Politics

  • An Election is in the Air

    As the fall approaches, it is time for another round of provincial elections. The province is in a tough but still hopeful situation, people throwing around money and making promises that will make them look popular and ruthlessly attacking their opponents.

    I’m going to make a list of items that I consider a priority for the next government.

    1) Remove the ban from walking down the street with open liquor. There is no real public safety impact here, and littering would be of little impact as the empties will quickly be retrieved.

    2) Rename the Saint John River the “Saint John / Wolastoq River”, it would only cost 50ish signs and would make everyone happy. Also, please the indigenous peoples in the area.

    3) Within 5 years, eliminate 10 schools. Even if you have to build new modern 20th century buildings.

    4) Change legislation to ensure there are no more than 6 levels of management between the minister and the front line staff in every department and agency.

    5) Change the way we do municipalities. Naming streets, municipal planning, recreation, transportation, by-laws etc are what makes a community and councils should be limited to those things. Protective services should not be at the municipal level. There should be large regional elected service boards that run protective/regional services.

    6) Reduce 10 municipalities. There are too many for the size of the Province.

    7) Modernization of the delivery of government services. It is completely ridiculous that you still have to play phone tag with the receptionist to get appointments at the hospital and be called by 3 different departments for the same procedure. Also that your medical information is in silos that don’t allow your doctor to know the whole story, and allow electronic filing of prescriptions so you are not given conflicting drugs, and reduce the addictions.

    8) Be ambitious and strive to have Bilingualism as a requirement of Graduation for all students of New Brunswick. “switching between two or more languages gives the brain a dexterousness and improves our attention, planning, memory and problem-solving skills.” (Irish Times, 27 March 2018)

  • Please Don’t End Me

    Today, I was Googling myself to see what others were writing about me and one of the first things I read was the following tweet.

    Edit: Updated Link: https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/human_rights-droits_homme/child_marriage-mariages_enfants.aspx?lang=eng

    When I first read it I was a little afraid that my country had enough of me and were all out to get me. Then I read a little more on the issue. It was really shocking to me to learn that my initials are also the acronym for Child, Early and Forced Marriage. According to the Government of Canada the following stats are true:

    • Every year, it is estimated that 15 million girls—some as young as five years old—are forced into marriage.
    • Over 700 million women alive today were married as children.
    • One in every three girls in the developing world is married by the age of 18. One in nine marries before the age of 15.
    • Complications in childbirth are the leading cause of death among girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in the developing world.

    I really agree with the 10,000 tweets on the issue that this is something that everyone should know about and work towards putting an immediate end to. If you want to read more on the issue there are good links on the bottom of the government’s webpage on the issue

  • PPP Water

    I went to a public town hall tonight that was very interesting. It very well compared the argument for not going down a public private partnership. Though it was very lacking in facts of how a 3P could be beneficial to the community to make an informed discussion.

    My point of the argument is this. Why is Saint John water in the upper quartile range of Canadian Households. Added to the argument the property taxes are in the upper range as well though that can be explained in some fashion by the lower than average property values. The cost of water cannot.

    Saint John needs solutions. To dismiss an idea without a solution is long past the point of helpful.

    Here are some useful facts:
    1. The pipes are too big and designed for the city Saint John hoped to be.
    2. Our water quality though not terrible is not the standard it should be.
    3. The city is stuck with agreements that do not really expire and are almost impossible to renegotiate.
    4. Most of the expenditures of this city are fixed and beyond even councils control.

    The only solution I have would be to have the province dissolve the 228 year old Corporation of the City of Saint John and nullify any contract and start over with a new municipality.

  • Preventing Service Cuts, not a priority!

    This seems to be a big promise by a lot of candidates this election. Let’s face the facts in the past 10 years this city’s spending has ballooned from about 90 million to 135 million.

    It is time to reconsider what services that city should offer. To have a reasonable tax rate this city needs to reduce its spending very drastically. In most accounts, the number that results in a reasonable tax rate is about $105 million dollars.

