A4

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

8 Comment(s)

On Saturday Tom Mann, executive director of the New Brunswick Union, stitches together an article trying to hypnotize readers into thinking the public sector is the driving force of a modern economy and the foundation of our standard of living; pure fantasy!

Debunking Mr. Mann would take 100 letters to the editor; I'll try a simple approach. The public sector runs on taxes, every tax dollar spent is a dollar less the private sector has to invest. Who thinks bureaucrats and politicians make better decisions with your money?

The public sector provides needed services like health care and education because it bans any other participant, a monopoly built on force. Unions have a forcible monopoly of the supply of specific labour, driving up costs, driving down productivity.

If the public sector is so effective at providing services like education, imagine how our economy would boom if the government formed monopolies in areas like food, housing and clothing.

We would be awash in prosperity if the government ran everything.

Didn't somebody already try that?

These are important extrapolations that need to be made when representatives of special interests attempt to control public discussion.

Capitalizing on the economic slump by blaming market forces, while demanding profligate government spending, is an opportunity no good public-sector union leader should waste. The result, according to the CFIB, is the public sector in Canada enjoys a $19 billion salary and benefits premium over what would be paid out if the private sector did the same work.

VINCENT THATCHER

Saint John

Victims should be treated at scene

Recently there have been several fatalities on the highway where the victims have been brought by ambulance to the hospital and pronounced DOA.

When one considers that it takes an ambulance 20 to 25 minutes to get organized and arrive on the scene, another 15 minutes to collect the victim(s), and yet another 20 minutes to get back to the hospital, the likelihood of a fatality is greatly enhanced.

I am not an expert but I would say that the best chance for survival lies within the first critical minutes.

This is not a critique on ambulance workers, because generally everyone respects them.

I am looking solidly at the system.

What is done now at the scene for victims that is an improvement over 1959? I see little or nothing. Besides basic CPR and applying bandages and starting an IV, what is actually done?

If a call comes in that there has been a major car accident with several injured people 30 minutes away, why is a doctor not dispatched with the ambulance? With the communication capability of the 21st century, video monitors, car phones, remote cameras and microphones, it is now possible for a doctor back at the hospital to get an instant visual on the victims, read all their vital signs, and crack out hard life-saving decisions to the ambulance personnel immediately. But this unfortunately is not the case.

The awful truth is scary.

The system can change but it won't change unless it is made to.

PAUL BRYAN

Miramichi

Ferry problems seem to be increasing

We were interested in both the article and the letter to the editor in the Telegraph-Journal on Jan. 3 regarding the Westfield Ferry.

This is our 15th winter in Hardings Point and it seems to us that it has only been in the past few years that our ferry service has been interrupted to this extent during these cold winter months.

We are raising the question, why is this more of an issue today. Could it be the experience of the drivers, as suggested in the letter from Roberta Mackenzie? Is it global warming?

Dennis Raynes, acting supervisor for the provincial Department of Transportation's Saint John district, suggested in the article by Sandra Davis, "the northwest winds blew all the snow in the Hardings Point side." Where were the northwest winds in the past or could it possibly be the many tons of landfill that was used to create a two-acre land site for the beautiful new pavilion at Brundage Point on the other side of the river, impacting on the tidal flow?

We agree with Roberta Mackenzie and also hope that neither ourselves nor our neighbours' will need emergency medical assistance. It has already been since Christmas Eve that we have been unable to count on the use of our ferry services. Will this last until the northwest winds subside?

SHELLEY COHEN-THORLEY

Hardings Point

Lamrock's article isn't reassuring

Kelly Lamrock, minister of Education, reassures us little when he writes about the "new" French second-language program for grades 1 to 3.

Each link he mentions to encourage contact with authentic French language and its cultural accouterments for students of French as a second language has been used for decades, and even the technology now available hardly improves on the results in any significant way.

Why do our politicians feel driven to treat the voting public as infants when they address us? Perhaps because they are so simplistic in their ideas.

Now, thanks to the minister, we will most probably revert to a century-old practice of stereotyping the "other" through song and dance, making it easier to appropriate the other rather than really understanding the true value of that community's identity - because you can be sure that the number of teachers in this program without native or near-native qualifications in French will be far too high.

PETER EDWARDS

Sackville

Market racing as a gaming opportunity

While the past few years we have spent time promoting our horses, the people, the sports part of our industry, it's time to switch gears.

I read a great blog this week on how horse racing should be marketed by Dean Towers. He is a forward-thinking realist.

Dean's main point that he is trying to make is that we need to change the way racing is marketed, promoted and branded.

Let's face facts, under the current way of doing things, it has only hurt the game.

Now, how about spending time and money doing it a different way.

Start promoting racing as a "gaming opportunity," one where you can win money, have better odds that some form of gaming, and give prime examples.

Maybe this past Monday a Superfecta paid $ 35,000 on a 20-cent ticket. How about putting that front and centre on your tracks website, radio ads, print ads and give specific examples of what some recent pay-outs were.

That might entice people to take a chance on racing. Don't promote it as entertainment.

Let's be brutally honest again, it's not the type of entertainment that people are looking for. They are looking to make money if they are visiting casinos, poker tournaments, etc.

Why should racing be any different? If people are marketed that racing is a gambling opportunity rather than a sport or entertainment, there's a good chance things might improve.

SCOTT WADDELL

Saint John

More awareness of epilepsy needed

I'm a Grade 12 student at Saint John High School. I'm an average high school student, except I have epilepsy. This means at any given moment I could have a seizure, while driving a car, on a city transit bus or walking down the street.

More than 300,000 Canadians have epilepsy. Citizens from all over our province are being diagnosed and are going through the same things I go through every day.

Unfortunately, epilepsy comes with a prevalent social stigma, creating prejudice and misunderstanding.

I remember having a seizure in class one day and when I finally came to and got up, everyone was staring at me. They had no idea what to do or how to help. Fortunately my teacher did, but it has bothered me since then how little people know about epilepsy.

I can't change my disorder, but I can change the public's awareness levels.

I want those without it to not be afraid of it and how to help someone who may have a seizure in public.

After the death of 16-year-old Jett Travolta I came to the realization, that something as simple as having a bath is dangerous to those with epilepsy.

Our cities need to create awareness because one day someone could have a seizure while walking down the street and our citizens might have no idea what to do.

I want people to know about epilepsy. Please help those who don't know where or how to ask for help. Make New Brunswick aware.

BRITTNI CARVELL

Saint John