Tom Young

Shortly after taking office in 2006, New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham and his Liberal Government in the province embarked on a rather ambitious program which would enable self sufficiency by 2026.

It means he has high hopes that in 20 years, New Brunswick will be able to take care of itself without going to Ottawa, cap in hand, looking for higher equalization grants and any other handout which the federal government of the day may be prepared to dole out to the provinces.

Last week, the premier, (with great fanfare) announced he was going to lay out his plan.

Many of us couldn’t wait to see what he had in mind.  Those who were waiting then are still waiting now. Even avid Liberal Party supporters are suggesting his speech was much ado about nothing.

I don’t think we know one thing more today than we did the day before his speech.

Mr. Premier, New Brunwswickers applaud you and we certainly hope we can look back in 2026 and say Shawn Graham was a visionary.  He said he had great things to accomplish for as long as the voters keep him in office, and he hopes the governments that follow him will continue with his plan. 

Former U-S president Harry Truman is credited with saying “I’m from Missouri, show me — don’t tell me!”

That’s what New Brunswickers are saying now — “Show us — don’t tell us.”

It’s a bit like the television commercial from the 1980’s where the three elderly women went into the fast-food restaurant with pre-conceived notions of what they were going to get — and when they lifted the top half of the hamburger bun — there wasn’t much there, prompting one of them to ask, “Where’s the beef?”

We look forward Mr. Premier for you to show us and say, “This, is the beef”

I’m Tom Young.

Wouldn’t it be an ideal world if nobody broke the law?  Just think for a minute…

Four people wouldn’t be dead in a three car accident in the Annapolis Valley if all the speed limits had been observed. 

Nobody would be stopped on the side of the road being issued a citation for going through that red light. 

Drug pushers would suddenly be out of business because whatever it is they’re pushing would be purchased by no one. 

There would be no bank robbers, no child molesters, no spousal abuse, and no one would be killed either in manslaughter or in murder.  We wouldn’t even need police!

Time for a reality check.

There has never been a society like the one I just eluded to and there never will be.  As a consequence, we do need police.  We need armed police.  We have to arm our police officers with every weapon available.  In order for them to protect those who live on the right side of the law from those who live on the wrong side.

One of the weapons we’ve chosen to arm our police with in recent years is something called a “taser.”

I’m told it can shoot a couple of darts into your skin and instantly incapacitate you with 50-thousand volts of electricity.  It has it’s own way of bringing unruly men and women into very swift involuntary compliance.

If you don’t want to do what the police officer says — the taser then seems like an alternative.

If we’re going to arm police with tasers, can we expect a full public hearing, or a full public inquiry every time an officer draws and uses the taser? 

I hope not.

Being a police officer in today’s society is a tough enough job at the best of times and an absolutely terrible job at the worst of times.  Our men and women in blue for the most part, do a great job.  Give them the tasers and let them use them or take the tasers away and let them use the alternative.

I’ll take the taser everytime rather than a police issue .38

I’m Tom Young.

As soon as I heard Celine Dion was coming to Halifax to play the Halifax Common, I knew in my own mind that it was not a “marriage made in heaven.”

It had nothing to do with whether or not I would go and see her.  Personally there aren’t very many acts I would sit with fifty-thousand others outdoors to see and hear.  Elton John might be one of them.

It occurred to me as I wrote in the space back on November 9th that Celine Dion fans, (and I have no idea who they are) maybe aren’t the type of people who would take a folding lawn chair, a cooler full of Keith’s, (the best beer I’ve tasted in a long time) and plunk their backsides down with fifty-thousand of their closest friends to listen to her sing.

For her husband and manager to be quoted in the French media in Quebec that she was simply run out of town by the negativity of the Halifax media is beyond my comprehension.

I read both of the Halifax newspapers each day and watch the evening news on CTV and unless I missed it all, I didn’t see or hear much negative about the planned concert.  I think the Halifax Common is a great location for open air concerts and I hope the local promoters are successful in their on-going attempt to get big (though yet unnamed) acts to come to the city and do their thing.

I can think of a number of well known loud acts who would draw thousands and thousands of people to see them live in Halifax — but not Celine Dion.

Would Moncton had taken the concert?  Not on your life.

Would Toronto take an open air Celine Dion concert?  Not on your life.

Indoors?  In comfortable chairs where you could actually hear her sing?  It would be an amazing show — but not in the Commons in Halifax.

