Dear Editor,
Please update the photograph of Michael Johansen that accompanies his columns.
If his column as printed in the Aurora on March 4 is any indication, he’s probably looking more like Mellville’s white-whale-obsessed Captain Ahab.
Johansen’s rambling re-hash of obvious political cleavages in Labrador was unified by the odd assumption that every synapse and step of Peter Penashue regarding the Caribou hunt is driven by sinister calculations.
Like Ahab in “Moby Dick,” Johansen gives his white whale nowhere to go. If Penashue says x or y or z it’s clearly crass politics. And whichever he says, according to Johansen, he’s afraid of the truth.
Of course the reader never learns what Johansen thinks is the “truth.” At best, it seems he dislikes hydroelectric projects, mining and Conservatives. I hope such profound content isn’t expensive for the newspaper.
While asserting that Penashue was somehow dodging on the caribou issue, Johanesen then suggests that Penashue only ever follows “party line.” If that was true, then there’d be no room for dodging. Johansen needs to make up his mind.
Speaking of party lines, citizen engagement institute Semara studied all federal party caucuses and found Conservatives were the least bound to party lines. Penashue himself opposed the Prime Minister on a motion to have a committee study the definition of when life begins.
And Caribou? Their populations elsewhere have indeed been declining – even in vast areas not touched by development. You don’t need conspiracy theories to see the obvious reason why Peter Penashue focused on facts. You just need the Constitution. He’s a Federal Minister. The hunt is a provincial responsibility.
By focusing on the facts and not the fight, Penashue showed us that he’s in the right headspace. He remains a wise and effective representative for his riding and for our province.
Michael O'Brien
Buchans
