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Abandon Ship: Ralph Surette Proves He's A Relic Of Defeatism |
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Written by Hal Jesso
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Sunday, 09 April 2006 |
 The HRM is finally launching a program to address the ever increasing litter problem in this great city of ours. Code named, "Slam Dunk Your Junk!" it probably sounds familiar to you, as it should. Slam Dunk Your Junk! was an original litter busting initiative launched by former Halifax Mayor, Ron Wallace.
It just goes to prove that everything old can be new again..with one exception, the Chronicle Herald's Ralph Surette.
Is it no wonder today's youth don't read local newspapers. I won't bother going into this area too deeply, but recent studies have shown that young people have abandoned traditional print media as a source of news, in favour of the Internet and Comedy Central's, Jon Stewart
Old relics like Ralph Surette tend to find themselves spending most of their time researching the latest products on the market that offer the best adhesion for their dentures. The rest of the time they spend on the John thinking about their next newspaper column, whilst wiping their ass with their last.
In his latest column, Ralph Surette, who recently spent more than a month in Melbourne, Australia, visiting his family, waded in on the Commonwealth Games debate.
Surette opened his column with the following observation:
"I quickly concluded that if by 'Commonwealth Games,' we mean anything even remotely like what went on in Melbourne, then this is something vastly beyond the capacity of either our population pool or our pocketbook."
If I seem overly harsh towards Mr. Surette, I apologize, but at this point, I feel the need to irritate Mr. Surette's hemorrhoids.
The facts are clear, Halifax doesn't plan to put on a Melbourne Games, the organizers in this city plan a Games to fit our waist line. Surette was either baking in Sun too long, or neglected to change his hearing aid batteries.
Surette writes, "As the cost projections relentlessly rise for the 2014 Games bid for Halifax, let us remind ourselves that we start with pretty well nothing – no velodrome, no Olympic-sized swimming pools, no bowling greens, no stadiums, no this and that".
He's correct, Halifax has nothing, absolutely nothing. Whereas, from Quebec Westward, this great country has major world class sporting infrastructure, courtesy of YOU and me, and past federal governments. I'd like Mr. Surette to explain why he's against the federal government of Canada finally investing in the Atlantic Provinces. We deserve it and our time has come, hasn't it?
Surette also writes, "One sobering piece of information that came out during the Melbourne Games is that Sydney, also a sports-sodden city of nearly four million, is paying $42 million a year for upkeep of "unused facilities" left over from the 2000 Olympics."
The last time I checked, Halifax wasn't planning to host the Olympic Games. If Mr. Surette only took the time to check, he would have discovered kangaroo traps in Halifax sell for about $650, compared with just $42 Down Under.
"By 2014, large sports extravaganzas, often tainted by drug scandals, are apt to be just another show on TV, their value diminishing. Furthermore, the Commonwealth Games, as was pointed out in Melbourne, is basically small potatoes, with most of the world’s best athletes not there," Surette writes.
I can excuse Surette for being ignorant to that fact that he doesn't have the capacity to recognize it's about much more than the Games. The Commonwealth Games can and will be a catalyst that will help transform Halifax and this region into a place where our smartest and brightest will want to live and work. This region desperately needs to increase its population. Too many of our finest find themselves heading West for employment; that doesn't have to happen. Having world class facilities in our backyard will allow us to compete with the rest of Canada for professionals like doctors and of course, new immigrants.
If this region continues to lose its population to Alberta, the only drug scandal Ralph Surette will have to worry about in 2014 is this government's senior's pharmacare program, which will be bust, due to our lack of a young, working population to support it.
And finally, the ultimate insult and slap in the face to the people of Nova Scotia, "British Prime Minister Tony Blair was at the Games, among other things lobbying the Games committee on behalf of Glasgow, the main competitor. I’m afraid I wished him well".
And speaking of British Prime Ministers, we can thank God Winston Churchill didn't wish Hitler well.
Finally don't forget the HRM's new litter prevention program, Slam Dunk Your Junk!
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