Happy halloween.

Avast you candy sucking land lubbers, hand over ya goodies or walk the plant. Har har har. 

Some of my culinary skill [such as they are] of late.Had a nice pea soup with dough boys. No matter how many time we have this Fran always says "seems like a long time since we had pea soup". I also learnt that Fran does not mind fluffy dough boys. This flipped me a bit as Fran always talks about how her mom made the best dough boys, really hard.
The Tic Tok Pinot Gris was a nice accompaniment.
The omelet [leek and cheese] was made out of necessity, On returning from shopping I dustcover that 11 of the eggs purchased had spilled out of their box and into the bottom of the backpack. 4 had cracked but the contents were contained in shell.

Last evening it was prime rib roast with vegetables and for once; a successful Yorkshire pudding.I thought I had screwed them up again, the recipe called for equal volumes of milk to egg ratio. Silly me used water. But the end product was OK.

Hmmm, something strange going on. Some of my uploaded pictures disappear after loading and publishing.

This is the collage that was supposed to be with the 'fair the well' post.


I have been getting many hits from search engines with the words 'dutch runner' last several days.
From Yellowknife to St. Johns and places in between.
Particularly lots of hits from Stephenville on the west coast of the Island.. Stephenville is the port that 'the Dutch' is heading for before heading to Montreal.

Fare thee well oh Dutchy.

 May you find happiness and much freight back where you belong.



By all accounts this is the last we will see of the Dutch Runner. I doubt if anyone on the Labrdor is sorry to see her go. A shortened short season as it was a very controversial  and contentious one.

Conflicting accounts of who did what to whom seem to be emerging. The government says one thing and a crew member says another. Wonder what the odds are it will end up in court.

Word at the dock is that the ship will head to Cartwright when she is finished business here and unload everything on board. She then heads to an Island port of call before heading to Montreal.

While writing this I had a call from CBC St.. John's, I just did a short interview for their morning show news on the pull out/or other, of "the Dutch".

Any way back to the Dutch and freight. On board where 5 very large tanker trucks. They are empty now after being offloaded at Hopedale. Seems the tankers come in all the way from Quebec, loaded on a freight boat, taken to Hopedale and unloaded to the tank farm there then return to whence they came. Seems an odd and expensive way to supply fuel to the coast.

Carter had second cousin Andrew for a few days sleep over. They got into a bit of a ruckus so mom and dad had to talk them for a drive around until they fell asleep.










Carter is getting quite confident in standing now, just makes sure he has something handy to grab hold of.

As they say in MSM-BREAKING NEWS.

PeterCBC 

The operator of the Dutch Runner has pulled the ship off north coast freight service, now in breach of contract, Astron finish the season.

Above taken from twitter.

Updated:  Saturday, October 29th @ 11:15 am

MV DUTCH RUNNER (Freight Only)

 Saturday, October 29th

Delayed due to inclement weather and tides

ETD Natuashish 5:00 pm

Sunday, October 30th

ETA Nain 01:00 am

MV ASTRON (Freight Only)

 Delayed due to high seas.

Saturday, October 29th

ETA Black Tickle 9:00 pm

Interesting on "the Dutch"; Natuashish not far from Nain, seems fairly calm out there.

Breaking breaking update:  CBC has updated their weekend on line news, very unusual for them.
Then there is the press release from the government.

I would not do a happy feet with the contention of  the Aston having "proven ability to provide timely freight delivery to the North Coast and I am confident that it will see us through the remainder of this shipping season.” 

 

After all it has been "storm bound sense Wednesday and still has not made it to Black Tickle. 

The Nain Inuit Community Government [town council] calibrated their 40th anniversary yesterday. Lots of activity going on all day. I managed to catch some rear shots of the fast moving parade as it went buy the house.
Outside the council chambers large pieces of equipment were done up in yellow balloons, a dance at the hotel wrapped up things last evening.

In other towns news; I just learn't that Hopedale has a Dog Society. This looks like a great way to deal with many of the loose pups and dogs roaming the streets. As well it should work towards keeping some younger folk occupied with activity that is out of the norm.

This runs parallel with the SPCA in Goose Bay who receive quite a bit of coverage news wise. They are in a fundraiser at the moment asking people to vote in an online competition. 

