The Daily Gleaner reports today that Lord is set to meet with Mesheau on Friday and it is expected that an election call will follow that meeting. An election called this Friday or Saturday could be held as early as Monday, September 11.
I can't imagine that the premier would want the election on a date with such eery connations, but, he suggests in the article that he will call it soon after Mesheau resigns ("So we're going to get that out the way because I don't want this situation to go on forever. I want you and everyone else to know whether there will be an election soon or not and if there is, good. Let's get it over with. Let's give a choice to people.") so this seems like a likely date. Lord could call an election on Friday or Saturday and make it a long campaign - 5 or 6 weeks instead of the minimum and standard 4 - but a longer campaign does not allow for higher spending limits so it might be difficult for the parties to remain within the limits in a 5 week campaign. It is worth noting that Tories were just barely under the limit in 2003 with a 4 week campaign.
Other tidbits - both Lord and Graham are in the news talking energy policy. Graham is set to announce a big energy refit rebate program in Saint John today and on alternative energy tomorrow. Lord has finally set up a Provincial Capital Commission (he has named an executive director but no board) as promised in 2003.
UPDATE: CBC reports that Lord will hold off dropping the writ because it "wouldn't be appropriate given the history of" September 11 to go to the polls on that day.
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30 comments:
Only a stupid man will call election on 9/11 then it is Bernie’s expertise to be one. One does feel sorry for Bernie’s feet because they must resent permanent residence in his mouth.
As far as Bernie’s promise on Provincial Capital Commission is concerened, it is like anyother promise which he has no intention to keep. He makes no bones about it either as he recently stated that Harper should break promises on equalization. We will call it Berniism.
Is Mesheau's resignation a done deal? I feel something is up there? Probably just me though.
anon at 1:55...
Looks like Lord is not dumb enough to call it on the 11th as reported by CBC and on an update to the post.
Agreed about the too little too late and unlikley to be delivered capital commission
scott - it is not a "done deal" persay as the resignation hasn't really taken place. But they have gone so far, I think it would be hard to pull it back from the brink. I guess this could be a clever trick to force the Liberals to show too much of their hand though... interesting concept
Political observers had never said the 11 of september it was always the 18 or 25...
anon at 3:40 - I never attributed the 11th to anyone, it was merely the date that would be most workable if Lord called the election on Friday as suggested in today's Daily Gleaner.
My observation was correct as Lord later was reported in the CBC saying that he would not call it on Friday or the weekend so as to avoid having it on the 11th.
nbpolitico, thank you for the update. Bernie's foot must be aching real bad for yet another dreaded trip into his mouth.
You know anon, a wee bit of sportsmanship would be okay in this especially when it comes to 9/11 and Lord. He said quickly he wouldn't hold it on 9/11 and who can blame him. The guy was actually in New York on 9/11 and couldn't be reached for hours. He was supposed to be around WTC at the time of the attacks and his family and I would argue most of New Brunswick was pretty concerned for his safety. I don't mind reading the disagreement with Lord (heck, I disagree with him sometimes and lots of politicians) but the vitriol is pretty putrid. NBpolitico, thank you for keeping the conversation civil even though you're clearly not in the Lord camp.
spinks - I see no need for personal attacks, it can only serve to lessen the credibility of the attacker.
Just some clarification, my last comment was in response to spinks saying "NBpolitico, thank you for keeping the conversation civil even though you're clearly not in the Lord camp"... I did not mean to infer that I thought spinks was making a personal attack.
nbpolitico, please clarify a little more as to who is doing the attacking.
If an ordinary citizen makes a mistake then s/he mostly hurts himself/herself but if a premier of the province screws up he screws up the whole province. Which comments you consider to be personal attack here. It is only right to point out such screw-ups.
The way healthcare has been screwed up loss of life is the result. You cannot call it murder because all this was done in the name of public policy. People are hurting. The origin of this screw up apparently is financial mismanagement including highway tolls. Lord has abused power all along. If that is pointed out then is that a personal attack.
Spinks, please tell me that is Lord more human than others? (some are equal and some are more equal).
Given the healthcare cuts more New Brunswickers are concerned about their own well-being and safety than Lord’s safety. Does that matter? What is so special about Lord which does not apply to the rest of the population.
Have the Libs committed to undoing the "cuts" Lord implemented? I would be surprised if they would and it would set back the progress made in the health file. If anything, health care is where Lord has done things right. He has implemented the changes that other goverments didn't have the guts to make.
