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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 20 December 2008 |
I really do not enjoy taking a shot at Michael Baker. The man has enough on his plate. To say he is a courageous individual is to grossly understate the example he has set without ever referring to his illness.
However, his misdial last week where he contacting the wrong John MacDonnell opened another major can of worms for the MacDonald government, and cannot go unnoticed..
The thought of Ernie Fage going to the Senate is enough to make a thinking person barf. You remember Ernie? His favorite song is “Jesus Take The Wheel.”
Senator Fage? Little wonder the younger generation can’t be bothered to vote. And guess what folks, I am beginning to believe that is just what these folks at Province House and in the House of Commons want. Let apathy rule and they can get their way. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 13 December 2008 |
I remember the first time I saw, and heard, Michael Ignatieff.. I had tuned in to watch some of the 2005 Liberal Policy Convention. Why, I am not sure. Must have been an off hockey night.
No, that is not quite true. My wife and I did not have the Centre Ice package at that point. It is just a matter of time before this package is presented into evidence in a divorce court. I can only hope I am not the defendant, but I am wandering off the topic.
The man I affectionately call “Eye Chart” wowed the convention that March night. He also got my attention. “There is a future leader of the Liberal Party,” I thought, as I sat spellbound by this incredible orator. At the time, the only drawback was that he was 58 years old; and the Grits had a firm grip on government, or so I thought. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Sunday, 07 December 2008 |
It was quite telling, watching Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrive for his meeting with the Governor-General, Michaëlle Jean. As his ever lengthening motorcade pulled up in front of Rideau Hall, I couldn’t help but think back to the day when Prime Minister Paul Martin made the same trip. Not for the same reason, but he travelled the same path, from 24 Sussex Drive to Rideau Hall.
The difference was that Martin, along with his wife Sheila, walked to the meeting.
Who is this guy Harper? I am beginning to get the feeling that the only way he will be removed from the PMO is by brute force. I am not a big fan of coalitions, in fact, what the three parties sitting opposite the government cooked up was scary. Yes, it was legal, but very frightening on examining all aspects of their proposal. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Thursday, 27 November 2008 |
The late Angus “Blue” MacDonald, the legendary councilor from Donkin, who once opined, “Byes, she’s not gonna be like the year 19 ought 10 when the RCMP walked in on horseback and we sat down and stood for it.”
A no nonsense guy, who shot from the hip and the lip.
Angus once rose to his feet at a Maritime Amateur Hockey Association Annual Meeting, having listened to a 10 minute rant by a rival Sydney sportsman, the late Fred Compton, and said, “Mr. Chairman, I rise on a ‘pint’ of order. ‘Yous’ is missing the ‘pint.’ the man’s nominating himself.”
The old battler from Donkin came to mind this week when I read the headline in the Chronicle-Herald, “Their Work Is Done.” It sat atop a photo of a giggling Premier responding to something Finance Minister Michael Baker was whispering in his ear. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Friday, 21 November 2008 |
It seems to me there is something very wrong with this picture. Judy Streatch, the Minister of Community Services, the provincial department charged with caring for the most needy of our citizens, spends precious tax dollars on high end coffee and Perrier Water.
Streatch, daughter of one-time cabinet minister Ken Streatch said her “stakeholders” deserve to be treated with respect. Yeah, right.
Let’s see, the recession hits home and I suffer a major setback. So much so I have to approach the Province for social assistance.
“Come on in, Mr. H., sit down, my deputy will pour you a Starbucks coffee,” “Her Nibbs” offers. “Or perhaps you would prefer a chilled Perrier with a twist of lemon on the side.”
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 15 November 2008 |
I hardly expect to see the names of Ron Chisholm or Brooke Taylor on the membership roll at Mensa. And I would hardly expect to find them relegated to the “Stupid Row,” a designation old time teachers often used to inflict shame on struggling students.
What is Mensa, you ask? It is an organization founded in 1946, the largest, oldest, and most well known high IQ society in the world. A non-profit organization, it is open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised intelligence test.
The key word is “intelligence” something that has not been on display lately at Province House during one of the House of Assembly’s rare sittings. Say what you will about John Buchanan’s governments, when they called the members to the House of Assembly, it was for two and three months at a stretch. It wasn’t a peek-a-boo affair.
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 08 November 2008 |
As the countdown begins for the swearing in of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United Sates of America, the mainstream media will continue their assault on the departing George W. Bush. For when it comes to Dubya, it is a case of “no holds barred”, with little or no evidence of balance in the reporting and the opinion pieces.
Let’s face it, he’s an easy target. For example, according to Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, a total of 58 books have been written about George W, forty-seven of them classified as negative. Think Bush and four little letters come to mind - i-r-a-q.
Of the three books on the outgoing President that I have read, I would recommend Kitty Kelley’s The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty. The Bush family didn’t like it but I found it fairly balanced. Certainly informative.
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 01 November 2008 |
With two elections behind us and, with any luck, a provincial vote at least a year away, those who follow current events will be for awhile spared those god-awful speeches we are forced to endure. I swear if it weren’t for buzzwords and catch phrases many of our elected leaders would be speechless.
Forgiveness can be granted those at the civic level because they do not employ speech writers. Tune in to Eastlink any Tuesday evening and prepare to be entertained. There are several who, I am convinced, like the sound of their own voices and are led of the Lord to speak on everything and anything. But at least they haven’t paid someone else to construct their tortured sentences.
A new book has hit the shelves. The initial review I read on author Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates is compelling and makes me anxious to read this bestselling writer’s latest potential masterpiece. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 25 October 2008 |
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Last week I wondered aloud about the failure of so many to vote in the federal election. If I had waited a few days, and factored in the turnout for the civic elections, I could have had a real rant. This week, I can almost see why so many can’t be bothered. On Tuesday, HRM council gave thumbs down to the Armour Group’s Waterside Centre. Was it a good decision? I am not an expert on development so I won’t go there. Where I venture is to comment on the decision-making process. Council made a decision, and unless the appeal to the Utilities Board is exercised, that should be the end of it. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Friday, 17 October 2008 |
In World War I, also known at the time as “The Great War”, 600,000 Canadians answered the call to serve their country. Of that number, one in ten, or 60,000, paid the supreme sacrifice. One quarter of those who served were wounded. While I was growing up in Windsor, Nova Scotia, I knew a number of the veterans who had come home from this “War to end all wars”, maimed, missing legs, arms, and for many, who were gassed, struggling to breathe.
During the six years of World War II, 42,789 gave their lives in the name of freedom. The Korean Conflict killed 516 young Canadians. In the Vietnam bloodbath it is estimated that between 500 and 1,000 Canadian men and women were killed serving with their American cousins. The exact statistics were difficult to track, because the Canadian contingent was fighting under the American flag.. |
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Columnist - Al Hollingsworth
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Friday, 10 October 2008 |
“What you have is an exceptionally lucrative but hidden compensation package”
The above words were uttered by Sean MacDonald, a compensation expert at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business, his take on the pension packages for the members of the Nova Scotia Legislature. “Gold plated; there’s no doubt about that,” he added. Gold plated, hell make that platinum, or some other form of precious metal!
MacDonald has tried to justify the pensions by citing the “low salaries” the MLAs earn. The low he talks about is $84,177. While I take issue with it being “low,” I hasten to add that I have no problem with this salary level. I’m sure most would agree that to attract qualified and competent individuals to run for elected office, we must offer adequate compensation. After all, not everyone would want the life of an MLA – it’s not the most stress free way to earn a living. |
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