Thursday, January 04, 2007

Rodney MacDonald: The Scene of the Accident

What is going on in Nova Scotia? And what is Rodney MacDonald thinking? The Herald is announcing that Ernie Fage is resigning for the second time in a year. The first time it was for lobbying the business development outfit in Nova Scotia to give a loan to a company which rents some of his extensive land holdings in Cumberland County. This time it's for leaving the scene of an accident. In November. And it appears he was intoxicated.

From my perspective what is most damaging in the long-term is the following snippet:

Joe Gillis, the premier’s spokesman, said earlier Thursday that Mr. Fage told the premier about the crash before Christmas.

“Mr. Fage told him there was a minor accident and that it was reported to the police as well as the insurance,” Mr. Gillis said.

When asked if the minister told Mr. MacDonald he had left the scene of the accident, Mr. Gillis said no.

“But the premier had no reason to think otherwise or think anything else but what the minister had told him,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, the premier told reporters the crash was minor and proper procedures were followed in reporting it to police.

This just does not seem probable. Either the Premier (and his staff) were totally incompetent in questioning Mr Fage on the incident, or they thought they could wait it out, or he didn't tell them and someone is lying. Whichever one it is, this is outrageous. Add it up to another poor decisions by an immature and unready Premier.

UPDATE: The CBC reports that Fage reported the accident December 1st, a full week after it occurred. It would be rank incompetence to not ask when an accident occurred and when it was reported. And it would be incompetence of another order of magnitude to not fire a minister who waited a week to report a potential crime.

UPDATE2: Canoe is reporting that Fage only told MacDonald just before Christmas. Apparently it just came up in a conversation. It strikes me that withholding this information from your leader for a month is just another cause for firing.

8 comments:

Devin Maxwell said...

Peter:

This is the same government Bill Black was so proud of?

Peter Loewen said...

Presumably not. But that's a bit much coming from a guy who ran under Francis MacKenzie.

Devin Maxwell said...

Peter:

I beg to differ. This is the same gang Mr. Black said he was so proud of during the debates at St. Mary's and Dalhousie. I figured you had no proper response seeing that you had to make the matter personal by taking a cheap potshot at Francis MacKenzie -- it's a typical Conservative ploy.

Peter Loewen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Peter Loewen said...

How was Bill relevant to this? And how was brining him in not a cheap shot?

Look, I think last spring every Tory could be rightfully proud of their party, especially after the good government of John Hamm. Since that time, I think it's pretty clear Rodney's been an absolute disappointment. I can't speak for Bill, but I know I have no faith in the man.

But while we're on the topic, is it the case that you ever said you were proud to run under Francis? And did you mean it?

Devin Maxwell said...

Peter:

I am over this but just wanted to point out that Bill Black is relevant to this because, during the election, he crowed over and over about how proud he was of Dr. Hamm's government -- which is essentially the same bunch (new leader admittedly) that has been such an embarrassment over the past eight months. That is all I was saying.

And, I am much prouder to have run under Francis MacKenzie than Mr. Black ought to be to have run under Rodney MacDonald.

Peter Loewen said...

Devin:

Fair enough. People have different preferences, and logically can feel different levels of pride in differnet people. I should say that I think neither MacKenzie nor Rodney are the best NS had to offer. But, the requirements of candidates are to be members of a team and to play as such, which I think both you were doing and Bill was doing.

I can't and won't speak for Bill's assessment of the current government. But, I do think it's pretty clear to everyone that regardless of what you thought of Dr. Hamm's policies and approach, it's hard to imagine the current stuff unfolding under his leadership.

As for Bill being relevant, he's only relevant because you know I worked on his leadership campaign and have a lot of affection and respect for him. Otherwise, he has nothing to do with the current situation, or with my post on it.

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We plead in order to vary. This is actually the exact same bunch Mr. Dark stated he or she had been therefore happy with throughout the discussions from Street. Mary's as well as Dalhousie. We thought you'd absolutely no correct reaction viewing you had to create the problem individual if you take an inexpensive potshot from Francis MacKenzie -- it is a standard Traditional ploy.



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