OFF-CAMERA MEETING WITH POLITICIAN UNACCEPTABLE

We contacted MP Mike Kelloway regarding equalization fairness and he did arrange a meeting between our group, Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness (NSEF), and the Department of Justice and Department of Finance in Ottawa.

The NSEF has a strict policy of only meeting with politicians and government officials on video and the reason for this policy is because we have, over 20 years of similar meetings, had no positive outcome with regards to equalization fairness. Lip service at its finest.

Mr. Kelloway was successful in arranging this meeting and it was set to occur on Dec. 17, but we recently received an email from him stating that stated we were not allowed to record this meeting.

The government seems to go out of its way to hide facts from the people and the equalization issue is no different. The people of Cape Breton deserve to view this meeting. The issue of equalization has plagued Cape Breton Island for decades and no politician seems to be able to provide answers to its citizens who have been marginalized because of the extreme misappropriation of Canadian taxpayers funding to Nova Scotia. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently extended the current program without any consultation with the citizens of Canada.

The NSEF has been fighting for 23 years now for the people of Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia but we need to stand together and stand strong on this issue. We hope that residents that read this letter will email Mike Kelloway at Mike.Kelloway@parl.gc.ca and ask him to explain to the public why the general public cannot view this meeting?

The NSEF will not meet with politicians off-camera. Some, including Roger Cuzner and Labi Kousoulis, have met with us over the years but others have refused to meet on-camera. We must ask ourselves why and do we need to be voting for politicians who will not be transparent to the public which elects and pay them.

The Province of Nova Scotia needs to be forced to discuss this issue, but our own provincial government has managed to avoid discussing equalization for over two decades now and it is working for them quite well.

So to Mr. Kelloway: the people of Cape Breton, including members of the NSEF, have no interest in meeting with politicians and government bureaucrats behind closed doors. We cannot afford another decade of decline and we are not interested in your political party politics because it has not been kind to Cape Breton. Please allow this meeting to be viewed by the people it affects every day. We deserve that much.

Rev. Dr. Albert Maroun, Sydney (member of Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness)