1. Cancel
2. Point
3. Lepreau
Since the Conservatives came to power in September, we've been told repeatedly to get ready for cuts to government spending. If we don't get tough on the deficit, it could reach a billion dollars soon, in a province of 750 000 people. Fair enough.
But no MLA or official accountant wants to point out that the Point Lepreau "refurbishment" is already 1.4 billion dollars over budget, and more than a year behind. The lights have remained on across NB while Lepreau has been the site of, in my opinion, one giant research and development project.
So I guess the common sense part of me wants to know: why do we need it, and why isn't cancelling Lepreau a viable option to eliminate our deficit? Let's see, fund health and education or nuclear power generation destined for US export? Hmmm, which one is really benefitting New Brunswickers? I'm not normally this sarcastic but seeing as how it's partly my money being flushed into the Bay of Fundy, I just can't see how that's good public policy.
I realize things are rarely this simple and I would love to see a well reasoned and financially responsible argument for why we ought to keep Lepreau and slash everything from legal aid to nursing homes.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A Civil Conversation
A good conversation goes a long way. Here's an excerpt from David Brooks' excellent column in the New York Times. You really should read it all. He says:
But every sensible person in public life also feels redeemed by others. You may write a mediocre column or make a mediocre speech or propose a mediocre piece of legislation, but others argue with you, correct you and introduce elements you never thought of. Each of these efforts may also be flawed, but together, if the system is working well, they move things gradually forward.
Each individual step may be imbalanced, but in succession they make the social organism better.
As a result, every sensible person feels a sense of gratitude for this process. We all get to live lives better than we deserve because our individual shortcomings are transmuted into communal improvement. We find meaning — and can only find meaning — in the role we play in that larger social enterprise.
So this is where civility comes from — from a sense of personal modesty and from the ensuing gratitude for the political process. Civility is the natural state for people who know how limited their own individual powers are and know, too, that they need the conversation. They are useless without the conversation.
This sums up much of how I feel about society, politics and people. I do want to live in a community where my shortcomings are mitigated by the strengths of people around me, and vice-versa.
But every sensible person in public life also feels redeemed by others. You may write a mediocre column or make a mediocre speech or propose a mediocre piece of legislation, but others argue with you, correct you and introduce elements you never thought of. Each of these efforts may also be flawed, but together, if the system is working well, they move things gradually forward.
Each individual step may be imbalanced, but in succession they make the social organism better.
As a result, every sensible person feels a sense of gratitude for this process. We all get to live lives better than we deserve because our individual shortcomings are transmuted into communal improvement. We find meaning — and can only find meaning — in the role we play in that larger social enterprise.
So this is where civility comes from — from a sense of personal modesty and from the ensuing gratitude for the political process. Civility is the natural state for people who know how limited their own individual powers are and know, too, that they need the conversation. They are useless without the conversation.
This sums up much of how I feel about society, politics and people. I do want to live in a community where my shortcomings are mitigated by the strengths of people around me, and vice-versa.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
When We Mourn
I'm not one for vacuous public statements - you know, those ones politicians tend to make when they can't risk taking sides. I find all of that verbal bet-hedging very tiresome. No comment is fine, maybe there's nothing more to be said, it happens. But to be "all sound and fury, signifying nothing" is regrettable.
Tonight I was watching the memorial service for the Arizona shooting victims. I've been to a lot of funerals: when I was younger, family funerals; in my teens and early twenties, funerals for friends (sad but true); now, mainly churchfolk and often strangers. As bizarre as it sounds, I think memorials (or funerals, take your pick) are very moving and sincere, in a way almost no other modern ceremonies are.
Maybe this is because, as my friend remarked to me, "death is a form of justice." I think she is right - seeing as how the rich and the poor, the famous and the obscure, death comes to us all. I'm not sure.
But one thing that strikes me about funerals and memorials is the necessity of including music or art. Even people who have never been involved in the arts, who probably couldn't name you more than three pieces of music, will have music at their funeral or the funeral of their loved ones. Many people love to ridicule or ignore poetry in their day-to-day lives, but will have poems read or printed after a loss.
We live in a society which values the empirical and the measurable - money, status, studies, statistics, 'demonstrated track records.' And yet, when a human life ceases, we find comfort in the unquantifiable (and often intangible) aspects of life: sound, figurative language, poetry, movement, the embraces of fellow human beings. Maybe this is because grief calls us to be 'outside ourselves' for a time; I'm not sure why.
