This is about money and what we can afford. It’s a shame that some are trying to use it to widen the linguistic divide.
Political Observer's Panel Jan. 18/19
ICYMIT - our Political Observer’s panel on CBC Shift looks at the Auditor General’s latest report, and the latest on the Francophonie Games.
Is Robert Gauvin going to be Blaine Higgs' Jean Maurice Simard?
Circumstances can sometimes catapult someone into a situation they didn’t invite, and that requires a decision the consequences of which represent more responsibility than they maywant to assume.
Political Observer's Panel - Dec. 21/18
Our year end panel - a look back at the past year in New Brunswick politics, and ahead at how the new one might unfold.
Political Observer's Panel - Dec. 7/18
“Take that little carton you get of 250ml of chocolate milk, and say a kid gets one of those every school day for a year, 180 school days. So every day that kid has one of those for lunch. That amounts to that kid consuming 10 pounds of sugar. He has more chocolate milk at home or on weekends, add to that. There’s twice as much sugar in chocolate milk than there is in Coke.”
Baby it's PC Madness Outside
banning Baby It’s Cold Outside by all these broadcasters is extreme hypocrisy, given what they are OK with. Not that I want to see any of it banned, I would not support that. I just want to make the point that their decision in this case is Political Correctness gone berserk.
Out of The Cold: A Homelessness Plan Comes Together
All of this is good of course in that it meets an immediate need. But it is not the answer to homelessness. That would be a home, through Housing First. There is good news on that front too
Gleaner Misleads Readers on Playhouse, Should Take a Stand Based on Facts
The Gleaner editorial calls for a Playhouse renovation which, years ago, was priced at $12 million. A modicum of research on behalf of the writer would have shown him that would be an incredible waste of money. Which is why the Playhouse abandoned that plan.
Political Observer's Panel - Nov. 16/18
“We have excess capacity. No one needs to live on the street…we just have to decide and communicate to the politicans that it matters to us.”
Let's see how the new Higgs government measures up on the compassion front
The problem is considerable. For a start, there’s hardly any affordable housing. Rents have risen steadily while welfare rates haven’t moved in years. Add to that the complex issues those who are living rough are dealing with. Almost all have mental health challenges, often combined with serious addictions. As Faith McFarland of the Community Action Group on Homelessness so matter-of-factly states, crystal meth is a monster. And it is a monster combined with everything else requires professional intervention. This isn’t a job for volunteer ladies from our local churches, regardless of how well-intentioned they may be.
Political Observer's Panel - Nov. 9/18
“In a perfrect world, you’d say why take the risk (fracking), but we are approaching a finanaicla abyss here, we need the money to pay for our services….honest, objective research shows it is not a black and white thing.”
Political Observer's Panel - Nov. 2/18
“Higgs can’t be seen as making concessions to the Alliance on their language disposition or this province is going to shatter, and become even more divided than it is right now.”
Political Observer's Panel - Oct. 26/18
“It is an example of the kind of speech we can expect under Proportional Representation or minority government. Aside from the fact had no vision, it was pretty good. He (Gallant) got rid of the stupid stuff like the freeze on NB Power rates, and a lot of the good ideas that came from the other parties, because he was trying to apease them, were there.”
A Straight Pride flag? Chipman, ya gotta be kidding me.
I expect the mayor and council, and maybe even those who hatched the flag idea, simply didn’t think it through. That’s the benefit of the doubt. The other possible conclusions are less kind.
Political Observer's Panel - Oct. 19/18
Now that we are seeing who the pot smokers are, we see they are us. They are not a subculture, not a marginalized or deviant culture, just regular folks and this is how they relax (perhaps that will help eliminate the ingrained stigma around cannabis.)
It's time for a serious discussion on Proportional Representation
Just two points to wrap this up. First, we are one of only five countries in the world that is still using the first-past-the–post system, and one of the other ones is the United States. We can see how that’s working out for them. Second, consider New Zealand. They switched from first-past-the-post in 1996. Then in 2011 as part of that year’s election, they had a referendum asking if citizens would like to switch back. The response – no way.
Political Observer's Panel - Oct. 12/18
“And you’re saying it is because of the secrecy that this story has emerged that it is about language. Other people say it is because there aren’t enough paramedics out there to hire. That’s why I say let’s get to the bottom of it and find out.”
Life of Brian. It's not going to be much longer as Premier, so why is he hanging on?
While Higgs only scored one more seat than Gallant did, that one could make all the difference. Not that he couldn’t be defeated on his own confidence vote, but he won’t be, because no one wants an election.
Political Observer's Panel - Post Election
Maybe this sends a message to politicians in the future that you can’t buy elections anymore. Because Gallant tried to do that and it didn’t work.
Some final election campaign thoughts
It is almost a sense of resignation that it doesn’t matter, that nothing is going to change. I can certainly understand the cynicism.