Dear Premier:
It must be extremely difficult trying to pull the province out of its deep financial hole as well as honour all the promises you made. We all know that you didn’t create the crisis. It’s the result of decades of successive Liberal and Conservative governments promising the sun and moon and delivering little or nothing. You have had three years to do the impossible and it’s no wonder that your frustration has resulted in you lashing out. Most people backed into a corner do exactly what you did, blame someone else.
No one doubts your sincerity in trying to create jobs in the province. You have said on numerous occasions that the idea of people leaving the province to work is unacceptable. As you know, it’s tough on families. My father did it for eight years before my parents decided to make a move to his place of work. I don’t think I’ve been particularly scarred by the experience. In fact, I think it’s made me more flexible and open to change. The mobility of labour is nothing new and the need for mobility has varied over the years. Perhaps people who have new experiences elsewhere may return to set up new businesses.
Citizens in New Brunswick are doing exactly what you have said we should do: “speak up and take control and not let the … special interests roadblock our very future.” They are asking themselves the very question you asked at your party’s annual general meeting this past weekend: “do we want to be in charge of our own destiny?” People are, in your words, “not being timid, but being courageous to stand up and let your friends and neighbours know at Tim Hortons why we need to have a strong [and sustainable] economy.”
Previous governments have at one time or another taken their turn at blaming either environmentalists, First Nations people, Acadians, unions and community groups for impeding economic progress. In doing so Mr. Premier, you and your predecessors have failed to acknowledge and appreciate that it is these very same sectors of New Brunswick society that have contributed the most to raising the province’s labour, health, cultural, environmental and social standards. These “special interests” have prodded and coaxed successive government to be open and innovative in order to make changes that in the end have benefited all New Brunswickers.
We don’t need “beachheads” on the big issues facing the province, we need you to be what New Brunswickers have been and what you want all New Brunswickers to be — open and innovative.