Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

A great Freudian slip today from the Great Man:

MS JONES: Trevor Taylor, a former high-ranking Cabinet minister in the Williams government, recently sent a letter to the Northern Pen. In the letter he stated that the people of The Straits & White Bay North voted against the government and implied that they are now being punished related to the air ambulance decision. This is a very serious allegation being put forward by someone who worked inside this government and very closely with the Premier and I ask the Premier today, Mr. Speaker: Are the statements made by your friend and former colleague accurate; and, if not, why would this ex-Cabinet minister make such statements?

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear: this government never has and never will inflict retribution on a district. It does not happen. During my entire life I watched it happen too much by Liberal governments who were in power in this Province -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: - and saw too many communities and people punished for supporting the government.

For the record, St. Anthony was a community that supported the government in the late by-election.