The Return of the Conjunction

This is interesting.

To some people, anyway.

Well, to one, at least.

In March 2007, the crown corporation which legally exists as Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, dutifully started referring to itself as "Newfoundland Labrador Housing (Housing)" for some mysterious reason.

In April 2011, it just as abruptly stopped doing so.

National Putz

Kathryn Blaze Carlson scribbles, under the hilarious headline "Stars Align to the Right", in today's National Post:

To be sure, an election is a finicky exercise, and observers are typically loath to predict the outcome. Still, conservative parties in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon appear poised to retain power or at least pose a serious threat to long-time Liberal or NDP governments.

Can K.B.C., or anyone else, point out anything about the Progressive Conservative Party Dunderdale2011 of Newfoundland and Labrador that can, however, remotely, be classed as "right", or "conservative" with a small "c"?

Anything? Anything at all?

Petermania (X): Pirouette

The Petermann Ice Island stalled out in a big way overnight, making barely five kilometres of ground, shedding some mass (visible here as a scattering of "small" icebergs) and pivoting 90 degrees so that its pointy end is now aimed at Quirpon, which lies about 30 kilometres to the west. (Newfoundland and southern Labrador coastline vectors added to bring clarity to cloud-obscured reference points.)

Source image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response

The stall-and-pivot manoeuvre, and increased calving activity, are both likely explained by an intimate encounter with Tooker Bank, off the southern entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle, where there are least depths of as little as 14 fathoms. Even the outer slopes of Tooker Bank would easily be shallow enough for the several hundred feet depth of Petermann ice to catch on.

Petermania (IX): The Fog

Petermann must be quite the sight today, off the southern entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle, shrouded in fog. This image was captured by Terra about two hours ago:

Source image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response

It slowed a little, making just 19 km in 24 hours, and its path curled back to seaward slightly. At the time of this image, it was about 36 km northeast of Quirpon Island on the northeast tip of Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula. Quirpon, lost in the fog, is due south of the barely-visible Belle Isle.

First, you announce that you are going to announce something

"Media Advisories" or "Notes to Editor", as a percentage of all provincial government departmental news releases, by month, 1996-present.

(Releases by arms-length, independent, or quasi-judicial bodies, joint releases with other provincial governments, environmental assessment bulletins, releases on behalf of non-provincial government bodies, and public health and safety warnings excluded.)

Totally gratuitous

Some more satellite pr0n. Click to enlarge:

Source image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response

From the same image that was the source of Thursday's Petermann update, comes this selection, showing a swath of central Labrador in the Lake Melville and Sandwich Bay regions.

The built-up area of Happy Valley-Goose Bay is visible as a blue-green splotch. To the north, as far as Nipishish in the extreme top left, and east to the head of Double Mer, old burned areas show up as paler shades of green. Other large forest fire scares are noticeable southwest of Sandwich Bay, along the Paradise and Eagle Rivers.

In the centre, the barren Mealy Mountain tops are quite prominent, and to the west, the l0w-lying Maishes which cover the ground from the shores of Lake Melville east to the foot of the hills.

Puffy cumulus clouds show up as bright orange in this false-colour scheme, while white coastal fog dominates the outer reaches of Sandwich and Groswater Bays.

Petermania (VIII): Return of the Red Menace

It's back to the Terra 3-6-7 band false-colour image from around mid-day today, to help tease out the ice island from some high-altitude fair-weather clouds, and possibly some low-lying fog banks, that conceal its appearance slightly in the visual frequencies:

Source image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response

Several other large bergs can still be seen on the enlarged image, especially in nearshore waters in Camp Bay, the Strait of Belle Isle, and Hare Bay. A group of large ones, near the Labrador side of the Straits west, and slightly south of Belle Isle, seem to be aground on Bay Shoal, a well-known phenomenon. The 1887 Admiralty pilot for Newfoundland and Labrador states:

About 2 1/2 miles S. by W. from the east point of Wreck Bay lies a small patch of rocky ground with 5 fathoms least water. The bottom can be plainly seen on this patch in fine weather; there is a heavy swell upon it in easterly gales, and frequently a great rippling: icebergs often ground upon it.

This screen cap from Google Maps shows the outline of the ice island's position in the Terra image, along with the location (of the pointy end of the ice, at least) over the past several days:

Petermann made about 22 km in 24 hours, slowing down slightly from yesterday's break-neck speed of over 1 km/h, and — interestingly — curling back in slightly towards the coast. Who knows — the northeastern tip of the Northern Peninsula from Quirpon to St. Anthony could be in for a show as the ice slips into Newfoundland waters overnight and into tomorrow.

