More random thoughts about next week's election

Richard Hatfield. Photo Credit: CBC

It was 1978. Richard Hatfield was running for a third term as Premier against Liberal Doug Young. I was a wet-behind-the-ears reporter at what was then CFNB Radio. Hatfield had come to our studios for an interview. Afterwards I ambushed him in the hallway. I had noticed that in the campaign, he had adopted many of the Liberal’s promises. I asked him about that, suggesting his campaign lacked originality. I have long forgotten what any of those campaign promises were but I will never forget his response. He just looked at me and said, “You don’t know much about politics do you?”  BAM! 

Jump ahead 40-plus years and here we are in another election campaign. But aside from Higgs suggesting the Liberals shouldn’t be claiming the idea of modular nuclear reactors as theirs because the PCs have already started down that road, I have to wonder why there is such a reluctance for any party to acknowledge another party has come up with a good idea, and then agree that your party will do that too. Strategically, that could neutralize any political advantage but more on point, the public would be better served. 

Opposition parties can sometimes force their ideas in minority government situations, but it shouldn’t be restricted to that. Hell, let’s not go down the road of the Americans where ideas are rejected simply because they came from the other side. 

The Green Party, for example, has a platform plank that any company that uses tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes will be ineligible for any kind of government subsidy. Great idea. As taxpayers, the rest of us have to dig deeper to compensate for those who don’t pay their fair share. We all know that’s unfair, including Blaine Higgs and Kevin Vickers. So what is stopping them from saying – yes, we agree that’s a good idea, and promise to do the same thing?

That’s just one idea. Here’s another example. Both the Greens and People’s Alliance have platform promises around food security that should be adopted including, for example, setting targets to reduce food imports. It makes sense to support local farmers rather than importing most of what we eat from other provinces or countries. For kripe’s sakes, every party should be able to agree we should be growing more of our own food. 

Need more incentive? Hatfield cherry-picked other party’s good ideas and lasted 17 years as Premier. Think maybe he was onto something? 

The Language Divide 

Jean Gauvin was a Fisheries Minister in Hatfield’s cabinet, and Father to Robert. Photo Credit: Radio Canada

The last election left our province more divided along linguistic lines than it had been in many years. The only francophone elected on the Progressive Conservative side, not counting Saint John East MLA Glen Savoie after he decided he was a francophone too, was Robert Gauvin in Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou. He was the son of Hatfield era PC member Jean Gauvin, one of a strong core of francophone Conservatives who were instrumental in giving the Hatfield Tories a definitive and influential francophone presence in the north. 

Robert Gauvin Photo Credit: CBC

Perhaps it was expecting too much, but there were hopes that Robert could assume that mantel, and be the catalyst to grow the party in the north to what it once was. But for whatever reason he never did grow into that job, and two years after being elected as a Tory, Robert Gauvin has switched to the Liberals and is running in an entirely different riding.  

So for the Conservatives, this could be a problem. It may be a long shot but they do have some high profile candidates in some northern ridings. If they win government, hopefully, that victory will include some Francophone MLAs. For the Liberals, it isn’t the same thing because to form government they would have to win some Anglophone southern seats so a mix is a given. 

However it plays out, a French-English divide is not good for anybody. 

The best-laid plans of mice and men 

I’m sure whoever came up with the idea sold it as something brilliant. After all their message is that by electing a PC or Liberal government we get more of the same old. So how brilliant was it for the People’s Alliance to come up with a billboard that would be strategically placed between Liberal and Conservative billboards showing Liberal and Conservative candidates, with the message “Do you trust these two? Neither do we”. Brilliant! High fives all around! 

Except, what if the Liberals and Tories move their billboards and all that is left is yours, standing out there all by itself. And it has a photo of two Alliance candidates on it? The message then becomes, well, to be generous a little confusing.   

People’s Alliance billboard. Bottom of Royal Road, Fredericton, Monday, September 7th

Woops! Oh well, I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

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