The honeymoon is over, likely to his relief. We've torn up our membership in the Tom Blowback fan club.
Today Tom takes a run at Denis Rocan, using every one of Michelle Bailey's talking points and adding a few deep "insights" of his own, such as the following keen observation, intended to demonstrate Denis's mutinous tendencies: "Immediately after the NDP won government in 1999, for example, Rocan was seen giving then NDP MLA Becky Barrett a hug in the Legislative Building, saying 'I'm so happy for you.' Ugh."
Hmm. You gotta admit that "ugh" is a nice touch.
But he also hypes his blog at the end of his column. (He has a blog? Who knew?) In it he aims at Gary Doer (shock! awe!) and tries to trip up the premier on how many nurses were fired by the Conservatives in the 1990s.
Was it 1,000 or 1,500? Tom asks. It can't be both. Must be a lie.
The answer is simple. Maybe simple enough for our erstwhile columnist and now blogger to get.
The 1,000 comes from the Manitoba Nurses Union in their 1998 annual report (you may have seen this citation recently here). The 1,500 comes from more recent annual reports of the two nursing colleges - the Licenced Practical Nurses and the Registered Nurses.
Those documents actually show well over 1,500 nurses who left the system in the 1990s -- just as the $4 million contractor Connie Curran recommended to Gary Filmon and his senior staffer Hugh McFadyen.
Quite the record, eh Tom?