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West Prince Graphic Columns and Opinions

Give the education elite a big fat F

Barak Obama used soaring rhetoric and his presidential bully pulpit, the State of the Union address, to fire a shot across the bow of educators everywhere. In front of an audience of tens of millions the president did what few elected politicians dare. He urged a renewed focus on subjects such as the arts and pleaded with educators to ‘stop teaching to the test.’
He was referring to a growing epidemic of reliance on standardized tests. There is precious little independent evidence to support the notion they actually improve the education of our children. Standardized tests do offer the education bureaucracy a buffer zone from accountability and sap precious financial resources from the classroom.
Obama could very well have been talking to Prince Edward Island. Only our problems run much deeper than a love affair with standardized tests.

Province seeks damages may go up in smoke

(Cindy Chant editorial)

The PEI government is in the early stages of litigation against tobacco companies whose products have been sold on the Island. The Province will be seeking damages for the recovery of health care costs from 1950 to the present. It is a foreseeable uphill climb, but it is also a fight that will not go unnoticed.

Tobacco companies for decades denied smoking was dangerous or caused cancer.

Ontario is the latest Canadian province to proceed with a lawsuit to recoup money for smoking-related illnesses. That province is seeking a whopping $50 billion in damages.Ontario officials and the Canadian Cancer Society argue a successful lawsuit could serve to reduce smoking in that province. 

Pack the tent as well

  

 

A break for illegal tobacco smugglers?

 According to a recent Charlottetown Guardian article it looks like one of the Island RCMP’s two tobacco enforcement positions will be cut - all in a bid to reduce the PEI force from 140 to 135 by this spring and save as much as $600,000.

Many Islanders will applaud the move, arguing the RCMP should be chasing “the real criminals.” 

Concert at Coleman Hall, 1928

 There was a time when the local hall provided some of the only entertainment for the community. Such an event attracted people for miles around. This is the story a concert held at Coleman, P.E.I. on a winter evening in 1928...Summerside Journal, 12 March 1928.

“The concert held at Coleman Hall on February 20th came off with a rousing success, the hall being filled to overflowing, Mr Russel Rogers presiding explained that the concert was in aid of the Protestant Orphanage, and was a most worthy cause, he then announced the opening chorus, ‘Out where the West Begins,’ with instrumental music by Mr Jerry Dalton, Lot 7, accompanied by Miss Greta Rogers.”

Fitness Tax Credit

 

With income tax time fast approaching do not forget about the government’s children’s fitness tax credit. This is a tax credit based on eligible fitness expenses paid by parents to register a child in a prescribed program of physical activity.

The children’s fitness tax credit lets parents claim up to $500 per year for eligible fitness expenses paid for each child under 16 years of age at the beginning of the year in which the expenses are paid.

Oh, the cockamamie ideas rolling around the head of our prime minister Stephen Harper

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity” ... George Orwell

There’s an awful lot I don’t know.
I can’t tell you how many times a week the Lady Barbara asks me a question, and I say to her, “I don’t know.”
There seems to be so much going on that doesn’t make any sense.
Especially in politics.
Like, why is it that so many Americans are backing the looney and disgraced Newt Gingrinch as the Republican nominee to run against Barack Obama in the forthcoming presidential elections?
Or, why does the Ghiz government want to rip up acres and acres of peaceful PEI farmland so big trucks can drive faster to Charlottetown (when driving faster tends to provoke more accidents) just to save maybe 10 minutes of travel time?

Band-Aids won’t solve rural issues

The fact the Ghiz government is now finally admitting the former Ocean Choice fish plant will not reopen in Souris is of little comfort to the 300 employees facing termination of unemployment benefits in a matter of weeks.
The admission should come as no surprise. There is no doubting the Ghiz government hoped the plant would reopen. Hope doesn’t create jobs or sell product. The reality of the fishing industry spoke differently. It’s a reality the hollow words that elected Liberal politicians ignored for the past year.

Island in need of 'doc' tape

(Cindy Chant editorial)

A master agreement signed last year between doctors and Health PEI has once again failed to produce the outcome everyone was hoping for.

The government thought doctors who signed on for the long haul and stayed here for more than five years deserved to have fatter wallets. Sort of sounds like a prison term – being rewarded for good behaviour in the form of cold hard cash. Do we really want professionals staying in a place just for the incentives or because they are driven to make a difference?

American elections better entertainment value

Over the past several months Republican Party candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have become better known in this country than many of our hard-working federal politicians.

That also goes for failed presidential hopefuls Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann and more recently Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman, the lone candidate who wasn’t ideologically hot-wired to the Tea Party’s platform.

The envelope please

A group of us recently attended “Music Mosaic” - part of Music PEI Week. With a sprinkling of concerts in between, nine music awards were handed out. It’s my first award ceremony and I might as well have been at the Grammys. 

The evening’s celebrations were held at the Summerside Harbourfront Theatre. We were center stage, a respectable 13 rows back with all shorter people in the other 12 rows, it was perfect. There were the presenters, the tension, the ever famous envelope, the smiling winners and the acceptance speeches. Every winner was gracious and sincere and respectful of the ticking clock. We were thrilled to hear, listen and watch performances by Rebels, Ashley Condon, Caroline Bernard and the incredible Lennie Gallant. 

