During a recent visit with my partner to a facility operated by Eastern Health, we were placed in a room and left alone for a period of time before and after a procedure. While waiting, a patient file was open and clearly visible on a screen in the room. At first, I assumed it belonged to my partner.

It did not.

What was displayed appeared to be another patient’s personal information, including identifying details and medical imaging. This information remained visible and accessible for the entire time we were left unattended, roughly 40 minutes in total.

What struck me afterward was not just the situation itself, but my initial reaction to it. Like many people, my first instinct was discomfort and even guilt, as though I had done something wrong by seeing information that was not mine. It took time, reflection, and conversations with others to recognize that the responsibility in a situation like this does not fall on the patient in the room. It falls on the system to ensure that private information is properly protected.

We often hear about privacy breaches in large, abstract terms, data leaks, cyberattacks, statistics. But sometimes it is much simpler than that. It can be a screen left open, a file not closed, a moment of oversight that leaves deeply personal information exposed.

Patients trust the healthcare system with some of the most sensitive details of their lives. That trust depends on more than medical care. It depends on knowing that their information is handled with care and respect at every step.

I did report this incident, and I hope it is taken seriously. Not to assign blame to any one person, but to highlight how easily these situations can happen, and how important it is to prevent them.

If there is one takeaway, it is this. Privacy is not just a policy. It is a practice that must be upheld consistently, even in the busiest moments of a clinical day.

Sincerely,

Pam Pardy, CBS

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Regarding the Public Hearing on the use of ATVs in CBS at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, with the independent commissioner – in my opinion, governments and the Conception Bay South Town Council should be promoting and facilitating walking as a healthy lifestyle for all citizens in the town.

It is strongly recommended not to accept ATV use as a legitimate mode of transportation in the Town of Conception Bay South.

More specifically, it is recommended that ATVs not be permitted to travel on roads and trails where citizens walk in CBS, because of the hazard, destruction, pollution, dust, and noise. Many of our roads still have open ditches, no sidewalks and very little shoulder, forcing citizens to walk on the streets with traffic. In addition, our road infrastructure is having difficulty handling the current level of traffic and the town is growing rapidly.

Who is liable if a pedestrian is injured by an ATV in CBS?

Ken W. Smith, Kelligrews, CBS

The post ATVs should not be allowed on town roads, says CBS resident appeared first on The Shoreline News.

When I was a younger fellow I had this drinking game. I would loudly declare Frank Moores the greatest Premier we ever had and then take on all comers. Okay, I hung out with political nerds. I knew the man a little. I campaigned with him, worked for him briefly as a chauffer/gopher (I was 18) and through my parents, being Joey fighters and Tory backroom folks, I saw all of what happened up front. In fact, he was friends with my parents and so I saw that side of him.

Having seen firsthand what it took to beat the Smallwood Liberals, and what he faced when he and his team took power, I felt I could always defend him adequately. While far from perfect (as are we all) I think he did a lot for this place.

Years later during Danny Williams’ tenure that game became increasingly difficult. When Danny had the top office people would mock me saying compared to Danny, Frank had been an Old School duffer. They argued Danny was far and away the better premier. They backed it up with plenty of evidence. A couple of times I felt my resolve weakening.

While working as a journalist I covered him and his administration. I was preoccupied with being unbiased (back when that was a thing) and worried my secret admiration for what he was doing would cloud my judgement and bias my work. I worked hard at staying professional.

I saw my role as a principled opposition, asking the tough questions. Besides, pissing him off was fun! Still my drinking game got tougher and tougher.

Muskrat Falls put me back in good form. After seven great years it seems he blew it going out the door.

Williams has been in the news lately saying he stopped the Liberal’s Churchill Falls deal with Hydro Quebec. In fact, he says it is his single greatest achievement since entering politics. The media was asking him about the $46,900 he donated to the current Tory party which is now in government.

Liberal MHA Fred Hutton was sent out to criticize Williams, saying his track record on hydroelectric deals was not very good. Williams once said former premiers should keep political opinions to themselves. Hutton said Williams should take his own advice.

Just more political blarney.

It made me think, however, why Williams is even bothering with this. I’m no spring chicken and he’s 10 years to the day older than me. Here’s my question: Is he trying to salvage his reputation from the debacle that is Muskrat Falls?

I think he genuinely cares about this place, and I think, like many of us, he saw the proposed deal with Hydro Quebec as our province getting snookered – again.

