Getting ready for the legislature
As the countdown begins to the spring session of the legislature, Premier Dennis King made a long-expected cabinet change and signalled his major priorities in the annual State of the Province Address.
The appointment of CharlottetownHillsborough Park MLA Natalie Jameson to the inner circle, was a foregone conclusion after she won the deferred election July 14 following the tragic death of Green party candidate Josh Underhay and his son just days before last year's vote. She is the only Charlottetown MLA on the government benches and becomes the second woman in cabinet joining Finance Minister and Deputy Premier Darlene Compton.
Jameson has already had her commitment to the environment questioned due to the fact she once worked in the oil and gas industry in Alberta. That is simply unfair. People change jobs all the time – sometimes going to work for companies that were previously considered competitors.
I'm not saying she should never be questioned and, if some of her decisions exhibit a bias, then she should be held to account by the opposition and the media. However, she has no body of work yet to be judged on in her new job and she deserves the benefit of the doubt.
She is likely to be busy, given the fact Premier King named climate change as one of the three main issues he hopes to tackle during the remainder of his mandate.
During the Rotary address, he also zeroed in on improving access to health care (especially in rural areas) and improving educational opportunities.
He announced a $1 million climate challenge fund designed to bring together the best ideas for mitigating the impacts of a changing weather environment. The premier has signalled he wants us to dream big (apparently the mechanics of how these ideas will be paid for will be worked out later) – everything from a fleet of electric buses providing transportation to students, that would also provide public transportation across the province outside school hours, to windmills that would power entire neighbourhoods. He committed to using a "climate lens" for every decision his government makes. Living on an Island that is heavily dependent on primary industries like farming and fishing, climate change is not a problem we have the luxury to ignore.
Every government, no matter its political stripe, vows to improve the health care system. It is right up there with death and taxes as one of the certainties of life. Health care spending continues to climb (a situation that is certainly not unique to P.E.I.) and yet there is a perception in the minds of many people that the system is getting worse instead of better.
Like Premier King, every government certainly over the past 40 years has vowed to be collaborative and innovative when it comes to changing health care – some with more success than others. I don't question the premier's sincerity not do I question the commitment of the hundreds of dedicated health care professionals who are doing their best every day to provide the best care possible. If history has taught us anything, it is there are no easy solutions.