    Our fire service is one of the most costly in the country. Our transit services have increased in municipal funding from $250,000 to over $5 million dollars in the past 10 years. In addition, the biggest sources of revenue (the parking commission) and the biggest expenses (major facilities, pension fund, solid waste) are not under the city’s complete control and are hidden behind provincial legislation.

    These bodies are also not required to be either open or accountable to the public. Several years ago the spring garbage collection was removed for costing half a million dollars in one week, but was it really required?

    A truly responsible new council should take the necessary measures to remove Saint John from the ranks of the highest property taxes and water taxes in the country and instead promote measures to increase the tax base but offering a more advantageous tax rate to attack further development.

  • Saint John Road Conditions

    We have all heard or experience the pot hole haven stories about this city. But, do the numbers support the claims that Saint John is too big for its population to support its roads properly. In fact Saint John has 4x the population per km of road than Bathurst. It would however be interesting to see how well Bathurst does at their own road maintenance.

    Below is a table sourced from Statistics Canada 2011 census for population and NB Department of Transportation Road Mileage charts (2012) for the kilometres of road.

    These numbers also include provincial designated highways that the cities get a grant to maintain.

    City Population KM of Roads Population per KM of roads
    Bathurst 4979 184 27.1
    Miramichi 17811 325 54.8
    Grand Bay-Westfield 5117 87 58.8
    Rothesay 11947 149 80.2
    Edmunston 16032 199 80.6
    Ouispamsis 17886 203 88.1
    Saint John 70063 718 97.6
    Campbellton 7385 73 101.2
    Moncton 69074 541 127.7
    Fredericton 56224 429 131.1
    Dieppe 23310 153 152.4

  • It’s the most wonderful season of the year…

    Election Season! In under 2 months, every municipal, education, and health council in this province will be new. But this is my favourite part is waiting for everyone to announce and I need to pick the people who I will vote for. I need to vote for and choose a Mayor of Saint John, 2 Councillors at Large, 2 Ward 4 councillors, an education councillor for Anglophone District South-5, and Francophone district Sud-9, and Health region B-4.

    This Saturday the nominations open up and I will announce more of my thought.

    And for theses that are wondering. I will not be running again this year.

    My best advise is don’t run for the fame and glory either run to do a committed job, or run to say something. It is much worse to have an idea not considered. Leave it to the people to determine its value. It could be the idea that might inspire those that can do.

  • Council’s Last Chance at Transit

    It is now 7pm in the council chambers and the councillors are now arriving. As council begins there is 44 people here.

    The meeting has now begun the councillor are doing their opening thanks to different community groups.

    Joe Mott is absent tonight. Most of the routine business is quite boring and routine. The first item is 12.1 on the demolition of a dilapidated building on city road no one will miss. Next is a review of the Taxi by-law review and a full presentation with slides.

    Council has after an hour approved starting the process of drafting the new Taxi By-Law something that has been talked about for close to 15 years now. Now they are discussing changes to the procurement policies.

    Now it is time for transit (11.2). Councillor Higgins has moved to reassess the decision to cuts. Now the motion is a refer to budget deliberations. Councillor Farren sounds hesitant as long as it does not increase taxes. Deputy Mayor Chase does not seem to really support this. He is even denying that Higgins did know that the facts that she is denying and is stern on holding the budget. Councillor Norton is proposing a public review on route changes, but is being cautious. Councillor Snook is supporting transit but is supportive of the public consultation of optimizing routes. The City Manager is trying to educate council that this is not a cut but a limit to the increase to 1% even though Transit has been increasing the city’s subsidy by about 8%. Court was not favourable to the motion. Councillor Sullivan is not wavering on the fact that Transit is not a council priority. They are trying to wash their hands of transit and placing responsibility on the commission and the province for the taxes on the garage.

    Some appear on delaying a decision. Councillor Titus, the council representative on the Transit Commission, is placing the blame back on council. He is insisting that the transit commission placed much thought on the routes. The cuts were based on cost effectiveness of service. The pension issue is of great importance and that money has been already been spent on printing of new schedule.

    Titus insists that there is not really $5-million dollars extra. Insists that we have really good services, that citizens should be proud of.

