To the editor,
I was in Antigonish recently and came across what seemed to be a picket line. This event was taking place near the bridge repair construction site. I soon found out that it was not a picket line. It was a protest from unemployed Nova Scotians, exercising their right to voice their discontent.
I found out that they were rightfully upset about local jobs going to out-of-province workers. Those out-of-province workers will take Nova Scotia taxpayers dollars away from Nova Scotia. They will not be buying cars, appliances, paying for home repairs, or renovations and they are not going to pay any income taxes in this province.
I agree with the government that contracts should go to the lowest bidder. What I do not agree with is the way this deal was made. The NDP government should have put a requirement for this company to hire local qualified workers. This shows a lack of know-how and care from the NDP. Such a requirement was included in contracts before while the NDP was in opposition. They obviously were not paying attention.
And now here we are with NDP MLA Maurice Smith who says “there is nothing I can do.” Nobody listens to him in Halifax. Our Premier Darrell Dexter is a lawyer who could not think about Nova Scotians first, and Deputy Leader Frank Corbett seems to have chosen to forget everything he knew about labour fairness.
Thanks to the NDP, gone are our tax dollars and jobs that should have been filled by Nova Scotians.
François Rochon
Westville
