“All You Can Eat”
The old man in the hat
Do you like buffets? Sometimes I find them to be intimidating. So much food. So little time. That old saying, “eyes too big for the stomach”, comes to mind. With so much choice, it is ever sooo easy to overindulge. Then comes the diet. Yuk. Self denial is never fun. It takes a certain degree of that old fashioned concept that I would call “character”. That willingness to resist selfish need.
Do you like buffets? Buffets of the political kind. So much scandal. So much stupidity. (My wife hates the word stupid, but I think that if the shoe fits….!) It is hard to know where to begin.
At the present, I am quite awed at the character and self- denial of the residents of Perth-Andover. I mean, you guys are getting, pardon my language, there is no gentle way of putting this, screwed.
First, and not to beat the issue to death, is the flood response. Maybe I am not right up to date on the issue, but I still do not really understand the response, both on a political or a humanitarian basis. I know there is only X dollars available but raiding the environmental trust fund, to make the largest ever single allocation of funds to a private good, sets a difficult precedence. To top off the issue, where is the plan for the commercial sector? In math, if A=B and B=C, then A=C. If government pays private land owners, and private land owners are business owners then why not government money for business owners.
The hospital response is beyond the pale. I have nothing but sympathy for the citizens of Perth-Andover in their dealings with the Honourable Mr. Hugh John Jeckyl-Hyde! We all know that the provincial civil serpents have been pushing reorganization of Upper River Valley Health services for 30 years (aka “shut it down”). Now nature (aka NB Power) has provided them with the perfect opportunity to push this plan forward. I would like to refer to such attempts as as exercise in “spinelessness” as opposed to the “character” exercised by the much pilloried citizens of Perth-Andover.
Who could forget the Tobique Narrows Bridge repair? This sounds like the situation of the Hugh John Flemming ( that damn name is coming up again!) Bridge in Hartland. The same thing was proposed. Shut her down. People will just have to adapt. Well, that did not work in Hartland and should not be allowed to work here. Although the repair work has now been delayed for a year (apparently the government was not actually prepared ???), this delay has not meant a resolution of the concerns, just more uncertainty. Maybe I am paranoid, but there seems to be a concentrated effort on the part of government, to decimate your community. While I do admire the character of your restraint, I think that it is perfectly understandable if you feel that it it time to take it up a notch.
