Politics


  • Toronto, Election, and LiveSaintJohn

    While once again it is getting to be that time for my annual trip to Toronto. This year I am spending 5 nights in Toronto. I have not done up my itinerary yet, but top on my list of things to see is the Hockey Hall of Fame, a Mervisch Play, and Queen’s Square in Toronto.

    Wow, can’t you just smell the sweet scent of a Federal Election? Unfortunately, I’ll be in Toronto during the CSM but hopefully, the Election call will be shortly after I return.

    And when I return LiveSaintJohn.ca is going to get up and running. I will spend a little time adding content, and restaurant reviews.
    CIAO FOR NOW… CEFM


  • Montreal Conservative Convention

    Montreal Conservative Convention


  • 4 more days!

    The conservative national convention next week should be very interesting. I’ve been looking forward to it for so long. I am leaving Saint John on Wednesday and will be returning on Sunday.
    I’ve been busy reading all the amendments and there are some I really disagree with but it should be interesting to hear what others think while I am in Montreal.

    To finish off I am going to add a letter that I sent around last week about the creation of the Young Conservatives of Canada, which I think with slight amendments in the future should be the best youth program of all the political parties in Canada.

    Greetings Fellow Conservatives,

    It is difficult to make a decision on this resolution. Clearly option “C” of maintaining the things as they are is not acceptable. It is defiantly very important to have strong youth involvement in the party.

    Option “A” of creating a Young Conservatives of Canada seems to be a reasonable proposal and better than option “B”, but has several obvious flaws. The first flaw is that it places the President as a voting member of the National Council, this further diminishes the impact of the provincial elected councilors, and allows an opportunity, although not likely, for someone who is not of voting age to be on the National Council. In addition the age of membership in the Conservative Party of Canada should not be lower than the age of 16.

    It also does not promote the communication between campus clubs, and the local EDAs. If option “A” is to be passed it should limit one Young Conservatives of Canada council per electoral district and make an amendment in Electoral District Association constitutions to keep up a spot on the directors for a campus club, starting at the next Annual Meeting, where the place may be filled if an organization does not exist, but does not remove any member as a director until the next annual meeting. If a campus/youth club is formed during the year, they will not hold a directors place until the next general meeting. Also the Campus/Youth organization will be considered a committee of the EDA, to allow for Fundraising, and providing tax receipts under the riding associations.

    Charles E. Frees-Melvin
    Convention Delegate/Director
    Saint John Conservative EDA
    www.sjconservative.ca


  • Better Policy Needed to Deal with Bus Congestion

    I have a concern I’ve noticed happening more often on buses over the past month or so. This effect is happening on the Hospital / UNB and East / West Routes.

    As the buses are approaching capacity there are normally about three to seven seats left in the rear of the bus, however many UNBSJ students will notice only that there are no seats in the front of the bus and will stand half-way between the front and rear doors, causing a backlog of people standing.

    I would suggest that the Transit Commission make it policy that all standers must stand in the back of the bus to make it clearer that there are free seats remaining. In addition, I would ask that you contact the University to send out an e-mail to students advising them of this.


  • Another Victom of the Curse.

    Once again another aspiring politician was not elected because I voted for them.

    Here is the list so far:
    2004 Federal Election
    Bob McVicar (Defeated)

    2004 Conservative Leadership
    Belinda Stonich (Defeated)

    PC/Alliance Merger
    Voted Against (defeated)

    2003 Federal PC Party Leadership
    Jim Prentice (Defeated)

    2004 Municipal Election
    Myself (Defeated)

    2003 Provincial Election
    Mel Vincent Jr. (Defeated)

    2001 Municipal Election
    Derek Chase (Defeated)

    The only exception is when I voted for Elsie Wayne in the 2000 Federal Election.


  • After the election

    Many people have asked me what was it like to run for Mayor of Saint John. The answer was that it was a time of a life time. I was privileged to meet everyone that I did meet. I now have a greater respect for Saint John and the issues about it.

    I thought that I knew a lot about Saint John from reading the news, and watching council, and working in the community. There are others that thought I would have been better off running for council, but with the total number of people running, and the fact was there where much better people who were running for council with the knowledge and ability to do this city well.

    To be quite honest the councillors that were elected were some of the best of the crop. Out of the 50 there was actually only about 17 that I thought were the best suited for the job and 9 of them were elected.

    Now back to the Mayor’s seat. Running for mayor provided me with the best exposure. I was mentioned on the Newspapers, Radio, and appeared on TV. Also, I had many people who would stop and talk to me, about the community. It was well worth the experience. I could have bought advertising, and signs I was not desperately determined to get elected. But by no means was I not trying, I was running with a from my heart campaign and what I thought was best. I honestly don’t respect people the just run for the fame, I believe the you should be able to do the job before applying, and I felt that if elected I could have done an exceptional job at it.

    In the future I will run again it may or may not be 2008 but I will be back for more.


  • Last 3 Days

    The last three days have been very interesting. I had the opportunity to meet with many Saint Johners, and received a lot of good feed back. I was saddened to learn that I was not considered by the Fire Department, as I believe my plan would benefit the Fire Department the most out of any candidate.


  • It’s Official!

    As of 10:30 this morning I am now an official Mayoral Candidate for the City of Saint John. 20 Day till election day. Can you just smell the winds of change.


  • Royal Visit

    It is a typical Friday morning in Uptown Saint John. There are a few people sitting around casually chatting to one another. The big issues on peoples minds are focused on what cuts the Mayor and City Council are going to make in their budget, that the one time great Saint John Flames hockey team are having their season opener later tonight, or that tomorrow is the first day of the long-awaited Thanksgiving Day long weekend. In all there is not much thought being given to the fact that in a small city an hour and a half to the north the queen is arriving.

