SENATOR'S BLUEPRINT?

Back in 1444, the British Sovereign, Henry VI, travelled to France to sign the "Treaty of Tours" with the French King, Charles VII. The voyage lasted three weeks. One of the highlights of this first ever trip outside of Britain for the King was a wrestling match between the two country's monarchs.

Thankfully wrestling bouts between political rivals have ended. This weekend at a meeting of his Cabinet in Gander, Newfoundland, the Premier Danny Williams, has confirmed that the province has dropped plans for a province wide "Have" status party to coincide with Newfoundland's 60Th anniversary in Confederation, and mark the province's removal from the list of equalization receiving provinces.

The event on March 31 was to have included a school holiday and province wide celebrations. Premier Williams says the entire matter is being assessed "in light of the current Canadian economic climate". Perhaps there is a touch of politics in this matter. Premier Williams and the Federal government, primarily through the new Senator, former CTV broadcaster, Mike Duffy have been at loggerhead over changes to Federal transfers contained in the January 27Th budget.

The Premier of Newfoundland, Mr. Williams, is a formidable opponent and there is anecdotal evidence to suggest Senator Duffy has softened his rhetoric. However that's not necessarily the case with Mr. Duffy's confrontation with the Premier of his native province, Prince Edward Island's Robert Ghiz, regarding the same issue.

The two men apparently held a secret hush-hush meeting in Charlottetown a few days ago to try and bury the hatchet; but Senator Duffy was unapologetic. The meeting followed the earlier rebuke from the Prime-Minister who told a Halifax CTV interviewer that the new Senator's comments were..."perhaps inappropriate."

For his part, Premier Ghiz has said very little about the "tete a tete" other than to express a desire that the Senator focus on the issues facing Prince-Edward Island instead of personal attacks...."Perhaps Mr. Duffy might just need a little time to grow into this new role."

Some Islanders though have been somewhat more expressive over the controversy: One island based blogger told the Charlottetown "Guardian" - "These sniper comments may have gained popularity or a few chuckles in the world of show biz, but in the political arena they are seen as being uncouth, unwarranted, unproductive, inappropriate, crass and belligerent...In short Senator Duffy, a statesman rides his horse sitting high on the saddle, not on the back end!"

Yikes! Senator Duffy claimed that Premier Williams and Premier Ghiz "in bed" was grotesque. Picture that chubby image.