But here are other questions. Where was he during the developing Muskrat Falls disaster? It was his baby. To be fair, he hatched the scheme and then resigned. It was others who made a dog’s breakfast of it. But those people were his people, so he does hold part of the blame. So where was he? Why was he silent? We weren’t.

He announced his retirement on November 25, 2010, having just signed the Muskrat Falls project. Now 16 years later here he is back in the fray. Why?

Like it or not, Muskrat Falls tarnished his otherwise enviable legacy. Big time.

Were he to accomplish wrangling a better deal for us from Hydro Quebec, it would go a long way to mitigating his Muskrat Falls disaster. A disaster he knows, and we know, was his idea. A win at this late hour might help how history remembers him. Personally, I wish him well and hope his efforts help.

Even if it makes my drinking game hard again.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

The post Frankie Baby and Danny Boy appeared first on The Shoreline News.

Canada is last in the ratings of countries with universal health care due to killer wait times. And wait times are all about having enough doctors.

We train half the doctors per year of other countries, and we now have a shortage of 23,000 family doctors. It is impossible to close that gap with Canadian trained doctors.

It is estimated that we have about 25,000 internationally trained doctors in Canada, which is more than the number we lack, but most will never be licensed and many will leave the country after a few years of futile attempts to qualify.

Only 10 per cent of internationally trained physicians qualify – why? Expensive, time consuming and impossible barriers have been set by provincial licensing bodies. These barriers include costly and time-consuming examinations and credential verification, limited residency spots, work requirements that are impossible to fulfill and systemic bias against internationally trained medical workers.

These medical workers are often coming from unstable or dangerous countries. They must sell all their belongings and move their families, with limited financial resources to a strange country that they do not understand. Many will struggle with the language and it will take time for them to understand our systems. It is a costly, difficult and frightening challenge based on hope for a better future.

But most developing countries have a few world class facilities and often those workers are the ones that immigrate. In these top tier hospitals, their experience, training and facilities are superior to that in our hospitals.  

Study after study has proven that only the brightest, the best and the most motivated people will risk a major international move. So, they come to our country very determined to meet all challenges. 

But often it turns out to be a great disappointment. Studies show that a number of the best educated immigrants leave Canada within five to seven years of immigrating. And they leave with a very negative impression of Canada. As a result, Canada now has a challenge in attracting medical workers because of our negative reputation for certification.

The fact is we need them much more than they need us.

The goal should be to bring workers into our system, rather than keep them out.  We need to develop systems that utilize as many of these workers as possible and provide an ongoing pathway to full certification. If a doctor cannot qualify immediately, certify them as a paramedic. Similarly, if a nurse cannot fully qualify, certify her as a nurse assistant, but provide employment and an ongoing pathway to certification. Ensuring employment in our facilities has many benefits. It will strengthen their English capability and allow them to become more familiar with our methods of treatment and practice standards.

This is the single most important change we can make to meet the needs of our health care program. There is no other source of medical workers as great as internationally trained staff.  Without this, we will never overcome killer wait times. By welcoming them into our system, we have a very real opportunity to double the number of available physicians each year, and you will finally be able to get a family doctor.

Please send your concerns or ideas to mardicollins7@gmail.com

The post How to keep more Internationally trained medical workers appeared first on The Shoreline News.

The crucible of creation is different things to different people. Democracy? Ancient Greece. Western civilization? Ancient Mesopotamia. Human beings? Africa. The beginning of life? Upper Island Cove?

I am big into science and especially paleontology – the scientific study of prehistoric life through the examination of fossils. We are very lucky here in Newfoundland that we have a paleontology unit at Memorial University full of (pun intended) rock stars, and I am one of their groupies.

In 2022 a local couple, Tammy and Justin Coombs, found what they suspected was a fossil on their land and posted it on Newfound Fossils on Facebook. A group of paleontologists including Dr. Duncan McIlroy, whose formal title is Research Professor at Memorial (I prefer what someone called him: a palaeontologist’s paleontologist) visited the site near Upper Island Cove and quickly realized some of the oldest fossilized evidence of animal life on our planet was lying there. They lifted some moss to uncover rock exposed by the last Ice Ace glaciers, and there they were, hundreds of them.

The discovery has upended what the world thought they knew about animal life back then. At a time when the term “world class” is used so much it has lost all meaning this discovery is truly world class.

Never mind the fossils date back 550 million years. Never mind what is now Upper Island Cove was then below the equator. Never mind that these animals lived in the bottom ooze of a very deep forgotten ocean, all life was in the sea, there was no life on land.

