Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

Yeah, whatever

by Paul Wells on Monday, November 16, 2009 12:07pm - 72 Comments

Danny Williams’ positions on important national matters continue to be random, pouty and self-obsessed.

Tags: Danny Williams

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http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

Williams is the most self-obsessed and ineffective premier in the country, in capable of taking an objective position. He turns everything he does into a soap opera. He is incapable of negotiating.

Blues Clair

"incapable of taking an objective position. He turns everything he does into a soap opera. He is incapable of negotiating. He is incapable of working with his peer premiers"

I understand your frustration s_c_f, Conservative politicians are often difficult to deal with.

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

It's not frustration. I'm not a Newfoundlander, so while I'd like to see them succeed and do well, at the same time I', nothing more than an observer.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Danny Williams has finally figured out that Harper will be sticking around for many years to come.

“I'm trying to get away from that anti-Harper mentality,” he says. “I am saying we are here to work with the federal government at any point in time.”

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

And we've finally figured out that Danny Williams is the day before yesterday's man, at least as far as the ROC is concerned. Though he has an unexpected talent for public groveling.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Though he has an unexpected talent for public groveling.

Filtered through the lens of Danny's colossal ego, I'm sure it seems less like groveling and more like magnanimity.

Dave

You have a talent for cutting through Danny's crap. That's it – exactlly it.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Seems Williams is a fair weather friend – nice, according to his needs

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

He's actually more of a fair-weather enemy. He'll make your life hell, if you promise not to do the same back to him. It's no fun picking on somebody your own size.

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Which is funny given that he picked on Paul Martin all the time…..proves your point I guess

http://intensedebate.com/people/psiclone psiclone

Wow – I am impressed that people sound surprised – must be young uns – look for those of you out there who haven't beena round awhile this is an old old old Canadian story – there are times when it is poltically advantageous for a Premier to make war on Ottawa and then there are times when it is better to make nice .. what with some of the issues coming down the tube it's nice nice time for King Danny.

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

I think that in business and in politics, you need a minimum level of credibiity, so that people will be willing to enter discussions and negotiations with you knowing there is a chance that they will not be stabbed in the back. I'm not saying business and politics is not dog-eat-dog. I'm just saying that in business you are only as good as your word, that you should be willing to negotiate in good faith, and that you need to be willing to come to the table. Williams fails miserably in all of these aspects.
Mulletaur

Totally agree, psiclone.

kcm

'If Quebec were increasingly to gain leverage over available green and “virtual green” energy sources from the east, he says, in an increasingly environmentally conscious world that could only, in the long run, hurt the Alberta oil sands"

I'm a bit of a Danny fan. He's colourful, fiesty and half nuts – everthing you want in a Premier. But this seems odd. What's he playing?Let's not let any other region get a leg up, even if it's the wave of the future. I thought he was bigger than that.

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

"colourful, fiesty and half nuts – everthing you want in a Premier"

You must think Sarah Palin would make a good premier and you must have thought Vander Xalm was Faaaantastic.

kcm

I was being facetious…mostly…as you were…i hope:)

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

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Dave

There is nothing and no one that Danny can't be smaller than.

Dakota

Danny who?
Eas Coas

Full disclosure: I'm a Newfoundlander, albeit with no political affiliation and no connection to the Williams government.

That being said, I'm no huge, drooling fan of Danny. I find him temperamental, opportunistic, and resistant to criticism.

That also being said, what politician isn't? That's not an excuse, but Danny getting himself worked up is no accident, nor is it simply a result of lack of restraint or slavery to emotions.

Danny Williams has put himself to work raising the morale and spirit of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. I haven't heard a single credible source discredit his claim that Harper broke an election promise in 2006. Without Danny, this would have resulted in a strongly-worded expression of disappointment from whatever premier we may have had. With Danny, it became the last straw of decades of periodic neglect from mainland Canada.

Danny is giving this province precisely what it needs: a sustainable, resource-based economy and the spiritual fortitude to stand up to anyone who wishes to continute to take advantage of us. Within 10-15 years, he may be useless. For now, let's not look down our noses him.

http://www.TennisVagabond.com Big Dave S

Sorry we neglected you with the decades of money earned in other regions. "Danny is giving this province precisely what it needs": Right, a finger to the rest of the country that supported the region through harder times.
Dave

Danny's not giving his province anything. All the resource projects that were generating zillions of dollars for his treasury were signed off on decades ago. His own projects are decades in the future. They have also been put beyond scrutiny by changes to provincial laws and confidentiality clauses.

At the same time, the rest of the provincial economy is hollowing out. There were three paper mills in the province when Danny took office, now there's one. Even the oil and mining projects that have led the boom have gone bust this year. The only thing keeping the economy afloat is returning ex-pats who are having a better time living at home with mom than being unemployed in Edmonton, and a truly massive increase in the province's public sector?

