Feltham Rambles

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/10/28/celine-dion-fan.html?ref=rss

http://www.oddee.com/item_96489.aspx

An improvement in Newfoundland and Labrador's credit rating can be attributed in part to debt reduction and tax relief, Premier Danny Williams said.

Dominion Bond Rating Service, one of two major independent agencies that regularly grade the province's economic health, has bumped the long-term debt rating from A (low) to A.

The decision will make it easier for the government to sell bonds, and cheaper to borrow money.

In a statement Thursday evening, Premier Danny Williams described the rating as a "significant indicator" of the province's economy. The Newfoundland and Labrador government has been pegging consecutive surpluses, largely on the strength of the offshore oil industry.

"We are reaping the dividends," Williams said in a statement.

"Investing heavily in infrastructure, reducing the tax burden, tackling debt and investing in both economic and social programs and services has set this province on the right track."

Finance Minister Tom Marshall, in the same statement, said "fiscal discipline will be needed" to maintain favourable credit ratings.

http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=x7aVOMrlfkkijQwcLllwk6WjB5JE0zrF

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/10/10/house.html

he timing is a bit arbitrary, but at some point in the next year and a half, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will slip over from being a "have-not" province to a "have."

Just like that.

What a sea change this will represent. The lowest man on the totem pole shooting up past its Atlantic province siblings, past the historic rival (Quebec), past Manitoba to survey the sunny economic uplands of Canada, there to sniff the purer, rarefied air that has been so unquestionably the right for so long of Ontario and the affluent western provinces.

The prospect of "haveness" has been around for a few years. Just last February, for example, the annual satirical Leacock Debate held each year in Toronto featured the proposition, "Newfoundland will stick with Canada even if Ontario sinks." The motion was humorously attacked by the outgoing lieutenant governor of Newfoundland, Edward Roberts, and the former Liberal premier, Brian Tobin. The unlikely defence was mounted by professor Shane O'Dea of Memorial University, something of a Newfoundland nationalist, and the new lieutenant governor, the redoubtable John Crosbie.

"You poor buggers," said Crosbie to the blue-chip audience of lawyers, business folk and academics who had gathered at the University of Toronto. "You've got potholes in your streets and leaks in your bank buildings," he said, laying it on with a trowel. "It's pathetic when you see the reality: beggars on Bloor Street, company chairmen having to drive themselves to work. But here's good news. Newfoundland is going to stick with you, come hell or high water. Even if you all end up on the welfare rolls, we'll tide you over. We'll help you to keep your noses above the waterline."

[ Read Entire Article ]