Please indulge me; go here: http://www.cbc.ca/50tracks/vote/index.html
and vote for Ron Hynes’ “Sonny’s Dream” as one of the top 50 tracks in Canadian history. Damnhait Doyle’s 55 second pitch for the song is right on (realplayer file). This song is truly a provincial anthem; take a moment to tell your friends to vote for Sonny’s Dream, and if you have a web site and are so inclined, tell your visitors about the contest.

In other news, a fixed link to Labrador is feasible. I think the Premier’s view of this project makes sense, but interestingly, the article reads “in 1975, the Conservative government led by Frank Moores committed to building a tunnel across the strait. A hole was dug on the Labrador side, and the government spent $75-million before the project was abandoned.” Anyone know how deep that tunnel went, or if it’s even visible today? I did not know this. How could I grow up in NL and not know about a $75 million dollar hole?

Thank you to the PC Ontario Party, who seemed generally enthralled with the accomplishments of the Fair Deal for Newfoundland and Labrador campaign.

Nice T-shirt, eh? Fair Deal invades Parliament Hill….again. Hey, if any readers out there supported this campaign by purchasing a T-shirt or a mug or sticker or anything, take a photo and send it along to me. I am not responsible for frostbite incurred by those attempting to take photos of themselves in frigid places. Like Ottawa.

Fair Deal Press Release: February 26th, 2005:
Here or here

If you are attending the PC Ontario General Meeting and would like to see the original letter to Paul Martin and Ralph Goodale, click here

Download the first Fair Deal Podcast!

Grassroots Enterprise, my superb company, has produced a Podcast featuring yours truly talking about the Fair Deal Campaign. The Grassroots’ Podcast series will talk about real grassroots issues on the web; real talk by real political professionals who occasionally think they’re funny. If you are interested in politics online or online organizing, or if you are a Fair Deal supporter who is curious about how this campaign came about, you might find this Podcast interesting.

Download the Podcast by right-clicking on the link below and choosing “Save Target As". Alternatively, you could just click on the link; it will probably open in your favorite music player on your computer.

Click here to listen to the Grassroots Enterprise Fair Deal Podcast
(MP3 file, 22 minutes long)

Wait a minute, what’s a Podcast? Go here to watch a great four minute video about Podcasting.

If you don’t want to do that you can take my paltry explanation. A Podcast, which was born of the word iPod, is simply an MP3 file made available online for the general public. The author of the Podcast talks about whatever he/she wants to talk about, and an iPod “show” can be a sophisticated piece of work or just some girl or guy talking into a microphone.

Think of it as an amateur radio show that people download and listen to on their MP3 player (iPod!) or computer.

Sound familiar? It’s like an audio blog entry (troll the web for Podcasts that suit your tastes; I’m a regular listener to a few folks right now). By the way, there are two unofficial “Podcasts” older on the Fair Deal for Newfoundland and Labrador site already, snippets from Fair Deal in the news:

Fair Deal on CBC Newsworld
Tuesday, January 11, 2005 (MP3)

Fair Deal on CBC Radio Noon
Friday, January 7, 2005 (MP3)

If you are so inclined, check out www.Grassroots.com for more excellent talk about grassroots-online-themed shows in the coming days and weeks. Many thanks to my colleagues Mike Panetta and John Hlinko who worked with me on the Fair Deal Podcast (and who secretly wish they were Newfoundlanders).

Now, off to Ottawa. I’ll blog from there.

Update: Fair Deal Podcast on www.Grassroots.com

I will be in Ottawa this weekend, Friday through Sunday, presenting at the PC Ontario General Meeting. If you are in town and want to stop by the Westin, I’ll be around there all weekend. Fair Deal, E-Campaigning, empowerment online, grassroots activism: that’s what I’ll be discussing in the “E-Campaign Session". Very excited about it, and to tout the accomplishment of the Fair Deal community. We certainly made an impact by more than sending letters to the Hill; we’ve got the rest of Canada taking note of our online movement. I’ll be blogging from the meeting as time permits.

