August 22nd, Book Updates E-mail this blog post to a friend. Addicted readers will know about Lunenburg and the wee bank-by-the-sea. Dorothy and I lived seasonally in the town for a few years.
Loved it. So I started a branch of my business there and bought the little stone palace the Bank of Montreal moved out of after years. Now I have an office with a soaring foot ceiling capped off by a translucent dome. Fitting for my ego.
Anyway, Covid hit. NS went into serious quarantine mode. So we split for Toronto for a while, to escape all the healthy fresh air, sea breezes and — as it turned out — a big shift to the right in provincial politics. In case you missed it, Nova Scotia just went from majority Liberal to majority Progressive Conservative. Instead the premier and his gang were creamed. All elections are local, and this one was heavily influenced by two things: a the premier tried to cover up two drunk driving charges from his pre-election days and b health care.
Like Ontario, BC and elsewhere there are too few family docs and Covid exposed vulnerabilities in a system everyone wants to count on. Why does this matter outside of a place better known for honking big lobsters and fetching girls in rubber boots? What are the lessons for the federal election called by Justin Trudeau. First, nobody wanted a NS vote and the government had lots of mandate left. So it looked like Premier Iain Rankin was trying to take advantage of a successful Covid and vax program.
It smelled opportunistic. Trying to sneak out a quick victory during the lull of summer. And ditto for Justin. We just voted a couple of years ago. So what is this about? A sprint to more power? Second, as the pandemic drags on and on and on, the electorate wants relief. A change. An escape from Covid, quarantines, restrictions and the non-stop moralized hectoring of people in charge.
