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Good luck, Rodney, you’ll need it! |
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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.
What cheek, I thought. Fifty-two MLAs, gathered for a scant 17 days to conduct the business of state. The world is going to hell in a hand basket and our leader can’t be bothered to deal with the deepening crisis. Maybe he thinks the dumb-ass voters will, as Angus suggested, sit down and stand for it.
In the days of premiers like Stanfield, Smith, Regan, Buchanan, and yes, even Savage, it would take the equivalent of 17 days just to read through the resolutions.
Rodney, if you do not have the ability to act as befits a Premier, the gumption to lead in tough times, then step aside and allow someone, anyone who cares, to step forward. No need for a costly election, simply step aside and let someone from your caucus come forward.
Darrell Dexter had it right when he said “If a government can’t deal with a snowstorm, how are they going to deal with the financial storm that’s coming?” Darrell also understated the case when he called the government’s agenda “very, very light.” Economize on words, Darrell, one word, weightless, would have sufficed.
Borrowing a page from Nero, our Rodney is about to do a bit of a tour, fiddlin’ and step dancing across the province, while the rest of us do a slow burn. All that’s missing from that picture is an organ grinder.
My departed friend Buzz Campbell used to get upset when he would call a politician and end up speaking to an aide. “I want to speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey,” the not so politically correct Buzz would roar. Buzzy, you left us too soon……
(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist and broadcaster) |