Anon at 10:44 - I wasn't referring to any attacks, I was complimented for not making attacks and explained why I do not make them.
cooker boy - not sure if you are familiar with the cuts Lord made but you certainly are not accurately describing them. He made cuts if safe Tory seats (that he won't lose anyway) and safe Liberals seats (where he will never win) but not in any marginal seats. The result was health care being driven into the ground in some regions while other regions have more than they need. The cuts Lord made were sustainable on paper but where he made them was of huge detriment to the health of New Brunswickers.
nbpolitico, I think Spinks is just jealous that many have started coming to your blog. LOL.
He implied that some were making personal attacks when no such attacks exist. It is all in his head.
Cooker boy, you are using government line. What changes did Lord make that he should be proud of, give some examples. Is he proud of closing hospitals in rural areas, reducing beds where people's health has been compromised or cutting healthcare staff that now it takes whole day to be seen in ERS for few minutes, or is it that 1-800 number if you have health problem and someone may pick up the phone in Moncton? Previously a nurse in your local hospital looked after such calls. Local nurse made it so comfortable as well as one felt sense of privacy knowing that nurse was in a certain hospital. Now it could be an actress playing nurse answering your call as far as I am concerned – may be Philis Dhiller. It is one disaster after another
.
Hey nbpolitico, nice blog, we dont have the same views all the time, but its nice to have a civil conversation about politics, sorry about my typing i'm french but i do have some points concerning your view on the healthcare cuts cause i'm from the region in the peninsula. we had 3 24 hour hospitals 15 minutes apart each... in this day and age its too much we had minimal service at each of them, any emergency's we still ended up going to bathurst hehe, so alot of money was being thrown in the trash that could served for something else, me personally if i would have been in an accident no way would have i wanted to go to the caraquet hopital, there was no need to have 3 hopitals so close apart thats one point, but the main point is that the doctors were all ready to leave, they were all tired of the 24 hours day hospitals and who can blame them, and i do know that our news paper is used to reporting the bad side, you close a hospital of course some people are going to be mad but now with the clinic its much better less wait times than having to walk in a hospital everytime, also caraquet was not a strong lib riding edard albert (lib) only won by 100 votes over the pc candidate in 2003.
cheers
cheers
jim, caraquet took government to court. That was not just few people. Unfortunately the way our legislation is, nothing much can be achieved through courts. Lord can take an ill person and put him/her somewhere in the middle of Renuese highway and let the person starve and die and there is nothing that courts will do in NB. It is an extreme example but reality is not that much different? Courts are also damn too conservative in NB
Bernie will be slaughtered in northern areas next times around.
anonymous 10:39
courts are there to interpret legislation not to make it... yeah when the decision came Caraquet brought them to court, who can blame them they lost a hospital, but my point is no one was using it for emergencys anyways, instead they have a good clinic and a new senior home so that takes care of the high number af bed lockers they had. and now instead of having a hospital every 15 minutes we have one every 30 mins like the rest of the province and the country for that matter. And Province has more cash to put on treatment, bernie is going to loose in caraquet but i doubt in shippagan.(thats just my opinion and feel from up here) You brought a good point though.
cheers
jim - no plan is all bad and there may well have been some good there. What frustrates me is that the Sackville and Oromocto hospitals saw no cuts when they are super close to hospitals but St-Quentin gets virtually closed when they are 2 hours from a hospital.
The St. John Valley is a huge issue too - it is the only part of the province where they are fully staffed in doctors and nurses: no shortage at all, yet the government has completely dismantled a system that works for political reasons.
Jim, when I said courts are conservatives in NB, I meant small ‘c’ conservative. I agree that courts interpret law. However, courts take lot of levity in interpreting law depending on the litigants. Prime example is U.S. Supreme court decision in 2000 that Bush won the Florida election. Supreme Court offered W presidency in a platter thanks to appointees by Reagan and then the other and older Bush. It was calculated move, as Supreme courts decision cannot be appealed. However, if Gore would have made any more noise and gone to Congress he would have only hurt himself and his party at that point.
In Canada Ontario and British Columbia courts are more progressive and sometimes do enough hair-splitting to get decision in favour of injured party. In New Brunswick courts always seem to err on the side of extra-ordinary caution when it comes to interpreting the law and quite often the government in power ends up winning if it is one of the litigant. When was last time when New Brunswick Court of Appeal contradicted a decision by a lower court? That is what I mean by conservative – courts bend over backwards to maintain the status quo in NB
9:28, personal attacks are calling someone stupid (in this case an anonymous called Lord stupid.)
