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Look, I'm not saying Don Darling has it easy. Municipalities in NB are not well funded. But approach and principles are what makes a politician progressive.
Exhibit A: on Irving layoffs, Don said: "While no one wants to see layoffs, it is important for organizations of all sizes, to keep their sustainability intact." - this puts him on the side of big business. In his mind, lay-offs are OK if corporate status quo can be maintained.
Exhibit A source: https://ipolitics.ca/2020/07/09/the-drilldown-173-new-brunswickers-affected-in-new-layoffs-at-irving-oil/
Exhibit B: On cutting 10-15% of fire services in Saint John, Don said: "We must put the best interest of taxpayers first and get the city in a stronger financial position" - this shows a fundamental lack of understanding that workers are taxpayers, too.
Exhibit B source: https://globalnews.ca/news/7044243/saint-john-budget-cuts-deficit-2021/
What led to all of these cuts? the City bowed to Higgs' pressure: "Mayor Don Darling also stressed the need for tax reform. The provincial government has told the city it needs to do more to get its own finances under control before it gets any more assistance from Fredericton."
Source of that quote: https://globalnews.ca/news/7098473/saint-john-n-b-fire-budget/
To me, a principled and progressive politician would hold the provincial government to account over their failure to support municipalities in providing essential public services to NBers. To tell them that our lives cannot be run by profit/loss balance sheets.
Exhibit, what, D? Did you know that Saint John water is run by a private-public-partnership (P3)? Your water, a basic, fundamental human right, has corporate interest, meaning someone profits from it: https://www.saintjohn.ca/site/media/SaintJohn/About%20Saint%20John%20Water%20System.pdf
To read more about the problems with P3s: https://novascotia.cupe.ca/2017/04/28/10-problems-p3s/
To me, a principled and progressive politician would NOT stand for this.
To me, a principled and progressive politician would NOT stand for this.
