Morning Charles, heard you on the talk show...
I agree, if T. Holder votes
against that bill, he will be run out of town during the next
election....
Also, very surprised I saw no mention on your blog about the
"NEW" chairs purchased in the Legislature by the PC govenment!!
I was boiling mad when I heard that on CFBC this morning., as here we have people burned out in the city, and now homeless.
Also, 2 people dead, and
their families probably can not afford to bury them.
We have people who can not afford to pay their winter hydro bills, or pay for their oil , or even put a meal on the table 7 days a week, and the Premier thinks they all need
$1400.00 chairs to plunk their butts in...
I am waiting to hear from S.
Graham or Able LeBlanc, or S. Jamieson, or R. McIntyre, speak out
against this!!....
If they sit their "butts" in theses chairs I will have no faith in
them to form the government.
When these idiots got elected they raise the pay scale, they new the conditions in the legislature, if they are not comfortable chairs for them to sleep in, let them bring a chair from their homes.....
I am just raging over this........I think you should get a post going on this matter today....
Here's the story in the Irving's paper!
NB Telegraph-Journal | Provincial News
As published on page A1/A2 on December 8, 2005
New legislature chairs save backs, not bucks
By Kathy Kaufield
Telegraph-Journal
FREDERICTON - Talk about taking a seat in the legislature.
MLA Michael (Tanker) Malley says the old chairs in New Brunswick legislature were so tight for his 280-lb. frame, his chair almost came with him when he tried to get out of it. On one occasion, he leaned backwards, the chair flipped over and he hit his head on the floor.
Other MLAs complained the antique wooden chairs gave them backaches and broke easily.
For these and other reasons, taxpayers have shelled out $75,000 for new, cushy, reclining leather chairs for our provincial politicians.
MLAs tried out their new chairs for the first time Wednesday as the House opened for the first day of debate of the fall session.
"You can lock the recline at the angle you want to," said Nigadoo-Chaleur Liberal MLA Roland Haché. "You can go up, you can go down ... I brought it up just to see the feeling of it, and my feet were hardly touching the floor."
House Speaker Bev Harrison said chairs were bought only for the province's 54 MLAs. The Speaker gets the best seat in the House - a luxurious, throne-like seat. Legislature officials would not put a price tag on the chairs but Finance Minister Jeannot Volpé said it cost $75,000. For 54 chairs, that's about $1,400 each.
When asked what he thought of the price, Mr. Volpé said: "Too much."
But quickly added he was joking and said MLAs need proper equipment to do their jobs.
Some of the old chairs dated back to the late 1800s. They are handcrafted and ornate, each with two lions' heads carved on the back. Some of the chairs weren't quite that old because chairs were reproduced when the province increased the number of MLAs to 58 and when chairs broke..
Mr. Malley, MLA for Miramichi-Bay-du-Vin, said he's broken about three himself.
"I had a flippin' one day. The chair went right back ... I got a tough hit. Good thing they have carpet," he said. "I had a good laugh. I was just like Rolly Poly, flipping over. It was pretty interesting."
He said he liked the new chairs, which feel much more comfortable.
"I can get up really quickly and go out ... Before I almost had to take the chair with me. I don't know, my physique is different."
But Mr. Malley wasn't the only MLA who found the old chairs hard to take. Mr. Volpe said numerous MLAs complained about backaches. Training and Employment Development Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney among them.
She said she had to bring in special back padding so she could sit in the old chairs comfortably.
"I welcome you to come sit in (the old ones) for 10 hours, day after day," she said. "Certainly from the perspective of saving your back, it was a good decision."
Government House Leader Brad Green said an all-party committee of the legislature approved the expenditure. He said the old chairs were breaking so often that it was soon going to cost more to fix the old ones than to buy new ones. Plus, he said the chairs are so historic that they needed to be preserved.
"If we replace the chairs every hundred years, I think that is probably a reasonable expenditure."
The old chairs have been put away in storage and will be used on ceremonial days like the throne speech and will be displayed for tourists when the House isn't in session.
- with files from Shawn Berry
2 comments:
Perhaps MLA Michael(Tank)Malley should consider going on a diet so his butt can fit into the chairs. This further proves how fat these polictians get once they are in office. Why should the taxpayers pay for chairs just so those can sit comfortably in the house.Why should they be comfortable when there are so many people in this city alone that can not even afford to put a roof over their heads or food on the table for their families? Although when I read about his hitting his head on the floor, my first thought was I wish I had been a fly on the wall to have seen that.
Charles
I think that you readers should understand what Brad Green meant by an all party committee voted to buy the chairs. That means the Tories, Liberals and NDP all wanted to sit a little more comfortably and that it wasn't just the present government spending my tax dollars, and I do say mine as I don't think you pay any taxes do you??
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