Thursday, September 03, 2009

Admitting you're wrong

Lord knows I've had plenty of negative things to say about Premier Williams. I think he's arrogant, far too secretive and has a bullying streak that's abnormally large even for a Newfoundland premier. Premier has always been a bit of bullying politician. Newfoundland premiers tend to be at the upper end of that bell curve. So for Premier Williams to be called a bully, well, it's impressive.

However, I will give the devil his due. The idea of running massive power lines through Gros Morne is now dead. I have no idea why the premier fought for this brain dead idea for so long, up to and including apparently putting NL Tourism in a headlock.

I don't think it was a strategy, as some have argued, to try and get the federal government to cough up some dough for the alternative and, supposedly, more expensive route. That sounds more like a face-saving excuse. Maybe it was the feds saying no. Perhaps the premier did get some numbers from the recent polling that showed just how much people hated this idea.

It would be nice if the premier could just stand up and say, "Yeah, I've had better ideas. Sorry about that." I'd actually have more respect for him. However, I guess I should be happy enough that he's upped and said the idea of it is dead.

I wish he would also stand up and say the idea of creating a separate university in Corner Brook at Grenfell was also dead. I mean, it's dead by neglect right now, but there isn't a stake driven through its heart right now. There's an election in two years time, so it's possible it might get resurrected right around then. But if I have a hope that it's dead.

Hmmm, I wonder how the new MUN president search is going, speaking of messing up the university.

So yes, good on the premier for recognizing a bad idea and killing it early. Would that he do that more often, I'd be a happier person.

Last Five
1. Forever at your feet - Oh Susanna
2. Light years - Sloan
3. I won't back down - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers*
4. Instant karma - U2
5. It takes one to know one - The Donnas

3 comments:

WJM said...

I don't think it was a strategy, as some have argued, to try and get the federal government to cough up some dough for the alternative and, supposedly, more expensive route. That sounds more like a face-saving excuse.

Then he's a remarkably prescient man: since his first public pronouncements on the issue, the "aha, now Ottawa has to pay for it" argument has been front and centre.

And it's not just on this Gros Morne/transmission line front. The blithering idiot tried (and failed) the same gambit with the Trans-Labrador Highway and the floundering Mealy Mountains National Park.

Adam Snider said...

As someone with a limited knowledge of Newfoundland politics, I don't understand why the idea of a new university in Corner Brook is a bad idea (unless MUN already has a campus there, in which case the need for a separate school would seem to be lacking).

towniebastard said...

Grenfell College is in Corner Brook already. It's part of MUN. The premier's plan was the to give Grenfell full autonomy. It basically meant creating an unnecessary level of bureaucracy, spending a lot more money on a campus that will likely never significantly grow simply because it doesn't have the popular base to draw on.

It was pure politics to make some people in Corner Brook happy. MUN's Board of Regents strongly opposed it and the premier's office "secretly" interfere with the hiring over a new MUN president over the issue.

So if it's dead and off the table and the premier is hopefully done playing politics with the university, then I'm a happy man.