Understand these creatures were once alive and their fossilized remains now overlook Conception Bay. Scientists and students from our university immediately knew what they were and are now studying and protecting them. The work is hard and painstaking. They’re using wooden hand tools so as not to scrape the fossils. They work tirelessly for little or no pay. They don’t know how big a site they have.

They are dedicated. Want to know how dedicated? Dr. McIlroy bought the site with his own money. He and his students are protecting it. For now, the location is a secret to protect it from onlookers and skeets.

I’m not going too far into the science of all this. I think it’s fascinating, but many may not. Want the science? Dr. McIlroy has an excellent presentation on YouTube (Expanding the Kotlin Crisis: Extinction Across the Ediacaran Biota). Fill yer boots!

Basically, the discovery adds to our knowledge of the first major mass extinction of life on earth.  Most of us know about the Really Bad Day 66 million years ago when a massive asteroid struck the Earth and ended the age of dinosaurs, but there have been five major extinction events and the first one, called the Kotlin Crisis, now appears to have been the worst. And the proof lies on a hill near not too far from Harbour Grace. Pretty damn cool.

This discovery has raised more questions than answers, but such is the nature of science.

We should all care about the amazing work these dedicated folks are doing, expanding the knowledge of how life came about.

They are also helping the local communities they are working in. Most of us know of Mistaken Point, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This may be another.

I was over the moon when I went to Dr. McIlroy’s lecture at the Geo Centre several weeks ago (standing room only) to see local municipal politicians from the area were there. Like most municipal politicians, they are on the ground and know what’s on the go. They see the value of all this for their communities.

Dr. McIlroy has started a non-profit to finance the site (as everything to date has been coming out of his pocket) and the goal is to erect a building to cover and protect the site. Science aside, this means economic activity for an area that really needs it.

What bothers me is that the people currently in charge of our university don’t seem to see the value of this work. To even contemplate selling the Geo Centre is as tragic as it is offensive. The people doing this work, and others, make the Geo Centre what it is, a jewel in our academic crown, not a bargaining chip with a cash-strapped government over funding.

It’s hard when you see the energy, the enthusiasm, the dedication and passion of the people involved, and then see the nonsense the university administration is getting up to.

Makes me think of what was said about the soldiers who fought in World War One and their leaders: lions lead by donkeys.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

The post Upper Island Cove has me dazzled appeared first on The Shoreline News.

There’s a flap about the federal Liberals poaching MPs from the Conservatives as they work slowly towards a majority. Conservative MPs are crossing the floor to join the Liberals. The media is full of the usual opinions on the practice – good and bad. All sorts of motives have been attributed to the goings on. All sorts of solutions to the “problem” are offered.

I love the debate about elected people crossing the floor (joining another political party) because it cuts to the heart of our democracy. It’s a very old debate. It is a very human debate, about a very human system, designed over the centuries by us very human beings.

I have witnessed floor crossings firsthand; I think I have something to add to the ongoing racket.

Why do people cross the floor? Any number of reasons. Despite the media and press releases, it’s rarely pure or simple.

I have seen people cross the floor because they were treated badly by the party they got elected with. Treated with contempt. I mean mocked, degraded, made fun of and humiliated. Not just by their elected colleagues, but by staff and unelected party members. Had I not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. To my mind they were driven out of the party.

Political parties are many things to many people. To some they reflect a set of beliefs that all members share. To others it’s a pseudo religion, pure and simple. To others it is a social club. To others it’s a team. All these different viewpoints see floor crossers through different lenses.

Political parties will try to demonize their opponents to win your vote. Sadly, nowadays that is too common. They will try to convince people the world is black and white, good and evil. The world isn’t that way, so when a satanic enemy decides to change his strips and come aboard, attitudes have to be adjusted.

Parties view floor crossings as good or bad, depending on how it affects them. If someone left another party and joined the party I worked for, they were seen to have come to their senses, seen the light if you will. Viewed as wonderful people. If they left our party to join a rival, they were traitorous, back-stabbing liars and scumbags. And that’s just the stuff I can say in a community newspaper. I’ve seen it be the same person on two separate occasions: when they joined us and when they left. Santa Claus then Satan.

In my own time I did not see anyone cross the floor for ideological reasons. Some, like current Speaker Paul Lane, left parties on principle.   

I have also seen people switch because they could not get along with the people in their party (and visa versa). I have seen folks cross because they were ambitious and saw the party they were a member of going nowhere fast.    

In Ottawa today I see Tories joining the Liberals thinking they are going to save their own hides. Remember their jobs only last at best four years before they need to re-apply. I suppose they feel they have a better chance with the new crowd. Or a better offer. Ideologically, the Carney Liberals are for all intents and purposes a progressive conservative government, which makes it easier for mainstream Tories to join.

Former English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a hero to many of my generation, crossed the floor a few times in his career. He marched to is own drummer. Locally we see a few of those.

Lane did it twice, choosing to do what he thought was right, instead of doing what he was told.  He then sat as an independent and got re-elected. Doesn’t seem to have hurt him.

Lela Evans, currently the PC minister of Health and half a dozen other portfolios crossed a few times. Hasn’t hurt her.

Interestingly, Evans and Lane (I know them both) have one thing in common. Evans may have flirted with various parties, but she was always all about the people of her district, Torngat Mountains. Ditto for Paul Lane in Mount Pearl South. Both are dedicated to the people who elected them, not to any political party.

I think that shows what most voters think about political parties. Here’s hoping that’s the future for politics in this place.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

The post Backstabbers, liars, opportunists and other types of floor crossers appeared first on The Shoreline News.

Back in the day I had three different shows on CHMR, otherwise known as MUN Radio, but my student number starts with 77 so we can all agree that wasn’t yesterday.

I thought about my own ties with CHMR recently when I read there was a flap over the current student union deciding to cut funding for the station. Having graduated almost 45 years ago, I have no intention of second guessing the decision these young people made. I loved my time at the station but that was then, and this is now.

I always loved MUN Radio (a channel I suspect most of you never listened to) ironically for many of the same reasons I love streaming and social media now. The station offered liberation from corporate control: liberation from the “Top 40” control of the music industry; liberation from annoying ads and DJs, and an introduction to other types of music and programming.

MUN Radio never made sense, never had much of an audience, and rarely spoke for the majority of students it claimed to represent, most of whom never listened to it. When I was there it was a cesspit of infighting, cronyism and radical political bickering – in short, like most places. I learned early on to keep my mouth shut, get to the studio, not hang out with the regulars (who seemed to always be there) and close the door to the booth when I started my show. Once the show was over, just leave. The odds of anyone in charge listening to your show was very small. That worked for me.

Is CHMR still relevant? Was it ever relevant? Was it ever supposed to even be relevant? These are not questions for me to answer. It was relevant for me when I was part of it, giving me a chance to develop on air chops which helped in my various careers and led, eventually, to a national radio comedy show which ran four and a half years. Just sayin’.

But things are changing. I see traditional radio and television broadcasting dying. Not broadcasting itself, just the venues. Commercial broadcasters will give you their market share, but not their numbers, which I suspect are dwindling. Regular readers may remember my phone book rants; they get smaller and less relevant every year, but no decision made yet to discontinue them. But who uses them? I think radio and TV broadcasting are going the same way.

In the age of social media where people are free to broadcast what they want and listen to what they want when they want, all from your kitchen table, why would you want to listen to or work at an old-fashioned radio station? And more to the point, why would those at the student union keep funding it with precious dues from students? Just asking.

Things are changing for sure, but the skill of broadcasting is still a vital one. An argument can be made that with social media more and more people are broadcasting. So maybe the current venue is dying but the content isn’t. Nor will the need for training dwindle. Like hundreds of others, I didn’t know what I was doing my first night. That was the point of CHMR to me. I learned there.

CHMR may need this latest challenge to shake them into remodelling what they do. Get with the times, so to speak. Who better than a student organization to embrace the future?

People say newspapers are a thing of the past, but you are reading one right now. While the old MUN Radio might be a dying concept, I am excited to see what will be next. News articles on the issue last week quote staff and supporters saying they are not going anywhere. Good for them. As the cliché goes, where there’s a will there’s a way.

Maybe old-style radio is a thing of the past. Maybe old-style TV is a thing of the past. I’m excited to see what comes out of this new experiment called social media. Do I mourn the old way of doing things? Maybe a little in a nostalgic way, but I am chomping at the bit to see what’s next.

Having said all that, long live VOWR!

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

The post Still ga ga over those radio days appeared first on The Shoreline News.

The backbone of our health care system is staff. Doctors and nurses are leaving the field at an alarming rate. They are asking for fair compensation, reasonable hours to permit work-life balance, reduced administrative overhead and respect for their work and their suggestions.  As many as 50 per cent of nurses consider leaving their jobs, while 30 per cent of doctors are considering leaving each year.

