It would seem that Lisa Keenan is prepping a run for the NB Tory leadership. She seems fairly bright and would likely bring a lot to that job.
However, I continue to maintain that whomever takes over the PC Tories would be better served charting a new direction – distinct from the Lord years and Keenan, in her columns, staunchly defends Lord era policies.
For example, here’s a quote from her column today in the TJ:
…the challenges facing the province over the next two decades (population growth, productivity) are eerily similar to the challenges identified in the Lord government’s 10-year Prosperity Plan, although the suggested remedies are quite different.
Oooops. That wrong. I just searched the entire Prosperity Plan – all 35 pages – and there is no mention of population problems – not once. The only mention of ‘population’ at all was the goal to increase the student ‘population’ in post-secondary to 10% of the total (which along with all the other targets -except one – have not been met).
In fact, if Keenan were truthful, the Tories spent seven years either ignoring the problem (publicly) or downplaying it.
And while we are on the subject of the famous PP, how many of the targets have been accomplished? Oooops.
I’m hopeful that bright new leaders for the Tories will step forward. It’s good for the political system to have smart people on both sides of the aisle (and a third side if possible) but I hope this diehard allegiance to the Lord era will fade and fade soon.
Lord has put New Brunswick behind him. The NB Tories should put Lord behind and craft a new vision that actually does mention population decline and actually does mention the problem of increasing dependency on EI and actually does mention the twin problems of a weak economy and a labour shortage.