If it was negative publicity which caused the cancellation of the Halifax gig, both Dion and her manager husband had better forget reading the newspaper, listening to radio or watching TV in any of the other sites she’s playing on her latest world tour.

Halifax is ready for another concert — just make sure the fans are ready for whoever the headliner is.

I’m Tom Young.

Please Mr. Harper, when a lawyer’s letter asking you to intervene in the case of two American deserters crosses your desk, read it and forget it!

Canadians don’t want their country turned into a haven for American deserters.

People have to understand the military is what it is.  It’s not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship.  You’re not asked whether you agree if the mission is fair and just.  You’re not asked if whether you agree if the mission is good or bad.  You’re not asked if you agree to whether the mission is right or wrong.  You’re not asked to agree or disagree — period.  In fact, you’re not asked — you’re told!

Here is the mission soldier — now carry it out!

How can there be any discipline and how can you have any confidence if you’re not sure if the guy on your left or right isn’t going to “cut-and-run” when the chips are down?

George Bush’s war is George Bush’s war.  If we as Canadians don’t agree with it, — that is certainly within our right — for us to open the doors to our nation to people who choose not to fight for their own nation would be a slap in the face to the men and women who make up our Armed Forces.

Ask the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, whether he thinks these two men should be kept in this country?  Ask Senator Roméo Dallaire the same question, or ask former Major General Louis Mackenzie what he thinks.

I don’t have to ask them to know what their answer is already.

We’re going to send our service men and women offshore to risk their lives for their country, but what would we say to others who wouldn’t do the same?

“Come on in, you’re welcome here!” 

I don’t think so.

A deserter is a deserter, and his or her reason for “deserting” means nothing. 

These two men should be sent home as quickly as the paper work can be finished to face the music in the United States.

If Canadians deserted their army and went to the US seeking refugee status we would all hope the American courts and the American political system would do to them what should be done — return them to this country.

Mr. Prime Minister, Canadians are counting on you to get this one right!

I’m Tom Young.

This past weekend was among other things, my wife Diana’s birthday.

So, we planned a trip to Portland Maine for a little cross border shopping.  With dollar signs in our eyes and how much money we would save with the good ol’ Canadian dollar slightly above par.

So, lets see — There was a tank-and-a-half of gas, and even at American prices, that amounts to about sixty bucks.  There was a Saturday and Sunday night at the Maine Mall in Portland which ran about $120 a night.  Then, there were all those meals which amounted to about $150.

So, when you add it all up, it cost us a little more than $330 before my wife bought her first pair of boxer shorts for my son.

I remember Freeport when we went there with our kids years ago, but this past weekend — it was a cold zoo.

Did she save any money at The Gap? Abercrombie and Fitch? Ralph Lauren? L.L. Bean? …or any of the other retailers she visited?  I don’t have any idea… And how about the stores we went into in the Maine Mall?  Far too many to mention in this short space.

Time at the border was not a problem.  Saturday morning, 6:30 AM, we were the third car seeking entry into the United States.  Sunday afternoon, at 2:30 PM, surprisingly — we were the eighth car in line waiting for re-entry into Canada.  And, as for the Canadian Customs Agent on staff, she couldn’t have been nicer. 

The entire re-entry process took at least 30 seconds.

Oh, and by the way, did I mention the best deal of the trip?

At the Duty Free Store in Calais, Maine — they had a special sale… Two forty-ounce bottles of Crown Royal for $35 Canadian.  They had other specials which were equally as good.  However, they interested me not.

Five hours on the road getting there, plus the wear and tear on your car I think has cured Tom and Diana Young of having to cross the border once again for cross border shopping for awhile.  We were able to acquire some things not available in the Canadian market place — but from here on in — I’m sure whatever we need we can find in Canada.

All-in-all, was it worth it?  Both of us agree, the answer is no.

I’m Tom Young.

As I sit in front of my computer with my fingers speeding across the keyboard, I am really conflicted…

I hope — with every fibre in my oversized body — that the Halifax Commons is packed tighter than a sardine can on August 23rd, 2008 when Celine Dion takes the stage.

I’ve known Fred MacGillivary for the better part of thirty years.  I know him as a bright, committed booster for the City of Halifax, and I hope that he and all the members of his committee are backing the right horse.

