A Senior Moment
The ALC issue gets an upgraded minister, but will a new approach follow?
We’ve had another example of how a single anecdote — a single health care horror story — can focus political attention.
By the end of last week a Liberal minister had been “empowered” to focus more on the issue, but it wasn’t clear whether any real change will result.
Colleagues Silas Brown and Savannah Awde were all over the issue all week.
Special care homes had plenty of empty beds. No new nursing home projects have started under the Holt Liberals.
In a remarkable coincidence, Horizon announced that it was making some changes that would end the practice of patients being admitted to that ambulance bay. And the health authority revealed it’s changing how it moves patients to nursing homes — a change that may or may not run counter to provincial policy.
All in all, it was a fairly remarkable sequence of events and stories on a single, pressing issue. If you want to read more, there’s additional background from last year here and here and here.
What We Know
The shooting death of a Neqotkuk (Tobique) First Nation man last weekend cast the Holt government’s Jan. 16 anti-racism response in a new light.
There’s a lot we still don’t know. But what we do know is a lot of recommendations and commitments have been made in the last five years; I put together this video timeline of what’s been said, and what hasn’t happened.
By the end of last week it was still unclear whether the government had any plan to accelerate its response.
The topics above dominated Friday’s political panels; here’s Shift New Brunswick’s discussion and Café politique is at this link.
Une école francophone à Woodstock?
I’d been meaning to get to this story for a few weeks: the consternation in Woodstock about the capital budget setting aside some money for a possible francophone school in the town.
Language issues can be provocative in New Brunswick; I tried to lay out the issues, the concerns and the legal and constitutional background behind the story.
In Other News
The province’s reconsideration of the mystery illness concluded on Friday.
Another report was released on that pharmacy care clinic pilot project. (My investigation into the program from last year is here.)
The province is using AI more and more for translation between English and French.
Former PC cabinet minister Dorothy Shephard is back in the news with a pretty cool idea for her Saint John neighbourhood.
The Speech
While gathering material in Woodstock for the school story above, we stopped for lunch at Murray’s, where the conversation at the three closest tables within earshot were all about Donald Trump and Mark Carney.
Carney’s Davos speech clearly became a major political moment. If you haven’t seen it, it’s here:
There’s a transcript here if you prefer to read it. Pierre Poilievre’s response is here. There’s been lots of analysis all over the place; this one is pretty even-handed.
What first got my attention of the speech was the channelling of Václav Havel, who I’ve been a fan of for a long time. If you want to read Havel’s seminal essay that Carney cited, “The Power of the Powerless,” here’s a link. (It’s long but worth it.)
Donald Trump was not among those praising the speech, or Carney’s strategy.
As for other Trump reverberations, this New York Times piece (gift link) is a good explainer of why Greenland matters, and here’s a photo a friend sent me of some of our Maine neighbours in Portland on Friday night.
Book Club
I want to recommend a cool new book, Pursuing The New: A Modern Graphic Design History of New Brunswick, by Fredericton’s Tanya Duffy, and the accompanying exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. It’s an examination of some of the most recognizable logos and design choices in recent provincial history; for Gen X-ers in particular, it’s a real treat and a trip down memory lane.
For Your Calendar
They’re finally upon us — the two big signature political events of January. Premier Susan Holt’s second State of the Province speech is set for Thursday, the same day Conservative Party of Canada delegates open their Calgary convention where they’ll vote on Pierre Poilievre’s leadership.
Next week, the legislature’s Public Accounts committee starts two weeks of meetings (on Tuesday Feb. 3); before that sprint is over, the Energy and Utilities Board will open its hearings on the Tantramar gas plant, on Feb. 9.
Don Monahan told Radio-Canada he’ll officially launch his PC leadership campaign on Feb. 7; the vote for a new leader is set for Oct. 17. March will see the Holt government’s second budget on the 17th and the N.B. Power review report by the 31st.
Strong and Steady
So much is happening, and we need to pay attention to the facts and the details. That’s why I’m doing this newsletter — to get stories like the ones linked above in front of as many eyes as possible. It’s awesome you’re reading this, and even more awesome if you’re clicking on the links to read those pieces and listen to those panels.
Please share this with others you think may be looking for this kind of coverage. Here’s a little tune for you devoted subscribers:
Your insight on political attention is precise. Perhaps deeper structural issues are overooked.