Is the end near for Rodney?

According to a new poll by Corporate Search Associates, Rodney MacDonald’s government is sitting in third place right now.

And the NDP is in a position to win a spring election.

Satisfaction with the overall performance of the PC government decreased somewhat in the past three months, according to the most recent survey conducted by Corporate Research Associates Inc. Presently, over one-half (54%, down from 59% in November 2008) of residents express satisfaction with the government, while four in ten (38%, up from 32%) are dissatisfied.

The Liberals are gaining too, eating away at the Tory support.

No real surprise there if you believe word on the street.

Rodney has earned his laggardly position. It will be an interesting campaign, even though it hasn’t been called yet.

But with numbers like those, the days of this government are growing shorter by the minute.

Rodney had better hope he plumbs that patronage appointment from the august Canadian Senate.

Rodney’s stimu-late package

One thing you can say for our Rodney MacDonald. He doesn’t rush into anything. No sirree.

That economic meltdown is just going to have to wait until old Rodo’s good and ready to have a look at the situation and see what his response will be.

Just like the provincial budget. Why rush? Sure, people are losing jobs, plants are shutting down, mills are going on five-week shut-downs. But that’s  not going to force our Rodo into doing things like issuing a budget update.

No, you see, this is Noooooova Scoooooootia. We’re sloooooooooow in Noooooova Scoooootia.

We hope that Rodo doesn’t emulate his brave and fearless Conservative leader Stephen Harper who hasn’t quite grasped the magnitude of this economic shit storm. No, Stephen, it wasn’t caused by Canada with it’s bullet-proof banking sector, but that charming Canadian smugness gets a little tiresome when you consider how integrated (dependent)  our economy is with the US economy.

If you’re happy to ride the resources boom, then don’t point fingers when the boom goes bust.  You put yourself in that position and didn’t think to buffer yourself.

Smart economies invest in innovation, research and development. European economies are doing this. Obama’s doing it.

Meanwhile, our Stephen Harper’s cutting back on research and development. Lumberjack economies like Canada’s will do well in commodity booms, but economic growth, smart workers and prosperous nations will come with invention, brains and forward vision.

Sadly, these are not characteristics that we associate with the Rodney Mac Conservatives.

We can only hope that his stimulus will be designed with the future of this province’s  economy. Let’s hope for investments in schools, universities, transportation (with economic benefit and not patronage benefits) and clever incentives that encourage research and innovation in our fine province.

Give us shovel-ready projects but give us some vision too.

We await your package, Mr. MacDonald.

Rumour rumour on the wall …

Who is the fairest hog of all. Could Preem Rodo McDodo be the next senator?

Could he be on the short list for a senate appointment as reported on CBC radio this morning?

Senator Rodney MacDonald.  Has a ring to it, don’t you think?

We at CoD think Rodney is a fine candidate the Canadian Senate.  After all, it’s littered with old boys and girls who have made a career sloshing about in troughs of taxpayer’s money.

The Canadian Senate has no real power so it can do little damage. And the people who pay for it have no say in who goes in. It’s just a free ride for freeloaders. Perfect.

And if an appointment to this august body is what it takes to unburden Nova Scotia of Rodney MacDonald, then so be it. This are difficult times. We need someone in the premier’s office who has vision, focus and ability.

Let the Canadian taxpayer shoulder the burden of politicians with no real political (other other) prospects. The Canadian Senate is the perfect pasture to which Rodo should be put out

RIP Michael Baker

A smart man. A fine man.

He will be missed in Nova Scotia politics.

Listen to Obama, Rodney: think renewables

Didja see the da speech by da man, Obama, last night, Rodo.

Obama’s da guy with da vision and guts to tackle da problems with his economy.

He talked about acting, and acting fast. Hammer down.

He talked about education, health care, and energys – renewable energys, Rodo.

