Road to the Isles (II)

During last fall's fixed election campaign, Our Dear Premier ran into a dissident along the campaign trail who accused him, quite accurately, of favouring Tory districts with road work:

WILLIAMS: Are you kiddin'? We're after spending $66-million —

DISSENTER: Sure you have, where at though —

WILLIAMS: — $66-million —

DISSENTER: — in your own districts.

WILLIAMS: — no no no no no no no —

DISSENTER: Jesus, Joey Smallwood before he died, he —

WILLIAMS: You're obviously a big Liberal, because —

DISSENTER: No, I'm not a big Liberal, don't talk so foolish

WILLIAMS: — there's nothing further from the truth.

Submitted for your consideration: this graph shows the amount of Provincial Roads Improvement Program funding allocated since 2001 in the districts (Twillingate-Fogo until 2007; Isles of Notre Dame since the election) which Gerry Reid formerly represented, and in which he sought, and failed to obtain, re-election last fall.

(Two years' worth of district-by-district data is not, apparently, publicly available. Anyone have it?)

Note that, for the first four years of the Williams Era, during which the district was in opposition hands, PRIP funding in Twillingate-Fogo averaged just under $1-million. Indeed, for two years, the allocation was a million on the nose.

And now that the district has had the eminently good sense to vote correctly?

"Nothing further from the truth."