THE POLITICAL GRIST MILL

September 1/10

A New Brunswick Political Newsletter

Call, write or email our media now and let them know that the people of New Brunswick deserve the truth behind the political rhetoric.

How much longer is the media in New Brunswick going to just report what the politicians say and not analyze what they are saying?

Can anybody join with me and hark back to 1999? Do you remember the absolute hollow rhetoric spewing out of the campaigning leaders at that time?

We do. And it seems just like déjà vu all over again. Can you recall the Bernard Lord rhetoric of the 1999 campaign? If not, then do a little digging and you soon will. It’s absolutely astounding to here our political leaders shovel out the same old cliché campaign promises. It’s appalling – as a concerned citizen to have to listen to it again!

We heard it in 1999. Then we elected a Bernard Lord-lead PC government and we got 8 more years of policies that were begun under the Frank McKenna and Camille Theriault- lead Liberal regime of 1987 to 1999.

The media elite (for lack of a better way to describe the media decision makers) in this province have an absolute obligation to not only merely report the utterances of the political leaders – BUT they have an obligation to interpret these utterances for the NB public and analyze it and critique it – so that the NB public can see and hear the TRUTH!

The truth is – the day after the 2010 election we are all in for nothing more than a continuation of the policies and direction that we have witnessed for the past 25 years in this province. Nothing, NOTHING will change. Can’t you see that?

If the present media establishment in New Brunswick does not begin to step up to the

plate and begin digging deep into the empty rhetoric in this 2010 campaign, then it (the media) should be held accountable and be seen as nothing more than a willing participant in the electioneering charade that the New Brunswick public is being subjected to now.

We all must be aware that the most effective way to have the truth come out is to have our media working for us. As it stands right now the NB media is really being manipulated by the political leaders in this province. There really is nothing else to call it when you see our media merely broadcasting and printing the campaign rhetoric – the communications people of the political leaders must really be happy with the media this campaign. But the general public in this province should be gravely concerned when Newspapers and TV are basically in the back pockets of the political machines in our province. The public is not being served well by the media in this province – The political parties are. And as a result the future of this province will see more of the same from a political class that is truly bankrupt of ideas.

A political class, that just a few short years ago, voted themselves huge increases in salaries and pensions in virtual secrecy from the public view. Political party association made no difference in that vote it was unanimous regardless of political stripe.

Just as a vote for the Progressive Conservative party of 2010 is a vote for the status quo – a vote for the Liberal party of 2010 will be a vote for the status quo. Just as in 1999 a vote for Bernard Lord’s PCs was a vote for a continuation of the policies of the Frank McKenna liberals.

Shamefully, our media industry is assisting in this continuing trend.

You, as a citizen of NB, can try to have a little bit of say in the future of this great province by urging our media to begin to scrutinize the political parties and their leaders.

We’re tired of witnessing our media only acting as a Megaphone for the political leaders. Demand that the truth be told.

What will be the fate of the Jean Guy Finn report?

Do our political leaders have any specific rural policy for the huge constituency, that is Rural New Brunswick? Or are they content to follow the ominous words of Mr. McGuire?

What do our leaders plan to do with the Civil Service elite that are really shaping public policy in this province?

Will they tell the general public (THE GENERAL PUBLIC) what they are thinking of doing in the future? Long before they intend to do it so that we the general public can have a chance to participate in those decisions? Over and over again over the past 25 years the public has been subjected to policies and government decisions that were never ever mentioned during election campaigns. It will happen again this time around – unless we begin to exert a real influence over our media and politicians to come clean.

We can exert that pressure – but it must start now.

Can you help do that?

Call, write or email our media now and let them know that the people of New Brunswick deserve the truth behind the political rhetoric

Lekhaim from the Gristmill