Same-sex benefits legislation introduced (08/11/26)
Nov. 26, 2008
FREDERICTON (CNB) - Same-sex common-law partners in New Brunswick will be entitled to the same benefits and be under the same obligations as opposite-sex common-law partners under legislative amendments introduced today.
These changes, introduced by Attorney General T.J. Burke, honours a commitment made in the Nov. 25 throne speech. They are part of the Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, an omnibus bill that would amend more than 30 acts and regulations.
"I am pleased that our government is moving forward with changes that would bring New Brunswick in line with other Canadian jurisdictions by respecting the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision, M. vs. H.," said Burke.
In that decision, the court in essence held that same-sex and opposite-sex common-law partners must be treated equally.
"Benefits and obligations have already been extended to those in same-sex relationships in different areas, but they are not necessarily reflected in legislation," said Burke. "Our intention is to bring all pertinent legislative and regulatory provisions in line with other jurisdictions across the country, and to ensure that all people living in a common-law relationship are treated fairly and equitably in New Brunswick."
The bill would also incorporate gender-neutral terminology in references to persons in common-law partnerships and marital relationships.
08/11/26
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
His name is Earl... and he's lucky to be alive
By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. STEPHEN – Earl the dog is going to look like he’s had a head transplant.
At least that’s what veterinarian Dr. Trevor hall told Earl’s owners, Sharon Caswell and John Harding, of Oak Hill, before he took the nine-month-old puppy into surgery to repair a deep gash around Earl’s neck caused by a wire snare.
The snare, fashioned from thick wire cable, had cut about two centimetres deep into the neck flesh of the shepherd-husky mix after the animal became caught up in the common trapping device.
The wire was still embedded in Earl’s neck, with the end dangling free where someone had cut him loose, when the dog showed up on his owner’s doorstep after having been missing for two-and-a-half weeks. He was happy to see his family, but was emaciated, his neck bloody and torn. Caswell estimated the animal has lost about 30 pounds. Mayfield Veterinary Clinic vet technician Tricia Richardson said Earl weighed 51.2 pounds when he went into surgery and confirmed his drastic weight loss appearance.
“How could someone do that to an animal? If you’re going trap, be responsible, check your traps,” said an angry Sharon Caswell. “I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen done to an animal.”
Earl was rushed by his owners to the clinic shortly after he turned up on their Oak Hill doorstep Friday. Dr. Hall scheduled immediate emergency surgery.
“He’s lucky the wire didn’t sever his jugular vein or his windpipe,” said the doctor as he finished cleansing the deep wound and began to stitch up the flesh.
“It’s going to sting… when he comes round,” said the doctor as he worked, adding that besides antibiotics to fight possible infection, Earl will also be given painkillers.
Hall said snare traps should be outlawed.
“Snaring should be banned. It’s inhumane,” he said.
“This guy was just galumphing along and the next thing you know he has something sawing through his neck. What if it had been a child?”
Veterinarian technicians Richardson and Heather Sweeney assisted in Earl’s medical care before, during and after surgery.
Sweeney showed off the large wire cutters that they had to use to cut through the heavy, multi-strand wire embedded into the dog’s flesh.
“This is tiny,” she said as she reconstructed the loop.
“The more he struggled, the tighter it got.”
“I can’t imagine the pain he went through,” said Richardson, who added that the wound on Earl’s neck smelled “putrid” before it was cleansed. Richardson said she was amazed the dog survived so long in all the rainy and cold weather. She said the pup was so skinny his hip bones and ribs were sticking out. Richardson speculated the dog survived because he was in such good shape, had a thick coat and a strong will to live.
Caswell said she had given up hope that Earl would ever return.
“I gave away a new bag of dog food to my son just Thursday night,” said Caswell.
Her son, she said, laughing, has returned the bag of food.
She was sitting at her computer the next day around noon when she looked out the window into the yard and saw Earl.
“I was so excited. I didn’t see the snare on him at first,” said Caswell. She brought the dog inside and then noticed this “thing” on his neck.
“I tried to cut it off, but there was no room to put the pliers in.”
Caswell described the dog’s neck as covered in blood.
“I knew it was digging in. I felt so helpless, but Earl was being just as sweet and loving as he ever was.”
The couple has searched long and hard for Earl, calling for him, driving around the area, visiting neighbours, and putting an advertisement on the local radio station.
