Thoughts On New Brunswick Election

...Who could have thought!...

A year ago, it was believed that the Liberals were looking forward for an easy re-election. Even some 6-7 weeks ago, everybody expected a close race, something like 28:27 or 30:25 at the most. (With the NDP possibly winning a seat or two.) In the end, it's 42:13...

So, Shawn Graham is out. To be fair to him - compared to the Liberal Premiers of other provinces, he was the best. I like his tax cuts plan which proposed reducing corporate rate to 8% and bringing personal income taxes quite close to 12% flat rate. If only he had the courage to keep the spending under control. And the NB Power project... I understand the reasoning behind it, but giving up control over the province's essential infrastructure to another province... That wasn't the right strategy. So now we have a government that prioritizes spending cuts over tax cuts and that is determined to keep NB Power under New Brunswick ownership.

When it comes to the pro-life cause, there's good news and bad news. It's great to see such pro-life MLAs as Bruce Fitch, Jody Carr, John Betts and many others getting re-elected and we can probably look forward for some newly elected MLAs to join the pro-life caucus. But we also have Dr. Parrott, who apparently is not pro-life, yet who could possibly become the new health minister. The two strongest pro-abortion Liberals have been defeated, but some good pro-lifers, like Rick Brewer, also lost.

And, let's not forget David Alward himself, who is a good pro-life man. Hopefully, he also has the courage to act upon his pro-life convictions, when he appoints the cabinet ministers and when he faces the two major issues - protecting babies' lives in our hospitals and strongly defending the province against Morgentaler. Let's keep him and his fellow MLAs in our prayers.