Had a hankering

for grilled cheese.
In the absence of a video camera I did this collage of prep and final result.  Usually I would use the fry pan, that can result in a messy sandwich if not turned carefully. Using the old SEB sandwich maker there is no flipping.
I used the grated cheese method as per the video of yesterdays post, not sure if grated is better than sliced as the three cheeses were bland and cardboard like, as per yesterdays post.

Someone hit my blog after searching for Astron snow blowers. Interestingly enough the only similarity with snow blowers and the mv Astron is the reference to stone age. The snow blowers are made by-
Stone Age Equipment
Stoneage
Mitchell
Ontario

Yes we are grateful that the Astron is back in service to help out "the Dutch", but over the years the Aston has more than its share of mishaps and breakdowns, she is way past her best before date for sure.


Nunatsiavut is having a moose hunt for the first time. There have been hunts in the south outside Nunatsiavut for beneficiaries but this is the first time inside the self government area.
Two interviews by CBC's Labrador Morning can explain things way better than I could.

A special committee of the Nunatsiavut Assembly are holding public consultations on the possibility of uranium mining.
It is Nain's turn this evening, 7 pm in the NG board room.

Update: The uranium consultations for Nain have been postponed to November the 8th. I have heard 3 differing reasons for the postponement, hard to sort the Wheat from the Chaff.

From a reliable unofficial source: Reason for postponement was a young 14 year olds death in Hopedale. That adds to the number of deaths in recent times in both Hopedale and Nain.

A smidgen of whiteness on the ground, bring on the winter I says, had enough of this summer now.

To date I have been reluctant to link this urban dictionary version of “Dutch Runner”, it being somewhat risqué and all.

In light of all that has happened this summer to hell with it, we have been given more than enough shaft from government and the company. And in my opinion government and the company have been let off easy by MSM and the people of Nunatsiavut, with some exceptions of course.

And the shortcomings are not over yet what with ‘fall weather’ now being in the mix. 

MV ASTRON (Freight Only)

 

Thursday, October 27th

Lewisporte - cargo operations are complete.  On weather hold due to strong force winds and heavy seas.  As soon as conditions improve, departure time will be advised.

 

Ports of call: Black Tickle, Natuashish, Makkovik, Postville, Hopedale, Natuashish, Nain, Rigolet and Goose Bay.

 

If your confused by that routing then try figure out the updates "of the Dutch". 

 

On another cheesy note: Seems cheese is up near the top of the world pilfers shopping list. 

That should not be the case on the Labrador, who in their right mind would want the bland cardboard tasting varieties that are sold on our shelves here? 

Kraft cracker barrel and Black Diamond old are about as exotic as we get.  

For a time there was a selection of different cheeses in one store [BigLand] but all this summer that selection has ceased to appear. I had asked for replenishment but to date nothing.

My momma must have taught me right, apart from grating the cheese I do it exactly like this video indicates.

Well it is great to finely hear someone from the government department that overseers the Nutrition North Canada program admit that the program was structured to benefit wholesalers [in the case of Labrador], airlines and retailers.

All this propaganda about how NNC was designed to supply affordable nutritious foods to the proletariat is just blowing smoke up our asses.  

Plus it is refreshing to see that the Nunavut Legislators took the time to give these guys from NNC a going over.

Damn pity the legislators in Nunatsiavut can’t give the same effort [why they can’t even issue a press release of concern] to try assist the people of the region.

More coverage from Nunatsiavut Nunavut legislator.

Bit on the rainy foggy side this morning and for the next few days by look of it. 

Not sure I should put up a link to this story being an avid bread lover and baker of same.

Still looking back on all these expert opinions maybe in a few years some other bloke will come out with an apposing study saying how healthy wheat is for you. 


But I think this view does confirm my long held belief that if you mess with nature she will come back and bite you in the arse big time. 

Seeing as the weather is lousy we will continue on with the moribund topic: 


This I took from a person in Hopedales facebook.  So the Northern Ranger came to Hopedale last night with 3 pieces of freight....hmmmm...I guess there is absolutely no backlog and everything is all delivered to where it is suppsoed to be....and our shelves are now stocked full....I think not....

Then there is the update from the CIA/Nunatsiavut web site.  

MV DUTCH RUNNER (Freight Only)

Currently in Rigolet.  Arrived 10:55 am. 

High winds are forecasted.

MV ASTRON (Freight Only)

Loading cargo in Lewisporte.  ETD 5:00 pm

Ports of call:  Black Tickle, Natuashish, Makkovik and points north to Nain.

Some points of interest here;  Why is the Astron going by Rigolet? Why is the Astron heading to Natuashish, then back to Makkovik, then points north to Nain. Seems a very inefficient  way to run a shipping company.

On the Hopedale dilemma; I would hope that "the Dutch" has the much needed supplies on board out of Goose Bay. And that the Astron will have the supplies out of Lewisport. Alas they will have to wait a little longer than they should because something urgent is needed in Natuashish. 

I ran into someone in the store this afternoon who said to me "you should make your blog post loner". 

Well here is another cut and past from another Hopedale facebooker: 

Agreed, over the course of the summer if one went down to the boat, you could see lots of chips and dinks come off, some food, but yet our shelves continued to be empty. While I agree that staff do take the brunt of customer frustration at lack of food available, and in an earlier comment regarding the backlog, and the Astron coming on stream to play catch up...it seems CAI (or perhaps someone in the inner ranks of CAI) is saying there is no backlog...then where exactly does the issue lie...with the store owners itself, or is the shipping dept pushing the blame elsewhere....it is certainly an issue somewhere down the line. I certainly cannot speak for any other community or store and store owners as I am only a customer, and as a customer I would like to see fresh food and stocked shelves, it is not our fault as consumers that there is food lacking and empty shelves. Lets all hope that this issue gets resolved and everyone in each community has good fresh healthy food this winter.

This snuck up on us this mornig, bright and sunny then in quick time clouds and light flurries came in from  east north east.

Winter is showing its purty head, -6 at the house this morning, -1 official [down near the water].

Days have been nice with temps from +2 to + 9 for a couple of weeks. Nights are getting down to 0 to -6 last evening. Wind chills are also starting to show up evenings.

In case there is some doubt about the veracity of my postings on “the Dutch” plus other shortcomings of the marine shipping this audio of an interview with the minister of transport should dispel them.

Minister Hedderson is not shy in giving interviews I will give him that.

He comes up short on giving facts as they truly are though. But then he can only relay the information he is given, that information falls way short from the reality most times.

 Heddersons claim that getting food to the coast has always been a priority would be laughable if not so serious. It may be his priority but there is more than enough evidence to refute that claim. Which again raises the question about the veracity of information he is given.This has been an ongoing problem for some years, not just this year.

Peter Cowan also had a short piece on Here & Now last evening. Most of the information he gave was from the radio interview he had with me, plus some good visuals of “the Dutch” moored in Goose Bay, plus some shots of the Sir Robert Bond in dry dock in Sin City.

People are now waiting for the Astron to leave Lewisport so they can get a handle on the scheduling and what it takes to the coast, or leaves behind.

Compilation part 2.
Terrence was having the time while seeing carter off at the airstrip. Very pleased with himself tyrning the cart into a komatik for the 4 wheeler. Not so pleased when it was time for carter to leave, and the cart was taken off him.

A compilation of photographs from Carters resent [though short much enjoyed by family] visit.

Weather played a role in late arrival and early departure for Carter and his mom. But it was busy times while here and the three cousins, Carter, Enrique and Terrence had a ball.

Terrence was particularly upset at the airstrip once he realized that carter was on the plane and leaving for sure.
The rash on Carters face worries me but all others say it will eventually disappear, his mom and grandmother had eczema but on their hands. Not that it is not being treated, just stubborn is all.

"The Dutch" finely limped

into the harbor around 7 this morning, 29 day round trip Nain Lewisport Nain.

This is how she is being unloaded at the moment, no wonder it takes so long to get from one port to the other.

The are reportedly 40 containers on board for Nain. There are 12 trailers on shore, some have containers on them to go out. 
I am not sure why the unloading is being done this way, have not bothered to enquirer as yet.

Update: Not meaning to toot my own horn, and I may sound unsure, but that is because I felt like being diplomatic instead of belligerent.

Continuing on with the belligerency theme: We received below flyer from Nutrition North Canada [NNC] this week.
As regular readers know I [and many others] have issues with the way NNC is carrying out its mandate. Or perhaps better to says, not carrying out its mandate.

