed more than $1 billion in profit.

At the same time, Danny Williams' 2007 energy plan says how Ottawa should “transfer its share of Hibernia to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.”

I don’t know about you, but “transfer” to me means handing over — at no cost.

The same energy plan contains a graph that shows to the end of 2006, NL had collected net revenue from the Hibernia project of $1.2 billion, compared to $4.8 billion for the rest of Canada, and a measly $8.8 billion for the oil companies. (How do they get by?)

Point is, the province’s figures show the rest of Canada had benefited far more than us from Hibernia, even though, according to the Atlantic Accord, we’re supposed to be the principle beneficiary from the offshore oil industry.

Arse-kissing sign No. 2:

Last week’s federal Conservative budget contained $175 million for Marine Atlantic to lease two used ferries. The Conservatives may be tightening their belt across the country, but they’re letting it out a couple of notches across the Gulf to Newfoundland.
Considering the two new ferries are sister ships of the problem-plagued Atlantic Vision, that will make three cattle cars at our disposal.

Arse-kissing sign No. 3:

This sign isn’t so in-your-face.

The parliamentary restaurant in Ottawa is scheduled to serve seal meat during a luncheon Wednesday.

Not only is seal chic, but it’s also in vogue these days to support the hunt.

Even if that support is hollow.

The federal Conservative government had a chance to stand up for the commercial seal hunt last year when it entered into free trade talks with the European Union.

The Conservatives could have told the EU that it would walk away from the trade talks if the EU banned the importation of seal products.

The Conservatives did nothing.

Serving seal at the parliamentary restaurant doesn’t cut it.
•••
Danny Williams should be irate at the Conservative government for other reasons — the fishery chief among them.

He should insist that the feds call an inquiry into the East Coast groundfish fishery, just as they have called an inquiry into the West Coast salmon fishery.

The premier should be irate over Ottawa’s decision late last year to sign on to changes in the NAFO Convention.

But Danny doesn’t understand the fishery, or rural NL for that matter.

Which continues to slowly bleed to death.

Maybe that’s where Danny should direct his kiss.

A kiss goodbye.

Comments

Anonymous said…
One way to help Rural Newfoundland is to blow them a broadband kiss.

A 15 million dollar government invested fiber optic cable runs along the South Coast of Newfoundland, just kilometers away from Ramea, Grey River, Francois, Burgeo, yet noone can gain access to it to fill a great communications divide.

Rural Newfoundland will die while the current government just stand by and blow kisses.

Thanks
Bmac

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