Democracy, Censorship, and Spin

The one thing that can be said of the provincial PC Party in Newfoundland and Labrador is they love their spin. They are incredibly bad at it, but when it's the only game you have you go with it. In this Province it is the only game they have. The truth be damned should it in any way interfere with the game. Certainly these words must be hanging on a Confederation Building wall next to the "To hell with the rest of the country" sign. A really inspiring set of motto's to run a provincial government by.

We just finished up a darling of a by-election in Humber West. A west coast seat vacated by former Premier Danny Williams. The PC candidate won the seat with a healthy 63% of the popular vote (39% overall turn out). Low turnout always favours the incumbent government, and this was no different. There were some interesting facts that surfaced though. Most interesting I suppose was the no show by Ms Dunderdale on the night before polls closed. Every other party leader was out there -  not her. In her place was one retired Danny Williams. While you can't blame the PC's for trotting out the ex premier, and using him for his popularity, it does beg the question: Is Ms Dunderdale that big of a liability? It sort of fits with the use of her decade old picture on all governmental and party advertising. A Premier who is so illegitimate that her presence seems to emphasize the fact on it's own.

Another interesting result of the by-election was the drop in the PC Party's popular vote by almost 25%. Interesting in that it reflects a drift away from the PC's in a seat that is essentially safe for the governing party. If Danny William's old seat, tried and true, could lose 25% support what about the rest? Could it be the PCs have lost 25-30% support across the Province? Would that put them at say between 40-45% or less provincially? While Ms Dunderdale is harking on about their perfect plan to win Humber West is she really casting a weary eye to the Province as a whole? How much lower can it go? How large is the undecided?

Then we have the case of the Roger's family, and their tragic loss of their children. Despite massive media coverage of the issue the provincial government continues to deny these people access to their children. Bad enough to be sure. Now, believe it or not, the PC government is going to Court Thursday to have a media ban placed on the whole issue. In case you don't know, this issue has been in the media for at least 6 weeks, and now they want a ban. Of course the usual talk of protecting the children has been thrown out there, but this has been in the media for over a month. Can you say spin? What good could a media ban do now? There is only one possible answer to that - shut the media down. The government, in another blatant abuse of power, is trying to shut down our freedom of expression in the Courts. The reasoning is for the purely political death of this issue. Censorship of the media and the issues they discuss - pure and simple. Another line crossed - not many left.

George W Bush probably said it best: " Don't piss on my boots and tell me it's raining." The PC government in this Province has insulted the intelligence of all with it's ridiculous spins. Whether it is peekaboo Premiers, phantom principles, democracy of convenience, you name it they have done it. It's as if they think the people here live under rocks and are blind and stunned. It's as if they believe our collective backbone is measured in government payoffs and not in principle. I believe they are wrong. I believe in this place and it's people. I believe in our future together - spin that.