Fisherman's Road

Quotes and notes from Premier’s time on Open Line today (April 28th): — “Probably is,” in response to whether his plan to increase the HST (after vowing he wouldn’t, and repealing the Tory plan to do so) was something he would have done differently. — "The CEDA fund is not off the table with us.” Meantime, a study has yet to be produced of the potential impacts of relinquishing Minimum Processing Requirements as part of the Canada/EU trade deal. — “We are getting our fair share out of Ottawa.”  That will be determined with decisions such as the future of the last-in, first-out management policy in the shrimp fishery. — On the new tax on books: “It goes to show how difficult it is to grapple with a $2.7 billion deficit.” — On full-day kindergarten: “It’s important for kids to socialize and spend time with children their own age.” — On the appointment of Stan Marshall as CEO of Nalcor: “One of the things on his CV is commitment to Newfoundland and Labrador.” — On the Sund

I am grateful to the Dwight Ball Liberals for their most recent budget — not for the content, on that front the new government is a bitter disappointment, so oblivious to the financial pulse — but for the public reaction the document has provoked. There’s life in us yet.   I haven’t heard/seen Newfoundlanders and Labradorians this pissed off — ever.  The challenge now is to turn the anger into real change, because, in case it isn’t obvious, the status quo is slowing killing us.  Newfoundlanders — “true” ones anyway, as the song goes— have a reputation for ranting and roaring, but that’s a lie. We are a people easily pacified. We’ve lived most of our 500-plus years hand-to-mouth, barely eking out an existence from the land and sea, and, generally speaking, we take what little we’re given, and kiss the hand that offers it.  There have been exceptions, when our blood boiled over: the 1932 Colonial Building riot, the fuss over Confederation, and the cod morato