Baffling gab

Come for the editorial, stay for the hard news: While you visit the Western Star, you might also wish to take in a news article by Gary Kean, which quotes the good Minister of Labrador Affairs in his recent Happy Talk to the Corner Brook Bored of Trade:

“We need to create a more overall picture in order to make some concrete conclusions,” Hickey said of the ferry service which ran between Blanc Sablon and Corner Brook this past winter and spring.

Ummm... huh?

The good Minister continues:

“It is our hope we will see a road to the north coast of Labrador which would open up a whole new set of opportunities for business, not to mention connecting our north coast residents to central Labrador and the rest of the province,” said Hickey, adding the expansion of Labrador’s transportation network would also give greater exposure to the rich culture and heritage of the aboriginal community which dominates that landscape.

Well, there's a refreshing change of position, which is strange from a Minister and Department who have supposedley planned northern things so very strategically. Scant months ago, the official position was that there wouldn't even be a cent of provincial money spent studying a road link into Nunatsiavut, let alone building one, until the rest of the TLH was "complete" — whichever value you ascribe to that adjective on any given day, and however many decades that completion might take.

Now, apparently, it's something we — maybe even We — officially hope for.