Thanks for all the nice comments spurred on by Premier Williams’ thank-you letter. Many of you have taken the time to write me personally, and I really appreciate that. Williams’ pat on the back to all of us was a great gesture.

Coming by the end of the day: The First Fair Deal Podcast (er, should I say, Codcast?)! More later…

Premier Williams sent me a note this morning, and every Fair Deal supporter should take a moment to read it. As far as I know, this is the first time that a Newfoundland and Labrador premier publicly thanked the members of a virtual movement. This is your campaign — and here’s some official recognition of your efforts. Well done!

The letter is pasted below, in its entirety:

Premier Williams, thank you for recognizing our efforts, and thank you for being the first Newfoundland and Labrador premier to recognize “the power of the world-wide web to spur social and political change".

Most importantly, thank you for securing this deal, and for working to “lay a solid foundation for growth that will endure long after the resources are gone".

The 2005 Atlantic Accord deal is significant because it can mean so much to the province, but also because it awoke the sleeping giant of online grassroots activism in Newfoundland and Labrador. We can continue what we have started, and continue to make a difference.

In an earlier post I asked the provincial government to “produce one online video ad, and ask people to spread the word via the government web site".

Well, the ad is online (I may have missed it last week), and there are two ways to watch it.

• Go to the government web site and download an high-res MPEG file, or…
• If you can see a big orange box below that reads “Click here to Play” then it means you can watch the video right here in the comfort of the Fair Deal web site (click the box) (I took the liberty of converting the MPEG file to Macromedia Flash Video; if you have Flash 7 installed you should see the box below. You can also download Macromedia Flash in about 15 seconds).

The Danny Williams government is reaching out to people online. This is a good sign; ask and ye shall receive.

From a poll on Canada.com

Thanks for the tip, Lara.

Also, Savvy oil deal earns praise for Newfoundland, from the Boston Globe.

Is $150,000 a tremendous amount of money for an ad campaign? Not really, as TV and newspaper ads go.

Does $150,000 seem like a lot of money to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who want to see some real results from this deal? Yes, yes it does.

Did the provincial government need this campaign? No, I don’t think that it did, in the traditional way at least. Loyola Sullivan’s passive defense of the spending — in my view — speaks volumes:

Advertising is never to just “make people feel good". Advertising exists to make people feel good so they will do something. If these ads lead to provincial investment, then it’s money well spent. If these ads are solely meant to further popularize the Williams’ government, well, it’s just not needed. I truly view this Premier as possibly the best we’ve had in a very long time, and I still do, but he’s currently riding a massive popularity wave, certainly spurred on by nationalism and certainly by this online grassroots movement.

If the Premier’s office really wanted to get the word out about the new deal, and really wanted to do something interesting, why not embrace the medium that galvanized the support of twenty-five thousand in one month? The real opportunity for the next Newfoundland and Labrador politician — and indeed any politician in Canada — is to use the internet in a compelling way to communicate their message. The technology is there, it’s cheaper than television, people are online, and it has more potential for growth. Traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers) still has it’s place, but overlooking the net is a mistake.

Guess what? Given the right message, people will spread the word for a cause or a candidate; you needn’t look further than the screen in front of you to see this truth. And under this approach, the story not only becomes “Great Deal for Newfoundland", but also “Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Channels Internet Power to Sell Message". That’s a good story to tell, and that’s something that makes people feel good, too.

The frustrating thing about the ad deal is that the government missed the boat. Twenty-five thousand — about five percent of the jurisdiction — worked to get this deal by sending letters to Martin. Now, wouldn’t it have been better to tap into that well, produce one online video ad, and ask people to spread the word via the government web site?

Instead, we’ll see TV ads that won’t get outside the province for an already very popular premier in the traditional, top-down, scattershot media, that might make a random person feel good if they happen get the newspaper that day, or for some reason happen to pay attention to a television ad.

