EDITORIAL

Tony the pussycat

Home support workers in New Brunswick are trying to present a united front in their quest to earn the kind of wages their brothers and sisters who work in nursing homes receive.
They deserve it.
Home support workers care for the elderly and sick in the patients’ homes. They give them a good quality of life and help them stay in their comfortable surroundings longer than they could without help. They perform the same types of services as nursing home workers but for less pay. The home support workers are paid by the Department of Social Development while nursing home funding comes from the Department of Health.
The workers believe their best shot at getting the pay they deserve – and they do deserve it – is to go public and to speak with one voice. They’re trying to get the story out to politicians and the public. This week they grabbed the ear of Charlotte-Campobello MLA Tony Huntjens who listened, agreed the workers are underpaid and said he’d take the issue to Mary Schryer, the minister responsible for Social Development.
Will anything be done about the problem, Huntjens was asked.
“No,” he said, adding that his job is to bring issues to the minister’s attention but that he can’t force her hand.
Pardon?
Talk about a culture of defeat.
Is that really the role of an opposition MLA? To make the government aware of problems? Or is it to apply pressure, to negotiate, to be persistent and dogged, to question, to fight, to force government’s hand and make those in power do what’s right?
And if Huntjens is so certain Schryer won’t listen to his and the worker’s concerns, does that make this week’s meeting and the ensuing campaign a pointless exercise?
Maybe we’re simply seeing a tired politician, who has served many years with distinction, winding down on the opposition backbenches. Maybe we’re seeing cynicism and maybe the comment has more to do with Huntjens’ opinion of Schryer than his own willingness to go to battle for these workers. We hope we’re not seeing a reflection of the real attitudes of the opposition because just bringing the matter to the attention of the minister isn’t good enough. Not for the home support workers or the constituents of Charlotte-Campobello.
We remember Tony Huntjens the tiger. If indeed his political career is about over, let’s see him end with a roar.