Tag: Newfoundland

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...

Following a staged photo-op with SSHRC-backed researcher Nick Mercer, Newfoundland’s local resistance to industrial wind development fractures into infighting. This editorial unpacks how federal consultants exploit emotional divisions to construct curated opposition narratives, neutralizing dissent while capturing optics. Drawing from Van Assche’s "Local Paradox" theory, it reveals how narrative control replaces real governance in vulnerable communities. Read More...

This is a closer look at how federal consultant Nick Mercer embedded himself in a local resistance movement and used a single photo-op to manufacture the illusion of dialogue, trust, and consent. Framed in smiles and solidarity, the image was anything but neutral—it served as a calculated piece of policy theatre, transforming grassroots opposition into optics that support Newfoundland’s top-down Net Zero agenda. Read More...