Dear Members of the Legislative Assembly,
I wish to express my outrage over the piece of legislation (Bill 37) being introduced into the Legislature around civil servants being allowed to pick and choose who they marry. While I completely agree with religious institutions being able to pick and choose who they marry as they run their own “business”, I cannot agree with civil servants being able to pick and choose. A civil service is not a religious service so religious beliefs should not be a factor here. These civil servants are paid by the tax dollars of many New Brunswickers (around 50% according to recent polls) who support same sex marriages. If they can pick and choose who to marry then I should be able to pick and choose where my tax dollars go and I
think that you would agree that this makes no sense. The Conservatives are simply wasting everyone’s tax dollars introducing legislation, to protect a few, that will be defeated by human rights tribunals in a matter of months. A better idea would be to simply offer the few civil servants that are affected jobs in other government departments. When individuals become civil servants they should be required to leave all prejudice and racist attitudes at home. It only makes sense. If we had to create legislation for all the civil servants in this province to protect their religious rights in the workplace we would have a mess. There are a lot of different religions in existence and I would hate to see Department of Health employees refusing condoms to teens or Department of Education refusing to teach health curriculum. Everyone in this province should be treated equally by government and this is clearly not the case. Creating public policy that puts one individual’s rights above another is risky business. As politically advantageous as the Conservatives might think it is for them to introduce this legislation, I would suggest reconsidering. It may back fire when all minorities in the province realize that this could potentially impact them (e.g. civil servants rejecting Muslims due to religious beliefs) and the everyday citizen finds out the cost to introduce the legislation and then fight it at a human rights level. It’s no wonder why people (especially youth) are leaving our province in droves. I hope and urge the Liberals do the right thing and oppose Bill 37.
I wish to express my outrage over the piece of legislation (Bill 37) being introduced into the Legislature around civil servants being allowed to pick and choose who they marry. While I completely agree with religious institutions being able to pick and choose who they marry as they run their own “business”, I cannot agree with civil servants being able to pick and choose. A civil service is not a religious service so religious beliefs should not be a factor here. These civil servants are paid by the tax dollars of many New Brunswickers (around 50% according to recent polls) who support same sex marriages. If they can pick and choose who to marry then I should be able to pick and choose where my tax dollars go and I
think that you would agree that this makes no sense. The Conservatives are simply wasting everyone’s tax dollars introducing legislation, to protect a few, that will be defeated by human rights tribunals in a matter of months. A better idea would be to simply offer the few civil servants that are affected jobs in other government departments. When individuals become civil servants they should be required to leave all prejudice and racist attitudes at home. It only makes sense. If we had to create legislation for all the civil servants in this province to protect their religious rights in the workplace we would have a mess. There are a lot of different religions in existence and I would hate to see Department of Health employees refusing condoms to teens or Department of Education refusing to teach health curriculum. Everyone in this province should be treated equally by government and this is clearly not the case. Creating public policy that puts one individual’s rights above another is risky business. As politically advantageous as the Conservatives might think it is for them to introduce this legislation, I would suggest reconsidering. It may back fire when all minorities in the province realize that this could potentially impact them (e.g. civil servants rejecting Muslims due to religious beliefs) and the everyday citizen finds out the cost to introduce the legislation and then fight it at a human rights level. It’s no wonder why people (especially youth) are leaving our province in droves. I hope and urge the Liberals do the right thing and oppose Bill 37.In addition, I quickly wanted to mention that I have finished my Management course so I will have a little more free time. However, I have been looking into the possibility of beginning a Masters in Public Administration through Dalhousie distance learning. If anyone has had any experience with this program I would love to hear from you.
A couple of nights ago I attended the 2007 International Women's Day celebrations in Saint John. We had a table for our Many Faces of Violence initiative. There were many tables at the event representing the many organizations in our city that offer services to women. It was a good event although it appeared that there were fewer people in attendance than in the past. Coverdale Centre for Women organizes the event each year and let's hope that attendance increases next year.
Do not forget to move your clocks ahead this weekend and
check your fire alarm batteries. It will be great to have light longer in the evenings. However, I think the U.S. claim of saving on energy is flawed in that most of us will now require extra light in the morning plus other studies have found the costs and savings to equal out in the long run. Oh well, what can you expect, it was probably Bush who thought of it.Have a great week!
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