Sorry, you don't get to become premier by being stupid. Sinking to such a level of calling people names instead of as nbpolitico and others have done of pointing out what they believe to be the flaws and merits of various policies is frankly childish in my opinion and cheapens the discussion.
As far as my blog goes, since you're anonymous you obviously won't step into the ring in my blog anyway because I don't allow anonymous comments for that very reason. Unfortunately it seems to cheapen the discussion when folks have zero accountability.
Spinks, you are apparently upset, as comments on your blog have pretty well gone to zero. Calling a politician moron, stupid is no personal attacks. It comes with the territory. If that bothers Bernie then he should resign, “if you cannot take the heat leave the kitchen”. Moron has become first name for Bush and that is according to Americans. Now what is so special about Bernie that it is sacrilegious to call him stupid by pointing out his stupidities? Is he smarter than Bush? Bush runs the superpower of the world when Bernie became Premier by default of a small and rural province. Would you rather call him dumb? Does that change anything?
Actually 2:10, the visits to my blog continues to grow so I'm really not concerned about the number of comments. The ones who leave them by and large are thoughtful and add to the discussion. Calling people stupid doesn't. This is nbpolitico's blog so the criteria of what is acceptable is up to him/her.
You're welcome as everyone is to join in the discussion at Spinks' house as well. A hotmail account will get you a user ID that is free and still anonymous. As long as it's civil, I'm okay with it but if the discussion degrades, yeah I'll call you on it. Politics NB had a similar problem in the early days on his site as well and essentially had to ban someone (I'm guessing given the writing styles, possibly yourself but at least someone with a similar style), and he's one of the most tolerant guys I know. Most blog owners simply don't tolerate the slamming of others for comments and they like to raise the bar. that behaviour. I don't think you've crossed any line and do as you will but I don't think calling politicians names adds any value either. Call them on their actions and their policies and decisions but name calling? It's pretty petty. My 2 cents.
Come on Spinks. Calling politician names is a great sport as long as those names are not swearing words. There I draw the line within a reason. However rest comes under sarcasm and political humour you may like it or not. Have you watched Daily Show, Jay Leno, letterman and others lately? Or Air Farce in Canada. They make these politician look more than stupid and morons. At times they make them look like retarded. Of course Air Farce shoots them with gunk. Some entertainers use much stronger language and make personal attacks. May be you should not watch them. It is not for kids, sensitives and religiou type, LOL.
May be I should call Father Spinks because you preach too much.
Cheers.
There's nothing wrong with personal attacks-they make big decisions and thats' what they're paid for. If you can't back it up, people are right to ignore you.
However, coming from Oromocto I'd like to make a comment. The Oromocto Hospital was already gutted under McKenna, there really isn't much meat there left to cut. Having three people in the medical profession I can tell you with certainty that for emergency cases, those who know anything about medicine will go to the Oromocto hospital and not the Everett Chalmers, which is probably the worst hospital in the country for its size.
In Oromocto you can get referred to Saint John, and most people now know to make sure they are referred to Saint John and not Fredericton. If there is any hospital that needs to be drastically modified, it is the DECH. Oromocto is a shadow of its former self, and I think it now is getting some interest from the federal government again so that it will house military doctors.
As for the health care 'file', some people forget that 'cuts' are never 'necessary'. There is a fabulous amount of wealth in this country, the vast majority of it not taxed, and almost as much in bank accounts in the caymen islands (120 billion five years ago). There is a huge EI surplus, and the feds are awash in cash.
You'll notice that now there is no deficit, the new finance minister claims its 'now time to pay off the debt'. That SOUNDS nice on paper, but the reality is that Canada is already in a precarious position, just look at any international study. Without massive spending on infrastructure like power, education, and R&D, Canada's 'salad days' may well be over.
That's why the rest of the country is talking about changes to equalization. As David Campbell points out on his blog, while Graham is at least talking self sufficiency, every national media story has Lord begging for more federal scraps. Of course NB is entitled to them, but in politics perception is reality.
Do what you wish folks but experience shows me that when name calling comes into play, it means you've got nothing else. This poitics for crying out loud, there's lots of ammo out there. Dropping to the lowest common denominator of name calling seems childish, but do as you will. I can't stop you. It's just not for me or fortunately most commentators like the host of this blog.
Then shut up you idiot:)
8:06 PM anon, be kind. Poor Spinks is having such a hard time. No one visits his site or leave comments. It must hurt. Oooch!!!
...and the above two prove why anonymous comments are a bad idea. Classy, guys, real classy. How about we actually talk about the issues and leave the personal stuff aside. Agreed?
Preaching again, eh! Stop being "holier than thou" then people may start taking you seriously.
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