    Higgins makes a good closing point that perhaps if more than one transit passenger was on the commission it could be more efficient. It could be better promoted, and that the larger percentage of users are renters and renters pay 2x the tax rate of regular residential.

    Considering that East Saint John is getting hit the hardest. It is despicable that Councilor Court is taking such a hard line against the prosperity of transit. Councillor Court does not stand up for is own ward and should likely be cut come election time. Voting time it is a referral motion 8-2 in-favour. Titus and Sullivan against.

  • A Memorable Mass Transit Story

    Remember that one time on the bus, when…? Share your mass transit stories.

    One of my best memories on the bus was on an East bus headed to the mall on March 25th, 2004. I happened to run into my friend Tony, we were both heading to the mall. At this point I had my first batch of 25 names on the nomination papers. This was where Tony signed as the witness.

    As soon as I got to the mall I instantly went to head back to the north end to file the papers. The first time 8 of my names were rejected as the people who signed were not actually registered to vote. Then the second time 45 minutes later I was 2 names short. Then 25 minutes later, I was officially on the ballot.

    When it finally got approved, the first thing I did was to run to every media outlet that I could find and dropped off my Press Release.

    Running for Mayor was one of the most interesting times of my life, and all the people and aspects of the community that you get exposed to is unreal.

    Then six and a half weeks, and 448 votes later that part of my life was over. Thus leading the way for 2 days later when I left the province on my first vacation and train ride later.

    And the travels continue…

  • “Immoral but not Illegal”

    Apparently my site traffic has dropped a fair bit in the last few months. This past week has been one of the craziest news weeks that I can remember in quite some time. Four elections, a new premier, a shady closed meeting of the public accounts committee in Ottawa. The Europe economy teetering beyond hope. The City of Saint John not having a clue how to fix its self with the pension. Sarah Palin announcing that she won’t run again, and overshadowed by the death of Steve Jobs that no one really head or cared.

    But among all that the things that stood out the most happened on Thursday. US President Barack Obama in responding to why the US Wall Street executives that killed the global economy were not jailed for what they done responded with; “what they done was immoral but not illegal.”

    It is pretty bad when a few can make over a hundred million people worldwide homeless and unemployed. Then be bailed out by every reserve of money available on this planet then… nothing happens.

    Added note: I had received a comment that it was unclear but, the point I was trying to make was that no one cared that Sarah Palin was not going to run again. Many people including myself cared about the passing of the great Steve Jobs.

  • This is crazy, Unions need to go.

    This morning I heard the following story on the radio and was practically outraged by what I was hearing. Basically, the Government of Saskatchewan is offering a reasonable 6% pay increase to all the teachers, but the lousy blood-sucking unions are demanding 16%. In addition, who is going to feel bad for these teachers, 6% will make them some of the highest paid in the entire country.

    Even if the Government is able to pay this amount they should not give in. The money should go to offer better supplies for learning, libraries, I would even hire actual fitness trainers than give in to the greedy unions.

    I think that this country would be much better served banning unions from the public service.

  • The Times They Are A Changin’

    A few year’s back I got reconnected to a classic piece of music; Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changin’”. Back then was in March 2005. I was a young political supporter taking by first trip by train to Montréal, for the 1st Conservative Party of Canada policy and constitution convention.

    Back then I thought we were doing something new a great. The vision of make a new party from scratch. Also, strengthening up the constitution to make it more fair and accountable.

    Fast forward to now six years later, and we are back to the corruption as before but the song is developing new meaning. With recent events that started in Egypt and Tunisia we are seeing once more that The Times They Are A Changin’. In hindsight, it appears that change actually happen quite rapidly.

    Now that it spreads fast people can compare this turning point in history to the storming Bastille. Where people’s choice takes forefront to prolonged oppression. But of greater concern is that at this point in History the current super-power the United States turns out to be broke, and not exactly globally well liked. Compare them to the Hapsburg Dynasty of Austria that controlled much of Europe at the time of the Bastille.

