My young cousin Ben Hicks seems obsessed
with politics and public policy.
Perhaps someday he will be Prime Minister of Canada.
On Facebook, Ben has been keeping us updated
about political events
in the Canadian province
of New Brunswick
Premier Shawn Graham’s Liberal government
was soundly defeated by the Progressive Conservatives,
led by David Alward.
Graham had recently tried to sell
NB Power (the province’s public utility)
to Hydro-Quebec.
Many saw this as the gaffe
that brought about his downfall.
The election campaign lasted just 32 days!
Like other Canadian provinces,
the Legislative Assembly, with 55 seats.
The new assembly will be composed
of 42 Progressive Conservatives
and 13 Liberals.
Other New Brunswick
(the New Democratic Party,
the Green Party, and the People’s Alliance
were unsuccessful in
getting their candidates elected.
with daunting economic challenges.
The new premier will need all the help he can get
in the days ahead.
Read more about the election HERE.
I used to take a great interest in politics when I was (like your nephew) a young men. But now I'm a grumpy old man not at all. They say if you're not a socialist when you're young you've no heart - and if you're still one when you're old you've no sense! A wee bit of truth in that.
ReplyDeleteLike the flag is the lion an 'English' or 'Scottish' one? Presumably the ship is because New Brunswick is a maritime province? Another question Gary, where was old Brunswick?
Not sure if the lion is English or Scottish, I'll have to check that out.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia says, "The province's name comes from the English and French partial transcription of the city of Braunschweig in northern Germany (and former duchy of the same name), the ancestral home of the Hanoverian King George III of Great Britain."
Like you, I am more than a little jaded in my view of politicians, of whatever stripe they may be!
Wikipedia also says,
ReplyDelete"The flag of New Brunswick, Canada, is a banner modelled after the province's coat of arms and was adopted by proclamation on February 24, 1965.
The flag has the proportions 8:5. A gold lion on the red field across the top one-third of the flag represents New Brunswick's ties to both the Brunswick region in Germany and (the arms of) the Monarch of the United Kingdom. The lower two-thirds of the flag depicts a Spanish galley, the traditional representation of a ship in heraldry. It represents shipbuilding, one of the province's main industries at the time the coat of arms was adopted and throughout much of the province's history.
The flag ranked #18 in the North American Vexillological Association's survey of North American state and provincial flags."
Thanks for the info Gary. So the name has the same 'Frederick' flavour of the Hanoverians!.
ReplyDeleteThe flag is great, and very heraldic looking. Yes, I forgot the shipbuilding symbolism as the coat of arms for Belfast has got exactly the same. (Maybe it should be removed now - if not because we built the Titanic, but the shipbuilding industry here is now kaput).
Yes, I remember seeing GOLIATH and HERCULES (I think these were the names of the 2 huge cranes at the Belfast shipbuilding site).
ReplyDeleteIn a lot of ways, New Brunswick was at its economic height in the days of clipper ships when its forests were harvested for masts and timbers.