Bacon to Burin

Dr Darin Luther King tells VOCM (temporary audio link):

Every single dime that I can bring to my district I'm going to try and announce, because if I want people to know, going into an election, people are going to look at other candidates, and they're going to assess them and say "what are your qualifications, what are you going to do for me if you're elected?" Well, a part of what I'm going to do as an incumbent is say, "here's what I've delivered upon for you, here's my track record, you know what I promised in 2007, here's what I've worked on and delivered upon, and you can expect more if I get re-elected."

You'd think the Progressive Conservatives Dunderdale2011s had invented government spending, or something, the way they keep implying that they are the only ones who will continue to spend money on government programs and services.

But, really now, what is the difference between the implication, in Dr. Darin Luther King's VOCM hit, that you CAN'T expect more if someone other than himself gets elected, and this?

I’m sitting on top of the public chest and not one red cent will come out of it unless Greg Power is elected. Unless you vote for my man, you’ll be out in the cold for the next five years. Those settlements which vote against Greg Power will get nothing, absolutely nothing.

What We never have done and never will do (III)

PRIP funding by district, during the Danny Williams-Government years, cleverly re-coloured to distinguish between government and opposition-held districts, and between cabinet ministers, gormless backbenchers (palest blue), and the Minister of Pavement (darkest blue):

What We never have done and never will do (II)

Provincial Roads Improvement Program funding in 2008, cleverly colour-coded by district and party affiliation, with the added benefit of distinguishing cabinet ministers' districts (darker blue) and the Minister of Roads' own district (darkest blue).

For some curious reason, the Department of Transportation and Works, this year, in sharp contrast to previous years' practice, no longer attributes any dollar value to its district-by-district PRIP announcements.

The numbers game

Anonymous talking-pointer Red Rantingtory picks up a theme and a statistical factoid that have repeatedly been hurled in the face of residents of The Straits & White Bay North lo these past several weeks:

Red Rantingtory from Da Bay, NL writes: Trevor Taylor hit the nail on the head with this one. To see Yvonne Jones on TV you would think she is saddened and all torn up over this decision. When in fact she was the one who kept asking for a review of the system to get the service moved to Labrador, her beloved land.
In the end as Taylor said 163 million dollars spent in a district wasn't enough and never will be enough for a district that depends on government to much for it's existence. That mentality of government owes us something is prevelant and ramphant in the district. If 163 million is not enough then how much is? If you feel this isn't good enough and you voted in a Liberal hoping to get more then I suggest you made a mistake and will never be satisfied, no matter what any government does wether they be PC or Liberal.
Right now you have a Liberal who is quickly finding out that he can do nothing in opposition. He told you he could do better and to vote for change and as Taylor said change is what you are getting.
Posted 11/05/2010 at 1:21 PM

Let’s do the math here: $163-million over six years works out to $27-million per year for the district, or about 0.6% of all provincial government program spending.

But all things being equal – not that they are equal, but play along, here – all things being equal, you should expect one district to receive 2.1% of all provincial government program spending. One district, there are 48 of them; 1/48 = 2.1%.

There is, of course, a much bigger implication with the eagerness of Trevor Taylor and the other talking pointers to throw these figures around. Not only do the cite the $163-million for Triv’s former district, the Minister of Labrador Affairs has taken up tossing out a comparable statistic for the four districts which in the aggregate make up Labrador.

So, for how many other districts has Danny Williams-Government compiled these statistics?

And to what purpose, besides – or in addition to – bashing His own subjects for their insolence and ingratitude?

What We never have done and never will do (I)

Himself was in a denyin' kind a mood during Question Period on Tuesday, describing how he takes the partisanship out of stuff:

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. So, in fact, as I have stated before, when this decision was being made with regard to the air ambulance we convened a committee of Cabinet ministers to make sure that there was no partisanship whatsoever went into this decision. In fact, we have indicated throughout and Minister Taylor has advocated very, very strongly on behalf of his district up there. He has advocated for roads. He advocated, of course, for the air ambulance. He advocated for funds for the bottling plans for the hon. member right now so we could employ people in The Straits & White Bay North and the hon. the Leader of the Opposition knows very well that we support districts.

Why, yes, we "support districts." Especially those districts which vote correctly.

As noted before, repeatedly, Danny Williams-Government is master of the carrot-and-stick, Smallwood-in-Ferryland approach to governance. These charts show funding under the Provincial Roads Improvement Program, by district, colour-coded, during the Danny Williams-Government years, on a go-backwards basis starting with 2007:


2006:

2005:

And 2004:

Pease in a pod (IV)

Toronto Star, September 25, 2009:

OTTAWA–A Conservative candidate for Markham-Unionville has stirred up a hornet's nest by stating that communities wanting federal funding would be better off Tory blue.

That broadcast statement, by Gordon Landon, a York regional councillor for the Town of Markham, puts a lie to the Conservative government's insistence there is no preferential treatment for ridings represented by Tory MPs.

"One of the things we have been trying to get for a long time is a medical testing centre for Canada. They won't give it to this riding because it's held by a Liberal," Landon said Tuesday during a Rogers television York Region political panel.

The Telegram, August 27, 2007:

“People realize that we have to be on the government side in the next four years. Otherwise, we’re going to pay dearly for it,” Normore said.

“People are telling me. ‘We’ve got to be on Danny’s team.’”

Via VOCM, June 29, 2007:

Leo Bruce, PC nomination contestant in Bay of Islands, just told Bill Rowe, referring to the fact that the incumbent MHA is in opposition, that “the people of the Bay of Islands have paid the price for the past four years.”

The Western Star, June 29, 2007:

[PC nomination contestant Leo] Bruce said it’s time the Bay of Islands joined the Danny Williams team and left the “wasteland of the Opposition benches in the House of Assembly.”

CBC News, May 22, 2007:

"Since the PC government got in, I might as well say it, we never got nothing in Harbour Grace," [Harbour Grace Coun. Tom] Short said.

Cf. pretty charts involving provincial purse-strings from 2008 and 2007.

Michael Temelini (I)

“On the other hand, if Rideout did try to squeeze out more money, outside of the normal transparent process, maybe this is a victory for those who are opposed to pork-barrel politics.”

So says Our Dear Political Scientician, Michael Temelini, on the CBC.

Question: who, pray tell, are “those who are opposed to pork-barrel politics”?

A hint as to a possible answer: “Those” aren’t WilliamsGovernment.

This cleverly colour-coded graph shows this year’s Provincial Road Improvement Program funding announcements. Red columns are the sacrificial districts. Light blue are Conservative backbenchers; dark blue, cabinet ministers — at least at the time of the announcement.



Note: The figure for Baie Verte-Springdale is the as-announced $3.5-million that precipitated Tom Rideout’s departure. The figures for Gander and Bonavista North are arbitrarily set as $2-million, since The Most Open And Accountable Government In The Universe combined the two into one $4-million announcement rather than breaking the two figures out.

Cf. individual longitudinal graphs for Humber Valley, Isles of Notre Dame, Bay of Islands, Carbonear-Harbour Grace and Grand Bank, Burgeo-La Poile and Ferryland, Fortune Bay, and Labrador West.

And, especially, cf. similarly colour-coded graphs for previous years. A careful comparison of this year’s graph and previous years’ yields a most interesting phenomenon. There are two well-defined “plateaus” at that $2-million and $2.5-million announced-per-district levels.

What’s up with that?

That’s a question some enterprising political scienticians ought to look into.

It would certainly be a more fruitful exercise, in light of recent practice, than searching for “those who are opposed to pork-barrel politics”, whoever they are.