The following is a letter submitted to The Coast regarding the on-going Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership race. It has been lightly edited.
Dear Nova Scotia Liberal Party:
I am writing to inform you I will no longer be voting in this Leadership race.
I did not come to this decision lightly. I voted for Zach (Churchill) in the last race and have voted all my life for the Liberal Party. I believe political parties should earn support by listening to people and addressing the problems they face every day. Sadly, this Leadership race has shown how far away the Liberal Party is from these ideals.
Nova Scotia has serious challenges right now. Housing has become out of reach, cost of living is unsustainable and youth are struggling. Fuel, power, food, rent and everything else keeps going up and up. Many communities feel stuck with little confidence their concerns are being taken seriously.
I was hoping these would become the issues the Liberal Leadership race would focus on. I was disappointed.
When I listen to Becky Druhan, I don’t hear an authentic Liberal voice. She was a conservative member for many years and suddenly now feels Liberal? I don’t support floor-crossing as I view it as a betrayal to your riding, constituents and entirely based on self-interest and games. Her campaign comes across to me as a political career move instead of a genuine effort to renew a party sorely in need of good candidates. I was disappointed by her work and publication on the policing issue in Nova Scotia and addressing security challenges.
When I look at Amanda Mombourquette, I’m also left with deep concerns. I see a person not at all interested in Nova Scotians and more interested in backing large development projects that will harm Nova Scotians. Her being the MC for the EverWind announcement stands as evidence of her willingness to sell out her integrity and honour as long as she gets something out of it. She supports rolling blackouts in Cape Breton over people having stable power. It’s bad enough we have one energy provider that disregards Nova Scotians. Her actions make it worse. She backs all the bad at this point. I was excited to support Amanda but I’m left ashamed and angry that I allowed her fake smile and charm deceive me.
I’m troubled by the lack of authenticity, complete disregard for integrity, absence of values and the level of self enrichment coming from these two people. It’s quite clear these two don’t care about Nova Scotians.
I detest Tim Houston and his government and believe they need to be removed. He cares so little for Nova Scotians and only looks out for him. This great province has been made significantly worse under his government. As a Liberal, I was excited that this race would renew and restart a party on life support that this province so badly needs. Both candidates, however, have revealed they care as little as Tim does about Nova Scotia. They care only for themselves.
Nova Scotia needs leaders who are focused on our issues like housing, affordability, jobs, health care, public safety and positive growth. I’m 62, I have no idea how technology these days work. While I don’t know, I expect any minister, premier, party leader, (or) anyone wanting to become a candidate to know this stuff and how our digital world works. We elect people expecting them to make the best informed decisions and our politicians only make decisions based on the best interests of them. It comes across that Nova Scotian politicians know even less than I do. With the two Liberal candidates, they have sold their political souls and bent the knee to tech companies for their own benefit and at a loss to all Nova Scotians.
I’m ashamed now to be a member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. I can no longer support or vote for either of these bad options. While I have problems with Claudia (Chender) and the Nova Scotia NDP, I will be moving my support to them. I believe Claudia is the only politician with any integrity in Nova Scotia. She hasn’t bent the knee and sacrificed Nova Scotians as the other parties have done.
Politicians need to remember they work for the people of Nova Scotia. You have a duty and an obligation to work everyday to make this province better for the people of Nova Scotia, not just you. Every current politician in this province seems to have forgotten this. With the many problems facing this province, I hope we get a politician someday who understands these responsibilities and takes serving Nova Scotia seriously. Tim doesn’t. His government doesn’t. The Nova Scotia Conservative Party doesn’t. The two Liberal Leadership candidates don’t. Neither do the two Liberal Party MLAs. Nor does the Nova Scotia NDP.
Sincerely:
Ghee Ghee
Former lifetime Liberal voter
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