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Hassan Arif's commentary in Wednesday's Telegraph-Journal seeks to explain away the growing opposition to the provincial Liberal government with a simple cliché - "that is the nature of governing-" and the Liberals appear to take this to their comfort.

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Minister Lamrock, in particular, seems to cling to the belief that because some wise decisions are unpopular, the unpopularity of his decision on early French immersion guarantees that it is wise.

Moreover, Mr. Arif adds, "regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the decision, few can doubt Education Minister Kelly Lamrock's commitment to improving New Brunswick's education system."

Mr. Arif would do well to remember another cliché, the one that tells us which destination has a road paved with good intentions. In fact, New Brunswickers hold their governments to a high standard. They expect proper consultation, not a process that was biased against francophone teachers in the English system; they expect the province's many experts on language learning to be consulted, not vilified for disagreeing with the Minister; and, above all else, they expect ministers to have the humility to back away from the recommendations of a report when it is as universally discredited as the Croll and Lee document rather than commission a new report mid-stream to double-down on an already bad gamble.

Sometimes, Mr. Arif, it's more simple: sometimes governments are unpopular because they are doing the wrong thing.

LYNN BLACK

Fredericton

Education changes won't be forgotten

Recently I attended a meeting regarding the changes to French second language instruction in our province. After speaking with a few of the other couple hundred individuals in attendance I found I wasn't the only one leaving with a sick feeling in my stomach.

If we were to believe the minister of education, one would think our core classrooms in grades 1 to 5 are filled with kids who cannot read or perform basic addition. Yet I now know that core students are performing at rates equal to early immersion students on literacy assessments in grades 2 and 4.

I also now know that the reason core French scores are so much lower than immersion scores in middle school is due to the streaming impact late immersion has on the core program, yet late immersion is the very program the government is keeping. I found out the intensive French program has never been attempted without some prior classroom exposure to French. Yet our government is basing our entire FSL programming province wide on such a model.

I learned that 80 per cent of our students either attend or live close to a school that offers EFI. The government has been trying to tell us that only 20 to 40 per cent can access the program.

To the group that held the meeting, I thank you for your efforts in keeping this government accountable. To Premier Graham, don't think for a second this will be forgotten in a mere two years.

ADAM McDONALD

Fredericton

North cooperation is what's needed

Recently, I have learned that the Bathurst Airport Commission has applied to both the provincial and federal government for a $30 million subsidy to build a new airport between Bathurst and Allardville.

Its goal is to have a runway long enough to be able to accommodate the safe landing of planes with a 200 passenger capacity. Quite the dream!

Where's the reality? You must realize that 80 per cent of passengers from Bathurst drive to Moncton to take a plane. It is not a new infrastructure that will encourage the people of this northern area of the province to make Bathurst their departure airport. If your government has $30 million to waste, why not consider sharing this money with laid-off workers from the Miramichi and Dalhousie area that have recently lost their jobs?

Here's another argument to consider. Often, Chaleur and Acadian Peninsula people, tend to forget that Restigouche is part of northern New Brunswick. The question is: Why keep on spending monies in Chaleur and Acadian Peninsula while putting aside the Restigouche area? Restigouche should get their fair share and not limit the spending to only two areas.

Charlo Airport has the needed infrastructures in place to accommodate larger air carriers. It is cooperation between the different northern areas this is needed and not new infrastructures at taxpayers' cost!

Only the future will be able to tell if there is a willingness for these communities to work together rather than working against each other.

DONALD ARSENEAU

Charlo

Do numbers control supply of doctors?

Sandra Davis, in her article "More, more, more, more" (May 8) notes that Health Minister Mike Murphy, at a Telegraph-Journal editorial board meeting, reported his department has committed to 100 new doctor billing numbers over the next four years, adding there are only a few existing billing numbers vacant.

As doctors operate on a fee for service basis, ie: per patient visit, with the choice of doctor up to the patient but with the fee paid by medicare, these comments seem to indicate the government uses billing numbers to control the supply of doctors, ie, no billing number, no payment of fee.

Why else would the minister refer to the availability of a specific quantity of billing numbers? Surely if a new doctor wished to set up practice in N.B. and was professionally qualified, he/she should be able to do so, and receive a billing number on application.

The extent of the practice would be determined by the number of patients accepting him/her as their doctor, thus if a potential practice gives promise of acceptable returns (monetary and non-monetary) doctors will respond.

The question of billing cards should not enter in.

S. BRUCE BENTON

Oromocto

Moose hunt brings money into coffers

With the moose draw applications about to begin, I thought it would be interesting if the hunters and the public knew just how much a moose was worth in the 2007 hunting season.

These figures are an estimate, as I don't have the financial records of the department.

There were 57,442 applicants at $9.27 each for a total of $534.210.60.

Licence purchased were 3,110 at $57 each for a total of $177.270.

Designated license were 2,416 at $57 each for a total of $122.322.

That's a grand total of $833,802.60. There were 2,052 moose registered, or about $406.34 per moose killed in the legal hunting season.

This doesn't include the native hunters or non-resident hunters.

So as you can see the wildlife has a very substantial monetary value to this province.

As an added opinion, I think that the government should give out extra licences or extra time in the problem areas of the province, instead of fencing, which can give people a false sense of security. The fencing affects the breeding and feeding habits of any animal not small enough to fit through the fence, which in turn can lead to starvation and a loss of animals due to the loss of access to their habitats, which in turn is also a loss of renewable income for the province.

ERNEST HATT

St. George

Voluntary tolls disrupt traffic

Yet another "voluntary toll" on the Courtenay Bay causeway on Saturday, the busy Mothers Day weekend. I am personally annoyed at such tactics to coerce money out of motorists.

Today the signs said the toll was for "underprivileged children." Is this a registered charity? Is it legitimate? It seems kind of vague to me, with just the signs, two trucks, a few collectors and two buckets.

I object to the disruption of the traffic on the causeway. The normal two lanes each way seem to work well; closing one lane off and forcing vehicles to stop wastes everyone's time.

If people were just throwing a donation into the bucket it would be bad enough, but there always seems to be someone at the head of the line who wants to chat with those collecting the toll. This of course holds up everyone waiting behind them.

There was another one of these tolls a few weeks ago. At one toll collection with children collecting a while ago, my son and his wife were cursed by one of them because they chose not to be coerced into donating. Some charity!

Time to end this waste of motorists' time.

I suggest those wanting to collect for whatever reason find another way to do so that does not interfere with my right to free passage.

ROBERT BOUDREAU

Saint John