Try as I might to put a positive spin on Celine in an open air concert on the Halifax Commons — I keep getting these negative vibes.  I think I know what the average person looks like who went to last year’s Rolling Stones concert, an Aerosmith concert, The Police, or an AC-DC concert.  But I’m not sure I have any idea what a person who would go to the Celine Dion concert looks like.

In saying this — I know I’m generalizing, but I’m not sure Celine Dion fans will pay the kind of money organizers are looking for to see Ms. Dion at such a large outdoor venue.

You can argue that Simon and Garfunkel drew tens-of-thousands to their outdoor concert at New York’s Central Park, but remember — that was Simon and Garfunkel.

There is no question Ms. Dion has been a huge success in her specially constructed concert venue in Las Vegas.  Tickets there are almost impossible to come across.  But would those who would go see her in Vegas indoors in a climate controlled theatre on soft cushy chairs park their butts in the commons to listen to her sing?

Halifax is to be congratulated for it’s ongoing attempts to bring world-class talent to concert-goers from all three Maritime provinces.

I hope that on August 24th, 2008 we won’t all be able to look back to this little blog and say: “You know something? — He was right.”

On this one I want to be dead wrong.

I’m Tom Young.

Did former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney get 300-thousand dollars he should not have received?

I don’t care if he did — and I don’t want Ottawa to get tied up in the details. 

It seems like in this country, once our members of parliament get into the House of Commons, they end up spending far too much of their time and effort trying to make the men and women on the other side of the floor look bad.

In doing so — they make themselves look bad.

When I go out to vote, I’m voting for the man or woman or the political party that’s going to make this country better to live in than their predecessors did. 

If the Brian Mulroney issue becomes the overriding concern among our 300-plus MP’s, then they aren’t taking care of the concerns of more than 30-million Canadians.

The 300-thousand dollar allegations have been levelled by a man who is sitting in jail waiting to be extradited to his native Germany for various, sundry and nefarious activities which he is alleged to have been involved in.

He doesn’t sound to me like the kind of guy who might supply me with information I could take to the bank.

At present, Karlheinz Schreiber is a desperate man — trying to say and do anything to prevent him from being sent home to face the music.

I’m not sure spending millions of tax paying dollars for high priced lawyers and washing what may be some dirty linen in public is the best way to spend my money.

Lets try and solve the problems of the homeless, shorten lineups for Canadians waiting for medical procedures. What about a good exit strategy for our troops in Afghanistan?  Let’s also come up with workable solutions for this country’s contribution to climate change.  Let’s also take another look at the reported surplus which the government is looking for ways to spend…

A further reduction in taxes is a novel suggestion and it just might work.

We all know how we feel about former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. 

Like all who preceded him and all who have followed him — he’s loved by some and detested by many.  A public inquiry, (in my view) would be a tremendous waste of your and my tax dollars.

The last thing our federal government needs is another way to waste tax payers money.

I’m Tom Young.

Yesterday in Fredericton, New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham did some shuffling and elevating.

One of those promoted to his cabinet was Petitcodiac MLA Wally Stiles.

Lets go back a number of months when Wally and his wife, Joan, decided to leave the Progressive Conservative party to join the provincial Liberals.

Could the conversation have gone anything like this..?

Wally:  “Hey Shawn, Joan and I are thinking of coming over, what have you got for us?”

Shawn:  “Optics Wally, Optics!  …Just hang on!”

Wally:  “I’ve turned my back on the Tories, I’ve done the best I can to get you Frank McKenna type numbers, so you’ve got to do something for me!  …And I don’t want to wait too long!”

Shawn:  “Optics Wally, Optics!  We can’t do it today, we can’t do it this month, but hey, in less than a year, how will this sound? — New Brunswick Cabinet Minister Wally Stiles.”

Wally:  “What about Joan?”

Shawn:  “Optics Wally, Optics!  One is better than none, and two would be just too many.  What would the rest of caucus think?  And, If the press ever picked up on turncoat couple makes cabinet…?

Wally:  “Okay, give me a target date!”

Shawn:  “Sounds good enough to announce on Halloween, I’ll rearrange the deck chairs and you’ll be in!  Don’t say anything to anybody — it’ll all work out!”

I’m doubt that’s word-for-word on how the conversation might have gone, but what I do know is that some of the players got new posts and Wally Stiles is now a member of Premier Shawn Graham’s inner circle and in New Brunswick provincial politics can there be anything better than that?

Just ask Wally Stiles.

I’m Tom Young.