He didn’t talk about dishing out da dosh to little league political donors like Magic Valley in Pictou County or wasting tax dollars on “viral” gimmicks like the fake-product Pomegranate Phone.

That’s not going to save da economy, Rodo.  Jobs save economies and bring da peeps home to Nova Scotia.

Rodo, it’s about da vision thing. Ya know. Renewable energys.  Da man, Obama, says that’s da economic generator of da 21st century. Nova Scotia is sitting on a gold mine of da renewable energys, Rodo.

Dump the money out of the trough and pour it into da big vision. Renewables, Rodo. Think renewables.

Even if you just think, Rodo. That would be a start.

NS Tories feed Tory hogs

Is anyone surprised that Rodney MacDonald’s Tories are handing out money from an unadvertised slush fund to ridings held by Tories?

This is Nova Scotia after all.

Here goverment money is not distributed based on what is good for the economy. In Nooooova Scooooootia, government money is handed out based on what is good for the party in power.

The folksy fun term is patronage. But if you look it up in the dictionary, it’s called political corruption.

True,  $872,802.75 of $1M dished out to Tory ridings is banal,  little league corruption.

But what do you expect from banal, little league politicians like Rodney MacDonald? Sophisticated and smart? We doubt it.

But to the people of this indebted little province, this banal corruption is an affront. Nova Scotians deserve responsible democracy, not party-political democracys.

They deserve smart people making smart decisions in this economic crisis.

And what do they get?  Rudderless Rodney.

This slush fund will not help the Nova Scotian economy. It will take care of insiders and Rodney MacDonald’s self-interest.

And when his Tory ship starts to sink, the insiders will flee like rats and Rodney be left to go down on his own.

But of course he won’t go down because he’ll get a government sinecure that will see him through on the back of the taxpayer.

Such is politics in the Little Tartan Republic of Noooooova Scoooooootia.

No surprise that Tory donors will get taxpayers’ money

Apple Valley Foods, Ledwidge Lumber and LED Roadway Lighting are receiving millions in taxpayer dollars for, well,  this and that.

All have contributed to the Tory party and its candidates.

No surprise there.

And no surprise that EcoDev Minister Murray Scott says: “If that’s a fact, certainly I didn’t know.”

Yeah, Murrr.

The little word “certainly” is telling. It’s a defensive response, an extra little “well, don’t look at me” enunciation to cover his back. Almost Clintonesque, although let’s not mistake the slip-up of a Nova Scotian politician with the tactical savvy of a Bill Clinton.

What’s surprising is that Rodo McDodo and his little band of merry men think that Nova Scotia voters will not see through these banal acts of corruption.

More sophisticated politicians would dream up smarter ways to distribute taxpayers’ money to their supporters. This way, journalists would have to dig to get to the story.

But here in the Little Tartan Republic of Noooooova Scooooootia, no one will ever accuse our politicians of being smart or sophisticated.

And they assume that voters share their smarts and sophistication.

Perhaps those on the receiving end think Rodney MacDonald’s government is smart, but the rest of us laugh at their unvarnished self-interest.

The hogs will feed well tonight

That’s because Nova Scotia Preem Rodo McDodo is is topping up the provincial slop bucket with taxpayers’ money.

He’s dumping $175M into the trough to feed business.

It won’t matter if the businesses are viable or if they have a multiplier  in the Nova Scotian economy. Rodo McDodo and his little band of merry men do not know or care about good business. If they did, they’d shunt the funds over to Stephen Lund at NSBi, the “arm’s length” body that uses government money to invest and attract business to this province.

But who wants “arm’s length” when there’s an election steaming down the tracks? Rodney needs to dole out the dosh to his friends in the hope of an ROI that will pay dividends in votes.

This is politics in the Little Tartan Republic of Nova Scotia.  Sadly for Rodo McDodo, there are enough people who will view this move as politically motivated.

Our Rodo not only scores low points when it comes to stimulating economic growth and negotiating Atlantic Accord deals with Stephen Harper, he also lacks in the skill of optics. He appears to have no concept of how bad he looks.

