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3 Comment(s)

Re: Fredericton's potential

The educational institutions found in Fredericton have blessed this city with an abundance of what I will call smart power.

We have students from across the province, from across Canada, from around the world that give Fredericton both an economic and a cultural boost.

Premier Graham's decision not to withdraw but to enhance, by putting forward his $1.2 billion program of infrastructure and investment, will be a chance for the city to really work towards making Fredericton known as the green capital of Canada.

This can be done by the province allocating the necessary funds to universities for research into green power.

In Fredericton's case, transportation and the opportunity therein can be greatly enhanced by the provincial, federal and municipal governments considering the introduction of electric buses - buses clearly identified as handling those with disabilities and buses that will pollute less.

We have a magnificent transportation system in this city and we should be proud of it, but we should use the transportation system to establish the fact that Fredericton wants to be green.

We should further enhance the organic nature of cultivating our property. We are entering an era whereby we should be using the magnificence of this province. We are the picture province and tourism should be our goal.

And how to attract tourists today? By making us the destination where people can truly see how a greener city can operate.

We have on our doorstep the Rhine of North America - the St. John River. We are not taking advantage of this natural beauty. We should be having the provincial, federal, and municipal governments subsidizing tourists by having available water transportation so we can have visitors take amazing rides on the St. John River and truly appreciate the magnificence of it all.

However, the river is something we are taking for granted and not using effectively.

Duncan Noble

Fredericton

Support for Gaza's oppressors is deplorable

Re: Silent vigil in support of Israel held Jan. 24 in Fredericton

That anyone would attempt to defend Israel's most recent actions, never mind protest a vigil to remember the 1,300 Palestinians who died and over 4,000 who were injured, is incomprehensible and deplorable.

Facile reliance on the Jewish Holocaust (a holocaust which, incidentally, was perpetrated by Europeans, not Palestinians) as a justification for the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the oppression of the Palestinian people is an insult to the victims of the Jewish Holocaust.

Attacks by the Israeli state are reliably labelled by the media as retaliation, while attacks from Palestine are labelled terrorism.

Thoughtful consideration must be given to these terms. What differentiates one from the other?

If the terrorism is a response to an illegal and unjust occupation, could it not be termed retaliation? Similarly, if Israeli retaliation is a response to an inevitable struggle that ensues when one forcibly removes a people from its land and corrals it into what amounts to an open air prison, could this retaliation not be termed terrorism?

The 300 dead Palestinian children were not Hamas militants. United Nations Relief and Works Agency buildings (whose exact GPS coordinates were provided to the Israeli Forces in an attempt to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians who had taken shelter) were not Hamas compounds.

Julie Michaud

Fredericton

Busy pointing the finger

Re: NB Power bonuses

Wow! Did NB Power CEO David Hay throw a wrench into the Progressive Conservatives or what?

I find it hard to believe that Bruce Northrup, David Alward, Bruce Fitch, Jody Carr and the rest of the PCs who were in power at the time Hay signed his contract have forgotten so quickly that they were the government at the time of the contract signing.

Maybe they were too busy trying to point the finger at Stewart MacPherson for the way they bungled the Orimulsion deal that they forgot all about the bonus contracts they negotiated with top management.

I guess the old saying holds true: "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones."

Frank Shannon

Nasonworth, N.B.

Middle East needs a dose of goodwill, tolerance and reason

Re: War in Gaza

How can we prevent the sad and reoccurring tragedy of Gaza?

Israel isn't going to negotiate with fanatical adversaries like Hamas and Hezbollah, who want them wiped off the map.

How effective has been the Jack Bauer mentality of not negotiating with terrorists, but killing them? Has the military incursion into Gaza with all the deaths and destruction weakened Hamas and made Israel safer?

Hasn't this retribution and retaliation policy espoused and supported by both sides for over a 100 years been an unmitigated failure?

The United States and their negotiation team, led by former senator and international troubleshooter George Mitchell, along with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, peacemakers and moderates, need to assist and support Israel and the Palestinians.

That is necessary so they can finally negotiate a lasting peace which respects the safety and recognition of Israel, while providing human rights, economic help and freedom for Palestinians.

Gaza and West Bank need an environment of hope and opportunities instead of the existing one which promotes fear, despair and fanaticism.

Voices of goodwill, reason and progress must drown out and diminish those of hate and violence.

Co-existence, conciliation, prosperity and stability can stop the endless cycle of fighting and destruction.

Harold Phalen

Fredericton

Our resolution is to fight

Re: Agent Orange compensation

This is a New Year's resolution to the federal government.

We, the military and civilian Widows on a Warpath group, did not stop our fight for compensation for our husbands who died due to the spraying of pesticides, including Agent Orange, at CFB Gagetown over the years when Dec. 31 rolled around.

We have made a resolution to continue our fight to have the Conservative government change the cut-off date of Feb. 6, 2006. They claim the government is only responsible for those brave men and women who died after the Conservatives took office.

This is not a political fight. This is a compassionate fight for the faithful service and unknown dangers these men and women faced every day in the fields of CFB Gagetown.

Catherine Peters

Oromocto, N.B.