People Had a Sense of Humor in the Past, 1928

FROM OUR PAST By Allan MacRae

People Had a Sense of Humor in the Past, 1928

A “Hunting” Dog Story
There is a possibility, though rather a rare one at present, that a new live stock industry may be started at Summerside which, if properly engineered, might even rival silver fox ranching...The Pioneer, 7 January 1928.

“It seems that an esteemed citizen of Summerside, who is an expert trapper and hunter, recently ordered a high pedigreed hunting dog from the United States. This high priced animal duly arrived a few days ago and it took an additional $14 and some odd cents to bail him out of the express office. Then the earliest possible opportunity was taken to try him out on hunting rabbits in the woods near Summerside, to which our hunter and several sporting friends repaired.”

Big Captures of Booze Made by Crusier Margaret in Waters off North Cape, 1927

FROM OUR PAST By Allan MacRae

Big Captures of Booze Made by Crusier Margaret in Waters off North Cape, 1927

In the late 1920s Prohibition was in full swing. In fact, trafficking in the sale of illegal liquor was one of the major industries in Prince Edward Island waters, as prices for both farm products and fish were at rock bottom. But the year 1927 was a most successful one for Customs boats which seized many vessels with large cargoes of contraband liquor in P. E.I sland waters. This is the story of the Customs Crusier Margaret...The Pioneer, 21 January 1928.

“Last season (1927) was the most successful and also financially most productive in the case of custom Crusier Margaret under Captain Alfred Lecouvee. During the past few months the National revenue Office reported that the crusier had made the following seizures.”

Ab Training

If you want to be able to see your abs this summer now is the time to start working at it. The most important factor in being able to see your abs is the amount of body fat you are carrying. The more body fat you carry around the midsection, the longer it will take to see the abs. Still the middle of winter, but a good time to start those summer goals. If you know how much weight you have to lose aim for a pound to a pound in a half a week and this will give you an approximation of how long it will take you.

Now....how do you actually lose this mid section weight? The answer may surprise you. Working the abs is not the best way to lose weight off the abs. The problem is that working them does not burn a lot of calories, and to lose weight you have to put yourself in a calorie deficit. 

Forget health care, Liberals are at the trough

In the dying days of the October 3 provincial election Premier Robert Ghiz needed to buy votes in Tignish. He promised a ‘minimum’ $50,000 annual investment in the Tignish Health Co-op, which struggles to raise money to simply maintain the building.
The co-op is the only facility of its kind in the province that must finance its own operations and the premier’s promise gave the impression of immediacy. He offered no inclination that the necessary cash infusion would be caught up in a budgetary maze.
That is exactly what happened after the Liberals were returned to office. Suddenly the premier’s promise became far less specific. Now the $50,000 is simply another potential line item fighting for survival in what is guaranteed to be a brutal spring budget.
The Tignish Health Co-op will have to wait.
Health care providers must wait.
Residents of West Prince must wait.

A disaster in the kitchen?

 Here we go again.

What were PEI government officials thinking when they agreed to spend $35,000 to $40,000 to bring the top-rated W Network show, Come Dine with Me Canada, out of its natural setting in Toronto to our rustic, pastoral shores?

Do they really think they’ll find five average Joe and Jill Islanders willing to bust the bank, just to earn top honours in a dinner-party competition that pays all of $1,000 to the winner?

Babies having babies

 (Cindy Chant editorial)

Teens today are choosing to follow an Old World trend - pregnancy at an early age. Teen pregnancy is no longer a taboo topic within most middle schools and high schools. In previous years girls who found themselves pregnant before graduating would quickly become outcasts and in most cases not return to school because they feared becoming the targets of heartless classmates. 

The tide has since turned. Maturity starts much earlier, leading young people to make “grown-up” choices before many of them are able to experience going to a prom, graduation, attending university or getting their first apartment. Or, in some cases, landing their first job.

A brush with death

I have read the manual for our snow blower many times. One item not mentioned on the “Attention – Caution” page is – watch for fast moving traffic barreling toward you! Many of us along the Western Road still snow blow our own laneways. I like our driveway smoother than a pool table.

The Sport of Weight Training

 

For most gym owners this is the time of year when we are at our busiest. Winter and cold outdoor weather bring a lot of people into the gyms to get in better shape and for something to do for the winter.

Why is it that some people are so full of energy and enjoy being active so much and for others it is a constant struggle?

One reason is when you are active and healthy it actually gives you more energy. If you stay with a fitness program long enough for it to produce results you will be more energetic, leaner and stronger. 

Paving the way to rural prosperity?

If you need further proof of the Ghiz government’s failed rural development strategy, Minister Ron MacKinley delivered it in spades with his defense of precious rural funds being used to build a Charlottetown parking lot.
It is discouraging to watch MacKinley’s transition from the voice of common sense to the voice of lockstep support for government initiatives, regardless of how failed or stupid they are.
There was a time when Ron MacKinley would criticize the building of dirt mounds in Borden for the waste they are. Now he argues he had nothing to do with the project even though he was minister in charge of the purse strings.
The old Ron MacKinley would never support using money earmarked for rural PEI in Charlottetown, especially from a fund with only a total $27.5 million to spend over six years.