But as I watched the singers give their "Simple Gifts" during the live broadcast tonight, the swaying of their bodies and the sweetness in their voices reminded me that human beings will (almost always) use beauty as a means of self-defense when faced with tragedy or mortality. I know that "time and chance" befalls us all, but I am grateful that at least a little beauty, and hence a little hope for the human race, can be called forward in times of great doubt and senseless destruction.
Tonight I was watching the memorial service for the Arizona shooting victims. I've been to a lot of funerals: when I was younger, family funerals; in my teens and early twenties, funerals for friends (sad but true); now, mainly churchfolk and often strangers. As bizarre as it sounds, I think memorials (or funerals, take your pick) are very moving and sincere, in a way almost no other modern ceremonies are.
Maybe this is because, as my friend remarked to me, "death is a form of justice." I think she is right - seeing as how the rich and the poor, the famous and the obscure, death comes to us all. I'm not sure.
But one thing that strikes me about funerals and memorials is the necessity of including music or art. Even people who have never been involved in the arts, who probably couldn't name you more than three pieces of music, will have music at their funeral or the funeral of their loved ones. Many people love to ridicule or ignore poetry in their day-to-day lives, but will have poems read or printed after a loss.
We live in a society which values the empirical and the measurable - money, status, studies, statistics, 'demonstrated track records.' And yet, when a human life ceases, we find comfort in the unquantifiable (and often intangible) aspects of life: sound, figurative language, poetry, movement, the embraces of fellow human beings. Maybe this is because grief calls us to be 'outside ourselves' for a time; I'm not sure why.
But as I watched the singers give their "Simple Gifts" during the live broadcast tonight, the swaying of their bodies and the sweetness in their voices reminded me that human beings will (almost always) use beauty as a means of self-defense when faced with tragedy or mortality. I know that "time and chance" befalls us all, but I am grateful that at least a little beauty, and hence a little hope for the human race, can be called forward in times of great doubt and senseless destruction.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Warm Keys to Success
Here's a re-post of a link from a certain local reporter's blog. Love what Seinfeld has to say about productivity, I'm thinking a lot about day-by-day, little-engine-that-could type discipline. As a musician, I know it works. It's just a matter of doing it.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Show Me The Money - Budget 2.0
My mind on my money and my money on my mind.
- Snoop Dogg
Here's the disclaimer: I can't stand Snoop Dogg, and I have never wilfully listened to his music. That said, the man has a point: it's a new year and we're thinking a lot about money. So is New Brunswick's finance minister, and the Alward government. Rightfully so.
New Brunswick has huge financial problems, and our aging population (not to mention the looming diabetes epidemic) will make it basically impossible for the status quo to continue. We have problems, and the government is telling us all that we need to help solve it. Which is true, we need to face the facts.
Since the money received by the government comes from New Brunswickers, I think the government should lay out every single place that money went in 2009 - every car rental, every can of office coffee, every piece of monogrammed stationary, all the legal aid, all the textbooks, all the gauze, MLA pensions, business development loans and salaries and everything.
Data-obsessed people should have access to this open-source budget so we can see where our money is actually going. Then we could have a really informed debate about how our money is being put to use and what our priorities really are as New Brunswickers.
Some wards in the city of Toronto have participatory budgets, as does the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Residents in these places work one year in advance to determine priority spending and allocate amounts for various city departments. Remember, Toronto has more people than all of New Brunswick put together.
We always say our priorities are"health and education" but when we say health, what do we actually mean? When we say education do we mean consultants and standardized testing, or putting meaningful skills training back in high schools? It's not hard to see what someone's (or a government's) priorities are, if you "follow the money." And I don't mean departmental, ball-park numbers, you could bury anything in there. I mean dollars and cents for everything.
Most New Brunswickers are not rich people. They make choices every day about whether to spend, save, go without, or find a better solution. If the government needs to reduce programs and services, it should be determined by the people who pay the taxes and will suffer the consequences.
- Snoop Dogg
Here's the disclaimer: I can't stand Snoop Dogg, and I have never wilfully listened to his music. That said, the man has a point: it's a new year and we're thinking a lot about money. So is New Brunswick's finance minister, and the Alward government. Rightfully so.
New Brunswick has huge financial problems, and our aging population (not to mention the looming diabetes epidemic) will make it basically impossible for the status quo to continue. We have problems, and the government is telling us all that we need to help solve it. Which is true, we need to face the facts.
Since the money received by the government comes from New Brunswickers, I think the government should lay out every single place that money went in 2009 - every car rental, every can of office coffee, every piece of monogrammed stationary, all the legal aid, all the textbooks, all the gauze, MLA pensions, business development loans and salaries and everything.
