In the air

I hope that I don't miss too much in Nova Scotia politics while I am gone.

Something makes me believe, however, that little will change. Nova Scotian progressives ridicule Rodney MacDonald (and, indeed, refer to him with the diminutive, familiar name "Rodney") in much the same way liberal Americans ridicule Bush. It is just too easy.

Simultaneously, social services are being eroded, private-public partnerships are strengthened, real progress is being traded for artificial inflations of the economy. Whole industries are disappearing, and the band-aids distributed by the federal government are received by the provincial one with whoops and whistles. I haven't seen any recent reports on those $35 million that are going to help the forestry and manufacturing industries that are hemorrhaging jobs in this province.

Rodney was loving those millions in the press. More critical minds, of course, wondered how such a small sum could do anything for the numerous communities gutted by mill and plant closures. Liberals and New Democrats were disgusted at the politically motivated payout- only the party in power can effectively bribe its way to winning a hypothetical election.

While covering this story for my journalism beat, I was disgusted mainly by Rodney MacDonald, reading his blind comments and his daftly positive proclamation (much in line with the "My government would leave no Nova Scotian behind" statement that brought him so much flak in the home-heating debate).

However, I can't believe that ridicule is going to get us any further fighting MacDonald than it did fighting Bush. I think public denouncement would go much further than mockery. I think this is serious and scary at times.

That said, Kate Beaton does a great job at making fun of him (her familiarity with Rodney is a bit more understandable, as they both have homes in Mabou, Cape Breton).