Cheers &Jeers

JEERS: To the Third Party, also known as the Green Party, for issuing an unattributed news release on Friday calling for Transportation Minister Paula Biggar to resign. We’ll deal with Biggar’s actions in an editorial later this week. If the Green Party wants to call for a sitting cabinet minister to resign, one of the two MLAs should put their name to it. Charlottetown-Parkdale Green MLA Hannah Bell spent her time on social media criticizing The Guardian for not clarifying that they are asking Biggar to resign as a cabinet minister, not as an MLA. Well, if Minister Biggar is not worthy of being in cabinet, is she worthy to represent the good people of Tyne Valley-Linkletter? The whole incident was poorly handled by the Greens.

JEERS: To the decision to postpone Saturday night’s AUS men’s hockey game in Charlottetown between

St. F.X. and UPEI. The basis of the early decision was expected travel disruptions on the Confederation Bridge. Yes, there were intermittent delays for high-sided vehicles, but shuttles have been used in the past to get teams across the bridge. But the real issue was the lack of communication: The game was postponed and virtually no one was informed or knew — at least the fans. The AUS website had the game still on, right up to the 7 p.m. game time. UPEI had to send out an apology Sunday morning after complaints poured in from surprised fans who showed up Saturday night. Oh, by the way, CHEERS to the Campbellton Tigers and Summerside Western Capitals who made the necessary arrangement to have their Maritime junior ‘A’ hockey game come off as scheduled Saturday night at Credit Union Place in Summerside — despite those bridge travel disruptions.

JEERS: To Charlottetown and other P.E.I. churches that declined to adjust Sunday services to accommodate 11 a.m. Remembrance Day cenotaph ceremonies. It wasn’t a surprise that Remembrance Day fell on a Sunday this year. One change every seven years or so isn’t a great sacrifice for churches to make so the faithful can remember Canada’s war dead and honour their sacrifices, so Canadians can enjoy the freedom to worship. It would have been appropriate to hold special Remembrance Day church services a little earlier to avoid a conflict, and then invite congregations to attend cenotaph ceremonies.

CHEERS: To the four newest members of the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame. Lothar Zimmerman (fencing), Gerard Smith (baseball, hockey, harness racing), Kathy O’Rourke (curling) and Peter MacDonald (curling) were inducted in Summerside Friday evening. Some interesting facts from the evening. After years of mispronunciation, Mr. Zimmerman’s first name is actually pronounced ‘Low-Tar’; Mr. Smith was interviewed for his first teaching job in Summerside in a Cahill Stadium room between periods of a hockey game where he was playing nets; Kathy O’Rourke was a basketball star in school and took up curling on a serious basis when she moved to Charlottetown; and Peter MacDonald only started curling at age 14 and two years later had skipped P.E.I.’s junior men’s champions.