Data-obsessed people should have access to this open-source budget so we can see where our money is actually going. Then we could have a really informed debate about how our money is being put to use and what our priorities really are as New Brunswickers.
Some wards in the city of Toronto have participatory budgets, as does the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Residents in these places work one year in advance to determine priority spending and allocate amounts for various city departments. Remember, Toronto has more people than all of New Brunswick put together.
We always say our priorities are"health and education" but when we say health, what do we actually mean? When we say education do we mean consultants and standardized testing, or putting meaningful skills training back in high schools? It's not hard to see what someone's (or a government's) priorities are, if you "follow the money." And I don't mean departmental, ball-park numbers, you could bury anything in there. I mean dollars and cents for everything.
Most New Brunswickers are not rich people. They make choices every day about whether to spend, save, go without, or find a better solution. If the government needs to reduce programs and services, it should be determined by the people who pay the taxes and will suffer the consequences.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Eating in the New Year
One of my goals for 2011 is to eat more local food, as much as I can manage. Our household has several adults coming and going, and we cook lots from scratch. Food is important to us, we are lucky to be self-employed and we make time to eat well most days. Good food is the fuel for good work and a good life.
Over the summer I started buying garden produce from George Peabody. He delivered it right to my door every Friday and I could choose what we wanted to order. Delicious and no more griping about ending up with the "slow" cashier uptown. In August I purchased 20 beautiful 'braids' of organic garlic at the Dooryard Market. We've always bought our grains and cereals direct from Speerville, as well as local eggs from the Lawson family farm and local maple syrup from peddlars on the roadside.
Then in the fall, our tomato bounty harvest came due, and that kept us going for at least five weeks. Our friends planted oodles of tomatoes in May and then promptly moved to PEI in August, leaving us with the delicious spoils of their labour. I also started ordering food from Buckwheat Flats food delivery service in Knowlesville - mostly meat for the carnivores in the house but also some tasty Indian treats, pitas and delicious organic cider. They also deliver, which seems like such a luxury in the era of self-scan check outs.
Stu & Nancy in Speerville (call 277-6301) have a wonderful organic food /farm delivery service too.
I happened across these blogs about local food, complete with recipes. Here's a directory to help you find more good stuff grown in our neighbourhood. Real food tastes better, make me feel great, and helps me support the local economy. Here's a great little article about how three recipes can get you off the fast-food spiral and into healthy and cheap eating. So, just to recap, here are your standard excuses for not eating locally:
1. No time
(for home deliveries?!)
2. Only available in summer
(not anymore!)
3. Too expensive
(How often do you pay $$$ to eat out? You are voting with your food dollars)
4. Need meat not just veggies
(lots of local cows, chickens and pigs . . .)
5. Want prepared items, not just raw food
(they have this too!)
I am telling you, eating locally will improve your life. And it will change the world. So what are you waiting for?
Over the summer I started buying garden produce from George Peabody. He delivered it right to my door every Friday and I could choose what we wanted to order. Delicious and no more griping about ending up with the "slow" cashier uptown. In August I purchased 20 beautiful 'braids' of organic garlic at the Dooryard Market. We've always bought our grains and cereals direct from Speerville, as well as local eggs from the Lawson family farm and local maple syrup from peddlars on the roadside.
Then in the fall, our tomato bounty harvest came due, and that kept us going for at least five weeks. Our friends planted oodles of tomatoes in May and then promptly moved to PEI in August, leaving us with the delicious spoils of their labour. I also started ordering food from Buckwheat Flats food delivery service in Knowlesville - mostly meat for the carnivores in the house but also some tasty Indian treats, pitas and delicious organic cider. They also deliver, which seems like such a luxury in the era of self-scan check outs.
Stu & Nancy in Speerville (call 277-6301) have a wonderful organic food /farm delivery service too.
I happened across these blogs about local food, complete with recipes. Here's a directory to help you find more good stuff grown in our neighbourhood. Real food tastes better, make me feel great, and helps me support the local economy. Here's a great little article about how three recipes can get you off the fast-food spiral and into healthy and cheap eating. So, just to recap, here are your standard excuses for not eating locally:
1. No time
(for home deliveries?!)
2. Only available in summer
(not anymore!)
3. Too expensive
(How often do you pay $$$ to eat out? You are voting with your food dollars)
4. Need meat not just veggies
(lots of local cows, chickens and pigs . . .)
5. Want prepared items, not just raw food
(they have this too!)
I am telling you, eating locally will improve your life. And it will change the world. So what are you waiting for?
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