So, it has been a great week. Public Health continues to do an awesome job in tracking COVID-19 cases, and the cases are quickly going down. Vaccines are being approved and coming in faster than expected. Seniors are signing up for the shots — 80 per cent is a great turnout. Wow! Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are great with this pandemic stuff.
I was delighted to get my special ballot in the mail. I have filled out the forms and will put it in the mail. The express post envelope provides a tracking number. I understand we have a good number of people signed up to vote. That was an extraordinary response to a large problem. In person voting was cancelled on Feb. 13 and good solutions were provided rapidly. Good work to all in keeping us safe.
I have not heard any suggestions from Crosbie or Coffin on how we can reduce costs in order to live within our reduced means.
I am very unhappy with the attacks on the election office. Confidence in our vote is extremely important and the Ches Crosbie and Alison Coffin teams have been attacking every move made. I think it would be helpful to listen to our former premier Clyde Wells, who was interviewed by Carolyn Stokes on CBC. He was also a former chief justice of our Supreme Court — the court that rules on the correctness of the vote. He felt that the chief elections officer acted appropriately and according to the law.
When it comes to the timing of the election, I think by now most of us understand that our province has serious financial issues that cannot be put off for months. The Liberal party has been consulting citizens and businesses widely. A group of 60 community groups has also gotten together to make proposals to reduce costs while still maintaining jobs and services. These groups will be so important in the next while. We do not want the province’s financiers to make the cuts for the province.
The biggest disappointment is, again, the opposition. I have not heard any suggestions from Crosbie or Coffin on how we can reduce costs in order to live within our reduced means. In fact, they seem to have ambitious spending plans. Where are they planning to get the dollars, you may ask.
It’s time to get real and get planning for the future. We don’t want to spend all our tax dollars on interest payments nor have the credit agencies running our province.
Bren Young
Logy Bay