Petermania (VII)

Calvin Poole of St. Lewis captured this video on Monday from out on the water just a few miles off the Labrador coast. It would appear to be the first published video of the main Petermann Ice Island from on the surface of the ocean. (Vik Adophia's CBC footage was from the air).

The quadrennial Summers of Love

Meeker had another brainfart the other day, too:

Also, it would take just an hour or two to wade back through the last four years of government news releases, to see if there are similar orgies of announcements at this – or any – time of the year. If spending until recently has been tight, that might indicate that government has been salting away these little gifts for months and possibly years (which, in turn, could raise questions about the propriety of holding back life saving equipment for reasons of political opportunism).

Good idea. So, herewith, the total number of press releases issued by the provincial government of the day, between June 28 and July 27 (both dates inclusive) in each year:
The chart is cleverly colour-coded to reflect the change in government during the time period under consideration, and within the PC era, the dark blue columns represent the June-July time frame in the pre-writ period of election years (E), as contrasted with non-election (non-E) years.

A few important methodological notes:

- Mere media advisories, or advisories to the public on health, safety, or government operational matters, have been excluded from the count.

- Also excluded are Environmental Assessment Bulletins, joint releases (Council of Atlantic Premiers, Council of the Federation, Council of Eastern Premiers and New England Governors, etc.), and all press releases circulated by a provincial communications shop on behalf of another agency (it used to be common for the province to circulate releases on behalf of Marine Atlantic.

- Releases by officers of the legislature (such as the Chief Electoral Officer, Auditor General, or Privacy Commissioner), or of arms-length bodies (Petroleum Products Pricing Commission, High School Sports Federation, etc.) are also excluded.

- Joint funding or policy releases with a federal government department or minister are, however, included.

This leaves press releases which are both substantial in nature, and regarding which there may have been local political considerations which influenced both the announcement and its timing.

There is a significant upward swing in announciness in recent years. This may not be particular to the June-July period, as the provincial government has just plain been cranking out more stuff all year long.

However, the two spikes in 2007 and 2011 are quite noticeable.

And in the post-1995 internet era in provincial government communications, there has never been a four weeks even remotely like the past four weeks for Super Happy Fun And Often Money-Related Provincial Government Announcements Which Are Totally Unconnected To The Election That Premier Dunderdale Is Going To Call On September 19th (Nothing Could Be Further From The Truth).

Petermania (VI)

At around mid-day on Wednesday, the Petermann Ice Island was abreast Belle Isle, having made about 25 km in 24 hours — quite speedy by its recent standards. This Terra image from NASA is reprojected into a perspective view using Google Earth.

Other large bergs are visible in adjacent waters, in the Strait of Belle Isle, and in Hare Bay.

Petermania (V)

OK, it's one thing when automated satellites capture the Petermann Ice Island in their imaging, amazing as it might be.

It's quite another when a human being, orbiting the earth in a tube in the sky, does the same thing.

American astronaut Ron Garan, aboard the International Space Station, shot this picture yesterday from 387 kilometres above the surface of the earth.

Yes, you'll want to click this picture to enlarge it:


The Labrador coast from Denbigh Island to St. Lewis, along with several seasonally-occupied harbours, is visible on the left. The community of St. Lewis can be identified by the local airstrip, a straight linear feature visible between the harbour and Fox Harbour Pond, the largish lake in the middle of the peninsula.

Col. Garan's photo clearly shows the numerous meltwater lakes which dot the ice island's surface, as well as numerous smaller icebergs which have calved off the main body of ice. Several of these "small" icebergs are themselves large enough to be classified as ice islands, and would easily clog the entrance to St. Lewis or other harbours along the coast if they drifted inshore.

Jason Major at Universe Today put together a stunning graphic which shows an outline map of Manhattan at the same scale.

Oktoberfarce

The Telegram reports:

The Pubic Utilities Board announced Tuesday that it has hired Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) to help review the Muskrat Falls hydro project.

The government has ordered the PUB to review Muskrat against an isolated-island option, to determine which will be the lower cost for electricity consumers.

In a news release, the PUB said that it has been getting documents from Nalcor since mid-June and MHI will be reviewing all of that data and analysis.

All documents will be posted at www.pub.nl.ca, and MHI will author a report based on the documents.

