Despite his high standing in the polls, Pierre Poilievre is travelling dangerously close to the edge. By and large, Canadians are a compassionate, caring bunch. They basically have little truck with hatred and conspiracy theories.
 
This blog, Against the Flow, is on the record as frequently criticizing Poilievre’s hardline Conservative views. Quite a few people might say, “Give Pierre a break. We are preparing to vote him in as our next Prime Minister.”  And yet, Poilievre appears unable to restrain himself. This week he dropped by (completely casually and unplanned we are told) to an encampment of ‘Axe the Carbon Tax” protesters on the side of the road at the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border.
 
Being approachable is important for politicians. But at the border protest, Poilievre was keeping some pretty outrageous company. Videos showed him posing for selfies with protesters and walking through placards saying F-Trudeau. Poilievre told them: “Everyone’s happy with what you’re doing…Right on guys, let’s keep it up and bring it home.”

In February, this Against the Flow blog, argued that Premier Blaine Higgs saw himself as the Knight in shining armour who had ridden his white stallion in to rid New Brunswick of old-style politics. He saw politics as a dirty business best left to old-style politicians obsessed with getting elected. Our Premier was above all that.
 
But now, the rivets have popped out of the Premier’s shining armour, altogether.
 
Premier Higgs has shown that he is the most political New Brunswick Premier ever. Shockingly, Mr. Higgs has appointed the Progressive Conservative campaign manager, Steve Outhouse to also be the Principal Secretary in the Premier’s government office.
 
According to the Premiers spokesperson, Nicolle Carlin, Outhouse will be paid up to $124,656 for his Principal Secretary role. The exact total of his pay for his Party/Campaign roles is not yet clear. Suffice to say, Outhouse is a hired gun who will not be working for peanuts. He also appears to have a blind spot for ethics, saying he will continue his party role in his “off-work time” while Principal Secretary for Higgs.
 
New Brunswickers can be sure that Mr. Outhouse will release his telephone records, both land line and cellular, so they can verify that he never makes party calls on ‘government time’…

With the Total Eclipse on Monday and so many of us casting our eyes to the heavens, we should look, as well, to the north to another star, The Whitehorse Star in the Yukon. This quality daily newspaper could soon be eclipsed permanently. After 124 years in operation, it has announced it will soon be closing its doors.

But there is a reason for optimism, a ray of hope!

Jim Butler, the long-time editor of the Star said in an interview on CBC radio on Tuesday that a coalition of concerned citizens, prospective investors, and journalistic idealists, are working on a proposal to save the newspaper. Butler says: “I’m hopeful. I am an idealist but also a realist.”
 
The realism is something that the diminishing group of editors of small newspapers across Canada are expressing right now. As Butler notes the biggest problem for these papers is, in simplest terms, “social media.” Many papers have long since died.

The deep political troubles of New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs stem from his failure to listen to the public through the members of his governing caucus.
 
Last week, Trevor Holder, who has served a quarter century as a member of the New Brunswick legislature, announced he is not running again, becoming the 10th Progressive Conservative MLA elected in the 2020 provincial election either to resign or decide not to run in this year’s election.
 
The Higgs government is in serious trouble with the departures from his government. There have also been four recent deaths in fires in homeless encampments. Premier Higgs and his, apparently, favorite minister, Public Safety Minister Chris Austin have chosen this moment to resurrect their idea of a Compassionate Intervention Act which they claim will solve two very complex social problems, homelessness, and addictions. Higgs and Austin have not explained how forced rehabilitation is the answer for these two very difficult problems.