Sustainable? Like Danny would say, you gotta be kidding me.

I bet he bails out before June 2010.

Eas Coas

Hi Dave.

It's because of Danny's tough negotiating (Smallwood's decades-old mistake concerning the Upper Churchill continually in his mind, no doubt) that NL manages to have a stake in the offshore oil. He was called out for being so tough a year earlier when oil companies walked away. When they came back, he remained tough and won an important battle.

The Abitibi-Bowater mill in Grand Falls-Windsor shut down because Abitibi-Bowater shut it down. Danny did what he could to prevent this from happening, but he can't prevent a major economic downturn and a rural area that is becoming less and less profitable in its resources. He is now majorly pi**ing off AB by saying the land the mill is on is ours, not theirs, and working to develop it to re-create jobs. I think that's doing what he can with bad situation.

What's keeping our economy afloat is the prospect of serious oil business very soon. We're already seeing the benefits as businesses slowly move in and rent office space, by houses, products, and services, and pay taxes.

Do you live here? If so, you should know these things. If not, I'm afraid you need to do your homework.

Eas Coas

"by houses" should be "buy houses". oops.
Dave

That stake in the offshore isn't generating one red cent of revenue, and it won't for at least a decade or more.

The money-makers that have given Danny's treasury so much money are the three existing projects, which were sanctioned long before he came into office, and Voisey Bay (which he used to condemn.)

You should do your homework. I'm from NL.

http://nottawa.blogspot.com Mark

No question that the province has a sustainable resource-based economy. But do tell us how Danny is giving<i/> it to us.

And heaven help us if we need out premiers to provide us with spiritual fortitude. If watching an angry meglomaniac gives you emotional support, you're probably in need of more help than you can get from an elected politician,

Newfoundlanders had spiritual fortitude long before Danny Williams arrived. And they'll have it long after he's gone.

Eas Coas

I suppose you've got me there.

I'm not stupid enough to claim that Danny is setting a perfect example, but I'm just trying to explain what I think he's doing and why I think it is a relatively noble undertaking.

We have had spiritual fortitude for a while, you are right. But are we fighters? We can endure and in good spirits, but do we have a rich history of standing up for ourselves on the national or world stage? I am doubtful…

Mark

I would never suggest you're stupid. I would ask you to keep trying to explain what you think he is doing. Better still, maybe explain what you know him to be doing.

I am trying to think of a single policy, legislative initiative, or announcement from his government which has had any impact whatsoever on the 'great tidings' of these past several years.

As for a rich history of standing up, or 'fighting', I'd suggest you take a walk to the end of the waterfront. Start at the Beaumont Hamel monument, work your way along the remnants of the fishing slips where ice bound sealing vessels have been replaced by cutting edge seabed exploratory boats. Ask yourself if you really think these are the markings of the 'ashamed, weak and defeated' people that Danny Williams would have you believe.

Eas Coas

It just so happens that someone close to me works with this province's Poverty Reduction Strategy, which, if I'm not mistaken, was created by the Williams government. It has earned national recognition for its work in finding ways to amend policy in favour of the impoverished. That's one example off the top of my head. It may be relatively small, but, hey, it can't all be oil deals.

Your tour of the waterfront is stirring, but it doesn't quite answer my call for examples of us standing up for ourselves politically, on the national or world stage.

I don't know who you're quoting ("ashamed, weak and defeated"), but it's definitely not me.
http://nottawa.blogspot.com Mark

No, not quoting you. The quote is actually the opposite – "Proud Strong Determined". It's all Mr. Williams ran on in the last election, and some of us are still trying to figure out what he meant by it.

Surely the strategy you speak of has more than a title, if you are going to hang yuor argument's hat on it.

But back to your original point. all this wealth and business activity in St. John's, what does any of it have to do with any policy actions or legislative initiatives of Mr. Williams or his government?
Eas Coas

I'm afraid I don't know an awful lot more about the strategy, so that's a point against me.

This year, the Williams government raised public sector wages in many areas by 20% over 4 years. Also, minimum wage will hit $10 an hour in July, only $0.25 less than Ontario.

I suppose it can be difficult to attribute wealth and business activity to policy and legislation, given this is a free market economy. And I suppose that's another point against me. But if the government is negotiating the use of its resources by companies, and insisting on getting a substantial cut, and through that working on its citizens' behalf to ensure businesses are attracted here and hire our citizens, does he not get any credit?
http://nottawa.blogspot.com Mark

The only instance in which your last sentence might be partially relevant is Hebron, which, as you know, is years and years away.

My aim is not to nit-pick with you or anyone else. On most facts – like wage increases, real estate appreciation, general economic indicators, etc. you and I would probably agree.

