There is so much “news” lately it’s hard to keep up with it.
I tune out anything to do with U.S. President Donald Trump. He scares the daylights out of me but there is nothing I can do about it. Some of our Canadian politicians are scary enough.
Our own national leader, Justin Trudeau, isn’t wearing well. His recent decision to abandon his promise for election reform isn’t flying well.
The survey he sent around for public input seemed deliberately designed to confuse and now he says Canadians are happy with First Past the Post. The issue with FPTP is it was designed for a two-party system and doesn’t work well when there are more. It also tends to favour the incumbent party. The least the PM can do is hold a referendum or come up with a better survey. And what’s happening with his promised new Health Accord?
Premier Clark dug herself in a hole last week by insisting political opponents were hacking the Liberal party’s website. Turned out there was no hacking, the information was in the public domain. A note here, Independent MLA Vickie Huntington, who blew the whistle on this one, isn’t running again. Pity.
Locally we have the everlasting controversy over Scout Island. First, to make myself clear, I am a strong supporter of the Nature Centre. We are very, very fortunate to have it, both for local people and tourists, but I do understand why some residents are frustrated at what they see as restricted access to the lake. My problem isn’t with the Nature Centre, it’s with city council’s continued neglect of their area of the complex. It’s time for a public meeting so everyone understands the situation and can have their say.
Regarding snow and city streets. No matter how good a road crew may be, the weather can always best them. Having said that, I wish the city would find some way to deal with the huge piles of snow between sidewalks and the streets. It makes life difficult for everyone, including businesses. Couldn’t they hire someone to shovel it away? Must be few people around who could use a few extra dollars.
Diana French is a freelance columnist, former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.
