How do we understand the recent tide
of indignation in the province? It is something of a conundrum to Kathy
Dunderdale (listen to her 11 April call to VOCM,
if you enjoy the feeling of being spoken to as though you are a small
child) but to other commentators as well. It has something to do with
the recent budget and its associated cuts and layoffs, but this era of
austerity in the province is understood to be less severe than previous
iterations of the same (one of the questions Bill Rowe puts to the
premier on the call).Of course, this needs to be framed alongside Muskrat Falls and the price tag, which through some form of economic acrobatics, is nothing to do with the financial situation of the government, and therefore nothing to do with the necessity of cuts and layoffs.Granted that this is somewhat difficult for thinking people to accept, let us assume, for argument sake, this is so. Nonetheless, the proliferation of protest and resistance to the project, notably by the NCC, as well as potential corruption and political manipulation, impacts the way cuts, layoffs, and other austerity measures are perceived.
