Letters to the editor | Health of the poor suffers
The provincial government has put together a special committee on wellness that is travelling around the province to receive suggestions on how to be healthy.
I would like to make the following observations to this committee on wellness on behalf of the poor, that is all those on social assistance, low wages, E.I. and low-income seniors. These groups are most affected by poverty.
They can't even meet such basic necessities as rent, heat, power and phone.
Where is the food? Honestly, there is none. Can you imagine their fear and stress? Is one meal a day at a soup kitchen sufficient?
One can go to a food bank once a month and the food received lasts three to four days. Is that sufficient?
And the committee asks what wellness means to them. They would love to eat properly and feel good, just like everyone else. No more arthritis, heart condition, rampant diabetes, teeth falling out, depression or stress and sleepless nights. No more beating the feet every single day to find food.
Poor people have no time to think what they would like to do, and they don't have enough money to get anywhere. It's like a slow death, going downhill and giving up hope. They don't have good health, and it hurts.
They are being controlled by a government whim and their opinions are never brought into the picture at all.
You can promote wellness till the cows come home. We can see and we can hear. Until social assistance rates, low wages, changes to E.I. and the incomes of low-income seniors are raised to meet the cost of living, it won't happen. We can only stand and watch ourselves being left behind.
At the pre-budget consultation meeting with Finance Minister Victor Boudreau, he said hard choices had to be made.
How can this government ignore the cries of the hungry, those in the cold and the homeless in favour of business?
Linda McCaustlin
Moncton, N.B.
Special day for MLAs
As an almost daily commuter from the north side of Fredericton to Crabbe Mountain this winter, may I suggest a special ski day for our elected MLAs before the season ends?
Snow conditions are great, and I'm sure they would all appreciate the smooth drive, especially from Burtts Corner to Zealand and from Highway 104 to the entrance at Crabbe along the Upper Hainesville Road.
Jacques Paquin
Fredericton
Tax vote broke rules
I am writing about the letter in the March 12 Daily Gleaner headlined Taxation without representation.
The establishment of services in LSDs is governed by provisions of the Municipalities Act. Section 25, which specifically covers the requirements for a public meeting and vote when considering the addition or discontinuance of a service. This has been so since 1967. Yes, since 1967.
Accordingly, a public meeting is required where at least 50 eligible voters would be required to be in attendance and if most vote in favour, the service or services, may on the recommendation of the minister, be provided as per Section 25.
Actually, the tax connected to the Fredericton arenas is not a recreational tax, but rather a recreational contribution, according to the June 22 Daily Gleaner, Page A3.
Also, property taxpayers will not see the three per cent imposed contribution on their property tax bill. It has been creatively blended with the LSD portion for the next 20 years. Method used here was invisible ink.
D.J. van Wissen
Mazerolle Settlement, N.B.
Shocked at immersion cut
I am writing to express my shock and anger at the recent announcement by the minister of education of his plans to cancel the early French immersion program.
The report cited by the education minister to justify this decision is deeply flawed and its conclusions contrary to the body of expert opinion.
I urge everyone interested in this issue to consult the responses by Hamilton and Litvak at and Dicks and Kristmansen at.
Research overwhelmingly shows early immersion is the best way to learn a second language.
It is also the most cost-efficient way to do so.
The government's decision is irresponsible and shortsighted. It betrays a generation of New Brunswick children in the hope of short-term political gains.
New Brunswick voters should ensure there are no political gains for Education Minister Kelly Lamrock or for Premier Shawn Graham.
Karen Bamford
PhD Associate Professor and Head Department of English Literature
Mount Allison University
Sackville, N.B.
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the numbers bogus. They are bogus, too. The Lamrock decision is regressive. And this
is only part of the agenda...
raise recently. These people have disconnected themselves from reality and what they
espouse is rhetoric of the hollow kind.