None of their business

Not one, but two provincial cabinet ministers were designated today by the Eighth Floor to be "irked" on behalf of Our Dear Premier, who's probably still exhausted — that half-hour time change can be brutal on the system — from all that iron-ore industry fact-finding in Brazil, warm, sunny, tropical, sunny, bronzed Brazil, in November.

Their irkedness, which was totally spontaneous and not at all scripted, went as follows:

Peckford Comments Irk Cabinet Minister
November 26, 2007

Members of the Provincial government are reacting to statements made by former Premier Brian Peckford over the weekend. Peckford accused the government of being solely focused on oil and gas and neglecting the other resources. Finance Minister Tom Marshall told VOCM Open Line that it is clearly stated in the budget and in the speech from the throne that the non-renewable resources will not be around forever and the province needs to take advantage of this window of opportunity. Marshall says they are looking to transition into a more diversified economy which relies on renewable resources.

Government Services Minister Kevin O'Brien told VOCM Open Line Peckford has taken a hard right turn on his postition after accepting a position with the Federal government. O'Brien says Peckford is not a resident of the province and he is not here to see the investments the province has made in the rural areas.

You know who else is not a resident of the province, and thereby not able to see the investments that the province has made in the rural areas?

The 10,000 or so of the 15,000 former residents of rural Newfoundland and Labrador who have not only permanently left their rural communities in the past four years, but who have left the province altogether.

That's who.