This
looks like a job for…whom?
by
Robert LaFrance
My daily newspaper’s top front page
headline read: “Provincial judges want more pay”.
Well, I thought to myself (which is
my favourite way of thinking), that makes sense, the price of gas is going up –
I read that in the paper too – and the property taxes in New Brunswick are
almost ten percent of what they are in Ontario.
New Brunswick Provincial Court
judges make $205,000 a year. My first reaction was: Most lawyers make more than
that, but I am sure that many of them would make the sacrifice to become a
judge, and the present judges who don’t think $205,000 a year is enough could
retire to the Turks and Caicos Islands where the cost of living for most citizens
is somewhat lower than that in NB.
The Provincial Court judges had
their salaries frozen about five years ago, and now, when the word ‘bankruptcy’
is being used to describe New Brunswick’s financial situation if things don’t
improve, the judges chose to make their request – clever timing.
They want a salary of $250,000 a year and they want
all that back pay they missed because of the wage freeze. You’ll have to make
your own comments about this; I know many government bureaucrats make more than
$205,000 a year for doing less, but all I ask of the judges is this: please
don’t compare your salaries with judges in Ontario, Alberta, and BC, where the
cost of living is slightly higher, like astronomical.
*****************************
As I write this, we are just digging
out from under the third Storm of the Century in the past six years.
I am not sure that it’s possible to
have more than one Storm of the Century in the same century, but CNN, the
humongous news organization in the U.S., now seems to routinely call every
blizzard the Storm of the Century.
Therefore, when I was watching some
news coverage of the January 27 storm as it struck the northeastern U.S., I was
once more surprised that the Storm of the Century had, unlike lightning, struck
twice – no, three times – in the same place.
There was a little humour in the
coverage though. New York City, where the mayor had wisely shut down
everything, including subways for some reason, received less than six inches
(we would say 15 cm) of snow. One of the reporters was filmed on a street as he
described the ‘massive storm’ and behind him an old lady with a broom was
sweeping about an inch of snow off the sidewalk in front of her closed
business.
Boston did get whacked though, and
the mayor is a hero, unlike the New York mayor who was criticized for
overreacting. Just think if there really had been a ‘massive storm’ there, how
he would have been criticized, but at least lynching is illegal now.
*********************************
It’s amazing how unimportant many
important things get when you’re sick. During the above period of time – The
Third Storm of the Century – I was struck down by what my late father-in-law
Lloyd Morton would have referred to as ‘a dog-ail’ and I would describe as a
brutal cold. I couldn’t stop coughing and therefore couldn’t sleep and
therefore felt terrible and therefore coughed even more, etc.
When I am feeling well, I try and
keep this office (in my home) fairly neat, but when I have a cold, things pile
up. I now have old newspapers and other detritus lying on top of my computer,
on the floor, and all over the place, while I try and make my way around in
here where it’s not too roomy at the best of times.
One’s ability to think is also
compromised. To try and avoid waking the household with my coughing after I
awoke at 4:00 am, I went down to the living room and my easy chair where I
covered my legs with a blanket because it was a little chilly. I turned up the
room heat and turned on a 1000-watt heater, then put on a toque until the place
warmed up. It did warm up about ten minutes later, and I thought (to myself)
that I could survive with one or the other, since the furnace was providing
enough heat now.
So which one did I choose? Instead
of turning off the 1000-watt heater, or even
turning it back to 500-watts, I took off the toque. Brilliant. That’s
why I’m not president of Bell Canada.
A final point before I go back to
bed: As I look out my frosty window, it has now been snowing almost non-stop
for two days. I thought about phoning the premier, or perhaps Senator Mike
Duffy, to see if I might get a favourable change in the weather, but I
discarded that idea almost immediately. This looks like a job for…who? Please
suggest someone.
-end-
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