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The recent changes to health-care administration in New Brunswick have provoked a dialogue on health that has not been seen in some time, making people sit up and pay attention. As a now former volunteer Board member, the announcement on March 11, 2008 came as somewhat of a relief after almost a year of rumours and speculation.

Like many others, I'm not sure how the proposed changes are going to affect care in New Brunswick. In a world where we use terms like transparency and accountability, centralization of decision making is a huge concern.

How will an ordinary person voice their concerns? Health care should never be about politics, it is about the lives of ordinary people. Canadians are proud of our universal health-care system. We want it preserved and strengthened. Many forget the 10 year agreement between the provinces and the federal government a few years ago. Along with that agreement came increased funding for the system and the promise of accountability for it. I will continue my volunteer work, just as I did prior to the Board appointment in 2006, using whatever means available from an ordinary person who has lived with a serious illness for more than 25 years and credits the health-care system for her life.

LINDA WILHELM

Midland, Kings Co.

Pro-EFI parents aren't selfish

Minister Lamrock's latest attempt to prop up his flawed decision to terminate early French immersion involves portraying parents who choose EFI for their children as selfish individuals who are unwilling to share opportunities with others. That is both offensive and incorrect.

Rather than presupposing our motivation to fight this decision, perhaps the minister should ask us. I think he would find that the majority of parents who choose EFI do so for one reason - they value bilingualism and want to provide their children with the best possible opportunity to learn French.

I think he would find that most of us are also troubled by the perceived lack of inclusion in this program, and would like to see resources dedicated to ensure that any child who wants the immersion experience can have it.

Many people engaged in this fight have no personal stake at all. They are concerned that choice is being taken from all parents, that this decision was made in an undemocratic way based on bad information and ignoring experts in the field, that it will not in any way solve the problems that have been identified and that the outcome of all of this will be a weaker and divided province.

The minister's tactic to pit citizens against each other should be seen for what it is - a blatant attempt to manipulate public opinion and deflect attention from the real problems with this decision. Is this a strategy that Premier Graham and the Liberal caucus are comfortable with?

DIANA HAMILTON

Sackville

Premier getting a pretty good raise

I read that our Minister of Finance has set aside $765,000 for raises for the ministers and the Premier which will take effect around the same time that the minimum wage in New Brunswick is due to go up to $7.75 an hour.

Let's take Mr. or Mrs. Low Income Earner working for the new minimum wage. Let's say our "Earner" is lucky enough to work for a company that will give two weeks paid vacation and paid statutory holidays. Our "Earner" gets paid for 52 weeks of work and 40 hours a week for a total of $16,120 a year (before taxes).

In Saturday's newspaper it showed that the Premier's salary is expected to go from $142,547 to $164,000. That's an increase of $21,453. Assuming he did work the same amount of time as our "Earner," that would give him a $412.56 a week pay raise over 40 hours for the surprising hourly raise of $10.32 an hour (before taxes). Our "Earner" just got a pay raise of $0.50 an hour and the Premier might get a pay raise of $10.32 an hour.

Today's Robin Hood takes from the poor and gives to the rich.

JEAN-MARIE GOURD

Upper Coverdale

Don't miss chance to revitalize city

City councillors have many issues to deal with and I feel sure that they try to do their best, but sometimes they seem to lack vision and do not consider the image of Saint John which they create for those who visit.

One would conclude from all that one hears, that they think having a justice building and a police headquarters in the uptown area would somehow be something prestigious when all it says about us is that we have many criminals.

There is nothing lively anymore about the centre of town. If you are staying in an uptown hotel and choose to take a walk after dinner, you might as well be in a desert. King Square began to decline when they converted the old Admiral Beatty Hotel into a seniors residence. The loss of theatres and restaurants hastened the decline. Thankfully, there are high schools in the uptown area to create a bit of energy.

The two good things which happened in that area, were the restoration of the Imperial Theatre and the beautification of the Loyalist Burial Ground.

My idea would be to move the proposed buildings to somewhere near Prince Edward Square. The area near the Arts Centre should have a theatre complex, space for boutiques, restaurants, and upper scale accommodations for those with means who would spend their money uptown.

City Hall has missed too many opportunities to revitalize the city. We can only blame ourselves if people choose to move out of town.

OCTAVIO RIBEIRO

Saint John

We can't hide from challenges

The comments in Saturday's Telegraph-Journal regarding competitive uses for the forest of the province seem more filled with criticism than subject matter. I may be wrong, but helping existing industries that can and have been successful are usually considered proactive agenda items for any government.

I don't believe turning one's back on any region's economic backbone is a solution for changing global realities. Any country's economy in today's world is subject to competitive pressures from outside one's own region. To say finding something else to do because things are tough would leave us with what? New Brunswick would not be here today had that line of thought been taken from day one.

If we had to import all products associated with the present forest platform we have today, what would the cost be? Millions in lost taxes and wages, accelerated population loss, significant unemployment and reduced standards of living.

I don't believe the president of the New Brunswick Forest Products Association is asleep at the helm. Nor do I believe his bosses dictate his agenda to achieve government incentives. Problems include power costs, the Canadian dollar and foreign competition.

The writer suggested we let obsolete industries expire. Rather than reinvent the wheel, why not just help it turn better?

If cutting trees down for lumber, paper and utilizing residuals for engineered wood products are not what the forest should be used for, then what? The solution is to find ways to keep going forward and not trip while doing so.

DAVE GANONG

Little Ridge

Use railways, not multi-trailer trucks

A few days ago on CBC radio, two "big-rig" drivers were interviewed for their reaction to an announcement that double-trailer outfits will now be allowed to operate not only on the main highways but on all secondary roads.

Both drivers expressed concern. They confirmed these "B-trains" are harder and trickier to drive and that extra care and attention would be needed on smaller roads. One driver went on to lament the destruction of so many rail lines in this province. In his opinion, our transport needs could have been handled just as well or better if the federal and provincial governments had spent some money on renewing and upgrading railways, not just the highways. The truck drivers, the people with the hands-on experience, are well aware of the harm being done by a highway-dominated transport system. Now if only the decision-makers - in shipping and in government - would show as much wisdom.

The province's double-trailer expansion is probably intended to prepare the public for an even more (if possible) unwelcome development - triple-trailer outfits (LCVs) on the new Trans-Canada and its feeder roads.

Our further expansion of the most fuel inefficient, highest polluting transport mode is exactly the way not to go. The only real answer is to bring back - at far less cost and in modernized form - the environmentally friendly rail mode, with piggy-back and container systems taking the heavy end of shipping as they did before and can do again.

LEWIS MORGAN

Nasonworth