Cheers & Jeers
Jeers: to implausible theories. So, the auditor general’s report on former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin’s $6.3-million severance package, and his finding that the payout was justified given that Martin’s departure was the result of “constructive dismissal,” was a bit of a black eye last week for Premier Dwight Ball and senior ministers of his cabinet. The AG said Ball and company took no steps to ascertain what the financial implications of their actions would be in nudging Martin toward the door. But to suggest, as former premier Paul Davis did, that last week’s public sector layoff announcement nixing 287 management positions could be “a ploy to take the pressure off the auditor general’s report” stretches credulity. “Yeah, let’s cut a bunch of civil servant jobs — that’ll get the political heat off us.” Right.
Jeers: to being top of the heap. We did it! We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1! Oh wait… that’s not always a good thing. Particularly if you’re talking about inflation. And that’s what we’re talking about here. Friday, Statistics Canada reported that while Canada had an annual inflation rate of 2.1 per cent in January, Newfoundland and Labrador hit a whopping 4.7 per cent. Holding down the No. 2 spot was New Brunswick, at 3.3 per cent. Some provinces — specifically, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Manitoba — either matched or had lower rates of inflation than the national rate. And when it comes to Canadian cities, St. John’s owns that dubious distinction, too. Our January rate of inflation was 4.7 per cent, as compared to Halifax at 1.8 per cent and Montreal at 1.1.
Cheers: to judges who wax poetic. In sentencing a man Thursday who bit off the tip of another man’s nose during a friend’s wake in 2014, Pictou, N.S. provincial court Judge Del Atwood let loose with descriptive language in describing what transpired during a drunken brawl in which Randall Edwin Maclean bit off a piece of Paul Gaudet’s nose, earning Maclean a six-month jail term. Apparently a goodly number of the mourners had had a few too many, which created what Atwood called “the alcohol-thickened fog of this war.”
Jeers: to stuff you couldn’t even dream of making up. Here’s a snippet of an Associated Press story out of Washington Friday, featuring you-know-who: “President Donald Trump is complaining about the media’s use of anonymous sources and accusing news outlets of making up sources for damaging reports about his White House. Trump spoke just hours after members of his own staff held a press briefing in which they refused to attach their names to the information.” Trump needn’t worry about the media fabricating damaging reports — actual damaging reports are to be had in abundance.