The PUB is also planning on posting public hearings starting in October; specific dates have not been determined yet.

What are the chances that the specific dates, purely coincidentally, will begin on or after October 12th?

Porcimetrics

Geoff Meeker has an awesome brain fart:

Azzo Rezori’s piece included a map, showing all 19 communities that received fire trucks in the last 90 days. I would like to see this information overlaid on a map of the province’s electoral districts, to see how the pork is being distributed. It’s all conjecture, but it’s fun to look at the data.

Also, it would take just an hour or two to wade back through the last four years of government news releases, to see if there are similar orgies of announcements at this – or any – time of the year. If spending until recently has been tight, that might indicate that government has been salting away these little gifts for months and possibly years (which, in turn, could raise questions about the propriety of holding back life saving equipment for reasons of political opportunism).

Indeed.

Back in 2007 and 2008, this corner put together a series of cleverly colour-coded graphs which quantified — using dollar figures from the Williams Provincial Dunderdale2011 Government's own press releases — the changing patterns of highways spending from district to district, and from year to year:

Nothing further from "nothing further from the truth"
Fortunate Bay
Road to the Isles (II)
By popular demand
Michael Temelini (I)
Playing politics

Starting in 2009, and in each year since, the Department of Transportation and Works no longer puts dollar figures in its district-by-district highway press releases.

The Williams Provincial Dunderdale2011 Government is the most open and transparent government in the solar system.

Petermania (IV): Red Menace!

Better yet: the Terra satellite's false-colour band 3-6-7 imagery is just the ticket! Click to enlarge; one pixel one the image represents about 250 metres.

Source image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response

Terra's 3-6-7 imagery combines visual and infrared wavelengths to help tease out details in earth imaging that aren't visible in normal light alone. Usually used to identify features such as burn scars in vegetated areas, it also renders ice as bright red, distinguishing numerous false-red icebergs from yellow-white puffy cloud tops.

Not only is the main Petermann ice island conspicuous, the smaller ice islands and icebergs in the Strait of Belle Island and off the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland pop out at you in the enlarged image.

Petermania (III)

The latest Terra satellite image, taken earlier this afternoon, shows the main Petermann ice Island a tantalizing 16 km (10 miles) off the Labrador coast near Cape St. Lewis. It continues to drift southward at a rate of about 800 to 900 metres an hour, carried by the Labrador current.

The size of the thing is now easily grasped by comparing it to Belle Isle, which lies due south.

Source image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response

The nearby communities of Port Hope Simpson, William's Harbour, St. Lewis, Mary's Harbour, Lodge Bay, and Red Bay, are shown by their initials.

A surviving chunk of the "small" Petermann Ice Island is aground near Camp Islands, just south of Battle Harbour. It is indicated by the thin red indicator line. The video of the "small" ice island taken further north about a month ago by Eldred Burden Sr. of Port Hope Simpson has now had over 150,000 views, and has been featured on media websites in countries on literally every continent:

Petermania (II)

Today's hi-res true-colour Aqua and Terra satellite images aren't available yet, but...

... the Petermann ice island is visible even on the low-res GOES-East weather satellite images!


It is the white "speck" — remember, the thing is nearly the size of Manhattan — marked with the red crosshairs. At the time of this image (12:45 a.m. Atlantic), it was located about twelve miles off the coast near St. Lewis.

CBC Labrador Morning did a phone interview from the community on Monday with Gary Bolger. St. Lewis may yet have the best terrestrial vantage point for viewing Petermann.

On timing

The Telegram hands out a snide "cheer":

Cheers: to elections and absolutely unrelated provincial funding announcements. The week’s total? Thirty press releases either announcing provincial government funding or announcing the announcement of funding last week, and that was by mid-afternoon on Friday. The announcements were made by a variety of touring cabinet ministers and MHAs. One of the announcements? Money for a Bay Bulls offshore site, and Business Minister Derrick Dalley says the timing of the announcement is mere happenstance: “This is not about an election. We’ve been working on this project for some time. My staff at the Department of Business, we have several applications before us, coming at different times of the year. We do due diligence, a very thorough process, as we work through these projects, and it just happens we’re at a stage where we got our work completed, and now’s a good time to get this out the door.” Good to know. Expect more completely-unrelated-to-the-election announcements in the upcoming weeks, spontaneously increasing as we approach the completely unrelated date of Oct. 11.

One would hope that the completely-unrelated-to-the-election announcements will cease well before October 11 — that is, before the writ drops.

