Letters to the editor | Mining law makes sense for New Brunswick
I have visited nine provinces of Canada and worked in seven at science, navy, business and education (not law).
I have read thousands of books, thousands of magazines and tens of thousands of newspapers, and have no recollection of ever hearing of a realm where mineral rights do not prevail over surface rights.
Yet we find there is a fellow New Brunswicker who wants to change all Canada's property laws for his convenience, and outlaw mining. Is the word selfish in his vocabulary?
The reason for the law is, simply put, that the loss of minerals means back to the stone age. No machines, no electric power, no medicine but what you can pick from plants in your immediate vicinity, and death before 30. Where would the list end?
If we do pass a no-dig, no-drill law, will the last New Brunswicker please blow out his last candle before he mounts his bare-backed, unshod mule to find civilization somewhere else?
Stuart Mills
Fredericton
Abortions do contribute to population woes
Contrary to letter writer Jennifer Richard's view, experts agree low fertility rate is a main cause of New Brunswick's population woes.
With some 10,000 children not born in 10 years due to abortion, the impact on population is obvious.
But Ms. Richard is all wrong in concluding our latest proposals would force women to bear unwanted pregancies. Rather, they focus on preventing unwanted abortions. And really, who's against that?
Women often abort not because they want to, but because they are either ignorant, in a panic or feel pressured by circumstances or even by others such as a boyfriend or parents. It is the abortion, not the pregnancy, that is unwanted.
If the province helps to advertise pregnancy counselling services, distressed women who wouldn't otherwise know where to turn for help can be aided to bear wanted pregnancies. So too the province could protect a woman in bearing a wanted pregnancy by a law preventing anyone from coercing her to abort.
Through our proposed school program, children would realize the little one in the womb has a beating heart, brain, limbs, etc. To quote the hit movie Juno, whose main character rejects abortion, they would know "it has fingernails."
Thus young women would more readily experience pregnancy as wanted and freely choose life.
Such practical measures are win-win-win: they respect women and the unborn, while also helping population growth.
Peter Ryan
N.B. Right to Life
Fredericton
New councillor vows to earn voters' trust
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the residents of New Maryland for having faith in me to represent them for the next four years on council.
They have told me that they trust that I will act in their best interests to the best of my abilities.
Now it's up to me to earn that trust.
I anticipate that there will often be those who disagree with decisions made by council. I'm afraid this is a fact of life.
However, I promise that everyone will have an opportunity to be heard, no matter what his or her views.
I promised this during my campaign and reiterate it now.
Now let's get to work. We have a village to run.
Tim Scammell
New Maryland
Immersion children may not get proper resources
When Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced his decision to terminate early French immersion programs in New Brunswick schools, he stated that all children currently in the program would be able to remain there and that he did not want to disrupt children's education.
Since that time, some disturbing information has surfaced. We have heard that literacy support for EFI students in District 8 has been changed (read terminated); children needing the help will no longer be taken out of the classroom to work with support teachers.
Further, we have heard that a summer program in District 18 for EFI children needing extra help has been cancelled. The District 2 website now has absolutely no mention of EFI even existing.
Where are parents of students in EFI, roughly half of all students in District 2, to turn now for information on their children's education?
Parents of young children already in EFI should be extremely worried about what will happen in the coming years.
Will my grandfathered children become second-class citizens within their own schools?
Will districts invest in materials for my children with the knowledge that their usefulness will be short-lived?
There are strong indications that the education they receive in the early years will suffer as a result of the government's changes.
We seem to be going from a poorly supported program to one in which there is absolutely no support provided.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the minister and the Department of Education are turning their backs on the children already in this program. It makes us wonder about the minister's commitment to looking out for all children.
A cynical person might speculate that cutting all support for this program will bring standardized test scores down among EFI students, leaving the new revamped English program to look like the comparative success that the minister is hoping for.
Would politicians really stoop this low? For the sake of my children and their classmates, I sincerely hope not.
Joanne Masson
Saint John, N.B.