What I dispute, is the correlation between any of those things and the timely occupancy of the Premier's chair by Mr. Williams.

Do you honeslty believe that no other Leader, with oil prices reaching lofty highs in the past three years, and revenue streaming in from a handful of projects on land at sea (which with he had nothing to do) wouldn't have done the same things?

As for government's negotiation improving – again, you'll find little disagreement from this corner. But once again – the bargaining position of our province is directly proportional to the market price of the commodities themselves. Any Premier of Newfoundland of any stripe can negotiate a better deal on oil when it is at $100/barrel than when it is at $13.
Dave

Another classic Danny Williams ploy. Take things the government is doing anyway, print up a book with the word "strategy" on the cover, and you're a hero. To gullible people, at least. They don't even notice when your health minister admits to "playing it by ear".

http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

Williams is really weird. He went thermonuclear in the last election, and now he seems to be trying to brush the whole thing off as though it was a minor spat. What's changed?

La Danny mo-bi-le…. semper in mis-er-e."

http://intensedebate.com/people/tigerinexil1428 tigerinexile

He demonstrated his power — took out three Tory MPs. Now he's seeing that there's a decent chance that Harper will stick around, so it's time to mend fences…

Nothing all that out of the ordinary here.
Orson Bean

It's because he has Borderline Personality Disorder. Look it up in DSM IV.

D-R

I like Danny, he's like a Premier's ID. None of the pretense all the others come up with. It's refreshing.
Mark

argh. mistyped italics tag.
http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Come on now. Who wouldn't want him as premier of their province.

Alberta would be sacrificing virgins in his honour.

kcm

It's funny how Ralph can turn up at a single men's hostel drunk and throwing money at people, sceaming ' get a job you bums", and yet Danny's weird?

Orson Bean

True enough, but there were, and are, a lot of differences between Klein and Danny Williams. That was a bad night for Klein for sure, but a good deal of the time Klein was a very talented people person. Klein could work a room and charm people, in his folksy way. Part of it came from his background as a TV reporter, where you have to deal with people and communicate well. Unlike Danny, Klein didn't perpetually come off as this bitter, aggreived, angry ranting guy. That's pretty much Danny Williams' full-time persona. Another huge difference between the two men, which speaks favourably for Klein IMO, is that many times in his political career, Klein came right out and publicly admitted mistakes — like that incident in the men's hostel. He profusely apologized, frankly admitted he had a drinking problem, etc. Danny strikes me as way too small and insecure to be able to admit to making mistakes in that way — oh, but wait, I forgot, Danny is never wrong . . .

kcm

I gather you were in AB for a while – me too, almost 15 years on and off. I'll take your word for it on Danny – i don't really know the guy at all. But i don't share your rosy picture of king Ralph. Although i'll grant he wasn't a bad premier, just not a good one ; not in the way Lougheed was before him. He could be humble – that's good, and funny too – that's good. But he was a status quo guy. He didn't make any kind of provision for the future in AB as far as oilfields policy goes, or anything else that i could see. Just don't rock the boat and do nothing that might slow down the oil bonanza, whether it made sense or no.

Orson Bean

I'm in agreement with you about Klein as far as stewardship of the province goes. Nothing very visionary or forward-looking there, that's for sure. The only time he did show some bold leadership in the true sense was early on his his reign, when they had that deficit problem (a big one), and he did do a good Paul Martin-like job in getting that under control. And it's like the people of Alberta were (generally) so thankful for that accomplishment that they never really asked for anything more from him.

But I will give Klein this, as opposed to Danny W: on the test of who would be more likely to be a constructive force at a Premier's conference, my vote would go to Klein hands-down. Danny would be the kind of guy who would fume in the corner and accomplish nothing more than a histrionic hissy fit. For all his apparent buffonery, Klein was enough of an adult to know when to put aside theatrics, get down to business and do the hard business of compromising and horse-trading that's necessary to make this federation work. Williams just seems to want to stick a crowbar in the spokes.
kcm

No real arguement from me. Ralph's bark was worse than his bite. He was just too much a part of that clubby old boys club that seems to run AB – not necessarily an incompetent one – not all the time anyway. But just complacently chummy and occasionally viscious if they thought/think you were threatening the provinces golden egg. As you said somewhere earlier, Ab's misunderstood. It;s not a backward bunch of nuckle draggers – there's even a stong liberal streak in the province – they like to see fair play. But their electoral system stinks…con majorities guaranteed from here to doomsday.

Dave

Danny throws money at people, and screams at them too.

http://intensedebate.com/people/TwoYen TwoYen

Does anyone know what Danny's change of heart will do to Conservative Party prospects in the next federal election? Does this mean the Tories might now win back one or two seats in the province?