    The French king at that time was completely unaware of the state of his people like leaders today in Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya. One only has to visit Luzern in Switzerland to see the most moving pieces of artwork in all Europe to see this was true. The only protection of a ruler be it King, Sultan, President; is who the Armed Forces supports, in France and now Egypt to military supported to people.

    As history goes the Bastille event results in Napoleon, where the Hapsburgs end up dead and everything changes. In the 2010’s can the United States survive or will we see that nothing is safe as The Times They Are A Changin’.

  • CBC News – NB – Review Anglo Society flag motion: language chief

    CBC News – New Brunswick – Review Anglo Society flag motion: language chief.

    This has to be one of the most overhyped stories of the month. It would be common practice for the City of Bathurst to fly this flag. I firmly believe that every group or person has the freedom to speak their thoughts. Just as much as it is everybody elses to consider to merits, then decide if it should be accepted or driven out-of-town with pitch-forks. In this case I think the City of Bathurst is committing censorship but the few deciding without the Anglo-Society having a chance to give the Anglo-Society their moment on the soap box.

    Personally from the time I was in Fredericton I think the Anglo-Society should be driven out with pitch-forks but everyone should be given a chance to hear their points.

  • Does council not care about protocol

    Does council not care about protocol

    This week I went to the council to see the debate and decision on Peel Plaza/North of Union project. That particular topic is so revolting in so many ways that it needs not mention here.

    But what is even more inexcusable is the state of the decorations in the Council chamber. I have attached a photo that demonstrates the three worst violations.

    1. The Queen’s Photo

    This item really bugged me most of the night it is not noticeable on TV or the web feed but the photos are crooked. In the chamber, it was the Philip photo that looked wrong but upon review in PhotoShop , it is actually the Queen’s photo that is eleven degrees clockwise crooked.

    2. The New Brunswick Flag

    This one is not as noticeable as the others but the flag is a good decimeter down the shaft from the top making it lower than the other flags.

    3. The Acadian Banner/Flag

    In this case , you don’t even see it because it has no base and is leaning against the Canadian flag.

    Bonus: Flag Order

    The flags are positioned incorrectly. They are positioned left to right: Union Jack, New Brunswick, Canada, Acadian. By official precedence with 4 flags the Canadian flag should be on the left, followed by the flag of a sovereign state (Union Jack), Provincial Flag in order of confederation (NB), then historical flags (Acadian). Then an optional second Canadian flag could be on the right.

  • Tethering on McGuinty TTC Cuts NB Power Deal Dead

    Since I am in Toronto for WordCamp Toronto 2010 this weekend, I thought I would take this time to update my posts more often. I’m still deciding on my plans for what I’m going to do, but I started the day with some news. First, let’s start with some amazing news from my cell phone provider Rogers Wireless. They are announcing something totally new for a phone company, that they actually listen to their customers.

    This must be only the second time that they did something like this. Remember back in July 2008 a revolutionary (changes the way people think of phones) device came to Canada and Rogers after public protest created the $30 6GB data plan. While today’s news is better according to the Rogers Blog all (non-roaming, non-shared, 1GB or greater or non-bundled with voice) smartphone data plans will include tethering in their usage as a permanent feature and not a promotion until May.

    The second thing I wanted to talk about was not so much about that when the budget was released yesterday that the new TransitCity project to increase the LRT routes, and station renovations. But that it was hidden in the budget and not even mentioned. Come on people, with Toronto being the centre of the Canadian media universe, did they not know that it escalates the fact that you’re a sleazeball for not helping progress Toronto like a modern city, but that you a bigger sleazeball for not having the backbone to stand up in Ontario parliament and tell the people why. Also, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is the biggest sleazeball for taking publicity in all the public funding announcements that you are going to do this TransitCity project.

    In the end, McGuinty is not as bad as New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham that mismanaged the proposed sale of NB Power. The original deal was one that was of a huge mutual benefit to both New Brunswick and Quebec, then made changes to make the deal one that took away the benefits from both parties. Now the only thing left is the benefit of popularity gains to the Progressive Conservatives for going against a bad revised deal. However, they should not be forgiven for their opposition to the original deal.

  • Haven’t we learned how to settle our differences?

