JCP IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A press release from St. Barb MHA, Liberal Jim Bennett caught my attention tonight.

For the record, the biggest single benefactor from the JCP grants  was Burgeo - La Poile, which is represented by Liberal Andrew Parsons.

Since assuming  responsibility for Labour Market Development Agreement programs and services in 2009   the Provincial Government has delivered approximately 710 projects with a total value of nearly $34 million, providing employment for over 3,571 individuals.

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HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

Newfoundland and Labrador

JIM BENNETT, M.H.A.

       District of St. Barbe

P.O. Box 528, Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland A0K 4N0

                                         Office: (709) 458-3257Fax: (709) 458-3259 Email: JimBennett@gov.nl.ca

June 6, 2012

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BURKE BRINGS BACK TORY PORK BARREL

SEVEN MINISTERS GET 49% of JCP GRANTS

St. Barbe MHA Jim Bennett is astounded that Minister Joan Burke has brought back the Tory Pork Barrel, rewarding 7 of her cabinet colleagues with 56 of 114 JCP grants. This works out to 49% of all first round Job Creation grants, leaving 41 other districts to make do with the remaining half. 

On average lucky winners got $388,000 for their districts while the others averaged $87,000, with some receiving no money whatsoever.

The big winners were:

Charlene Johnson ----------  13 grants -------             $677,292

Clyde Jackman -------------  10 grants -------               540,813

Darin King ------------------    8 grants -------               312,174

Derrick Dalley --------------    7 grants -------               311,250

Jerome Kennedy -----------     6 grants ------                218,935

Keith Hutchings ------------     6 grants ------               287,846

Felix Collins --------------------6 grants ------               369,598

Bennett says that permitting stronger ministers to loot the public treasury at the expense of weaker colleagues shows a complete lack of leadership from the top. This has clearly become a winner take all, survival of the strong at the expense of the weak government, completely opposite to the position of the Former Premier who went so far as to dismiss a minister for taking extra money for his district.  

It seems that either this is an unfortunate policy change for this government or this Premier is too weak to enforce any discipline over strong ministers.

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For more info contact Bertha Brophy 458-3257
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