From today’s National Post:

Well done, Mr. Peckford.

From the CBC:

It seems McGuinty’s Ontario way is not fully appreciating the Newfoundland and Labrador situation. We’ve got a non-renewable resource here that could possibly reverse our dismal economic performance and change the trend of squandering the resources that we were lucky enough to have. This is entirely different from Ontario’s situation.

Lowering the flag, on its surface, was a political move to get a better deal and get recognition. Fine.

But it became more than that — whether you like it or not — and Williams’ defiant act came to symbolize, for many, an historic statement 55 years in the making. There’s an awful lot of people in Newfoundland and Labrador who are unhappy with our place in Canada, and McGuinty’s chide clearly shows his complete dismissal of this history. I doubt that many from Ontario would view their provincial history in the same light.

As a Newfoundlander abroad, I crave news from home. My bookmarks include VOCM, The Independent, other provincial blogs, CBC St. John’s, The Current and of course the obligatory Telegram.

I realize that the population of Newfoundland and Labrador only equals that of a medium-sized city. I fully appreciate that our advertising and subscriber market is smaller.

But for the love of God, I am begging The Telegram to revisit their web site strategy.

Before I continue, I have to admit that I feel some guilt and trepidation for writing this. The Fair Deal campaign owes a huge debt of gratitude to The Telegram. This campaign was featured on the front page back in the last week of December, and that feature no doubt helped catapult this effort into the national media. I have a completely irrational fear that by offering some criticism of their web site that any possible future Fair Deal efforts might suffer. If Telegram staffers are reading, please take my comments as constructive and sincere.

I get a daily newsletter from The Telegram. Like many newspapers, simply subscribe and every day you’ll get an email of story snippets. After the first three lines, which talk about the weather, this is what I found in my Telegram newsletter today:

Look, it goes on and there’s a punch line after several more lines, but I’m not interested in re-printing it here. You get the gist: it’s a Newfie joke.

I’ve been subscribing to The Telegram and receiving this newsletter for at least one year, and I can tell you that every second newsletter I receive has a joke featuring the hapless Uncle Jarge.

Great. That’s exactly what I was looking for when I signed on to get news from the island. The official newsletter of the biggest newspaper in Newfoundland and Labrador is, first and foremost, a daily joke.

The newsletter does go on to list two news headlines and a mention of Wangersky’s column. Then, surprisingly, there’s another “Joke of the Day". To really bring me up to speed on what’s happening at home, the newsletter finishes with a “Thought of the Day", which takes the form of a quotation from a famous dead person.

Three simple suggestions from a daily Telegram reader:

• Link back to the stories you are featuring in the newsletter so I don’t have to hunt for them. Your web site doesn’t support individual links? Fix it – don’t use frames.
• Divide your newsletter audience; ask people if they want to join a “joke club” and send them jokes. Give others the opportunity to receive news-only. You don’t have to end the joke-telling (and I am not saying that joke telling is bad — just give people an option).
• Sell more advertisements in your newsletter to pay for the tiny cost of offering something better.

If just those three changes are made, I bet more people would subscribe and stay tuned. Another, more technical suggestion, is that you offer a HTML version of your newsletter. Sure, this would allow an easier to read document, but more importantly, it would allow you to track if people are opening your newsletter, and track which ads (if you sell them) are clicked on (an offering which will definitely spur ad sales). This is not rocket science, nor are these suggestions terribly sophisticated or expensive. For the record, I sent a letter to several Telegram staffers about two months ago with similar suggestions; no response.

Of course, I can simply choose not to receive the Telegram newsletter. They have a link in every piece they send out that I can use to unsubscribe at any time. I am also pretty sure that the owners of The Telegram control the web output, and that the poor online experience for Telegram readers likely has nothing to do with Telegram staff. Folks in charge may be labouring under the impression that improving their online offering is a massive expense — not so, by a long shot.

