A special merci beaucoup to John Steeves from Sussex.

Charles 04_07_05 021, originally uploaded by Oldmaison.

I was told by my cousin that her mom called her from Moncton and told her there was a letter to the editor from someone who supported me. The letter was printed last week. Thanks a lot to John Steeves from Sussex. I guess he reads this blog.


Democracy respects dissent

To The Editor:

If any single incident in recent years describes New Brunswick's dangerous slide away from democracy, it is probably the order on Monday to bar Charles LeBlanc from the provincial legislature and the legislative grounds.

I've only met Mr. LeBlanc once. But, like many New Brunswickers, I know enough about him to realize that he delights in being a "pain in the butt" to authority figures in the province.

However, despite his recent arrest at the Atlantica conference in Saint John, to the best of my knowledge, he has never been convicted on criminal charges for any of his activities . . . whether as a protestor or as author of his blog on the Internet.

Authority figures in this province (whether in government, on the staff of the legislature, or in the media) should remember that the reason we have a democratic form of government is because of people like Charles LeBlanc: people who don't kowtow to accepted standards of behaviour; people who argue with authority; people who, in the judgment of history, are even right.

If Charles LeBlanc has been abusing his right to protest at the legislature, he could have been arrested. Or the legislature staff could have asked the courts for a restraining order.

Instead, the staff issued a high-handed, and undoubtedly illegal, decree that makes a mockery of what most Canadians consider the proper rule of law. A decree which, in my opinion, would be more appropriate to keep order in places such as Zimbabwe, one of the old Iron Curtain nations, or maybe a Miramichi school bus.

John Steeves,
Sussex