We were lead to believe the main purpose in changing from the old system to NNC was to insure transparency, accountability and improve the delivery and affordability of fresh and frozen foods to remote communities.

Some of those things are not being delivered and time has run out.

How does a shopper know that they, the shopper is benefiting from this subsidy? The fact that any given item is in the store, and available to purchase, is not proof that the subsidy is benefiting the shopper.

On a personal note; I am of the opinion that fresh produce is not overly expensive on most items and most stores operating under the NNC program. Others have differing opinions on that, and so be it.

But on items like meats and other foods under the program I can not honestly say that we, the consumer, are benefiting at all.
We may be, but the transparency is just not there.

How can meats sold in a store that is not using the NNC subsidy be sold cheaper than some stores enrolled under the subsidy program? Dialog is badly needed to explain this.

There is no oversight on quility of items prior to leaving the distributions center, in this case happy valley Goose Bay.

There is no oversight on timely delivery of items once that arrive at the distribution center.
Many times orders placed on a Monday of one week will be delivered the following week, and then in dribs and drabs. Under the old program there was stipulation on delivery time and in most cases all items under the subsidy arrived on a designated day. Not so under the NNC.

In Labrador there is no way we can take advantage of making “personal orders” under NNC. This is a continuation from the old program; one I thought would be addressed under NNC.

Commercially produced country foods are the biggest joke of all under NNC. Seeing that there are scant federally regulated suppliers of country foods in all of Canada and zero in Labrador there is no way anyone can benefit from this.

Under the NNC program Health Canada is supposed to be involved with promotional and education programs on food security and healthy eating. There is no evidence in this region of Health Canada involvement.

On the right hand side of the flyer it states “we are listening and want to hear form Northerners”.
I have seen no evidence that anyone is listening to date.

Finely, on the reverse side of the flyer the same message is in Inuttut syllabics. Some one at NNC needs to inform themselves that Inuttut in Labrador is written in roman orthography form.

Forgive me Yahweh for I am about to be

angry belligerent.

After listening to this interview with Tom [hope springs eternal] Hedderson on shipping to the north coast I am having trouble not up chucking all over the radio. Well OK the key board.

How many times did he use the work HOPE? He HOPES that the Bond can be put in service, even though it lays in dry dock as he spoke. Like it is the end of bloody October Tom, with just maybe 6 weeks left in the season.

He HOPES that his people and CIA-Nunatsiavut can come to an equitable deal in replacing the Dutch Runner next year. He HOPES that the Astron can be put in service if needed.
 What a load of codswallop.

And NOW at this late date it is reveled that it is not The Great Lakes Feeder lines that the government contracted the Dutch from but it is now CAI- Nunatsiavut. Why that revelation, something is fishy with all this.

He had high HOPES at the start of the season that the Dutch would be as good or better than the previous vessel. My question would be what does he base those high HOPES on.

When it was announced that the Dutch would be the vessel I did a search and found a video of the Dutch doing a run in the canals of Eastern Canada. Talk about watching paint dry. Slow as a wet week and looked then tottaly inappropriate for the Labrador coast.

These guys at transportation and works are supposed to have experience with the needs of coastal shipping.
 
What was the real reason this ship was chosen? What was the real reason CAI-Nunatsiavut was chosen?

I would desperately like to hear from Nunatsiavut Government as to what really went on in this whole deal.
But being a realist I wont hang by the short and curlies for that interview. No one involved would come out smelling very nice if the truth came out.

It was evident right from the start of the season that this vessel was not going to cut it for this service, yet nothing substantive was done then and nothing substantive is being done now.

The damage has been done by having people do without many staples of food all summer long. All we get from Hedderson is he HOPES that the winter supplies can be delivered in time.

Update: Here is an idea, why not build a new ferry [something the government has been procrastinating about for 8 years] for the north coast run.

We seem to have the expertise and infrastructure in the province, why this company has come into public view today after the big federal navy procurement announcement.

Why not do it instead of frigging around with studies and wait and attitudes to see how the roads work out.
Which by the way are years behind sched.

Carter and cousin Enrique enthralled with something or other on the TV.
Other cousin Terrence is absent from the photo, Terrence {middle great grandson] was three yesterday.

