They are not yet even announced, but already plans for 2014 celebrations to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the meetings of 1864 are a whipping boy for government waste.
It began with a leaked draft document in The Guardian, which outlined a potential $75 million year long celebration. The province and the federal government would each throw in $30 million, with the City of Charlottetown and corporate sponsors each chiming in $7.5 million. Funding would be spread over three years.
Potential events range from a Montreal-Toronto hockey game, mega concert and inanely a return to the Island of Cirque du Soleil (did no one think of the million dollars we lost the last time they showed up?)
The opposition immediately jumped on the price tag and attacked. The mayor of Souris used the ‘party in Charlottetown’ as a comparison to government’s broken promise on a new K-12 school.
Powerful stuff.

 They are not yet even announced, but already plans for 2014 celebrations to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the meetings of 1864 are a whipping boy for government waste. 

It began with a leaked draft document in The Guardian, which outlined a potential $75 million year long celebration. The province and the federal government would each throw in $30 million, with the City of Charlottetown and corporate sponsors each chiming in $7.5 million. Funding would be spread over three years.

Potential events range from a Montreal-Toronto hockey game, mega concert and inanely a return to the Island of Cirque du Soleil (did no one think of the million dollars we lost the last time they showed up?) 

By government standards it is a measly amount, just $1.2 million, barely enough to quibble over. But the fight over the Liberals’ long promised expansion to Montague Intermediate is now much more than its monetary value.
It is symbolic of a dysfunctional Department of Education and its failure to prepare Island children for the future.
It is symbolic of party politics where government MLAs set aside any semblance of integrity to blindly follow the party line.
It is symbolic of an economic development policy that has failed to act not only on rural issues, but understand them all together.
It is just $1.2 million, but Montague Intermediate School is now the face of the arrogance and misplaced priorities of the Ghiz government.

By government standards it is a measly amount, just $1.2 million, barely enough to quibble over. But the fight over the Liberals’ long promised expansion to Montague Intermediate is now much more than its monetary value. 

It is symbolic of a dysfunctional Department of Education and its failure to prepare Island children for the future.

It is symbolic of party politics where government MLAs set aside any semblance of integrity to blindly follow the party line.

There are a lot of PEI Liberals who see Doug Currie as the Crown Prince in Waiting, the inevitable successor to Robert Ghiz.
Few doubt that Doug Currie aspires to higher office. He is competitive enough to believe he should replace Ghiz, whenever the premier does decide to move on (there are no signs of that on the immediate horizon).
But he is also competitive enough to ignore the lessons of history that point to little upside, based on his current trajectory, to his provincial career.
You see, the problem Doug Currie faces is his record. He is a Charlottetown politician with a distinct Charlottetown bias. If you live in Charlottetown that may be seen as a good thing. Rural PEI, however, looks at Currie’s decision-making with little enthusiasm. Disdain and deep skepticism are more apt descriptions.
Time and again, first as Minister of Education then as Minister of Health, Doug Currie has championed initiatives harmful to rural PEI.

There are a lot of PEI Liberals who see Doug Currie as the Crown Prince in Waiting, the inevitable successor to Robert Ghiz.

Few doubt that Doug Currie aspires to higher office. He is competitive enough to believe he should replace Ghiz, whenever the premier does decide to move on (there are no signs of that on the immediate horizon). 

But he is also competitive enough to ignore the lessons of history that point to little upside, based on his current trajectory, to his provincial career.

For a political columnist, it was a week of riches. There was cabinet minister Valerie Docherty losing her cool with a Tory MLA and Doug Currie announcing health care ‘reform’ and immediately backtracking on a plan to charge all seniors for a ride in an ambulance. There was growing public upset at implementation of the HST and the spectacle of hundreds of Islanders booing Premier Robert Ghiz for his $16 million transportation priority, a Plan B that government has failed to prove is a real priority. At least the premier had the courage to meet protesters face to face and not scurry like a scared cat as former Liberal Premier Catherine Callbeck did through tunnels that run beneath the provincial legislature. 

For a political columnist, it was a week of riches. There was cabinet minister Valerie Docherty losing her cool with a Tory MLA and Doug Currie announcing health care ‘reform’ and immediately backtracking on a plan to charge all seniors for a ride in an ambulance. There was growing public upset at implementation of the HST and the spectacle of hundreds of Islanders booing Premier Robert Ghiz for his $16 million transportation priority, a Plan B that government has failed to prove is a real priority. At least the premier had the courage to meet protesters face to face and not scurry like a scared cat as former Liberal Premier Catherine Callbeck did through tunnels that run beneath the provincial legislature.
Each story is potential fodder for a column.
But it was a meeting in Halifax that flew under the Island radar but dovetails strongly with Ghiz education initiatives that takes priority.

If you were hoping for a budget that would balance pragmatism and reality with vision, you were left sorely disappointed with the Ghiz government’s three-year plan to reign in a sea of red ink.
Instead of vision, it delivered brute force cuts that disproportionately hurt rural PEI.
Instead of a plan, it opted for the HST cash cow that will disproportionately hurt low income Islanders.
Instead of reality, Treasurer Wes Sheridan delivered a budget that relies on unrealistic spending projections that will only dig all Islanders further into debt and handicap future generations.
Budget 2012 is all about political survival and not financial leadership.

If you were hoping for a budget that would balance pragmatism and reality with vision, you were left sorely disappointed with the Ghiz government’s three-year plan to reign in a sea of red ink.
Instead of vision, it delivered brute force cuts that disproportionately hurt rural PEI.
Instead of a plan, it opted for the HST cash cow that will disproportionately hurt low income Islanders.
Instead of reality, Treasurer Wes Sheridan delivered a budget that relies on unrealistic spending projections that will only dig all Islanders further into debt and handicap future generations.
Budget 2012 is all about political survival and not financial leadership.