Letters to the Editor

Your ‘Fighting words’ column (January issue) touched me deeply. I am not a Maritimer, but have visited and worked there at various times over the past 35 years. I consider the people of our Atlantic provinces to be, generally: humble; resourceful; honest; intelligent and neighbourly. While the land can be harsh, and the climate harsher, 500 years of faith, hope and charity has created a loving and lovable people and place.

I live in rural Ontario, where we, too, are targets of the Toronto culture that ends outside the 416 and 905 area codes. In rural Canada, as in Atlantic Canada, we celebrate life with a healthy dose of respect for the past, compassion for the present and hope for the future. Years ago I decided to do what I can to promote my community for what it was, is and can be.
Greg Aarssen

• • •

I just received the January edition and wanted to give you kudos for your editorial— you’ve said what so many of us all wanted to since James penned that article, but didn’t have the opportunity (or platform) to do so… fantastic!
Roger Hulan

• • •

I just read “Fighting Words” …and I have to tell you I absolutely LOVED it! Thank you so much for doing that!! I chose to raise my family here and I am so tired of the negative messages swirling around us right now. We need more responses like yours, to reinforce confidence and foster positivity.
Gillian Janes

• • •

I wanted to reach out regarding your commentary around the whining and moaning that we hear on a regular basis on how hard done by we are (‘I just can’t take it anymore’, November 2017). It’s like I was sitting down and reading my thoughts. I have watched this province (and the other provinces in Atlantic Canada) turn into big babies. Where has the drive to succeed gone? How many times have I written a letter to the editor at the Herald commenting on how backwards we have become? Instead of being innovative, we’ve turned into these useless, whiney beings. Why aren’t we moving forward and investing in R&D? I have often commented on situations like the mining of gypsum in N.S. and then we ship it off to a foreign country so that they make it into gyprock and sell it back to us for building homes and offices. Why aren’t we manufacturing our own gyprock? This is just one of many examples of how we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

We have so many great universities in our region and we could be promoting innovation, R&D, etc… to all of these bright students who are living amongst us. We should be encouraging them to stick around after they graduate so that they could be developing new products, etc… They could be the future of our region, our new taxpayers to help keep the wheel turning.

Thanks for being forward thinking. I hope that some people pick up on what you said and really try to make a difference.
Elizabeth Smith

Myth Buster
In our January issue, we reported that attendees of our #ThinkBIG workshop in Moncton had referenced the segregation of English and French on licence plates and school buses as an example of a program that deters growth and prosperity. Jacques Poitras with CBC New Brunswick wrote in to say that “the school bus situation is real, and there are important, and valid, historical and cultural arguments surrounding that issue. But the licence plate reference is inaccurate.” Merci Jacques—we appreciate the clarification.