In January 2025 the Canadian Medical Association reported on a shocking study on doctor requirements for the future. The international average number of new graduates is 14.2 doctors per 100,000 population, Canada is at the bottom of the pack, producing 7.5 new doctors per 100,000. There is currently a deficit of approximately 23,000 family physicians in Canada, and only some 1,300 new graduates per year. At this rate it will take over 30 years to catch up to the deficit.

Canada can never train enough doctors to meet the demand. Butwe can multiply the work force, if we try new ideas. Here are a few:

Increase Physician numbers – To retain doctors allow the formation of group practices, which provide professional collaboration, improved efficiency and more flexibility in work schedules.  Streamlining coding systems for procedures can reduce administration, improve efficiency and reduce wait times. 

To attract doctors from out of province, encourage private clinics. This allows specialists to create efficient elective procedure centres, where expensive diagnostics and treatment equipment can be made available to all patients. It will result in reduced wait times, expanded patient services and more doctors from out of province.

• Interprovincial barriers to certification – All certified medical workers in any province should be certified immediately in Newfoundland. Requiring additional examination or training discourages migration of much needed medical workers.
• Internationally Trained Medical Workers – Only a small minority (10 per cent) of internationally trained physicians ever work as doctors.   What a waste!  In 2022 there were approximately 25,000 internationally trained doctors in Canada and our national shortfall of family doctors was 23,000. Obviously not all will qualify but surely we can do better than a meagre 10 per cent.

Historically, provincial professional associations created a series of barriers that have prevented certification of many thousands of doctors and nurses that we desperately need. Reducing barriers to these medically trained immigrants can fill a significant gap in the hiring of essential medical workers.

• Expanding the Team – Nurse practitioners are increasingly being given first line triage responsibilities. Imagine if paramedics were included in the mix. This group has years of training which prepares them for first responder work with trauma, heart attacks, burns and infectious diseases. If paired with a triage clinic overseen by an experienced Teledoc, they could significantly reduce the strain on urgent care facilities.
• Hiring US trained medical workers — Currently US medical workers are coming to Canada in significant numbers. Despite the shortcomings of our system, many appreciate the universality of our system and our commitment to compassionate care. Medical workers in large Canadian centres are looking for a quieter, less stressful location for work. Many of these workers would enjoy the outdoor life that we have to offer. If Newfoundland were to mount an effective hiring campaign in the Northeastern United States, Toronto and Montreal, it is likely that trained workers would choose our fair province. 
• Better Use of Technology — The use of teledocs is expanding. One teledoc can supervise many first line workers thus freeing up the time of doctors on site. Similarly artificial intelligence is becoming more widely used and can assist medical workers in the field to be more productive without demanding physician time.

Send me your concerns or ideas. If you really want a better system, you will need to speak up.  email: mardicollins7@gmail.com

The post The crisis with medical workers appeared first on The Shoreline News.

While reading the Auditor Generals (AG) scathing report on Newfoundland and Labrador Housing (Housing) a thought occurred to me: Crown corporations are for the most part useless.

When I was young, I thought Crown corporations were the way to go, corporations that worked for us, not for private shareholders and the bottom line. Crown corporations put people first. You and I were the shareholders, not some heartless capitalists. Great idea!  When I was young, I had high hopes. I still do but I also have eyes. Crown corporations don’t work.

My case?

We started a Crown corporation called Nalcor to manage all our energy resources and thanks to them we now owe $13.5 billion and counting on an 824-megawatt hydro plant that was supposed to cost $7.5 billion. Turns out it still doesn’t work properly, and we probably didn’t need it anyway. Nalcor was also responsible for DarkNL – plunging the province into darkness during the coldest part of the winter of 2014. I could go on but that’s enough to make my point.

Now we see Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, another Crown corporation, that the Auditor General points out has failed its mandate abysmally. With a budget of $149.2 million of which you and I pay most of, and a staff of 327 people, the AG notes they have really dropped the ball. I could go on but the media has been reporting the numbers. They are depressing.

You don’t need to read the AG’s report to know Housing has failed. There’s a growing housing crisis in this province. I talk to people who use the food bank where I volunteer, and they tell me of housing nightmares: of years long wait lists forcing them to rent from unscrupulous landlords charging $1,000 or more for a room in what are often nightmarish conditions, of staying in abusive relationships as they have nowhere to go, of looking for months and years for a place to live.

