Fisherman's Road

I wish to advise the constituents of St. John’s South-Mount Pearl that, effective Oct. 27th, I resigned as NDP candidate for the federal riding, and as a member of the party — severing all affiliation. I’ve written several articles in recent months for publication and hope to write more, which creates a professional conflict. You cannot be a politician and a journalist — it’s one or the other. I’ve chosen to return to journalism, my profession of almost 20 years. I would like to say a sincere thank you to the people who have supported me politically. It’s been a humbling and eye-opening experience, and my passion and drive will continue to be directed towards the betterment of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Blasts from NL’s past “In retrospect, there’s no doubt that the Upper Churchill development should have been carried out without Brinco. It should have been carried out by a joint venture of the provinces of Newfoundland and Quebec, with the proceeds being shared equally between the two provinces. We now know this precise proposal was made to Joey Smallwood by René Lévesque, then Quebec’s Energy minister. It was cavalierly dismissed by Smallwood because of his relationship with Brinco and those who had formed Brinco. We now know, thanks to Fabian O’Dea’s royal commission into the Newfoundland liquor-lease scandal, that Smallwood was speculating in Brinco stock during the period he was negotiating the Churchill Falls agreement. We have no way of knowing how his conflict of interest may have influenced him in the negotiations. But we do know that he violated the trust of the Newfoundland people.” — John Crosbie, as quoted in his 1997 book, No Holds Barred, My Life in Politics. ••• “

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from October, 2006 Independent newspapers: “We stepped in in 1992 to help out, but we have no need to invest in this kind of project. We’re in the business of taxation and spending those taxes to benefit Canadian citizens.” — Then-federal Liberal Natural Resources critic Roy Cullen on the federal government’s stake in Hibernia. ••• “I don’t know if he ever asked for a loan so much as he invited the banks to participate in the honour of being in the service of Craig Dobbin.” — Harry Steele in a eulogy to his friend. ••• “It’s no spot to try and cheat on your husband.” — Principal Brenda Roberts on life in Black Tickle, Labrador. ••• “If I was a Newfoundlander and I had $5 billion, why wouldn’t I have bought the North Atlantic refinery? … I think if I had the money I would have bought North Atlantic and I would have expanded it.” — Analyst Bill Simpkins.

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from October, 2005 Independent newspapers: “We’re saying, what are the issues now that are important? Renegotiation of the upper Churchill, which everybody has written off as impossible, you’ve got to shame them into it. It has to be shown and repeated and repeated. This is why The Independent is playing an important role in this movie.” — Geoff Stirling, a Newfoundland tycoon (owner of the NTV/OZFM/ Herald empire). ••• “I’ve seen cases where people were in court fighting over the plastic flower pots in the back yard.” — Lawyer Bob Buckingham on the money couples can spend on divorce proceedings. ••• “My modest objective? … to hear before I die, not jokes, but people demanding of their politicians in a variety of settings around the world: ‘Why can’t we be more like Newfoundland.’” — Cabot Martin, writer, entrepeneur and one-time Peckford advisor. ••• “The company cares more for the beef than they do the human being because if a

52 years ago today ... "As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you're trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I'd like to work for you." — Hunter S. Thompson in a letter of application to the Vancouver Sun on Oct. 1, 1958 — 52 years ago today. The letter is reprinted in today's Ottawa Citizen .