It is now October 19^th and I think it fair to say that one of the main topics of conversation in every North Labrador community is the lack of new and fresh goods on store shelves.

Who is at fault? Well that depends on who you ask. But one fact that can’t be refuted is the inadequacy of the marine shipping. In my opinion it is not only the infamous “the Dutch”, or as she is more commonly known by most as “the Dutch Crawler”. It is also the inexperience of the new operators. 

From good sources it seems that freight was left behind in Lewisport for this present run. With more that ample capacity one has to ask what was the reason. One could ask but one would not necessarily receive an honest answer. 

Despite some promises in the final days of the provincial election of replacing the Dutch next year, we still have this year to deal with.

Besides, who would take the word of a promise made for political purposes. 

Nain has not had a freight boat for 16 days out of Goose Bay or 28 days out of Lewisport. With Lewisport being the main hub for supplies to stores we are in desperate shape. Added to this the Dutch still has to get here, most likely in the next two days.

With all the new construction there are delays in getting gear and supplies in resulting in delays that must be very frustrating indeed.

Yet we hear nothing from our elected leaders at all levels. Some people even have the audacity to take pot shots at the newly elected Liberal member for the district.

What the hell can a newly [1 week] elected opposition member do that the previous member could not do in four years as a minister of government.

I am at a loss for ideas to correct this deplorable situation. I and others have made representations to government members, bureaucrats and store managers for many years.

Due to many peoples efforts things were improving for awhile. Now it is regressing back to conditions of 15 to 20 years ago. It sure has me puzzled.

Now I know I am repeating myself, but with total lack of confidence in the political system, which appears to be favoring business interests, and no friendly ear at store manager level I guess I will use this forum as a frustration release valve.

Carter just arrived YDP

from YYR in his leather pilots jacket, he da man. No pictures yet, later, too many excited family for him to greet yet.

Planes should be coming in fast and furious after 4 days of fog.

Well Great grandma did not take that too bad. A few blasphemies at the weather gods [he's a male you know] and much optimistic talk about tomorrow will be a better day.

As you can see by the photos the fog did not lift one little bit. From yesterdays post to these two taken mid morning and late afternoon. The temperatures are mild so that is one good thing.

The downer is that it is looking like the same for today, hope Fran and Carters mom and others can hack it.

For our evening meal we partook in pork schnitzel, double baked spuds with onions and garlic along with two asparagus, leeks and  hollandaise sauce.
Fran confirmed that she likes white asparagus because it has no taste.

Waiting for carter day. Great Grandma is going to be like a prowling bear with a tooth ache if this fog does not lift.

Calling all vegetarians in Nain!

Not exactly breaking down the door are they?

Friday I like to take it easy in the kitchen, usually look for something fast or even prepared from the stores.

Not a lot on offer unfortunately, and what is does not look that inviting, it is almost the end of the shipping season and shelves are depleting and no new pr different frozen product in yet.

I had decided on maybe Swedish meat balls with a home made tomatoes sauce. I Drop by Northern to pick up the meat balls, lo n behold there are some white asparagus there, alongside a large leek.

Can’t pass up the white asparagus, never seen it here before.

So what to do with them? Not sure realy, so I just dice up some leeks, gently stir fry, add chopped white and green asparagus, some chicken stock, some lemon, seasoning. Thicken a little, add mushrooms.

Serve on fusilli, add some parmigarno.

Thing is I forgot to heat up the meat balls. Fran not a happy camper, I think there was a compliment on the white asparagus as Fran quipped “I like these, they don’t have any taste”.
Meaning, that they do not have a lot of flavor, but hold there crispness during cooking. Nice and crunchy like a water chestnut.

Here is the community breakdown of votes cast in Torngat Mountians and for whom in Tuesdays election.
Sort of seems all a waste of time seeing the newly elected first female premier has decided to shut down the house of assembly until the spring. 

Randy Edmunds (LIB) Patty Pottle(PC) Alex Saunders (NDP)
Nain 366/ 148/ 60
Natuashish 17 71/ 28
Hopedale 82/ 205/ 23
Postville 63/ 25/ 17
Makkovik 111/ 55/ 31
Rigolet 80/ 50/ 20
Advanced Polls 7/ 7/ 3
Special Ballot 14/ 18/ 3
Total 744/ 586/ 186

List copied from CKOK web sight. 