Petermania

This is the latest satellite image of the Petermann ice island off the southeast coast of Labrador, with some coastal communities and other localities also shown by way of reference.


The main Petermann ice island is still about 55 square kilometres in area, and was about 20 kilometres off the coast at the time it posed for this portrait. It is roughly comparable in size to Belle Isle, or nearly as large as the island of Manhattan.

The last several days it has been drifting southward in the Labrador Current, closely paralleling the coastline, at about 15 to 17 kilometres per day. If it does not move back out to sea, ground, or break up, there may be viewing opportunities from St. Lewis, the most-seaward community on the Labrador road network, early next week.

Smaller fragments of the Petermann glacier may be visible on this image near Camp Islands, at the northern entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle. "Smaller" is a relative term; they are still as large or larger as many seasonally-populated rock islands.

Other scattered bergs, many of substantial size, are also visible in the Strait of Belle Isle and off the coast.

Image: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response, Terra satellite.

Erm, on second thought

Before:

After:

Still unedited for hubris:

Littlejohn to represent Port de Grave
Dinn to represent Kilbride

Just a little ahead of themselves (II)

From VOCM today, a story that is laughable on multiple levels:


For now, notice yet another symptom of the epidemic of full-blown hubris:

On VOCM Open Line with Randy Simms this morning, Minister O'Brien assured that there is a process to follow and that municipalities are happy to see him coming. O'Brien insisted he will be doing the same thing this time next year - the year after the election.

Just a little ahead of themselves

A typical nomination result announcement from the Dunderdale2011s:


"Buckingham to represent St. John's East"? To whom? In what?

Back in the old days, only members, in their member's capacity, represented districts. If you have been nominated to run for a party in a district, you represent the party in the district — not the district itself.

To give credit, where it's due, contrast the ego-laded, presumptuous Dunderdale2011 language with the Liberal counterpart:

The paradox

Northern communities, in a hydro-electricity producing and exporting region, still dependent on diesel generation and fuel oil.

Nope. Not what you're thinking. But close. Jane George reports for Nunatsiaq News:

Nunavik plays an important role in Quebec’s plans to develop its hydroelectric potential: the rivers of Nunavik hold about 8,000 megawatts of electric power, 25 per cent of Quebec’s current output.

But in Nunavik, oil remains king: diesel power plants in Nunavik’s 14 communities gobble up 25 million litres of oil for their basic needs and they use an additional 28 million litres of oil for their heating houses — and that doesn’t include the 40 million litres of fuel that Xstrata’s Raglan nickel mine consumes for its operations.

“In a sea of renewable and relatively clean hydroelectric power,” Nunavik communities are still using fossil fuel, says Plan Nunavik. “What a paradox!”

The [Plan Nunavik] document points out that the economic development of any region requires transportation and communication links as well as an energy supply — but so far these have bypassed Nunavik, it says.

Manufacturing, tourism, mining, have “all been made impossible because of the lack of accessibility and lack of a reliable, adequate power source, “ it states.

Full article on-line here.

Federal presents (III)

"Truthfully," says the blogger, "Ottawa might be the best place to start the cutting rather than in a province that already has a lower than average share of federal presence."

Herewith, a rank chart of federal employment by province, expressed as the total fedgov full-time equivalent workforce, divided by the total employed labour force:
Truthfully, Newfoundland and Labrador has a higher than average share of "federal presence", behind only three provinces, and well above the national average.

Data sources: Statistics Canada Tables 183-0002 (federal employment), 282-0001 (labour force). Data represents the average for the twelve months ending March 2011.

*Population and employment data for the three territories, and data for federal employment outside Canada, are excluded from calculations.

Federal presents (II)

Herewith, a chart showing the federal civil service presence in major metropolitan areas across Canada, expressed as the total Full-Time Equivalent number of employees in September 2010, divided by the twelve-month average employed labour force in each metro area during that entire calendar year.

Other than the capital metro itself, St. John's has the highest rate of federal government employment of any "civilian" city. The other three of the top five, Kingston, Halifax, and Victoria, have larger federal employment presences due in large part to major military or corrections installations (or in Kingston's case, both.)

Metro areas not shown on this chart have federal civil service presences of less than 1% of total employment.

Date source: Statistics Canada Tables 183-0003 (federal employment), 282-0109 (employed labour-force population estimates for Census Metropolitan Areas).