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Maybe, but who cares, it just lets Danny relaod his his blunderbuss to threaten again.

If the Cons win a majority it wont be by one or two seats if Newfoundland elects a couple of cons. If they win their majority it will be due to a collapse of the Libs in Ontario. Danny is making nice because he lost his leverage.

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

oh yes….we are talking abbout williams, so nothing is to be taken at face value
Cdneh

Let's see… Stevie Harper: random, check; 'pouty', check; self-obsessed, check check. Yup, Danny and Stevie: separated at birth.

Orson Bean

Kee-rist, I don't know where you get that. I find that Williams is so off the chart, he makes Harper look like a serene Zen Buddhist by comparison.

To be fair, maybe it's a public-private thing — Harper may have a temper in private, but publicly he plays it a lot cooler than Danny.

Anonymous

"Time to each those lefty fringe groups [women and minorities] a lesson!"

Yeah, real cool.

Orson Bean

Umm, I wasn't referring to the appropriateness of his comments or his opinions. I was referring to the manner of delivery. All I was really getting at was that Harper tends not to foam at the mouth and have the veins at his temples bulge quite the way Danny does.

dede

Sad really that Danny's case cannot be heard because of his past conduct. Lower Churchill power should be flowing west, not south but Quebec holds Canada hostage. Harper is going to let him twist in the wind. Because of intransigence and institutional political paralysis a major industrial project that would benefit all is not going to happen. In the long term it is good for Newfoundland because the industry that wants the power will have to relocate there, but that will be long after Danny's watch. Ontario should be screaming blue murder. In the short term everybody loses, how Canadian.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Why, Mr. Wells, after this blog post you'll never work in St. John's again.

TedTylerEzro

Hah! XP for you sir!
http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Isnt it

"Wells!, you'll never kiss a cod in this town again!!!"

Andre

The screaming premier of a small fringe province is a raving lunatic. The screaming premier of an oil power province is a revolutionary.

And then you criticize Danny's objectivity… hypocrites.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

That's right. I'm the main cheerleader for that noted screaming revolutionary, Ed Stelmach. Ding ding ding! Andre wins the steak knives!

Ken A

Paul,

If you keep giving away all these sets of steak knives, Macleans will be heading towards bankruptcy like your formee emeployer NP
Andre

You're the last person I thought would take this comment personally. "Hypocrites" is plural, I spat in a general direction.

Anonymous

"random, pouty and self-obsessed"

Sounds like a new motto for MacLean's Magazine.

kcm

lol You just want a set too!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

We could maybe spare a Graty.

kcm

Good lord, i had to google that.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

Stop having a boring tuna; stop having a boring life. It makes so much sense when you hear it laid out like that.

Dave

I really don't want to love your nuts. I don't.

Dot

No wonder Danny is getting all excited, evoking Alberta/clean energy, worried that he is being left behind, and isolated. Afterall, sometime in the past little while we've apparently officially evolved from what Harper humorously described as an "emerging energy superpower" to the big leagues. Yipee!

Our country does occupy a position of being an energy superpower and we aspire to have very responsible environmental policies but the policies that were negotiated by the previous government under Kyoto have been very ill-suited to our country and are not workable.

-Jim Prentice
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/jim-…
Ontario Nationalist

Make a list of Ontario cities in order by population. Then insert the entire Province of Newfoundland and Labrador on that list ranked by population.
Oh shut up Danny; you're fun but an absolute nobody.

dede

Make a list of those Ontario cities that are beginning a long period of decline. One of the few advantages Ontario industry could have over offshore competitors is cheaper energy but Canada is afraid to make Quebec trade it freely. Canadians take Quebec's leverage so seriously that the media doesn't even question the fact that Danny Williams is in New York asking that the markets on the eastern seaboard use provisions of NAFTA to force Quebec to play by the rules. That it is easier to ask the US to intervene than Ottawa should tell Ontario why its fortunes have reversed and its prospects dimmed.

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

If Danny wanted to buy NB power he could have. Wonder why NB Power didnt approach Mr Williams' government?

That beiong said, I am not sure I am completely happy with the deal. But hey NB power can always re expropriate

http://intensedebate.com/people/medererobert medererobert

What a shame.. a Premier actually standing up for his province. How terrible!

He might make a racket but he's usually correct. How many of these comments actually discuss what Danny's talking about and not just that Danny's talking?
Luke

It seems a lot of commentators here are projecting a longing for Williams to play more like the modern Canadian politician. I certainly don't agree with some of his tactics, but nor would I hope for him to emulate the standard, PR-obsessed, contemporary MP. It's true that his posturing has a political purpose, and true too that it may be ineffective, but when I take a wide gaze at what passes for policy making in this country, I see nothing to aspire to, civil or otherwise.

http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=pas&a…