Meantime back in the real elected dictatorship world we live in. To pee or not to pee, that is the question.

Spot of the oh white after the excitement of the Red Dawn, and you know what is said about red sky in the morning.

To date we have had the two CBC radio Tx go down yesterday, they are the ones that transmit the CBC main national and regional feed to the community.

Then yesterday afternoon I receive this e mail from Well. ca. This is really bad news for those of us in remote communities. Well.ca has been sending orders free of shipping charges for quite some time, it was only a matter of time before the plug was pulled.
But as you can see by the tone of the e mail it was with great regret. There are ways to deal with this, I will be forwarding my suggestions to Well.ca and hopefully something posative can come out of all the efforts.

This will be a big hit not only on Well.ca and consumers but also on Canada Post and the shipping companies.
Canada Post pricing on shipping packages to remote communities is counter intuitive to running a profitable business.  Who is going to pay $50 to ship a $20 order, it's just crazy and unfair.

Dear Brian

I wanted to email you personally to tell you about a change that is happening at Well.ca. Starting October 12th 2011, we have to implement a shipping charge on orders to remote locations. The charge is going to be $14.99 on orders above $300 and $29.99 on orders below $300.

Let me tell you that I really did not want to do this. I want to offer free shipping on all orders, especially for you in remote locations, but the math did not work. When we ship a $20 order, we were sometimes paying $50 in shipping and we can’t continue to operate our business that way. Our customers in remote locations are very important to us (you are some of our favourites!) but we are getting more and more orders for these areas. Unfortunately this is costing us a lot and as a small business we cannot continue losing money in this way.

I have actually spent the last few months trying desperately to find a way to ship more cost effectively to these locations. And we’re still trying! We’re looking into setting up some locations to consolidate the shipments in order to save costs. We’re also working with the government to see if they can help. I promise to keep trying because we want to be able to help serve remote communities. In fact, one of our longest serving staff members just moved to Iqaluit herself and she is helping us try to find a solution.

We’ve added a new phone number 1-855-723-7090 which is only for customers from remote locations. The customer care individuals at the other end of the line know about shipping to these areas so please give them a call with any questions.

Also we’ve picked a few customers and are giving them a coupon to have free shipping on one last order.

SHIPLVVGA

Use this code on your next order and the shipping will be waived. This coupon expires Dec 2, 2011.

So again, I hope that you will continue to be a Well.ca shopper despite this change. The whole team truly appreciates your business. If you have any suggestions on other ways that we can help reach your communities in a more cost effective way then please send me an email.

Take care and thank you for your understanding,

Ali

CEO and Founder of Well.ca

Sunrise this morning @ Nain.

With what seems to be an historical voter turn out in Torngat Mountains district.

Of the 2130 voters on the role 1,516 chose to exercise their democratic right yesterday. That comes out to 71%, the highest voter turn out in the history of the riding.

Election night nosh

put away couple hours before the results started coming out.

I need not have worried about the indigestion as my main worry was here in the Torngats, the result was pleasing to all senses.

PC     586
Lib     744
NDP  186

Oh the nosh?

Well it was, if I may so, extra bloody good. Made on the fly and using ingredients that just came to mind, the wing steak was sort of smokey Cajun like. The spuds sort of German/Greek like. The vegetables sort of wine infused Hawaiian style stir fry like. The beer, well it was Molson Dry, nuf said.

Fran complimented the spuds and finished her meal well before I. That is the greatest compliment of all as her steak was larger than mine.

It is get out and vote day. Best of luck to all the candidates.

Wonder why we always say that? Do we really mean it? I know I don't.
Nothing personal towards any individual, but if you have passion and beliefs on the best way forward for humanity then how can you wish the best to a party that apposes those beliefs.

Any way there will be some folks who will not get to vote. Over at the Voisey's Bay mine/mill there about 200 odd workers each 2 week shift.
Many of them on this shift will not have the chance to vote. Those that did not take advantage of the special ballot venues, the advance polls [1 day at only two communities in Nunatsiavut] and who surmised [incorrectly] that there would be a polling station at the work site.

I am told that this is the first election that no voting station was made available at the mine site.

Message in signage.

Maybe not subliminal, more like class message.