I’m venting about this, after years of living away, because if I don’t get my news from The Telegram, I get it from the CBC. Online news reporting in Newfoundland and Labrador has little competition (the NTV web site hasn’t been changed since 1996 and falls below The Telegram standard).

I don’t want the CBC giving me every bit of news from the province.

Telegram readers deserve better.

The capable news professionals on the Telegram staff deserve better.

Revisit The Telegram web site, and revisit the daily newsletter. Do other Newfoundlanders and Labradorians living abroad feel the same?

Mr. McGuinty has been voicing criticism since last week about the agreement struck between the federal government and the government of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Prime Minister Paul Martin has responded:

Ontario Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert is quoted in the in the article as saying “..if Mr. McGuinty had objected to the government signing offshore deals with two provinces, he should have said so when Mr. Martin announced the plan to do so at September’s first ministers meeting".

McGuinty is speaking up now because he sees an opportunity for his province. I don’t begrudge him this; he’s trying to get more for the people who elected him, and that’s fine (maybe this a smokescreen to distract attention from his government’s own failure to reduce the Ontario deficit — pure speculation). It doesn’t look like he’ll wander again into the minefield of appearing to be unhappy with NL for securing this deal. It’s certainly interesting to note that he didn’t pipe up at the Premier’s gathering last fall, and indeed seemed to indicate to Premier Williams that he fully supported our case.

Premier Dalton McGuinty last week:

This particular case is Newfoundland and Labrador. Premier Paul Martin’s response:
Since I read McGuinty’s comments, I’m at a loss myself. As one commenter put it, why cry foul when another province makes gains? Indeed, why should one of the richest balk at seeing one of the poorest get at least a shot a fiscal stability?

Many are pointing to Newfoundland and Labrador’s deal and crying foul, claiming it could stir up venomous envy that would corrode our country. Imagine that, Newfoundland and Labrador a source of envy, aside from the pretty scenery. You know, maybe the equalization system needs a bit of a shake-up. From our province’s perspective, we saw resources going out and equalization coming back in, which isn’t exactly what we want. The point of the deal, aside from the pride factor that has been stirred up so much, is to give the province a window of opportunity. If McGuinty wants to fall all over himself complaining about this, then why didn’t he say anything before now? As many have pointed out, other Premiers secretly love this deal; Williams paved the way, now it’s time for our provincial colleagues to cash in as well.

It looks like it will be a bit of a love-in at the signing today:

Happy Valentine’s!

Congratulations again, Fair Deal activists.

From the folks at http://www.IceTheDeal.com:

Guess what? You can send a letter to Mayor Andy Wells and St. John’s City Councilors using the IceTheDeal web site. Newfoundlanders embracing online political action.

Let me get this straight - and correct me if I’m wrong: Derm Dobbin’s group competes with SJSE for a Junior Hockey franchise. Said franchise is won by the Dobbin group, and the “Fog Devils” are born (not so crazy about that name) — but they are homeless. They need a stadium.

St. John’s Sports and Entertainment (SJSE) just happen to manage Mile One stadium. Mile One is losing its primary tenant, the Maple Leafs, at the end of this season. If there’s no deal, then Mile One is the most expensive warehouse in provincial history, and the Fog Devils probably play elsewhere, or may just go away.

Andy, Derm, Councilors, SJSE: come on, let’s make something happen here. Let’s put people in Mile One. I don’t know any of the specifics, but both sides can probably compromise a little. Curious to hear if readers have opinions on this.

Oh, and in case the deal does fall through: another super market is definitely out. No more super markets. Don’t even think about it — just in case it crosses your mind (not that it has).

CBC: Fog Devils talks iced

Russell Wangersky in The Telegram:

Blogged yesterday by Hollett at Bond Papers.

My view of Newfoundland and Labrador politics is very much on the outside looking in; I don’t live in the province, so I get my information from family, friends and media. The Liberals most potent public voice of late has been John Efford — probably the most controversial player on the scene in recent months (aside from the Premier), and possibly the most unpopular. I may be skewing this too much through the Fair Deal lens; what do you think of the Liberal party in NL now? Do they have an image problem?

