Frustration & Other Stuff.....

This blog is going to be a little bit off the beaten path. You see a lot of poeple are telling me I should have updated what was accomplished coming off the walk. Don't get me wrong what we accomplished was amazing and has already helped more people then we ever anticipated, but me being me wants that definate "yes" from the government before I come on here and brag about what has been done. The media spent a considerable amount of time telling everyone what was done, but very little time talking about what MUST be done. We walked for a budget line specifically for poverty reduction. We have the support of the NDP and Liberals in this initiative, but our Premier and his party refuse to say yes or no. By not saying anything he has proven to Nova Scotians that he doesn't care that they worry about heating their homes and feeding their children. By saying nothing he proves that he is incapable of feeling the emotion of those around him that struggle to survive everyday. We are at a point where we need leadership and right now with only 17 days of work completed this year our premier is running with his tail between his legs and avoiding everything but a fiddle. I"m scared for our province, which brings me to how scared I am for our Country.

Coalition Government, Minority Governemnt, Majority Government. Who cares, I mean really who cares? We need leadership. Do you realize we are in the biggest ecomomic crisis possibly in history and neither our Federal or Provincial Leaders are sitting and dealing with it. Everyone knows which way I lean when it comes to politics and my dislike for Stephen Harper, but I"m at a point where I would just like these guys to get over themselves and realize the suffering that is going on everyday. Its funny with this all going on that economists are saying we need to get money to the people so they can spend and bring the economy back. WHY JUST NOW? We have a large demographic of people who never have disposable income. Those living in Poverty obviously don't matter to our leaders because "stimulus packages" are only getting rolled out when the rich start to suffer. I have to ask if they had provided a "stimulus package" to those in poverty years ago would be have this problem in the first place?

I promise to update as soon the Provincial Budget comes out and we find out the ultimate answer. Please rest assured no matter what the answer we won't stop. If the budget line is not there the fight has just begun, if the line is there we will hold them accountable for where it is spent.

As the papers have said Wendy and I are working on a new project that will come to light in the new year. Its a great opportunity to bring the new life we have developed and blend it with the old life we left behind. I"m very excited for not ony the people we are going to help but for my family has well.

Take care and god bless.

Will Walk for Food!

October 20th to October 26th will be a week that is certainly going to change my life and hopefully help the lives of some others in Nova Scotia that need it.

On October 20th I will be walking from Bridgetown (town hall) to Halifax (provincial house) to ask our elected officials why more then 50000 Nova Scotians do not have the financial ability to put food on their plates. The provincial government has spent millions of dollars on studies of poverty by both governmental branches and groups in the grassroots of poverty. Recommendations are made, but nothing is ever done; its time for us to take a stand and demand that money stop being wasted on studies that always get the same results. Its time for that money to be put towards strategic plans to stop poverty. Going to bed hungry in this country is completely unacceptable. If it takes someone to walk across the province to tell the government, then I"m your guy because I can't sit back anymore and see perfectly good people be swallowed by the never ending hole that is poverty.

I will be stopping in most locations along the way to bring light to something that most people don't know. The poor in Nova Scotia are in desperate need and our government continues to ignore it. 50000 in a small province is a staggering number. So staggering in fact that if you look around in your community I"m sure you can name a few parents that give up eating so their kids can get proper nutrition. What will scare you is the amount of parents that do this that you can't name. Poverty is something not talked about in this province and when it is people have to hang their head in shame and hide from the facts. Its not something that should be hidden anymore, in fact if you look at your bank accounts you will find most of you are only 6 to 8 weeks of no income away from a food bank or social assistance.

This walk is about 200 kms and will take me 7 days. I have an amazing team of supporters who are going to encourage me and make sure that people along the way are aware of why we are doing this and hopefully get them out to support us.

A website will be up and running very soon outlining where I will be and when. It will also contain more information on how you can help this event and how to help the people in your community.

If you can come out and support and walk a bit that would be great, if you can't how about sitting down and thinking about the people in your life that are effected by poverty and how much better this world would be if everyone had a equal chance in life. We can make a difference one step at a time.

I can be reached for comments at billandlee@ns.aliantzinc.ca or if you want to sign a postcard by proxy.

Absolutely Not!

The thought of a child never being to MacDonalds, of never feeling the pleasure of getting a new toy as a surprise, of never getting those new sneakers that everyone else has, or even trying to explain to his classmates why he's not eating lunch today brings tears to my eyes and destroys the morale and resolve of the parent that constantly has to say No to that child because they just don't have the money. This happens everyday not only in the major centers of Canada but in the small towns of Nova Scotia. More often that not you will see that women are living in poverty with children that learn at a very young age that life is just not fair.

We live in a society that has shown people that in order to be valued you have to have money and possessions, I agree thats not right, but should a child have to carry that on their shoulders? NO - ABSOLUTELY NOT! Should the single Mother or Father have to carry this on their shoulders? NO - ABSOLUTELY NOT! What about the burden of being a middle income family that has a traditional mom and dad and 2.5 kids, believe it or not they carry this burden as well. There is no easy solution, but those of us that are fortunate enough to be in a position to have food on the table are the only ones that are going to be able to help this issue. Its easy for us to sit back and blame the government (thats another blog at another time), but considering they continue to do research paper after research paper while "Jane Doe" and her children starve prove their not going to do anything. This needs to be grass roots, we need to prove that everyone is important and deserves to have happiness.

As stated above the world at this point and time is unfair, but wouldn't it be nice if just for awhile we were all equal and had a little less to worry about.

I'm open to suggestions and comments.