I'M A CONCERNED PARENT - ARE YOU?

         Lately, the weather feels a lot like summer, so I'm hoping it has finally arrived and that it will not be too short.  I have a fairly lengthy, sweaty outside job; shingling my studio without having to deal with a swarm of pesky mosquitoes is awaiting.  I've still been renovating our bedroom upstairs and we're hoping to make use of it before too long.  Also, since Sarah's daughter Rachel moved to Lethbridge, Alta., and the upstairs bathroom is in desperate need of repair, I'm going to rip it apart and expand it into her sister's (Jessica) bedroom.  For someone who has done very little carpentry work over the years, I find it all to be rather challenging but a good sense of accomplishment once a job is finished.  I just tell people not to look too close at my work; I describe myself as an ad-lib carpenter, a Mr. Fix-it (fix my own mistakes).
          Just when I thought all the hoopla was over concerning graduation, the Fosterville Community Centre held a breakfast for next year's graduates.  I arrived somewhat late with a couple of friends of mine and as I sat munching away on my scrambled eggs, bacon and hash-browns, I noticed a man who looked rather familiar making the rounds so to speak and shaking hands with people as he went.  It was none other than the Premier of New Brunswick, David Alward.  When he sat down across from me and my friend George, I was wondering how long it would take before my friend would say something to him and I was amazed when he just said, "I should say something.  My friends and I wrote a letter to him in April and I would like to know if he received it and what his views are concerning sustainability."  But he didn't say a word, which is unusual for George, who has personally confronted more than one politician and put them on the spot.
          I have to admit, I felt a little disappointed when we stood up to leave and George hadn't made his presence known.  However, I wasn't to be disappointed for long because the Premier had decided to leave at the same time and as he was headed towards the door, George decided to speak up.  When he asked David Alward if he'd received the letter, he said no and that he would look into it and make sure he read it.  I don't quite remember how their discussion went after that but somehow the subject of fracking came up; a very sore point for both George and I.  Now my ears really perked up because I wanted to hear first hand, right out of the horse's mouth so to speak, the Premier's views on fracking.  The first thing David Alward said was, "You'll notice there's been no fracking while I've been Premier."  He mentioned this same line about three times in the conversation and to me, it meant either one of two things.  He was either against or for fracking.  I was hoping it meant that he was against fracking, on the side of what I believe is the majority of the people living in New Brunswick but when he said his son was working in the Alberta oil sands and wouldn't it be nice if he could be doing the same job here, I immediately knew where he stood.  I lost all respect for our Premier at that point and when he went on to say as if we were exoected to look up to him, "While I've been Priemier, only seismic testing has been going on in New Brunswick."  I couldn't believe a man who is supposedly a farmer, someone who should be in touch, in tune and in sympathy with the land would promote such a desecrating and devastating industry such as fracking to be one of his prime political objectives.
          The Premier, David Alward also stated that fracking has become safer since its beginnings and that scientists are coming up with better ideas all the time to make it an even safer industry.  So what gets me; knowing that fracking is a dangerous industry and that he is in favour of such an endeavour; he seems more like a yes-man Premier and one with very shallow convictions.   However, to my way of thinking, especially after the extreme flooding of Calgary, if that flood had occurred in the oil fields and the toxic liquids had washed into the main waterways, a great part of Alberta could become a deadly wasteland and the people living there would all be well on their way to becoming like the dinosaurs on display at Drumheller, Alta.
          It appears that Toronto had a flash flood (not as bad as Calgary's) and I'm concerned about the safety of my daughter and her family.  It's pretty obvious mankind has been steadily destroying the environment (doesn't take an intellect or a smart person to realize that) and to keep on promoting problematic, highly toxic and dangerous industries such as fracking and creating pipe lines, which will destroy a great portion of the remaining ecological balance of the land across this country, in order to create jobs and keep a fictitious thriving economy alive, doesn't make any logical sense to me.  Like many parents, even an elderly guy like me who has been told by many other people my own age, "I won't be alive long enough to see what happens" (a real cop-out) I'm deeply concerned that the inheritance I'm leaving my kids and their kids, regarding world ecological conditions, is looking extremely bleak.  I mean how many people have you the reader actually heard, "What does it matter, I won't be here when everything goes for a big shit.?"  And how do they know that - I mean someone will be here to face the music and who's to say that even though I'm almost 72 years of age, I won't be here when that invent occurs?  And on that cheery note - cheers, eh!
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