I Just Wanna Know

With very little happening on the national and provincial political scene the past few days, my thoughts have been free to ramble, never a good idea. So it is, as I sat to write today’s article that I began to wonder what the topic should be. Of course there are always strange and wonderful things to comment on in this province, never a dull moment as they say.

With the current lull in activity however, this seemed like a good opportunity to toss off a few questions to the political powers that be. Perhaps in their letters home from fat camp, or band camp or dithering camp or where ever those little devils get off to during the lazy days of summer, some of them might like to fill me in on a few nagging questions that will not go away.

Let’s start with the following:

Why is the federal government planning to announce a 6 week food fishery with the purchase of tags in parts of Newfoundland while allowing an 11 month tag free fishery in Nova Scotia?

Why has the federal government all but abandoned 5 Wing Goose when the big land offers such vast training opportunities? Foreign military groups have seen the potential for years and the base is in such a strategically important location on the east coast, why is it dying?

Why would the federal government say they wanted to focus on commercially viable species rather than cod in an attempt to qualify canceling funding for the only independent inshore cod researcher in the province? Isn’t it true that the reason cod is not commercially viable is because a lack of government science led to its decline? Couldn’t good science help it become economically viable one day?

Why are people in Newfoundland and Labrador the highest taxed, lowest income and most under employed people in Canada?

Why does Newfoundland and Labrador provide about 10% of Canada’s armed services personnel but has practically no military presence in the province?

Why are there less and less federal government jobs in the province year after year after year?

Nothing too difficult to answer, after all, we are in the dog days of July and I wouldn’t want to have some politician throw a brain gasket rushing out to buy a pad and pen so they can dash me off a quick and clear response to my queries.