Federal presents

For some mysterious reason, St. John's municipal politicans and pundits at large are usually among those on the front guard of the "federal presence!" rallying cry.

Never mind the fact that Newfoundland and Labrador has a higher share of the federal civil service than it does of the overall national population, or that the federal workforce in the province is the fourth-highest, adjusted for population, of any province.

By gum, St. John's is peeved about the whole federal presence issue, and not shy about expressing it.

But here's something for people in the rest of the province to bear in mind the next time a St. John's municipal politician jumps on the soapbox over this issue: St. John's is gaining federal jobs.

Yip. Gaining.

This chart shows the total federal workforce (total of full-time equivalents or FTEs) in greater St. John's, and in the rest of the province, for the month of September* in each year:
This chart shows the same information, but as a percentage of total federal government employment in the province:
In the early 1990s, the "federal presence" was heavily tilted towards non-metropolitan areas of the province. When program restraint, and the privatization of some previously direct civil-service operations, resulted in a reduction in federal employment totals in the first half of the 1990s, by far and away most of the jobs were cut (or transferred to the private sector) in places outside the northeast Avalon.

Since bottoming out in the mid-1990s, St. John's has seen a steady increase in "federal presence" of roughly 1000 FTEs, to the point where the federal workforce is now (in 2010) larger, in sheer numbers, than ever before on record. As a share of the total "federal presence" in the province, the St. John's metro area now has about 70% of total federal employment, as measured in full-time equivalents.

This also happens to be about the same proportion of the provincial civil service which is based in St. John's, Mount Pearl, and other metro municipalities. (And no, contrary to popular belief, the St. John's area is not where most of the provincial population lives.)

The federal workforce in St. John's constitutes 2.6% of the metro population, 4.7% of the labour force, and 5.1% of employment.

By any of these three measures, that makes St. John's the city the fifth-most dependent on federal government employment after Ottawa-Gatineau (obviously, 19.5% of employment), Kingston (8.9%, bolstered by RMC and federal prisons), Halifax (7.9%,bolstered by the navy and some regional offices), and Victoria (5.6%, also a navy town).


* Data sources: Statistics Canada Tables 183-0003 (for St. John's metro area) and Table 183-0002 (province as a whole). Table 183-0003 provides an annual count for each Census Metropolitan Area during the month of September. Table 183-0002 provides counts for every province for each month; the September data from this latter table is used here to provide an apples:apples comparison.

Comparative 'cides

Ross Wiseman, Thursday:

“Our government has thoroughly examined all aspects of the pesticides debate, using that information to inform our decision to ban products used for cosmetic lawn care purposes in Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Minister Wiseman. “We have listened to the concerns raised by many individuals and groups in the province, analyzed the research conducted by numerous sources, looked at other jurisdictions and, as a result, will implement a ban on cosmetic pesticides that are currently being used for lawn care.”

Nalcor, years ago (p. 48 of this bloated, inexplicably copy-protected, PDF file):

Nalcor Energy will incorporate the transmission line into its integrated vegetation management program for its transmission and distribution system, which uses several methods including manual cutting as well as the selective use of herbicides for long term vegetation control. Certified crews will use herbicides in accordance with Nalcor Energy's current standard operating practices and applicable regulations. The management schedule will vary with the type of vegetation, the extent of ground disturbance during construction and terrain.

Pease in a pod (XXIII)

Obviously some mistake

The Dunderdale2011 Party reports tonight:

Six people were seeking the nomination. A total of 1,616 people cast ballots in the nomination process.

Surely they meant "A total of 1,616 Dunderdale2011 members cast ballots in the nomination process", didn't they?

After all... isn't that what the Dunderdale2011 constitution demands?

Sad statistics

Shannon Tweed misses Newfoundland, appears in 'Republic of Doyle' episode: 14,871 page views, and counting.

Better get used to Ice Caps: 8450 page views.

Drowning in debt: 649 page views.

By request for hyeall (II)

It's July, that most wonderful time of the year... when Statistics Canada brings its free public data portal, CANSIM, up to date to June 2011.

This means a body can update now-outdated charts which he produced just scant weeks ago for your colour-enhanced enjoyment.

Once again, here is the stacked-bar portrayal of the provincial employed labour force, distinguishing three classes of working people: public-sector employees (which includes federal, provincial, and local government employees as well as crown corporation employees), private-sector employees, and the self-employed. As with previous charts of this type, the figure for any one month is actually the average of the previous twelve months inclusive. This smooths out seasonal variation which otherwise makes trends hard to spot.

Here is the same information, but as a stacked numerical total (in thousands of persons):
This is the picture with public-sector employees excluded. Only private-sector employees and the self-employed figures (again in thousands) are included.

It is noteworthy, and not a little troubling, that the private-sector labour force has not yet recovered to the pre-recession plateau (shown as a red line). It is also a potential worrying sign that growth in the private-sector employment force, after about a year of respectable gains compared to the 2008 recession, has levelled off.
And here is the numerical growth in the public-sector employment force all by its lonesome. Again, this is the sum of all public-sector employees, including employees of all levels of government and all crown corporations. In the five years since the recent-historic low, in early 2006, of about 55,600 public-sector employees, the public-sector labour force has increased by about 11,500 or over 20%. As a share of total employment, the public sector has grown from 26% to 30%.

The twelve-month average ending in June 2011 was 67,100 — an increase of 4100, or 6.5%, from the same period twelve months earlier. This represented an increase of over half a percentage point in the public sector's overall share of the employed labour force.

Data source: Statistics Canada CANSIM Table 282-0011

Autarky

Honest to... From an ITAR-DUN release this afternoon:

“Our number one priority for developing Muskrat Falls is to meet the electricity demands of our own province and to stabilize rates over the long term. On that basis alone, if we never sold one megawatt of power outside of this province, development of Muskrat Falls makes sense and will bring significant employment and income to the residents and businesses of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Premier Dunderdale.

And who will be paying that income to the residents and business of Newfoundland and Labrador?

Why, the residents and business of Newfoundland and Labrador will be!

And they'll also be servicing Her Majesty's provincial government share of the debt incurred in this adventure in Albanian economics.

Everyone's a winner!

Question of the day: Should we ask questions?

This, today's Question of the Day from VOCM, is the most succinct statement of everything that has been wrong with politics and public discourse in Newfoundland and Labrador over the past decade.

It would be unbelievable, if it weren't so... believable.

Timing is everything

The Tellytorial tellytorialized on Saturday:

Nova Scotia Power and the provincial government are expecting that the feed-in tariffs will bring in wind, biomass, small hydro and tidal projects that can deliver up to 100 megawatts of power per year — the bulk of that from wind farms producing at 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour. What’s interesting in the equation in this province is that, even though the provincial government says it’s concerned that increased demand for power will drive up the cost of running the Holyrood generating station, and therefore prices to consumers, it hasn’t moved to set feed-in tariffs in this province. In Nova Scotia, the tariffs are set for 20 years, allowing potential electricity producers to plan their potential return on investment and costs. Setting tariffs here would bring new generation sources online, potentially forestalling the increases without taking on massive new amounts of provincial debt. The provincial government, in its 2007 energy plan, suggested that alternate power on the island could produce an extra 100 megawatts of power from wind and small hydro power generation — but instead of feed-in tariffs, it’s pretty clear the province prefers controlling any development through its energy corporation, Nalcor.

...

It looks a lot like the province would prefer all its eggs in one basket. Or, more to the point, the province not only wants to run an energy warehouse, but actually wants to own it all as well. In its own way, that handcuffs consumers in this province. Because one company will decide the most effective way to produce and supply our power. We’ll just pay for it.

This is one of those things very obliquely referred to in the report, with the delightfully bureaucratic title "Newfoundland & Labrador Energy Innovation Roadmap: Priority Identification (Phase 1)", which the Dunderdale2011 goverment has taken to calling the "Energy Innovation Roadmap", even when it's clear, in deed and in word, that "innovation" is the last thing that Dunderdale2011, like Williams-Government before her, would ever want. Quoth the "Roadmap":

In addition to the above categories, two other categories should be noted:
• Barriers which it would be valuable to overcome (locally or internationally), but where the required innovation is not technological. These barriers may include policy, regulatory, market, taxation and other challenges. This finding applied to all energy types, and in the case of energy efficiency, it was found that the barriers were exclusively of this type.

The fear that someone might actually want to have this adult conversation about energy policy, and its potential implications for the Danny Williams Memorial White Elephant, are likely the proximate cause for two strange features in the chronology.

First, the report which Shawn Skinner released and buried on the same day, July 7, 2011, bears the date of August, 2010. Yip. They've been sitting on Favourite Economist's report for almost a year.

Second, "Phase Two" of the Stifling Innovation Roadmap won't be released until 2012. That is, like the final agreement (if there is one) with Emera on the Danny Williams Memorial White Elephant, and the environmental assessment of the Labrador-Newfoundland outstarve line, after the October 11, 2011 provincial election.

The (Very) Changing Face of Labrador (updated)

About a decade ago, a map of the draft Labrador Inuit Land Claims and Self-Government Agreement was in circulation, under the title "The Changing Face of Labrador".

Fast-forward, and here's the summary, in graphical form, of the additional changes to date (click to enlarge):
The top part of the legend shows land status pursuant to the Labrador Inuit Agreement. (A small portion of the Ocean Zone north of Killinek is truncated.)

The middle part shows the categories of land status proposed in the draft Labrador Innu settlement. (N.B., a few area of Innu lands on this map are unavoidably sorted behind the Labrador Inuit layer of the map, especially in the area around the head of Double Mer.) Also shown, but not indicated in the legend, are the "Economic Development Areas" as proposed in the draft agreement.

To the south, in yellow and dark blue respectively, are the proposed Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve and the proposed provincial Eagle River Waterway Park, whatever one of those is. Again, the sorting of the map layers superimposes a small portion of Labrador Inuit and Innu land classes over a portion of the proposed parks.

The dark green in western and southern interior Labrador are (approximately) areas which are subject to land claims by the various representative bodies of Innu in Quebec. These claims have not been accepted for negotiation by the provincial government.

UPDATED: The blue line which cuts across north-central Labrador from the Border Beacon area (the "big bend" in the northwestern Quebec-Labrador boundary) to the coast just south of Hopedale, is the northern limit of the Primary Claim area asserted by NunatuKavut (formerly the Labrador Métis Nation.) All of coastal and interior Labrador south of this line is included in the claim which they have filed, but which has not yet been accepted for negotiation.

Not directly shown is the overlap area of Nunavik Inuit rights in northern Labrador, which on land corresponds to the Torngat Mountains National Park. There is also a Nunavik offshore Labrador zone, not shown.

Also not shown is the NunatuKavut (Labrador Métis) land claim; a recent and accurate map of that claim would be gladly received and this map updated accordingly.

(It would be a lot easier to do all of this is The Most Open And Accountable Government In The Galaxy provided open-access GIS data sets. Hint. HINT.)

Eleven months later in Newfoundland

So yesterday, Shawn Skinner released something which his press release grandiloquently calls "Phase One Report on Energy Innovation Roadmap".

Don't bother looking for it under that name at the link provided, though. It is cleverly disguised under the more prosaic heading of "General Reports", with the even more prosaic title Innovation Priorities Report.

There's a lot to digest in there.

No, wait: there's not. The thing is only 41 pages long, including title and table of contents. But here's one very intriguing passage:

In addition to the above categories, two other categories should be noted:
• Barriers which it would be valuable to overcome (locally or internationally), but where the required innovation is not technological. These barriers may include policy, regulatory, market, taxation and other challenges. This finding applied to all energy types, and in the case of energy efficiency, it was found that the barriers were exclusively of this type.

This would seem worthy of further discussion — maybe in Phase 26, component 43 of the "Energy Innovation Roadmap", whatever that is. What policy and regulatory barriers does the province throw in the way of energy industry innovation?

Darn good question, innit? Someone should ask it.

But in the absence of any serious discussion of such matters in this heavy 41-page tome, let's instead turn to perhaps the most interesting passage of all.

The date. Right on the cover: "Final Report, August 2010".

For anyone not keeping track, it is now July 2011. And for anyone who might have forgotten:

A Progressive Conservative government will ... release to the public every government-commissioned report within 30 days of receiving it, indicate the action government will take on a report's recommendations within 60 days, and ensure prompt public access to all government reports in hard copy and on the Internet

Why, oh why, might The Most Open And Accountable Government In The Solar System have been sitting on this Very Important Report for almost a year?

The (Very) Changing Face of Labrador

About a decade ago, a map of the draft Labrador Inuit Land Claims and Self-Government Agreement was in circulation, under the title "The Changing Face of Labrador".

Fast-forward, and here's the summary, in graphical form, of the additional changes to date (click to enlarge):
The top part of the legend shows land status pursuant to the Labrador Inuit Agreement. (A small portion of the Ocean Zone north of Killinek is truncated.)

