The Liberal Astronauts

The Liberal Astronauts

By: Ryan Young

The irony is not lost on this blogger that the Liberal government that was handed power solely on the basis that they were not the PC’s, has decided to govern exactly like the PC’s. Political scandal, increased spending, and pure arrogance and disdain for the people are just a few of the enduring traits that Dwight Ball’s government has kept since taking over from Paul Davis and the Tories last November. Each day we get a new example of just how out of touch our politicians are. The last few days have been even more dysfunctional than usual.

Finance Minister Cathy Bennett stated that the recent budget will not have a noticeable impact on the economic recession that the province now finds itself in. I’m not sure what world the Finance Minister is living in, but every economist that I have heard from agrees that this budget will indeed have a detrimental effect on economic growth in this province, even as oil begins to rebound. Maybe Minister Bennett does not understand what drives the economy in this province. As much as we depend on our oil revenue, the real heart of our economy is our small business. It is consumers spending money that stimulates economies and creates jobs. Even someone as self involved as Bennett should know that. With the harsh measures in the 2016 budget, people in this province will simply have much less money to spend. For the Minister of Finance to say that a budget that will take $3000 or more out of peoples pockets each year will not be a contributing factor to a prolonged recession, means she is either pandering or really, really bad at her job. Yes, it can be both.

Then there was the revelation by Peter Whittle, President of the Federation of School Councils, that Education Minister Dale Kirby is making funding decisions based on whether or not an organization falls in line with the Liberal program. During a meeting this week, the minister was quick to directly correlate Mr. Whittle’s speaking out publicly against government decisions, with continued funding for the organization he represents. Mr. Whittle, quite honorably walked out of that meeting in protest to the bullying tactics of the minister. Inside sources tell me that “the little king” is not well liked in his department. His temper tantrums and lack of decorum are becoming well known on the hill. He has also shut the door to other organizations and continues to ignore anyone who dares to speak out against him in public. This kind of behavior in a minister has not been seen since the Joey years. The worst part is that the only defense he seems to have for any of his decisions is that the PC’s are bad. I’m pretty sure that people knew that when they voted Liberal, but in the absence of a real plan for a stronger tomorrow for our children, Minister Kirby has to resort to these bully tactics to deflect from the continued incompetence displayed by him and his department.

Continuing with our theme, Environment Minister Perry Trimper announced this week that the government will make no changes to Nalcor’s proposed methods of flooding for the Muskrat Falls project. Despite public opinion siding with the people of Labrador and their science backed by Harvard University, Trimper has determined that methylmercury poisoning concerns are not valid enough to warrant real action. Instead the government has offered to “monitor” the methylmercury levels, and to compensate the local people for loss of use of land or food that may occur due to increased toxicity levels. Understandably, the people of Labrador are furious with this decision and feel betrayed by a minister who had promised accountability for the residents who live downstream from Muskrat Falls. Are a few compensation dollars worth the loss of land and culture of the residents of Labrador? The message that this government is sending to Labrador is very clear. We don’t care about you.

And where is the premier in all of this? “Stubborn as they come.” Yup, that’s ole Dwight alright. Too stubborn to realize how mad people really are in this province.  I have met Dwight Ball in person. He is a nice man, very polite and well mannered. But like the rest of the province, he lied to me when he said he cared about our children’s future. You see Dwight Ball might have come from nothing, but he also grew up in a time when he could get an education without being buried in tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Dwight caught a few lucky breaks in the business world early on and built himself an empire. Dwight Ball doesn’t need his premier’s salary anymore than Danny Williams did. Do I begrudge the premier of his business success? Of course not, but the point I am trying to make is that Dwight Ball has no idea what it is really like to live as a regular person in this province. His idea of tough choices is much different than the realities that most of us face in our daily lives. He can afford to be smug and to dance around questions, because at the end of the day it is just a power game for him and the business Liberals.

I could go on and on. Jerry Dean, Al Hawkins, Colin Holloway, Eddy Joyce, pick a Liberal member and we can find an example of the arrogance that has been the continuing mark of the ruling class in this province for 67 years. It becomes more painfully obvious with each passing day that our government is utterly and completely out of touch and without the talent pool needed to think outside of the box to come up with innovative solutions to our many problems. We need real leadership and instead we are getting bad accounting and pathological lies. It’s scary to think where we might end up if Dwight is stubborn enough to stick around for the full 4 years. Someone needs to bring our Liberal astronauts back down to earth.