Governance
The Governance section dissects how power operates through elected councils, band offices, bureaucratic boards, and unelected "advisory" committees. It tracks a pattern of hollow leadership and reactive administration across Newfoundland—where transparency is scarce and accountability is diluted through layers of jargon and shifting responsibility. This section explores what happens when civic structures act more like performance stages than systems of democratic representation.
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 31, 2025 — 9 min read
This article examines the career of consultant Ali Chaisson as a case study in Newfoundland’s recurring cycle of failed megaprojects and governance gaps. From his early shell companies like Cabestan Holdings to roles in Enegi Oil’s Port au Port #1 project, the Bettencourt-linked Investcan Energy, and later pivots through Orion, OPTIONS, and XMi Systems (now Lexa Intelligence), Chaisson exemplifies how consultants survive while projects collapse. The pattern is sustained by Newfoundland’s “soft budget constraints” — a culture of bailouts and weak local governance that enables consultants to outlast the ventures they front. Rather than producing lasting results, Chaisson’s permanence shows how the system rewards continuity over accountability, turning each new initiative into another spin of the carousel. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 30, 2025 — 7 min read
Newfoundland keeps cycling back to “the next big project” because of path dependency (how ideas, institutions, goals, and infrastructure lock in repetition) and soft budget constraints (bailouts that reward risk). Muskrat Falls shows the pattern: a 2005 cable promised 2015 power, but delivery came nearly a decade late at double the cost—while dissent like Brad Cabana’s was sidelined. The new Churchill Falls MOU repeats the trap: external leverage, political optics, and deferred accountability, unless governance reforms and hard budget rules break the cycle. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 27, 2025 — 7 min read
In Newfoundland, protest often begins as resistance but too often ends in opportunism. From Muskrat Falls to offshore oil to fracking, the loudest voices have turned outrage into political bids, industry appointments, or personal leverage. Figures like Andrew Parsons and Kevin Aylward illustrate how quickly protest visibility can shift into corporate roles, while local archetypes — the ambitious candidate, the elder, the enforcers, the gatekeeper, and the consultant-in-disguise — show how movements fracture into manageable pieces. The result is predictable: credibility is spent, trust erodes, and outside agendas advance. Protest becomes currency, traded for status, reputation, or influence — until even the evidence of resistance begins to vanish. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 26, 2025 — 7 min read
In Newfoundland, land is treated less as heritage and more as leverage. Sweeping claims, untested legal structures, curated “documentation,” and a surge of mineral exploration all reveal how governance vacuums are exploited. From the silenced 6(1)/6(2 debate to UNDRIP consent politics, outside agendas thrive on ambiguity. Land becomes currency, heritage becomes narrative, and without transparent governance, decisions about Newfoundland’s future are already being signed elsewhere. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 15, 2025 — 7 min read
This piece exposes how “outrage” in Newfoundland’s environmental and political movements is often selective, serving alliances rather than principles. Using examples from Jasen Benwah’s shifting stance on wind projects, UNDRIP land claim gatekeeping, and Darrell Shelley’s opportunistic politics, it shows how ecological harm is condemned or excused depending on who benefits. The article ties these local double standards to global financial agendas like GFANZ, where narrative control matters more than actual environmental impact, and warns that until consistent standards are applied, the land will remain a bargaining chip and truth negotiable. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 9, 2025 — 8 min read
This editorial exposes the “Technocracy of the Base” — a governance culture in Newfoundland where councils and committees operate more as administrative layers than as engines of strategy. Drawing on the Local Paradox framework, it shows how weak local capacity, reinforced by social conformity and peer pressure, creates the perfect environment for top-down agendas to flourish. From Muskrat Falls to Paris Agreement-aligned wind and hydrogen projects, decisions are accepted without scrutiny, not out of agreement, but from the ingrained belief that resistance is futile. Breaking the cycle will require more than policy tweaks — it will take cultural change, strategic capacity, and the courage to dissent. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 4, 2025 — 15 min read
This first-person exposé unpacks how charm and consultation are used as instruments of control in weak governance environments. Drawing from the author’s lived experience with ARCO (L'Association régionale de la côte Ouest) and FFTNL (Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador) in early 2000s Newfoundland, it traces how a routine website contract and a parallel community job offer unraveled into a pattern of manipulation, silence, and erasure. From RCMP-style charm tactics to abrupt contract terminations, the piece reveals how institutional actors—often under the guise of civility—extract credibility while suppressing dissent. With firsthand documentation and academic grounding, the article exposes how consultation becomes performance, and participation becomes permissioned. In places like Newfoundland, where governance structures are hollowed out, charm often replaces consent—and the muzzle comes with a smile. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on August 3, 2025 — 7 min read
A genome-wide cancer study based in Newfoundland labeled participants “unrelated,” despite drawing from a founder-effect population known for deep ancestral ties. This editorial unpacks how Memorial University researchers bypassed consent, ignored relatedness, and turned a genetically unique population into academic capital—while denying locals access, feedback, or ethical oversight. Featuring the rarely discussed Alldrice syndrome, this article confronts data colonialism and the illusion of advocacy in modern genomic science. Read More...
Posted by Holly Revollàn-Huelin on July 25, 2025 — 8 min read
In this opening editorial under the Governance category, we explore how Newfoundland’s municipal structures have been strategically weakened, allowing outside interests to dictate local outcomes without meaningful oversight. Drawing from The Local Paradox in Grand Policy Schemes, the Muskrat Falls debacle, and the author’s own experience with censorship, this piece distinguishes between governance and government—and shows how the rise of the former is not always a step forward. With Orwell’s warnings in mind and federal projects proceeding unchecked, we ask: who really governs Newfoundland now? Read More...
