Cheers & Jeers
✘ JEERS:
To the City of Charlottetown for its outdated 'no parking' stickers/signs on parking meters between Queen and Dorchester streets. The stickers tell motorists that there is no parking on Sundays from July 1 to Oct. 1. Well, it's Nov. 4, and motorists looking for a place to park on Sundays assume there is no parking in that area because they can't read the sticker's details from the road. Charlottetown already has a problem with parking downtown. Let's not add to it by confusing drivers, especially tourists, with outdated no parking stickers. Either remove them or cover them up.
✓ CHEERS:
To the local Extinction Rebellion group for taking part in recent meetings with the City of Charlottetown’s environmental and sustainability committee and for approaching areas of concern in a thoughtful, reasoned approach, contrary to what makes the news sometimes. The mayor and council members who sit on the committee agree that we’re in a climate crisis and share many of the same goals that the climate group does, they just differ sometimes on how to get there and how quickly the city is getting there. But, having discussions like the climate crisis keeps the matter on the agenda and that’s a good thing. Hopefully, change will come that benefits everyone.
✘ JEERS:
To Jeers to former Conservative candidate Stephen Stewart for a recent Facebook post in which he lashed out after his thirdplace finish in the federal election. Stewart ran in the Malpeque riding where incumbent Liberal Wayne Easter won with more than 40 per cent of the vote. In his post, Stewart’s advice to his party’s next candidate is to tell lies and make promises that they don’t care if they break. He also took shots at Easter and Green candidate Anna Keenan who finished second in the vote count ahead of Stewart and, he made a point of mentioning, is not from P.E.I. At a time when the provincial Progressive Conservative government is finding success by preaching about civility and cooperation, Stewart’s comments seem, at best, out of place in P.E.I. politics and they smack of sour grapes.
✓ CHEERS:
To British Columbia and Premier John Horgan, who have taken steps to eliminate the twice-a-year time change in that province. B.C. will fall back with most of the rest of Canada on Sunday, and will spring forward again in March 2020, but the province has introduced legislation that will keep British Columbia residents on daylight savings year-round. Horgan hopes that will give other jurisdictions contemplating the move to draw up their own laws keeping the clocks running on one time, like Saskatchewan already does. There are more road collisions, more heart attacks and workplace accidents recorded the Mondays after the time changes than other times of year. It is time for P.E.I. and the rest of Canada to follow B.C.’s lead and push the snooze button on this outdated practice.
✓ CHEERS:
To the Department of Transportation and P.E.I. road crews and engineers who delivered the newly opened section of the Trans-Canada Highway on time and on budget. The Cornwall bypass is smooth, well-lit with good sightlines and well-placed signage. It’s almost like driving in another province. The only downside of the bypass is that it ends. The next priority for government should be to build a bridge over the North River and connect the road to the Charlottetown Bypass to make the highway complete.