In other news, Ontario Premier calls the deal unfair. Completely unrelated to Danny Williams or the deal or Newfoundland, Wente’s take on the Gomery Inquiry, The guy who has the most balls wins, is worth a read for the humour value alone (today’s Globe).

Crosbie in the Toronto Sun

Got a way with words, that guy.

In the opposite corner, Paul Wells is another guy who can serve up a tongue lashing. He has a go at the Premier in Maclean’s Back Page. I wonder if Crosbie would lump Wells into the same category as the Toronto gadflies?

I’ve taken a mental hiatus from the Fair Deal web site since last Friday — the longest I’ve spent away from a computer in months. My wife was pleased to see me again (or so she says).

Some thoughts to follow, but first I’d like to thank supporters for recent comments and emails suggesting next moves for Fair Deal. Your input is very valuable.

Organizing the Fair Deal effort has been an honour and a privilege. I was thinking today that our number, twenty-five thousand, is roughly five percent of the population of Newfoundland and Labrador. To put this in perspective, if an online campaign were to attract five percent of the population of Canada, that campaign would have 1.6 million supporters.

I firmly believe that because of the national attention generated around the Fair Deal effort — all due to activists spreading the word — we have played a role in bringing online outreach and mobilization to Canadian politics. Certainly, we can’t claim that we “revolutionized politics in Canada” or changed the way things are done — our politicians need only look across the border to see what’s possible — but the Fair Deal online effort has generated buzz in political backrooms across Canada.

Digesting all of this, and being a part of bringing mass online political activism to my home province, I re-read pieces of Joe Trippi’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” over the weekend. Trippi was U.S. presidential hopeful Howard Dean’s campaign manager and the man behind Dean’s groundbreaking online campaign strategy. Talking about Dean supporters, Trippi writes:

While political groups and players in Canada might be itching to revamp their static web sites and train their outreach guns on the internet instead of traditional media, that’s not really the point. The real epiphany is that citizens drive the shift from old media to new media; as Trippi puts it, the internet, as Fair Deal has shown, is a medium that allows people “to reject what they are being given". The internet gives a voice where television does not; it’s the politician’s and organization’s new best friend, but if ignored, it can become their worst enemy. If your side doesn’t have a sincere online grassroots component, then you can bet pretty soon that the other side will.

It will be interesting to watch Canada’s political parties continue to evolve and rise to the challenge of democracy in the internet age.

It will be even more interesting to watch how Newfoundland and Labrador’s elected leaders respond. In some sense, I believe we’ve thrown down the gauntlet: they’ve seen twenty-five thousand Fair Deal supporters show up and engage politically as if out of nowhere. The lesson plan on the importance of online outreach is in plain view — let’s see who gets the message first.

Margaret Wente in today’s Globe and Mail:

My first comment on this is to detractors of the deal and to detractors of Williams’ tactics. It’s a good thing to criticize and oppose a politician in power — I am not saying not to do that — but blindly doing so because said politician doesn’t reinforce your world view is trite (and predictable). If Margaret Wente, the loudest critic of Williams (and the province) in the past several weeks, can admit that Williams delivered, others should be able to as well, without niggling caveats and exceptions. Williams came back with a good deal that was clearly better than previous offers.

Wente’s article continues:

Danny Williams isn’t the only one who got all huffy — I know of 25,000 other folks who got pretty huffy as well. I don’t believe that “everybody” on the mainland feels ripped off. Let’s not forget about the vocal support from many in rural Canada, who looked to this example as a sign of hope. I’d say quite a few folks are looking to us not with envy but with satisfaction and the glint of promise; we’ve got something to build on. Certainly some feel that Newfoundland and Labrador has had a tough go of it; it’s a unique experience to have voted yourself into an organization only to remain a permanent bench player.

Wente concludes:

I agree with Wente’s sentiment completely: I want the best poker player in the room on my side. I want the shark in my corner and the brawler on my team. I want the mean guy working for me. Williams, like any elected leader, may turn around tomorrow and suggest a sprung greenhouse plan; but right now, he has my confidence.

Elsewhere:
Economists cheer Atlantic Accord deal
Saskatchewan wants the same equalization deal
Premier’s Speech: Flag stunt was to make point about Newfoundland’s victimization

Addendum, 02/04:
Baffled that this post could be interpreted as a failure to understand that Wente + others DO NOT support the deal. To be grossly clear, my intent here was to illustrate that Wente recognizes that Williams delivered a good deal for the people that he’s elected to serve. This has nothing to do with their support of the deal whatsoever; it’s entirely different from recognizing that Williams did a good job by getting a good deal from Martin. Baffled, but I’ll take greater pains to write more carefully next time.

One of the outcomes of this issue and this campaign has been a nationalistic fervour, and an introspective conversation. What is our place in Canada? What is the “towny” view of things? Has Labrador been given a raw deal? I ask you: what kind of place is our province that something as unromantic as an oil field in the middle of the ocean becomes a catalyst for a grassroots movement 25,000 strong?

Much of this pondering is apparent from comments on this very site. Ed Hollett, whom I don’t know at all, has written dozens of comments on this blog, mostly critical and thought-provoking. “WJM", whose moniker means nothing to me — I haven’t got a clue who he or she is — has written even more comments than Mr. Hollett. WJM’s theme has dealt mostly with Labrador, pointing out that Newfoundland’s request for a fair deal from Canada could easily be matched by Labrador’s request for a fair deal from Newfoundland.

But who am I to interpret the comments of Hollett and WJM? They can certainly explain themselves much better in their own voice, with their own space.

Ed and WJM: an open invitation to post one blog entry (separately, not jointly) on this web site, open to comments from others, on the topic of your choosing (within reason). Simply send me your blog entry and your approval and I will post it here and your name will be on it. I personally think your unpopular (at times) but thoughtful input in this community has added greatly to the discussion. Please, I invite you to post here, one entry of reasonable length, about whatever you want to say. Just keep it clean and civilized, and you must use the word “marsupial"; that’s all I ask. Actually I’m kidding about marsupial — consider it icing on the cake.

Also, don’t view this as a condescending request. You have contributed many words to this site, and I think that daily visitors would like to hear what you have to say. Consider this a little blog-experiment.

What say you? Email me at kevin@kevinmccann.net to accept or decline. I’d sincerely like to hear what you have to say, and to give readers a clear chance to respond.

I’ll be talking about the Fair Deal campaign today on CBC Radio Noon with host Chris O’Neill Yates, between 12:30 and 1:00 NL time.

Coming back to the province with a deal is going to be a political challenge, but ultimately, a good challenge to have. Here’s some of the reaction to the new deal:

• Federation of Labour: improve public services.
• Canadian Federation of Independent Business: put money into private sector, not the public services.
• Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association: deal with swelling class sizes.
• Provincial Health Boards Association: put money into hospitals and nursing homes.
• National Union of Public and General Employees: forget the debt, invest in people.
• Ontario Finance Minister to Federal Government: we need $4.8 billion (Toronto Star Editorial yesterday).

A cursory scroll through the comments on this web site yields a similar trend: put the money in health care, education, jobs, revitalizing the fishery, the provincial debt, Labrador, developing the Lower Churchill, saving our outport communities.

Premier Danny Williams has stepped into this fray with: “I’m not going to jump out here today and start saying yes to every wish list that’s placed in front of me.”

I think that’s a good sign, but he’s obviously going to have to break some eggs. Again, it’s a good challenge to have.

I’m reminded of the stories of Aesop as all of this plays out. One story left readers with the moral “the value of money is not in its possession but in its use".

Now that I think about it, there was another story that left us with “try to please all, and you end up pleasing none".