This is not just a failure of policy. People are suffering because of this. Why are we paying all this money to this Crown corporation to not do its job? As a shareholder I want to know.

I see a situation where our tax dollars pay millions to people who do not help house people who need housing, and instead our income support tax money goes to predatory landlords who gouge the people we are not helping. My e-mail is below, e-mail me or write a letter to our editor pointing out where I am wrong.

There are lots of other Crown corporations that aren’t working well either, but the AG hasn’t reviewed them yet. 

Federally we have Canada Post, who I just found out are not bringing me any more mail. That “self-sustaining” Crown corporation cost us $1 billion last year. Maybe they can break even if they don’t provide the services we expect. Folks my age can remember when Air Canada was a Crown corporation. That was not a positive experience. The CBC? Don’t even get me started.

The irony is there is one provincial Crown corporation many businesses despise and demand be privatized immediately – the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation (NLC). Many people have lectured me on how inefficient and frustrating it is. That may be, but last year they paid us all a $210 million dividend. No one is clamouring to privatize Housing, but the liquor store? Even a Crown corporation can make a profit selling booze and dope. The business community wants a slice of that $210 million, which I suspect, despite promises they may make, we would never see. As a shareholder I am okay with that dividend.

Crown corporations make sense in theory. However, there is more than enough practical evidence to show they don’t work. Crown corporations were created to protect us from greedy capitalism. I now know there are many forms of greed.

I have no answers. I hope bright young people will step forward with those answers.

Is there any good news in this? The Office of the Auditor General appears to be working just fine.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

The post Nice in theory, something else in practice appeared first on The Shoreline News.

As I write this some mainstream media outlets had yet to say anything about the huge rise in the price of oil we are currently benefitting from. 

No one wants to say anything good about any war, but the U.S. attack on Iran has not been such a bad thing for oil producing nations.

Is balanced news coverage a thing of the past? I have seen coverage of protesters decrying the attack on Iran and saying the Americans and Israelis aren’t helping. That’s great. Canada is still a free country, and we still enjoy freedom of speech, and I celebrate the right of those 100 or so folks to have a public protest. I’m less clear on why they got so much coverage.

And I am mystified as to why there was no coverage of the sudden huge influx of revenue hundreds of thousands of us are getting from this military action on the other side of the world.  

The price of Brent Crude – the type of oil we produce – is trading at U.S. $106.80 a barrel. In Canadian money that’s $146. That has the potential of bringing billions more dollars to our treasury. Money we desperately need.

I check the price of Brent crude every morning. For the longest time its hovered around $60 – $70 bucks a barrel. Not now. Over the last month it has soared. Oil is 50 per cent of Newfoundland’s exports. Oil brings in between one fifth and one quarter of our provincial revenue. Oil is very important to our well being. For better or worse, right now we need the cash. Desperately.

Here are a few facts. We as a province are broke. Our deficit this year was just under a billion dollars. That’s money we had to borrow to keep the lights on. We spend far more than we take in. And now this.

You would think this extra cash would be good news. You would think it would be cheered from the rooftops. Not a peep so far. But oddly lots of concern for an undemocratic medieval theocracy that has been slaughtering its own people for decades. Go figure.  

All this unexpected extra income is marvellous. It just is. Regardless of why. This is a windfall, and one would think a cause for great relief.

But it’s not all good news.

The rising price of oil is going to drive up the price of everything, as everything we use is dependent on it. Everything we have in Newfoundland gets here by boat, truck or plane. It will cost more to get it here; it will cost more to buy it.

You would think that the government we elected would ensure the extra revenue collected from our resource would be used to protect us from these price surges. It won’t.

You would think that when the price of oil eventually drops other prices will follow suit and also drop. That’s not been our experience.

What I know will happen is the people you have elected to manage your money will congratulate themselves for the prudent fiscal management they have performed, when the truth is they just happened to be in power when we hit this windfall. How do I know this? I have seen it before.

When my kids were teenagers, they had a sarcastic little cheer they would use to show how underwhelmed they were about something. It was a way of expressing fake enthusiasm. They would say, in a flat deadpan voice, “Woot.”

We are getting a big cash injection through rising oil prices, but that big windfall is unlikely to benefit you and I, other than as a drop in the bucket of our horrendous public debt and a possible communications boost for the government in power.

Woot.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

The post Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good appeared first on The Shoreline News.