Newfoundland & Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador Opinion

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BOB WAKEHAM: Politicians must put NL first as Churchill Falls deal debated

Now's not the time for politicking; it's important that the facts of the new deal with Quebec be laid out clearly as deal is debated

No matter what their party affiliation or philosophical leaning, be it to the left, the right, or somewhere in between, politicians — at least the vast number from all sides in this province that I’ve been employed for decades to keep a skeptical eye on — utilize verbiage, speechifying and the distilling of information in a manner that is consistently self-serving, designed to curry favour with voters and help place their arses in a lucrative seat in the House of Assembly.

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As Joey Smallwood so famously put it, in his characteristically repetitive manner (I paraphrase here): “The first responsibility of a politician is to get elected, the second responsibility of a politician is to get elected, the third responsibility of a politician….”

And, as Joey taught us over 23 years — as did his successors — bullshit can, indeed, successfully baffle and hoodwink even the most astute of voters.

But this week, arguably among the most important few days in our history — certainly in our relatively recent history — I just hope, and would even pray (if, in fact, I actually believed the foolishness of a mythical figure having an impact on our daily lives), that the politicians deliberating the merits of the proposed power agreement between........

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