They figured since he was so friendly, he’d either hopped into someone’s car or that he had adopted another family, just like he had adopted them when he showed up on their doorstep in the middle of the night when he was about three months old.
“It never even dawned on me that someone would have a snare,” said Caswell.
Caswell admits she knows dogs shouldn’t run in the woods and said Earl normally doesn’t leave the yard. The worst thing for her, while Earl was missing, was not knowing what had happened to him
Earl is now resting comfortably at home, healing from his ordeal.
“He’s being very quiet,” said Caswell.
“It’s going take a while for his spirit to get back to what it was. The wound is healing well and he’s eating a lot. We’re trying to get him fattened up again. I brushed him good. He’s happy to be here.”
Caswell said she and Harding didn’t get much sleep over the weekend. Every time they hear Earl move, they check on him.
“We watch him like a hawk,” said Caswell, explaining they want to make sure he doesn’t scratch all those stitches in his neck.
Caswell said she and Harding are going to talk with the Department of Natural Resources to see if they can get any information that might lead to identifying the trapper who snared their dog.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
BLACK FRIDAY INFO
The Wal-Mart ad is here... courtesy of blackfriday.info
http://www.blackfriday.info/sales/wal-mart-black-friday-ad.html
See you there at 5 a.m. (US time) sharp.
I'll be wearing MY NEW SHOPPING SUIT
http://www.blackfriday.info/sales/wal-mart-black-friday-ad.html
See you there at 5 a.m. (US time) sharp.
I'll be wearing MY NEW SHOPPING SUIT
Thursday, November 20, 2008
THIS JUST IN...
Actual quote from the Courier newsroom scanner.
2:57 p.m.
PARAMEDIC: She has a candy up her nose. More specifically a Strawberry Runt in her left nostril. Vitals are good. ETA is in three minutes.
Also if anyone in scanner land can decode this one, please do. Heard Thursday morning...
PARAMEDIC: Grab me a couple of lumpages and I'll meet you in the cabbage patch.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Seahawks-Silverkings preview
Friday night. 8 p.m. Border Arena. St. Stephen Seahawks v Blacks Harbour Silverkings. Feel the LOVE
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
EDITORIAL
A lot of hot air
COURIER WEEKEND Friday, Nov. 7, 2008
Shawn Graham and his Liberal government have given New Brunswickers some serious homework to do – namely trying to figure out the newly-announced home heating assistance program known as the Warm Hearts, Warm Homes plan.
Here’s your problem:
If Cold Person (CP) is living in a rental unit where Landlord (L’s) idea of efficiency is hanging towels over the windows to cut out the draft and Temperatue (T) is dropping at a rate of 5 C per week and Income (I) is unchanged at $18,500 per year because he obviously doesn’t have a well-paying government job and his boss is a miser, does Cold Person (CP) qualify for government help?
The answer is simple. Cold Person (CP) will give up trying to find out if he qualifies when he realizes how much of a pain in the butt (numb though that butt might be) it is to get help from the Graham Liberals.
It used to be that all New Brunswickers who earned less than a certain income got a cheque for $100 to help stave off the winter chill. Some of us are fortunate enough to view that as a paltry amount but to someone who gives serious thought about whether to go cold, or hungry, that money can be awful comforting.
But Ebenezer Graham did away with that aid package this week and announced a replacement program that’s available to applicants who are in an “emergency situation” and who agree to attend credit counseling sessions in order to get their handout. We’re not sure what credit the low-income earners need counseling on but we’re pretty sure it isn’t their trust funds or stock portfolios.
Oh, and since those in need obviously can’t be trusted with the government money, the credit will instead go directly to NB Power or Enbridge Gas or whoever else is supplying the heat. So if you’re a low-income household but you don’t own a home, if your heat bill is buried in your rent, guess what you get? Nothing! But take comfort, your landlord’s heat bill will get credited.
Warm Hearts, Warm Homes? More like Cold Hearts and Numb Skulls.
The Department of Social Development is also offering money for people to retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient… ah home renovations! That’s just what’s at the top of New Brunswickers’ minds who are living on Mr. Noodles and keeping the thermostat cranked barely high enough to keep the pipes from freezing.
The former home heating assistance program was meager at best but at least it was simple to understand and it was of some benefit to 55,000 New Brunswickers. It’s telling that at a news conference announcing the new program, Energy Minister Jack Kier couldn’t even warrant a guess as to how many New Brunswickers will get help through the new program. Kier told reporters he doesn’t know how many people will apply.
