The Morning Star
Salvation or fall?
Not much really changed in the last year and everything changed.
Andrew Furey was still Premier. Would be a few more months before he did a runner.
The Liberals had not one but two scandals on the go.
Major, government-wrecking kinda scandals.
We didn’t know about his deal to let Quebec build Gull Island and use Churchill Falls to help pay for it while Newfoundlanders and Labradorians got scraps.
A year ago, John Hogan was the minister of health *and* attorney general.
In the House of Assembly, Hogan said at one point in answer to a question about nurses:
This train will say choo-choo. Get on board over here.
You can find that in a column from 18 November 2024 about how small things connect to bigger things.
There’s another one on government’s finances that’s worth your time. It’s shorter than the other one but it’s scarier.
A year later, Hogan is on the opposition benches and Tony Wakeham is Premier. Wakeham told reporters on Monday that in the one briefing he’s had so far on provincial finances he found some things that were “surprising.”
VOCM listeners the other day heard that DBRS Morningstar, the Lucifer of bond rating agencies, is warning about lots of things including that the government might not balance the budget by 2026-27 and that the agreements on Churchill Falls might not happen on time.
No friggin’ d’uh Sherlock.
In the real world, VOCM reported Premier Tony Wakeham’s simple answer: “Am I going to be able to solve that deficit in one year? No – it’s going to take a plan. But that’s what I’m committed to doing, making sure that we start identifying exactly where we are, what things are in the forecast, and then we move forward from there.”
Wakeham and his crew have the three-inch firehose installed now and they’ll soon be upgraded to a six-inch line running full blast.
Welcome to the Cabinet, b’ys.
That’s where you find out that what readers of these scribbles have known for a decade now, about the lazy, incompetent liars and the out-of-control spending, all of that was not made up.
Not a word of it.
Might have missed a few things but mostly, it was bang on.
This is the Monday before Remembrance Day.
The new crowd running the place have only been there a couple of weeks.
Emotions are high. They feel like they caught the car. Then they feel like they got run over by a truck. They’ll swing back and forth quit a bit between those feelings.
Out here, people know how bad things are but they have the one thing every new government worthy of their respect and support should remember.
People have hope.
Just like no one ever went into Cabinet planning to shag up, lie, make a mess, no one out here among the tired ever gave up the hope that the morning star brings of a new day and new possibilities and what fate or chance will deliver.
Salvation or the fall from grace, if you take the Christian use of the morning star as a symbol of both Christ and Lucifer.
They went for hope in 2015 and got the fall.
They went for hope again in 2025.
What happens from here on will be neither.
It will be not just what Tony and his crew make of it but what we all make of it.
Editorial note: It’s a sort-of holiday Monday. Remembrance Day on Tuesday means that many people have taken the day off. Not around here, but for Monday, there’s something to start your week that is a wee bit different.
For those expecting more on the Churchill Falls deal, stand by. It’s coming. Just not yet.
There’ll be something on Tuesday for a day of remembrance.
We’ll be back Wednesday with our usual programming.
Interesting piece.
The Morning Star is not actually a star but the planet Venus, and can be viewed as either Christ or Lucifer. My take; will Wakeham align with the fossil fuel industry (if there a market need then we should supply it, and with Trump of a China hoax) , or with climate change scientists, the Pope, and maybe a wobbly King Charles?
That is only one of many considerations on a Plan going forward.
As a son of a Master Mariner, I had in my youth found the North Star, Polaris, which is a real star and essential for past Mariners for navigation, as it is significantly fixed in its position, aligned with the earth's rotation. But surprised to now learn that its near perfect alignment will be in the year 2100, and a new North Star will take over in abut 12,000 years.
Polaris is actually a triple star formation, a major one with two adjacent smaller one's , yet not that bright compared to the Venus, given it vast distance from earth.
The artists symbol showing respect, ........and as many say , respect for Mother Nature is not to be overlooked.
Even Bill Gates is now switching and more aligning with Trump on fossil fuels.
I suggest our water resources are more our salvation than oil, but what do I know, hey b'y. Just an opinion.
First: clean up Nalcor and the Nfld Hydro numb sculls that handed us Muskrat Fall and 15 billion added debt, and no reliability.
Then deal with that messy MOU. Aim for a really good deal not any deal.
Meanwhile tackle the incompetence of out Health care system.
These are necessary as a start to get our financial house in order.
Maybe....... live in hope, and die in despair, hey b'y.
I'll await Ed's fine analysis.
What are we to remember for Nov 11th? The glory or the cost and the shame? There's a carton of someone whispering to King Charles for Nov 11th, " Somethings we shouldn't remember"