Get It?

"Did you hear the one about the Finance Minister who believes in Self-Sufficiency but wants the federal government to give him more handouts?"

"Greg Byrne"

A horse walks into a bar and orders a Shirley Temple with a side of self-suffiency. The bartender says, "Hey, you know we don't serve your kind in here". And the horse says, "Greg Byrne".

"Knock-Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Finance Minister who believes in Self-Sufficiency but wants the feds to give him more handouts."

"Finance Minister who believes in Self-Sufficiency but wants the feds to give him more handouts - who?"

"Greg Byrne"

A Priest, a Rabbi, and an Imam are walking in the park and talking about self-sufficiency. The Priest says, "In order to have self-sufficiency you need to have a growing economy". The Rabbi says, "Self-sufficiency means doing more with less and not asking for handouts". And the Imam says, "Greg Byrne".

There once was a Finance Minister from Lincoln,

Who about self-sufficiency was thinkin'.

But more money from the feds,

Was what was in in head,

"Greg Byrne"

** News item: Finance Minister says despite growing economy he doesn't want Ottawa to lower transfer payments to NB.

Cry Me a Chocolate River

Few projects stand as a testament to Liberal hubris as blatantly as the project to replace the Petitcodiac River causeway between Moncton and Riverview.

Despite countless studies and environmental impact assessments, Shawn Graham has decided that the causeway must go because this project is "not significant only here in New Brunswick, but across Canada and around the world" *

That's right - people in China, India, and even Swaziland are just waiting with baited breath to see that causeway replaced by a bridge. Sheesh!

All political hyperbole aside (or as the Premier used to pronounce it - "hyper-bowl") the opening price tag on this project is in the neighbourhood of $100 million dollars, which amounts to about $1,000 for every single person living in the Greater Moncton Area.

Back here in the real world, we at the NB Conservative have a not so novel idea for the Premier. Do what they do in the US states when they have a mega project to fund - they ask the good citizens to vote on taking out a bond. In other words, they ask first if everyone agrees to borrow the money and then they actually pay it back.

In fact, we double-chocolate-river dare the Premier to put this initiative on a ballot, either province wide or in a local referendum, and then see if it's worth pursuing.

* In case you might have thought we made the quote up, here it is in its entirety from an actual government press release:

"The construction of the Petitcodiac causeway did not simply block the river," said Graham. "It devastated the river's ecosystem, eliminated commercial fisheries, and changed a way of life for residents of Fort Folly First Nation who had used the river for fishing, travel and trade.”

"Our undertaking of this important environmental project is significant not only here in New Brunswick, but across Canada and around the world. When the Petitcodiac River's magnificent tidal bore can be appreciated once again, and when species such as salmon, smelt and shad return, this endeavour will stand as a symbol of what we are capable of here in this great province, and why we can be proud to call it home." - www.gnb.ca

Missed Op-portunity

Shawn Graham's good friends at Bell-Aliant have really screwed him this time.

This week it was announced that they would be closing down their call centers in northern New Brunswick putting hundreds of workers on the unemployment line.

Didn't Shawn just give Bell-Aliant a big million dollar pile of our taxes so that they could install fiber optic cables in Fredericton and Saint John?

Didn't Shawn also just tear up the public procurement rules to give Bell-Aliant a sweetheart contract extension on their government business worth millions more?

What exactly are we getting in return? The chance to pay $100 a month for an over-priced internet connection and now, it turns out, job losses in the one area of New Brunswick that needs jobs the most.

Spending Up and Math Scores Down

While the Liberals were recently touting their success in raising literacy rates among our school age children, they were just as aggressively down-playing the three-year drop in numeracy rates.

The conspiracy theorists here at the NB Conservative are wondering if maybe lower numeracy scores aren't one of the objectives of the provincial Liberal party. After all, why would Liberals want New Brunswickers to be good with numbers? If more people understood the size of the provincial deficit this year they would be a lot more pissed off about it.

In December, the Graham Grits are going to produce a follow-up budget to the last deficit balloon they released only 7 months ago. All accounts are that it is going to be full of rosy predictions and very light on difficult choices.

Of course the fewer the number of people who understand just how bad their number are the better for them. So don't count on any extra budget money going towards math education.

What Did You Expect?

After a week of traveling around New Brunswick, the Finance Minister has announced some surprising news - all the people who came to the pre-budget meetings want the government to spend more money.

These meetings were not recorded or televised so we will have to take his word for it. But from the sounds of things there were plenty of union reps at all the stops encouraging more spending on government programs.

Then again, Mr. Byrne, what did you expect?

The Liberal government put out a pre-budget questionnaire that asked people how soon they would like to see the deficit paid off: 3 years from now, 4 years from now, or 5 years from now.

That's right - they told the public that balancing the books immediately was not even an option.

So when you tell people in advance you want to keep spending and borrowing more money that we have - why would people come to your meetings with ideas for spending less?

Quick Question

For our loyal readers.

If the new leader of the NB Green Party is Jack MacDougall, who ran against Shawn Graham for the Liberal leadership 7 years ago, does that make him the Leader of the Red Green Party?

Quick Question

For our loyal readers.

If the new leader of the NB Green Party is Jack MacDougall, who ran against Shawn Graham for the Liberal leadership 7 years ago, does that make him the Leader of the Red Green Party?