If the ultimate goal of this program is to help cold, needy New Brunswickers, it’s too confusing, too misguided and destined to fail. More cynically, if the goal is to offer a plan that will confound and confuse and that few people will ever bother applying for… it’s going to be a roaring success for the Liberals. Raises all around?
COURIER WEEKEND Friday, Nov. 7, 2008
Shawn Graham and his Liberal government have given New Brunswickers some serious homework to do – namely trying to figure out the newly-announced home heating assistance program known as the Warm Hearts, Warm Homes plan.
Here’s your problem:
If Cold Person (CP) is living in a rental unit where Landlord (L’s) idea of efficiency is hanging towels over the windows to cut out the draft and Temperatue (T) is dropping at a rate of 5 C per week and Income (I) is unchanged at $18,500 per year because he obviously doesn’t have a well-paying government job and his boss is a miser, does Cold Person (CP) qualify for government help?
The answer is simple. Cold Person (CP) will give up trying to find out if he qualifies when he realizes how much of a pain in the butt (numb though that butt might be) it is to get help from the Graham Liberals.
It used to be that all New Brunswickers who earned less than a certain income got a cheque for $100 to help stave off the winter chill. Some of us are fortunate enough to view that as a paltry amount but to someone who gives serious thought about whether to go cold, or hungry, that money can be awful comforting.
But Ebenezer Graham did away with that aid package this week and announced a replacement program that’s available to applicants who are in an “emergency situation” and who agree to attend credit counseling sessions in order to get their handout. We’re not sure what credit the low-income earners need counseling on but we’re pretty sure it isn’t their trust funds or stock portfolios.
Oh, and since those in need obviously can’t be trusted with the government money, the credit will instead go directly to NB Power or Enbridge Gas or whoever else is supplying the heat. So if you’re a low-income household but you don’t own a home, if your heat bill is buried in your rent, guess what you get? Nothing! But take comfort, your landlord’s heat bill will get credited.
Warm Hearts, Warm Homes? More like Cold Hearts and Numb Skulls.
The Department of Social Development is also offering money for people to retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient… ah home renovations! That’s just what’s at the top of New Brunswickers’ minds who are living on Mr. Noodles and keeping the thermostat cranked barely high enough to keep the pipes from freezing.
The former home heating assistance program was meager at best but at least it was simple to understand and it was of some benefit to 55,000 New Brunswickers. It’s telling that at a news conference announcing the new program, Energy Minister Jack Kier couldn’t even warrant a guess as to how many New Brunswickers will get help through the new program. Kier told reporters he doesn’t know how many people will apply.
If the ultimate goal of this program is to help cold, needy New Brunswickers, it’s too confusing, too misguided and destined to fail. More cynically, if the goal is to offer a plan that will confound and confuse and that few people will ever bother applying for… it’s going to be a roaring success for the Liberals. Raises all around?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
It's news to Lamrock
Saint Croix Courier
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Page A-1
Sanchez controversy misses minister
Gay author captured national headlines but story never reached Lamrock’s ears
By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. STEPHEN – The controversy last month surrounding a presentation at District 10 schools by a gay author who writes novels for gay teens made headlines in newspapers around the province and nationally.
It was a hot topic in the electronic media with hundreds of comments posted in online forums.
But New Brunswick’s Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said he wasn’t familiar with the story of Alex Sanchez nor was he aware of the public outcry that followed objecting to the cancellations and calling for the resignation or firing of District 10 Superintendent Keith Pierce.
The school talks by Sanchez, an award winning author, were cancelled after some parents strongly protested his appearances at St. Stephen High School and Fundy High School. Sanchez spoke instead at a church in St. Andrews. Some students who attended the talk said they wanted to let the province and the country know that Charlotte County is an accepting and tolerant place and that the actions of school administrators do not reflect the attitudes of all students.
District 10, which sponsored the author’s visit along with the Charlotte County Rainbow Support Group, has offered different explanations for the controversial on-again, off-again speaking engagement. District officials said a scheduling conflict led to the cancellation.
Either way, the first that the education minister said he heard of it was when he was questioned about it on Friday, Oct. 31, after arriving in St. Stephen to make a community schools designation announcement for St. George Elementary School and Milltown Elementary School.
