Tough choice for Newfoundland

If you look at the public opinion polls in Newfoundland, it may seem like the campaign which Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has been waging against Harper's government is paying off. The provincial PC support is at unprecedented levels and it's projected that party will sweep every seat except for a couple of NDP strongholds in the upcoming provincial election.

But this strategy could backfire. Danny Williams was so preoccupied blasting the federal Conservatives that he didn't realize what the alternative may be like.

Fabian Manning said Liberal policies will at least still if not kill the Hebron, which the Newfoundland and Labrador government expects to deliver at least $16 billion in royalties over a 25-year production period.
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Manning said the Liberal-supported Bill C-288 "certainly creates some major problems for the Hebron project," since it calls for what he called "drastic" reductions in carbon emissions within four months.
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"If anybody thinks [Bill C-288] is not going to drastically reduce economic activity in this country … they're dreaming in Technicolor," Manning said in an interview.

(Source)

Of course, the Liberals were quick to denounce those predictions as fear-mongering. (As if global warming hysteria itself wasn't anything but fear-mongering.) And of course the Cheaters, Bluffers & Co were there to strengthen the Liberal point of view.

Remember now what this "news report" is purportedly based upon - a claimed risk to Newfoundland oil development posed by Liberal demands for implementation of Bill C-288.

We received the opinion of a sociology professor.

We received the opinion of a weatherman.

As a bonus prize, we received results of June public opinion polling in Newfoundland.

Did we hear from an economist? No.

Did they interview an industry expert? No.

Did they ask Chevron? No.

Did the CBC make any effort at all to determine if the concerns of the Conservative MP quoted were valid?

No.

And that is why we mock you.

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Fabian Manning is doing a great job trying to counterbalance the anti-Conservative rhetoric from the provincial government and the media. Yet with the media doing their best to ensure that the Conservative support doesn't rebound, it's up to the provincial government and Danny Williams himself to do the damage control.

Newfoundland PC party will be re-elected with a near-clean-sweep majority on October 9th. What will be their next step? How is Danny Williams going to make sure the protocols of the learned elders of Kyoto are not used to strip Newfoundland of its natural wealth? How is he going to backtrack on over half-a-year of bashing the Federal Conservatives? What tactics will he use to convince the people Newfoundland and Labrador that a cap (not even a claw-back) on equalization payments is still better than having the oil projects halted under C288 and other Kyoto implementation bills the Liberals are likely to pass? Or will he choose to just let the things happen and hand all 7 Newfoundland seats over to a party that will turn Newfoundland into an eternal dependent in exchange for a notion that a province of 500 thousands and shrinking is doing its best to prevent the entire planet from overheating?

It's going to be a touch choice for Danny Williams. And a tough choice for Newfoundland.