    This morning I was reading the Political Blogger Charles LeBlanc’s site when I came across the following little gem.

    Worker was confronted by a nut with a Machete because he was making too much noise while shoveling snow on Regent Street in Fredericton.

    Doesn’t that just make you want to say OMG! The sad thing is that this is not the only recent event like this. Last week there was the 15-year-old Hampton NB native charged with 2nd degree murder for bringing a kitchen knife over to an alleged sexual assulting drug dealer and killing him in the back or side.

    Then about a year ago the guy chasing after another down the streets of uptown Saint John with a freaking broad sword.

    I once heard that you are more likely to get stabbed than shot in Canada, does that really make you feel any better?

  • Barron writer does not understand nature of Saint John

    Barron writer does not understand nature of Saint John

    A real breakdown of Saint John
    A real breakdown of Saint John

    Today I picked up a copy of The Barron, UNB Saint John’s student-produced paper. I came across the article “Travelling around Saint John: what you need to know” by staff writer Simon Jack. It does not take long for one to realize the writer did not understand the history of Saint John or the Transit system.

    The first point so I can move on was the reason he did not find information on the “Night Owl” run was that it was cancelled in Spring 2008.

    Now to the areas of Saint John, to refer to drawing a random line to determine the limits of both Millidgeville and South End is vastly poor research. The boundary for Millidgeville dates back to the 1950’s era boundary of city limits. Basically, the official boundary is if a line was drawn from Somerset Street and Sandy Point Road westward to Pokiok Point that was the city limits pre-amalgamation in Saint John.

    To define the South End one has to go much further back in time, back to 1785 (the beginning.) The Royal Charter that created Saint John defined the 4 wards of the “South Central” peninsula was split into quarters at Duke and Sydney Streets. The upper class mostly lived in the west side of the harbour, or northern two central wards. The poor (very broke poor) lived to the southern wards of Duke Street making the “South End” boundary Duke Street. Through the next 20-30 years, the South-enders made money suing the rich for literally everything. Leading to the creation of New Brunswick’s first Law School, which lead to UNB’s School of Law, as there were not enough lawyers to handle the workload.

    In conclusion, it also needs to be pointed out the reasoning for the layouts of the streets have much to do with them being planned before those areas were part of Saint John in many cases.

  • Open Letter to my MP on Fee for Carriage

    Today I checked my e-mail hand found this letter from my cable television provider Rogers Cable.

    Dear Rogers Cable Customer:

    {snip}

    I am now writing to inform you of yet another broadcasting policy proposal that is under consideration by the CRTC

    After rejecting it twice, the CRTC has reintroduced the idea of having a fee-for-carriage: a payment to Canadian over the air broadcasters that could ultimately end up costing cable and satellite TV subscribers between $5 and $10 per month!
    The proposal is being championed by over the air television networks such as CTV and Global (Canwest Media). These companies also own highly profitable specialty channels, such as TSN and History, and therefore overall are financially healthy.
    Furthermore, the CRTC has suggested that if the cable and satellite distributors don’t go along with the fee-for-carriage scheme, the television signals of American network stations, (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS) which we have distributed since cable TV began, will be taken away.

    The “fee for carriage” proposal is strongly opposed by Rogers and most other cable and satellite distributors.
    You as a cable TV customer can take a definitive position to oppose this new tax, called “fee-for-carriage”.
    To do so you should contact the CRTC before September 14.

    Simply tell the CRTC what you think of the idea of “fee-for-carriage” by clicking on this link: services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/instances-proceedings/Default-Defaut.aspx?S=O&PA=A&PT=A&PST=A&Lang=eng
    • Then Click on the 2009-411-3 under the heading “Notice # / Deadline Date”
    • Select the “Comment” option in the drop box
    • Fill out your comment.
    • Follow the remaining instructions until you are done.
    You may also contact your Member of Parliament by e-mail, regular mail or telephone. MPs always appreciate hearing from their constituents.

    Philip B. Lind
    Vice Chairman, Rogers Communications Inc.

