I’ve been involved in politics for a long time trying to make this province a better place to live, and also to make this province a place my family would be proud to call their home.
I have served both the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties.
Many of you have heard me say there is no difference in the two parties, only whoever is leading at certain times, but lately I have to agree with the people who tell me they are all alike.
Governments do not get themselves elected. Previous governments got themselves thrown out because they fall out of favour with the people who voted them in. The biggest problem in this province is that we keep them in too long.
I worked my arse off to get rid of the previous government and ended up with the government we have now, which is doing as the previous government did, spending beyond our means.
On Nov. 30, 2015, the Liberal government was elected in Newfoundland and Labrador. Eleven months later there was a Liberal convention, with very little business discussed as to the future of this province and how to get out of the mess that we are in.
The next election is getting close, and in my opinion this government is doing everything to self-destruct.
The next year there was a convention scheduled for St. John’s but then cancelled, with very little input by the district associations. The excuse used by the party president was that it was too costly to hold it in St. John’s, but if that was the case it could have been held somewhere else.
I cannot recall a party in power ever cancelling a convention — this in a place where the politicians get input from the people who elect them and some direction as to where we should be going.
It has been 15 months since this government has had a policy session or convention to find out from the Liberal associations and organizations who keep the party alive if they are satisfied with the way that they are governing, and still no convention in sight.
This government is going full speed ahead with their agenda without any input from the people who put them in power, and keep blaming the previous government for all our woes.
The next election is getting close, and in my opinion this government is doing everything to self-destruct.
It’s no good to come around just before the next election and make all kinds of promises — it won’t work. Voters will look at past performances.
This letter is not intended to hurt the Liberal party but to try and wake them up before it’s too late. I am very worried about the direction this province is heading in and I owe it to my children and this province to speak out or I will be just as much to blame as the politicians.
Get hold of your elected member and let them know if they are doing a good job or not. It’s no good to wait until election time — that will be too late.
There will still be a Liberal party after the next election, but there may not be a Liberal government.
The following paragraph is from a column by Brian Jones on Jan. 26, 2018, titled “Go ahead, bring in commission of government.”
“The next election is a tossup. Two political parties have an equal chance of winning in 2019; one is the party that caused the province’s bankruptcy; the other is the party that did nothing to stop the province’s bankruptcy.
Newfoundlanders have an unparalleled capacity for inflicting misery upon themselves.”
My sentiments, exactly. For quite a while now I have been making the comment for the first time in my life, “I will not be voting.” What is the point? I have always voted for the person I thought would do the best for me and this province. So far, I don’t see anyone who measures up to my standards.
A disgruntled Liberal who welcomes your comments.
Capt. Wilfred Bartlett, retired
Green Bay South