“I certainly wouldn’t jump into an issue I just learned about here,” said Lamrock.
But Lamrock said he wanted, first of all, to make it clear that the school districts, not the province, hire school superintendents.
Then he stated that Pierce was an excellent superintendent.
“He’s gotten results here in literacy in community schools that I applaud and I certainly would not talk about a staff person’s performance in public and certainly wouldn’t do it on something I just heard about,” said Lamrock.
He said that in the province’s educational mandate, “When Kids Come First,” it is recognized that schools have to be “safe spaces for all kids.”
“Even good people of different ideas, different faiths can find common ground on one thing - that all kids should come to school feeling safe and secure in who they are,” said Lamrock.
“We’ve got to find ways to have schools that certainly recognize diversity and are safe spaces for students who are gay and lesbian or are going through that process.
“In any discussion with the district, those are the principles I would take forward.”
Lamrock concluded his statement on the topic by saying, “Whatever our different views of morality, we can all agree we have to recognize and tolerate that there is diversity and that our schools, all of them, are under a mandate to be safe spaces for gay, lesbian and bisexual students.”
EDITORIAL: Lamrock’s ignorance plea comes up lame
Saint Croix Courier
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Page A-4
The biggest headline maker related to education in New Brunswick in the past month was a nixed school visit by Alex Sanchez, an award-winning gay author who writes novels for teens.
Sanchez was supposed to speak to students in two Charlotte County high schools last month but those engagements were, depending on which spin you listen to, cancelled due to complaints from parents, scuttled due to scheduling conflicts or postponed until District 10 administration could hear the talk and decide whether it is appropriate for students. We’re still not sure which reason is correct. We’ve heard them all.
The Sanchez story reverberated far beyond Charlotte County and New Brunswick. It made headlines nationally and online forums were filled with chatter as hundreds of people weighed in on the issue of whether a homosexual author should be permitted to make a presentation to students. The subject remains a topic of conversation in our Letters to the Editor section today. The story was widely reported in print, on radio, TV and the web. It was and is big news, a hot button issue if ever there was one.
It’s only natural, then, that when the education minister came to St. Stephen on Friday we wanted to hear his take on the issue. After all, students were upset, parents were confused and the district superintendent was under fire. Keith Pierce said his e-mail inbox and voicemail were full of messages, some rather nasty. Students said the whole issue made them feel like they live in a backwards backwater where homosexuality was shunned and where gay students had best stay in the closet. Ironically all these feelings reached a boiling point amid plans for a pink day at schools – a day in which all students are encouraged to wear pink as a symbol of tolerance for all and a sign that bullying and abuse have no place here.
So, over to you Mr. Lamrock. Your thoughts?
Turns out a question from a reporter was the first he’d ever heard about the Sanchez controversy. That’s what Lamrock said Friday and he said it with a straight face. A story on the issue published Oct. 21 in the Woodstock Bugle-Observer suggests Lamrock declined to comment on the issue. Whether that means he knew about it but chose not to comment or could not be reached for comment could be open to interpretation – but it doesn’t look good.
For our education minister to miss this story is unacceptable. To be in the know and playing dumb is much worse.
Lamrock, and all our provincial ministers, don’t make a move without being overseen and advised by a posse of Crackberry-twiddling assistants. Surely one of them has a Google news alert for “education” and “New Brunswick.” Surely one of them reads the papers or watches TV. Surely someone in the department could have suggested that Mr. Lamrock might want to check out this little story in Charlotte County that has attracted national attention.
Saying he didn’t know a thing about the story is either an admission that he’s out of touch or a poor attempt at feigning ignorance to avoid the question. Neither scenario is befitting the province’s education minister.
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Page A-1
Sanchez controversy misses minister
Gay author captured national headlines but story never reached Lamrock’s ears
By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. STEPHEN – The controversy last month surrounding a presentation at District 10 schools by a gay author who writes novels for gay teens made headlines in newspapers around the province and nationally.
It was a hot topic in the electronic media with hundreds of comments posted in online forums.
But New Brunswick’s Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said he wasn’t familiar with the story of Alex Sanchez nor was he aware of the public outcry that followed objecting to the cancellations and calling for the resignation or firing of District 10 Superintendent Keith Pierce.
