Don't eat pork! Not even with a fork!

In the past month, the provincial government has made five announcements of projects under the Provincial Roads Improvement Program (PRIP).

All five projects are in districts represented by Progressive Conservative MHAs.

The average dollar value of the announcements – excluding the obligatory carry-overs from last year, which are already accounted for – is about $2.4-million.

In 2005, the average dollar value for PRIP announcments in government districts was $1.35-million. In opposition districts? $390K.

In 2004, the average dollar value for PRIP announcments in government districts was $840K. In opposition districts? $380K.

Admittedly, the value of the entire program has doubled this year over last: $60-million vs.$30-million. Hence, the dollar value of individual announcements ought to inflate similarly, and so far, they have: government districts, in the announcements made so far, are receiving projects that average 1.8 times the size they did last year.

There are no opposition districts to make similar comparisons with. At least not this year.

But last year, without any increase in the PRIP budget overall, government districts still got 1.6 times as much as they did in 2004. A 60% increase. Opposition districts? A 1% increase.

And for all of the Premier's and Transport Minister's supposed "committment" to the Trans-Labrador Highway, Labrador has received just $4.7-million out of the $78-million awarded under the past three years' worth of PRIP funding so far, or about 6% of the total. Cartwright–L'anse au Clair has gotten a particularly raw deal, receiving one of the chinsiest allocations for any district in the province overall, and at $100,000, tied for second-chinsiest last year with Carbonear.

(Make that third-chinsiest: Torngat Mountains has received nothing. Of course, local roads in that district were upgraded with LTIF money prior to the last provincial election.)

All of the funding that has been directed towards the completion of new segments of the Trans-Labrador Highway in the past three years has come from the dregs of the Labrador Transportation Initiative Fund, not a penny of which came from provincial revenues. PRIP funding has, however, gone to some road and bridge repair projects on existing segments of the TLH.

In 2004, eight of the ten smallest PRIP allocations went to opposition districts.

In 2005, it was seven of ten, and the five smallest were all opposition districts.

In 2006, we will see.

The disparity between opposition- and government-held districts might be a coincidence.

Then again, it might not.