Is Change of Government Enough?
We have just gone through a provincial election here in Nova Scotia (Tuesday the 9th of June). Unfortunately I was picking up a load several hours away and was unable to get home before the poll closed. Not the first time that’s happened.
This win is historical in more ways than one. The first time the NDP (New Democratic Party) has been in power in Nova Scotia’s 142 year history. Nova Scotia joined Confederation in 1867. It is also the first majority government since 2003.
Anyway, for several weeks prior to the election, the polls were predicting a majority government for the NDP . A day or two ago I was Googling for information on the up coming election, and found a few sites with public comments regarding the predictions of an NDP landslide. I was amazed at all the negative comments of doom and gloom regarding the predicted NDP win.
Of course I’ve been around long enough to know that there will always be plenty of negativity in regard to anything that involves people. Some people seem to thrive on negativity. Likely many folks visiting this site and seeing the name of it, assume I too am a negative guy. However nothing could be further from the truth. I readily admit to being grumpy from time to time (ask my wife), but it’s usually with very good cause. Negativity though is a not normal condition for me.
My father had a very wise credo that he lived by and I find it mostly true in my dealings with folks as well. He said, “If you look for the worst in people, you’ll find it every time. Look for the best in people and they with amaze you.”
I’m not naive enough to think that just voting a new party into office is going to solve all the provinces woes. I do, however, think that a change is as good as a rest, and with the type of mud slinging that Rodney MacDonald (PC Premier) indulged in during the campaign, we are well rid of him. I have never been a big fan of party politics and would much rather see a system where we select the man (or woman) and not the party, but I guess we have to make the best of the system we have.
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Hi Bill.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but british politics is in turmoil at the moment, due to scandals over expenses claims by our Members of Parliament. They are allowed to claim a second home allowance, to enable them to live and work in London as their main home may be many miles away. However, many have been fiddling the system – London based MPs that don’t need a second home claim for a holiday home in the country, others claim rent for a home they actually own, one claimed £13,000 pounds for a book-case as his books were valuable and wouldn’t look right on something cheap. The scale and scope of it all has been staggering, right from the Prime Minister down, and it’s all perfectly legal – as the MPs laid down the laws to suit themselves!