The two images at left show Liberal poster at a wee house down one end of town. This area now has way more Liberal posters up than PC.
Plus a PC poster at the only hotel and bar in town.. PC posters are more prominent on local business operators homes or establishments while Liberal is way more prominent on the homes of the proletariat. 

It is not surprising that it would be this way as the PC incumbent is also a business owner.

The Liberal candidate is a business owner as well. He is also more accepted as a person of the land, as well as being a well know long time Liberal- one can make up their own mind about that.

The pictures at right are of a house that has had the Liberal signs up for some time. Directly across the road the PC signs appeared just this weekend. 

IMO this is indicative of how the PC campaign has been run, reacting after the fact. 

Hope all have a nice and filling Thanksgiving.

We had our meal yesterday, non traditional, turkey leg and vegetable stew/soup and moose ribs with baked spuds and gravy.
Followed that up with a light and fluffy red berry squares from a recipe taken from; Recipes to warm the heart put out by the 'Melville hospital emergency nurses and health records staff'.

Last day of electioneering. I genuinely hope that people vote with their minds and not their hearts this time. For us up here in Torngat Mountains District the premier summed it all up in a statement yesterday. "I hope all the hard work over the last three weeks pays off".
Well it has been eight years of almost total neglect for us, three weeks of pro misses just does not cut it.

Province wide the dark cloud of the development of so called Muskrat Falls looms over us. This is a bad deal from any angle you look at it. This blog post from Geoff Meeker puts it in perspective quite well.

Remember the three e’s when voting, environment, ecology, economy.

This project will do damage to the first too out of sight on the majority of the population, but all will feel the depth of the damage it will do to the economy.

Not sure how Australia survived that bruising onslaught thrown at them in the second half of their quarter final world cup match with South Africa.

But survive they did coming out winners 11-9 in what was a very scrappy game full of errors and lots of miss calls by the NZ referee.

Now the Wallaby’s take on NZ, who came out winners against a solid Argentinean side with NZ only getting on top in the second half.

Warm temperatures of late and some rain this morning.

In election news: the incumbent PC candidate had the premier in some weeks ago for a meet and greet at the hall. Word is not many folks turned up.

Sweetening the pot yesterday the incumbent brought in Tim bits, Subway and other sundry cold plates for an open house.

MP Peter Penashue [Con] was also a sweetener. Not sure how many tuned up for this but we were stopped on the road a couple of time with people saying, “Did you go to the hall for some free food”.

Maybe it’s my old-fashionedness but I have more pride than that.

The Liberal candidate was here also, and the NDP was in Natuashish.

From what I can see if either the Liberal or NDP candidates win they will have less quid pro quo to worry about after the election.

Harking back to that young woman from Natuashish who was lost; her is a map [badly edited by me] I took from facebook showing where she was found in relation to Natuashish and the old village of Davis Inlet.

Natuashish is the arrow on left, Davis Inlet arrow to the right and center is where she was found.

Nain is about 80 K from Natuashish off the map the upper left corner.

The much drawn out election comes to an end this Tuesday.

In the scheme of things it has been a short election, I guess the players make it seem longer, very boring with no charismatic leaders or candidates that I can see. Then again charismatic leaders do not always work out for the best do they?

In our riding of Torngat Mountains all three have been using new media [facebook] to get the message out. NDP the least and the incumbent PC and Liberal more so.

Things on facebook seem to be ramping up with supporters being more pro active, with some being a little over zealous and misleading. Still it is good that things are getting out there.

One follow up from a post about transport on facebook was a hurried reply from the incumbent stating they had a promise from the Minister of transport that “the Dutch” would most definitely be replaced for next seasons shipping.

Believe that if you like. It has been 8 years for this government to do something about summer freight shipments. All we have is backwards steps. Sure there are new containers, but you have to have the freight shipped and arrive at its destination in a timely manner, this has not happened. And it is not all the fault of the operators of “the Dutch”. Department of transport have their fingers in the pie, as do other players.

Time for a real good look at the transport system from top to bottom including air, marine land.

One thing that needs assessing urgently is the volume of freight being flown in during summer months that normally would be shipped by marine. This only adds to consumer’s cost at the check out, yet no one in authority is asking why this is happening.

It must be a close race as the liberal and PC candidates are spending many days here in Nain, more than I can remember in any other election.