Different times

Too foolish to talk about -

Trials and tribulations. There is plenty of it this year. All I been hearing is about one lay-off after another. Up in Alberta, Newfies are heading home. Now, we want some of them home again. But not like it is now. Now, if they find another dozen oil wells, and get the Lower Churchill started, we would put out the welcome mat. Don't get me wrong. We'd welcome them home anytime, but the big problem here on the Rock is lack of jobs.

This year, even the fishery is in trouble. Over the years, some of it was true what they have said about the fishery, but some was a barrel of lies. We have had good times and bad times. In the past, even the bad times were good times, but only for the fish merchants. The losers was always the fishermen.

But this year is a horse of a different col-our. With a bad recession on the doorsteps, money is tight. When money is tight, people don't spend. And if people don't spend, fish products are not sold. When the products are not sold, prices are too low for the fishermen. This leaves them grounded on a very rough shoal.

The fishermen of the outports had it rough before, but we can't compare the early days with today. We are in a different era. When our fathers lived through the depression, they had no money, but back then they didn't need much money. They just needed a bit of money to get some oil for the lamps. The rest of the goods that were needed came from the sea, the woods and the gardens.

Take a look around you. How many root cellars do you see? As far as I know there are only two in my community. One time there was one in every garden. And every fall, there be enough potatoes put in that cellar for the winter.

But time changes. We don't need that many potatoes now because it is bad for our diabetics. We can't eat salt fish because of our blood pressure. We are not supposed to eat scrunchroons and port fat with fish and brewis because it will plug up our pipelines. No, I don't mean the sewer pipelines. I mean the ones that carry the blood around our body. Yes, I know they are called the arteries. But bear in mind, I'm not a professional writer. I'm just a down to earth outport Newfie who tells it like it is.

By the way, the sewer pipeline is the one that leads to our rear end. The part of us where the recycling food waste is dumped out. You can have problems there if you eat the wrong kind of food. It can get plugged up. Now, here is some advice. Go cook a good meal of baked beans. It works better than commercial pipe cleaner.

Now, let us get back to the difference between recession and depression. The way I got it figured out, a depression is when people gets down in the dumps. A recession is when people are taking a break from overspending. Got to be. Recess means taking a break from something. So a recession must mean you are taking a mighty big break from something mighty big. And there is nothing bigger in the eyes of most people than a dollar.

Now I'm not stupid. I looked those words up in the dictionary.

Because of the recession, the fishery is in one hell of a big mess. The lobster is worth nothing when compared with the price of gas. There is no guarantee when they can go fish for cod. To make sure some areas couldn't get lumps they open it when it was time to close it. As for the crab, the fishermen are just hanging on by their toenails.

Will they survive? It's been all done to the fishermen before and they pulled through. And they will pull through again. And it would be a big help if Williams gets the oil pumped from his head and put one thing first - survival of the outports.

Remember Joey Smallwood. He was the premier who had factories on his mind. A lot of them were started. Instead of a job for every man, woman, and child, the outport Newfoundlanders still had to fall back on the fishery. Even in the land of the rubber boot, a rubber boot factory didn't work.

What if the oil wells run dry? What is going to happen then? If the fishery is gone, what can the outport noddies fall back on? Premier Williams, you might be a fool, but you're not stupid. Do what has to be done. Preserve the outports and the fishery.