    Earlier as I waited what seemed to be an eternity for the bank to open, an elderly man slowly entered and joined me in the wait. Casually I asked him what was his thoughts about the queen. “She is not of great concern,” he said gasping for air, “There are worse ways for the government to waste money, but I like things the way they are, and I would miss it if it was gone. She (the queen) is a magnificent person.”

    After leaving my table in Market Square, I took a stroll out on to the board walk. Out there I ran into two nice and polite women, who I later found out were Americans from the southern state of Texas. Apparently they had just arrived on the cruse ship, Royal Princess, that was docked down the street at the Pugsly Terminal. “Oh God!, I don’t know about these things but,” the older one said, ‘the current queen is nice, although I don’t know about her successors.”

    When I approached a friendly, middle-aged man on my way down Prince William Street to my old high school he said, “It is not costing us anything, why change it?”

    Questioning the high school students at Saint John High School on a smoke break went no where, many of them following my questions with, “What is a monarch?,” and, “What is a head of State?” This from a school that when I went there was renowned for being the intellectually advanced school in the city. I was puzzled is this going to be another generation of people who don’t really care, who cares is it comes or goes.

    One student that understood the question felt that the queen should be replaced by Jean Chrétien after he retires in the winter of 2004 because, “He’s done a lot for Canada.”

    Later on I ran into another man who felt that like most of the people who it does not really matter if the royalty came or went. He felt that before getting rid of the monarch they should get rid of the Senate. “They both don’t do anything but the queen does not cost a fortune like the Senate does.”

    According to the Monarchist League of Canada the queen does not really cost us anything because we would have to pay for a President anyway if we got rid of her. According to the Parliament of Canada Website the Monarch costs about $1.02 per Canadian where the Senate costs about $6.73 per Canadian.


  • Bilingual Signs are Great Teaching Tools

    Originally Printed in:

    Saint John Telegraph Journal (August 15th, 2002)

    Bilingual signs are great teaching tools

    Although it will cost some money, the new Official Languages Act although will be beneficial to all New Brunswickers.

    The best part of this is the part where all signs will have to be bilingual. The reason I say this is that it will greatly help the general public to learn more French in the majority English communities and English in majority French communities. When someone passes these new signs every day, after time they will have both the English and the French names memorized.

    I personally have learned more French from reading government building signs and food containers than 12 years in the New Brunswick school system. I think it will be very beneficial as long as they don’t take it too far and try to translate things like the Saint John sign on Fort Howe.


  • Student Senator Election Speech

    Thursday 27 September 2001

    Good Morning,

    Effective 4 pm on Monday the 24th of September, I declared that I was willing to accept the responsibility, and officially placed my name forward as a candidate for Student Senator.

    I am not saying that I am the best candidate for this position but that I am without doubt that I am the second best choice, and luckily you are not voting for the best person but the best TWO people.

    Moreover, it is for this reason that instead of telling you why I am the best candidate I will tell why I am not the worst candidate.

    First, I will tell you a little about myself. I am an aspiring politician from Saint John, New Brunswick. This is my first year here at St. Thomas and I am in the Journalism program.

    Second, you might be asking why is a first-year student is going for a position of such importance as Senator instead of going for something more basic like first-year rep? The Answer is that my philosophy is that if you wish greatness you must start near the top.

    Third, I feel that I have the time, dedication and enthusiasm to do a magnificent job as one of YOUR two student senators.

    In conclusion, remember on October 1st get out to vote, and while voting, vote Charles E. Frees-Melvin for Student Senator.

    Thank You, and have a great day!


  • Commentary on TV Coverage of the “Attack on America”

    Jour 1013- Intro. to Journalism

    Charles E. Frees-Melvin (920722)

    Thursday 13 September 2001

    Subject: Commentary on TV Coverage of the “Attack on America”

    I woke up on a beautiful summer day, as usual, went to class and came back for a noon rest. I left my dorm room and went to see my neighbours in the next room, who watch movies all the time, I saw the WTC and Pentagon on fire and ask, “What movie is this?” They responded with a “Dude, this is real!” At that moment I returned to my room and turned my T.V. on to watch a day of coverage. Switching back and forth from: NBC/CBC/Global/ABC/CTV/CBS/FOX/CNN/&TBS. I found that most of the footage was from CNN but I was hooked on the commentary by Peter Mansbridge (CBC).

    Peter made me feel more secure in really knowing what was going on. It was also very helpful to have it from a Canadian perspective. I found that Lloyd Robertson (CTV) did not really have as of a heart touching production as Peter Jennings (ABC News).

    Some of the most questionable stuff I saw was the broadcast from Global National News where most questionably the showed the man in freefall from the north tower. Also, Global National News had a very inconsistent format where the show was from Toronto than to Vancouver and Dartmouth and had so many hosts that about 2 pm they were contradicting each other and you lost the continuity of what was going on.

    Also, details of the Pentagon looked liked like they were given less importance to the events at the World Trade Centre on all the broadcasts except WTBS from Atlanta. GA.

    Now it is the evening of Thursday 13 September 2001, a full 60 hours after the “Attack on America.” Airports are slowly reviving. Survivors are slowly one by one being pulled out of the debris. The remnants of fires still exist in both buildings. “They are just spotted fires, and we would not like to pour water into the building since it could pour down into open spaces where there are most likely still survivors,” a rescue worker stated on CBS News he went on to say that, “It is likely that people could survive in the subfloors for days or weeks.”