The middle part shows the categories of land status proposed in the draft Labrador Innu settlement. (N.B., a few area of Innu lands on this map are unavoidably sorted behind the Labrador Inuit layer of the map, especially in the area around the head of Double Mer.) Also shown, but not indicated in the legend, are the "Economic Development Areas" as proposed in the draft agreement.

To the south, in yellow and dark blue respectively, are the proposed Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve and the proposed provincial Eagle River Waterway Park, whatever one of those is. Again, the sorting of the map layers superimposes a small portion of Labrador Inuit and Innu land classes over a portion of the proposed parks.

The dark green in western and southern interior Labrador are (approximately) areas which are subject to land claims by the various representative bodies of Innu in Quebec. These claims have not been accepted for negotiation by the provincial government.

Not directly shown is the overlap area of Nunavik Inuit rights in northern Labrador, which on land corresponds to the Torngat Mountains National Park. There is also a Nunavik offshore Labrador zone, not shown.

Also not shown is the NunatuKavut (Labrador Métis) land claim; a recent and accurate map of that claim would be gladly received and this map updated accordingly.

(It would be a lot easier to do all of this is The Most Open And Accountable Government In The Galaxy provided open-access GIS data sets. Hint. HINT.)

Firefighting

With the traditional Fire Truck Month now re-scheduled and stretched out over the entire Fire Truck Season which, coincidentally, precedes election season, it is entirely appropriate, then, that the apparatus of Williams Dunderdale2011 Government be turned entirely to putting out political fires.

So when VOCM reports, as it did Tuesday:

Liberal Education critic Marshall Dean says students who are hoping to obtain funding to attend post-secondary institutions in the fall are being told their applications can't be processed before the deadline. Dean says some students only received their acceptance letters since Canada Post employees returned to work after their postal strike. Now, with a July 8th deadline, students are being told their applications cannot be processed.

Dean says the processing of applications falls under the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, and he wants the minister to act. He says he wrote Minister Darin King last week, but he hasn't received a response.

then before the Open Line show is out, Dr. Darin Luther King calls in to rectify:

There's a reprieve today for post secondary students who are going to miss the deadline to apply for government funding because of the disruption in mail service. The original deadline of July 8th was too tight this year because of the postal dispute.
However, on VOCM Open Line with Randy Simms this morning, Labour Minister Darin King said the deadline has been extended to the end of the month. King says the government doesn't want to see anyone miss out because of the postal dispute.

Long-standing decades-old pollution problem in Hopedale? There's a meeting to deal with that, plus an announceable on another northern Labrador environmental nuisance.

The Burin Peninsula needs a little love? Then a couple of doses of love it shall get, and that, on top of the ferry-related carrot now being dangled in front of all the shipyard towns and ferry-dependent communities.

Want internet? They have the internet for computers now.

What better time than the pre-election present to throw some money at the mooses?

And can you ever have too much dollar-sign-heavy boilerplate?

Budget 2011 Standing Strong: For Prosperity. For Our Future. For Newfoundland and Labrador provides funding of $216.4 million for road and bridge improvements, supplemented by an additional $35.2 million in Federal Government funding, for a total road and bridge investment in 2011-12 of $251.6 million.

Not even when the wharf-related press release it's attached to renders the "road and brige" boilerplate nonsensical?

Back in the old days, this is the sort of pattern that would make you bet there's an imminent election call. Heck, you can almost map the districts that the Progressive Conservatives Dunderdale2011s have

Now that the suspense is removed by fixed-election dates — oh, sorry, fixed election-dates — you just have to wonder... couldn't some of these long-term fires have been put out before now?

Big in Estonia

Port Hope Simpson resident Eldred Burden's amazing video of one of the little Petermann ice islands off Labrador has now been featured in media outlets and websites as varied as CBS News, Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy, and, implausibly but amazingly, Ekspress in Estonia. The latter hit has generated nearly a quarter of the video views to date.

Not everything on the internets is true

Mr. Rothschild? There's someone here to see you

The Premier has mysterious business in London, Engaland:

Premier Heading Home

It will be another few days before the premier is back on home soil. Kathy Dunderdale was in France on the weekend for memorial ceremonies. After some work in London, U.K., she will be heading to Nova Scotia for the Conference of the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers this week.

Oh, it's a long weekend?

Where you will find the RCMP's press release concerning the report on the Leo Crockwell Bay Bulls incident: as a scanned, non-textual PDF put up as a public service by the CBC.

Where you won't find the RCMP's press release concerning the report on Leo Crockwell Bay Bulls incident: on the B Div's newsroom website.