    So, I’m going to put the following letter in the mail on Monday:

    Mr. Rodney Weston
    Member of Parliament – Saint John
    House of Commons
    Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

    September 4, 2009

    RE: Fee for Carriage

    Greetings Mr. Weston

    The proposal before the CRTC concerns me greatly. Many of your constituents rely greatly on power of television as one of the only sources of knowledge and entertainment. With the coming decommissioning of analogue TV signals across Canada and that fact that digital signals do not have the range of an Analog signal many are or will be forced to bring in signals via the use of an intermediary such as a Cable, Satellite, or future IPTV provider would be not only a benefit but a necessity.

    It is also not level in fairness either since many of these stations provide their programming or parts of as streams or downloads via IPTV (over the internet). If a fee for carriage is introduced it should also come with an opt-out to receiving those selected channels or be charged to users the receive OTA (Over the air Signals) as it is not fair to charge some of the potential viewers of the signal and not others.

    In addition, this is a tax on the poor in out community, demographic research proves that largest demographic of viewers in Canada is the low to fixed income bracket. It is proven that this area of the population of subscribers subscribe to Cable and Satellite services, as it is one of the more affordable means of entertainment for larger families. This is truly a significant proportion of your constituents in Saint John.

    In conclusion, the local television content providers not only should but also must find a different model of producing content. This must not be allowed to be it.

    Yours truly,

    Charles E. Frees-Melvin

  • Saint John Transit Changing Routes

    Over the past few weeks, I have heard discussions on the bus about these upcoming changes. Some of the things I hear sounded stupid but look to be true. Now that I have seen the changes as a whole it makes a lot more sense.

    Basically, the routes I use are only changing by about 5-10 minutes and better evening runs. I really would not call this a major change, with the exception of the East-West and University, runs and addition of a few routes. But the numbers are. They are now grouping lines by the area where the old system had numbers all over the place.

    These changes are taking effect on August 9th, 2009. Please leave comments below on what you think of the changes. saintjohn.ca/transit-schedules has more information.

  • Time to pull Mayor Court

    One of the major articles from the Telegraph-Journal this week that had caught my attention (Petition would oust Mayor) was the petition by Gerry Webster to recall the mayor. All I can say is where do I sign. No don’t say that I don’t agree with democracy, in fact I believe that petitioning to recall the Mayor is very democratic. I gives everyone the chance to vote on whether to keep the Mayor or pick someone better. Ivan Court in my opinion has not kept up the standard in the first year of his reign that this city needs, and is in fact going to be severely detrimental; as his and councils policies do nothing more than chase businesses out of the city.

    On the other hand I see that Fredericton would be probably the most likely and willing to nail the tomb on Saint John. In a historical perspective the city of Fredericton was created because of all the morons and poor decisions of Saint Johners.

    It would be very interesting to see who would come out of the woodwork that could beat Mayor Court. The fact that it only takes 15% of the electorate is a good number that that people will not pull the Mayor as that number mean the “do not rock the ship” people will need to convert to pull the mayor. Which I think people believe the Mayor needs to go if not because of what he done but because the Telegraph-Journal told them so. (Follow-up on the Mayor won’t quit) (Follow up article if it was legal)

  • Okay, or maybe Save Local that gives a $#!+

    While in my last post I may have took the position that Saving Local is not important. That is not true. I am against CTV and Global who have for the last few years, mainly CTV, treated New Brunswick as a second class maritime province in terms of share of news coverage and local programming.

    Now on to the main topic of this post, CBC Radio 1 in Saint John. In reality Saint John has about 4 main contacts for news CHSJ, CBC, CHNI, and Telegraph-Journal. However, only the Telegraph-Journal and CBC provide the depth of information and understanding of our community as a whole. Despite radio being close to a hundred year old technology. The style of the CBC just draws you in and is never shallow on good storytelling.

    Technically speaking the CBC does have a trend on over staffing on productions on the TV end but with the radio it takes less people to technically produce the shows so that leaves cutting the staff as ripping out pages from the unpublished book, still there but more shallow. I definitely plan on attending the rally in King’s Square this weekend.

    We Want Our CBC

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