The school talks by Sanchez, an award winning author, were cancelled after some parents strongly protested his appearances at St. Stephen High School and Fundy High School. Sanchez spoke instead at a church in St. Andrews. Some students who attended the talk said they wanted to let the province and the country know that Charlotte County is an accepting and tolerant place and that the actions of school administrators do not reflect the attitudes of all students.
District 10, which sponsored the author’s visit along with the Charlotte County Rainbow Support Group, has offered different explanations for the controversial on-again, off-again speaking engagement. District officials said a scheduling conflict led to the cancellation.
Either way, the first that the education minister said he heard of it was when he was questioned about it on Friday, Oct. 31, after arriving in St. Stephen to make a community schools designation announcement for St. George Elementary School and Milltown Elementary School.
“I certainly wouldn’t jump into an issue I just learned about here,” said Lamrock.
But Lamrock said he wanted, first of all, to make it clear that the school districts, not the province, hire school superintendents.
Then he stated that Pierce was an excellent superintendent.
“He’s gotten results here in literacy in community schools that I applaud and I certainly would not talk about a staff person’s performance in public and certainly wouldn’t do it on something I just heard about,” said Lamrock.
He said that in the province’s educational mandate, “When Kids Come First,” it is recognized that schools have to be “safe spaces for all kids.”
“Even good people of different ideas, different faiths can find common ground on one thing - that all kids should come to school feeling safe and secure in who they are,” said Lamrock.
“We’ve got to find ways to have schools that certainly recognize diversity and are safe spaces for students who are gay and lesbian or are going through that process.
“In any discussion with the district, those are the principles I would take forward.”
Lamrock concluded his statement on the topic by saying, “Whatever our different views of morality, we can all agree we have to recognize and tolerate that there is diversity and that our schools, all of them, are under a mandate to be safe spaces for gay, lesbian and bisexual students.”
EDITORIAL: Lamrock’s ignorance plea comes up lame
Saint Croix Courier
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Page A-4
The biggest headline maker related to education in New Brunswick in the past month was a nixed school visit by Alex Sanchez, an award-winning gay author who writes novels for teens.
Sanchez was supposed to speak to students in two Charlotte County high schools last month but those engagements were, depending on which spin you listen to, cancelled due to complaints from parents, scuttled due to scheduling conflicts or postponed until District 10 administration could hear the talk and decide whether it is appropriate for students. We’re still not sure which reason is correct. We’ve heard them all.
The Sanchez story reverberated far beyond Charlotte County and New Brunswick. It made headlines nationally and online forums were filled with chatter as hundreds of people weighed in on the issue of whether a homosexual author should be permitted to make a presentation to students. The subject remains a topic of conversation in our Letters to the Editor section today. The story was widely reported in print, on radio, TV and the web. It was and is big news, a hot button issue if ever there was one.
It’s only natural, then, that when the education minister came to St. Stephen on Friday we wanted to hear his take on the issue. After all, students were upset, parents were confused and the district superintendent was under fire. Keith Pierce said his e-mail inbox and voicemail were full of messages, some rather nasty. Students said the whole issue made them feel like they live in a backwards backwater where homosexuality was shunned and where gay students had best stay in the closet. Ironically all these feelings reached a boiling point amid plans for a pink day at schools – a day in which all students are encouraged to wear pink as a symbol of tolerance for all and a sign that bullying and abuse have no place here.
So, over to you Mr. Lamrock. Your thoughts?
Turns out a question from a reporter was the first he’d ever heard about the Sanchez controversy. That’s what Lamrock said Friday and he said it with a straight face. A story on the issue published Oct. 21 in the Woodstock Bugle-Observer suggests Lamrock declined to comment on the issue. Whether that means he knew about it but chose not to comment or could not be reached for comment could be open to interpretation – but it doesn’t look good.
For our education minister to miss this story is unacceptable. To be in the know and playing dumb is much worse.
Lamrock, and all our provincial ministers, don’t make a move without being overseen and advised by a posse of Crackberry-twiddling assistants. Surely one of them has a Google news alert for “education” and “New Brunswick.” Surely one of them reads the papers or watches TV. Surely someone in the department could have suggested that Mr. Lamrock might want to check out this little story in Charlotte County that has attracted national attention.
Saying he didn’t know a thing about the story is either an admission that he’s out of touch or a poor attempt at feigning ignorance to avoid the question. Neither scenario is befitting the province’s education minister.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
