Dear Editor,
Unless the People's National Party 'brains trust' has a collective death wish, it ought to consider very seriously the views of your columnist Christopher Burns in his The Agenda piece on Sunday, September 13, 2015, about calling early elections.
The experts indicate correctly that most macroeconomic indicators are pointing in the right direction, but "primary surplus", "net international reserves", "debt-to-GDP ratio" mean little to the average voter. Among the meaningful economic indicators are job growth, housing solutions, and exchange rate. The early election hawks may wish to consider whether the Government's efforts in these areas have borne sufficient fruit.
Furthermore, while Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has been quietly "working, working, working" to fix the infrastructural deficits, huge debt load, and myriad social problems bequeathed by her predecessors 53 years after Independence, the Government has not so far been able to connect her efforts as "the leader" directly to the first green shoots of progress now manifesting themselves. What can be seen is the alarming murder rate and water woes. And these are serious negatives.
The fact that the other party does not appear to have any bankable solutions to these problems leaves voters frustrated, angry, and irrational. Recent political events are a cautionary tale. The province of Alberta has long been the oil-fuelled bastion of Canadian capitalism. This year, four decades of Conservative rule ended in a landslide victory for a raw, "no-name stars" democratic socialist party which included a university student. In Grenada, over the past 15 years irrational voters have given the ruling New National Party all 15 seats, then they threw them out on their ears. Five years later, they irrational set returned them to power with all 15 seats.
Rather than putting a little oil in their lamps, the PNP ought to be putting a little water in their wine. Beware an irrational electorate.
Errol W A Townshend
Ontario, Canada
ewat@rogers.com
Portia,jpg
Portia Simpson Miller
Beware an irrational electorate
-->
Unless the People's National Party 'brains trust' has a collective death wish, it ought to consider very seriously the views of your columnist Christopher Burns in his The Agenda piece on Sunday, September 13, 2015, about calling early elections.
The experts indicate correctly that most macroeconomic indicators are pointing in the right direction, but "primary surplus", "net international reserves", "debt-to-GDP ratio" mean little to the average voter. Among the meaningful economic indicators are job growth, housing solutions, and exchange rate. The early election hawks may wish to consider whether the Government's efforts in these areas have borne sufficient fruit.
Furthermore, while Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has been quietly "working, working, working" to fix the infrastructural deficits, huge debt load, and myriad social problems bequeathed by her predecessors 53 years after Independence, the Government has not so far been able to connect her efforts as "the leader" directly to the first green shoots of progress now manifesting themselves. What can be seen is the alarming murder rate and water woes. And these are serious negatives.
The fact that the other party does not appear to have any bankable solutions to these problems leaves voters frustrated, angry, and irrational. Recent political events are a cautionary tale. The province of Alberta has long been the oil-fuelled bastion of Canadian capitalism. This year, four decades of Conservative rule ended in a landslide victory for a raw, "no-name stars" democratic socialist party which included a university student. In Grenada, over the past 15 years irrational voters have given the ruling New National Party all 15 seats, then they threw them out on their ears. Five years later, they irrational set returned them to power with all 15 seats.
Rather than putting a little oil in their lamps, the PNP ought to be putting a little water in their wine. Beware an irrational electorate.
Errol W A Townshend
Ontario, Canada
ewat@rogers.com
Portia,jpg
Portia Simpson Miller
Beware an irrational electorate
-->