Fair was a success
On behalf of the volunteer board of directors of the Healthy Families Healthy Communities Association (HFHCA), we would like to thank the 70 volunteers who made the 2008 fredkid FAIR a tremendous success.
The planning committee of 13 moms spent the past year putting together this free event for families and were overwhelmed by the crowd, estimated at 7,000 people.
It was our goal to connect families with each other and with the resources that the greater Fredericton area has to offer. We hope a full day of activities, a trade show featuring over 80 businesses and organizations from the region, as well as lots of live entertainment showed just how much is available to families in the Fredericton area.
The fair wouldn't have been possible without our platinum sponsor, the Fredericton Co-Op or our funding partner, the Fredericton Community Foundation. Thanks also to Kingswood, Zellers, The Daily Gleaner and Capital FM for caring about local families.
Thank you to an incredible community of volunteers and businesses. We look forward to an even better and bigger fair next year.
Sarah Zuidhof
Executive director, HFHCA
Lori Mais, president, HFHCA board of directors
Union Jack should not be flown today
When Canada wins gold at the Olympics, we watch proudly as the Maple Leaf flag is raised high.
There would be uproar if Ottawa had Britain's Union Jack hoisted at the medal ceremony instead.
Yet federal rules require the U.K. flag be flown to mark our holiday today. Victoria Day does not celebrate the birth of the queen of the United Kingdom (Britain does that in June). It marks the birth of the sovereign of Canada.
Monarchists argue strenuously that the Canadian monarchy is distinct from Britain's monarchy. If we must mark the birth of the queen of Canada (and that's another issue), why fly the flag of one of her foreign realms? It makes as much sense to fly the flag of Jamaica.
The Maple Leaf should be the only flag used for a Canadian holiday. Let's nudge the government to change its antiquated flag policy.
Until then, it's time, once more, to unfurl it for our foreign-born, overseas head of state.
And keep that flag handy. No doubt you'll want it to cheer Canada's Olympians this summer.
Wayne Adam
Toronto, Ont.
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Please, gentlemen, a real leader has the fortitude to know when its time to listen. Now is that time.
I know Mr. Lamrock gains support for many because he appears to be doing something about the situation. I assume this is what you mean by 'actually leads'.
However, I hope you will entertain the possibility that many people oppose his radical changes to our education system not out of inertia, but because they have concluded that these changes are not based in any research, have no chance of fulfilling their goals and appear to rig the game so that Minister Lamrock will achieve meaningless increases in statistics by the time he seeks re-election.
If your investigations led you to the same conclusion, would you still consider this true leadership, or would you also hope that he could find a different role in government? If the latter, then you owe it to yourself to see if the arguments of groups like the CEC are correct.
Ok I 'figure' that you are a 'literacy lemming'.
http://www.tatumba.com/blog/archives/436 (The video at this link applies to you)
The Mad Ape
www.tatumba.com
What would you think if you were told that the current price increase is a way for the USA to pay for their trillion dollar war? Well you have just been told!
As a society we have all become complacent to the point of being drones that do as we are told and not to question authority.
This process was initiated by Henry Kissinger and started this whole myth about peak oil and energy shortages. Go to http://www.tatumba.com/blog/archives/417 and see how we have all been played for suckers.
You will learn that the money the oil companies are making may be huge, but it is just a drop in the bucket to the real profiteers!
The Mad Ape
www.tatumba.com
Good question. Let's put it this way: if the Minister's plan really will "make 70% of the province's students bilingual" then perhaps we can ignore the shenanigans. The problem is that there's no reason to think that the new plan will make our students any more proficient in French than they are now.
The 'bilingual' in Lamrock's statements is a reference to his new policy that the 'Intermediate' level of oral French will for next year be considered the goal of the DoE. Not bilingual, but perhaps something.
Fewer immersion students will reach their goals; how about the Core students? Briefly, the new Core program innovates mainly by removing 1-4 and making 11-12 mandatory. Every FSL expert will tell you that the first part 'has no basis in science' and is an unprecedented experiment. As for the 11-12, which adds about 18% total hours, the students tested in the optional oral test were almost certainly already in 11-12. No reason there to expect improvements.