It’s too bad because that money could be put to good use. He could invest in innovation, technology and research to set up the province for the economic turnaround.

But not Rodo. Too much self-interest at stake.

Too bad for Nova Scotians and viable business. They’ll end up footing the bill for Rodo’s self-deluded little last act of desperation.

Nova Scotia Crystal bailout: What are they thinking?

With a financial meltdown taking down entire chunks of the economy, Rodney MacDonald’s Tories have decided to bail out a small  manufacturer producing a luxury product with little or no potential to stimulate other parts of the economy.

According to AllNovaScotia.com, the government will announce a “business investment” in Nova Scotian Crystal today. In January the company filed for bankruptcy protection. It owes creditors $1.5M.

This is spectacular lapse of judgment by the Tories. It has the strong stench of friends helping out friends. The optics of bailing out a company producing luxury items are very very band in a recessed economy.

It’s not like mouth-blown, handmade crystal is part of this province’s heritage or a pillar of its rural economy like Michelin. They are producing high-end glass products that are sold in a Calgary showroom.

That market for these products died when the economy tanked. Even the big daddy of crystal Waterford-Wedgewood filed for bankruptcy in January when it couldn’t meet its obligations. It has a hundred years of history and a brand recognized world over.

The bail-out money will come from the tax-payer funded Industrial Expansion Fund which is now almost dry.

NSBi

This rescue must cause the likes of Steve Lund at NSBi to fume. The arm’s length agency makes do with with less government money to attract business ventures with real potential to stimulate this economy.

And they have to stand by and watch Tories help out companies like Nova Scotian Crystal when that money could be used to woo banks from Bermuda. The knock-on from that sort of investment would be significantly more than the economic benefits of supporting a luxury glass manufacturer.

But that is politics in the little Tartan Republic of Nova Scotia.  Rodney and his Tories know little of business. Their grip on politics is also loose as they don’t seem to get optics, either.

But they sure do know how to take care of their friends. Let’s just hope this friendship is not built on expensive and delicate glass that could end up shattering into a thousand tiny sharp pieces.

So much for Rodney’s Code Orange

NDP Darrell Dexter pulled the carpet out from Rodney MacDonald and left him flat on his butt yesterday when he announced business tax credits to a business audience in Halifax.

While Rodney is running a Stephen Harper-copy-cat campaign to scare people off the Dippers, the Dippers have ripped a page out of the Conservative book by doffing a cap to business.

Sha-bammm, Rodo!

The Dexter proposal makes sense. Rather than letting government decide which businesses (in which patronage-infested provincial ridings) should get the money, he wants to see investment in innovation. And he will reward the manufacturer who takes this route.

This shows vision. The folks at the Conference Board have been shouting about the need for innovation incentive in Canada. And David Crane in the Toronto Star will approve. Not exactly your run of the mill Dipper supporters.

Canada has depended too heavily too long on raw resources and commodities to generate wealth.  We have to get smart and start investing in innovation and technology if we want to prosper in the brave new 21st century world of volatile oil prices and supply, American protectionism and anti-dirty oil campaigns.

At least Dexter sees this.

Canada is now recognized internationally as a laggard when it comes to RnD innovation in the developed world.  Nortel is a huge loss.  And there’s not much else in the innovation pipeline here.

Meanwhile Rodney is still pining  his hopes on federal government Giveaway Gateway money to do things like dredge out Sydney harbour and improve land-based transportation on this little finger stuck out on the edge of the vast NAmerican continent.

In times of volatile oil prices, that long long drive through bad weather and potholed roads will mean goods from India and Vietnam take a long time to get to market in Chicago.

If we invest in innovation like, say, the Blackberry, we can sell our brains for much better a return.

Perhaps Dexter will set a new course for the Dippers. Lord knows Jack Layton needs all the help he can get.