POLITICANS NEED TO STOP SULKING

I have long listened to the masses complain to our politicians about creating jobs. And I ask myself time and again, why do we the people of this great, rich country, depend on politicians to get us jobs? Where I grew up, in Covehead Road in the 1950s and 60s, I don’t recall politicians ever being responsible for creating jobs. There were plenty around and we young people in rural communities took advantage of that. I began working at the early age of 11 on farms. Yes, yes, I can hear the do-gooders saying, “child labour.” It was perfectly normal and the standard to work on farms, in fact, I begged my mother to let me. Spring time meant planting potatoes, summer, picking strawberries, helping bring in the hay and hoeing turnips. Then it was planting potatoes. The whole community was involved, including the schools. We started classes mid-August and were let out for two weeks in October to help the farmers get the potato crop harvested. Our mothers also worked the potato-picking season. There was no lack of work in rural communities. It seems to me, it was in the 70s, when the masses began to cry loud and long for politicians to create jobs. One would think running the country’s finances and setting law enforcement legislation was enough. Farmers back in the day, were not rich entities, but worked to feed themselves and their neighbour. What can I say? At 71, I’m somewhat old school and miss the old-school values we babyboomers grew up by and with. This whole fiasco in Ottawa regarding our government of the day, is all about keeping jobs in Canada. How did our great, rich country get into such a mess? All this in-fighting is embarrassing and some of our country’s politicians need to buck up and stop sulking over poorly placed words. It’s not high school, it’s Parliament Hill! Kathy Birt, Charlottetown