BY DALE TURNER
GUEST OPINION
I am not a letter to the editor writer. It takes a lot to make me respond to current Island events. But the Bush Dumville issue has me feeling that I need to comment. First, it’s important that you know that I am a long-time Tory, so unlike some other writers, I have nothing to gain by supporting the premier or his party or Mr. Dumville, for that matter, and while I have voted Liberal, it’s not been often.
But I did take out a Liberal party membership in order to vote at Bush’s nominating convention in 2015. Now why would I do that? Well you see, Bush Dumville is a lifelong friend of mine. We’ve known each other literally since we we’re babes in arms. We went to school together, played high school hockey together and have remained friends ever since. We both belong to the Charlottetown Rotary Club.
Bush impresses me and he always has. He always was and still is an upstanding sportsman, gentleman, RCMP officer, businessman and Rotary club two-term president. Yes two-term president, an unheard of honour for a Rotarian. Bush served as president a number of years ago and more recently stepped into the breach when the president at the time resigned on short notice. As 2015-16 President, Bush launched a recruiting campaign that saw our membership rise from barely 60 Rotarians and falling, to a robust and committed 100 members. You see Bush is a motivated focused and dedicated leader. Always was, still is. And this old Tory is proud to say that he voted for him and would do so again.
On the other side of this issue is our premier. Ask yourself how often you have heard people say they find the premier a great guy to work with? I hear a lot of people talk about provincial affairs and I have yet to hear that the current premier is an inspiring leader. Rather, I hear he is a micro-manager, a bully and a control freak. I’m just repeating what I’m told. But it seems to me that Bush Dumville has been ill-treated by a premier who, for some reason, had his mind made up and as a result is unwilling to fully employ the talents of Mr. Dumville. To be expected to sit quietly, shut up and vote how and when the party tells you is not my idea of the politician I want to serve me. Nor do I think that this is the type of representative most Islanders want.
In conclusion: Our premier, has disappointed me. I told our premier, shortly after his being elected, that I had high expectations of him. I believe all Islanders shared my hopes. But I feel let down and I expect many Islanders feel the same. Our premier has done nothing about bringing the PNP perpetrators to justice: he has done nothing about bringing the e-gaming miscreants to justice: He is spending a fortune of yours and my money on a road that is unnecessary: he has failed to put forth a vision of how we get our little province out of its have-not status - a task that is growing more difficult as our population ages and he continues to spend ever more as though there is no day of reckoning. Just increase taxes and borrow more. To top it all off, he has proven himself to be secretive and controlling.
I think, on this issue, I will stand with my old, honourable and trusted friend. The one barrier that stood in the way of me voting for Bush Dumville has just been removed.
- Dale Turner of Charlottetown is a well-known investment advisor on P.E.I. for over 25 years; served on the faculty at Holland College; and is a member of Rotary and the Greater Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce.
