Political leaders underestimate the support for this. It is about our children, our bodies, our air - nothing less than that. Well, people can get just as hyped up about the environment - because we want our children to have a future. Some environment ministers have been more like brokers for the environment rather than protectors of the environment. Environmental issues are at such a critical point that you will be remembered as either another Premier who didn't act when there were still time and options or as one who made a difference.
Teenagers are a neglected, harangued group.
Everyone agrees that there are not enough services and places for youth. Invest even more in youth centers - surely we can do better than malls and Tim Hortons as national hangouts. It will pay back tenfold. You are young but I bet there are times when you wish you had been elected Premier at 18, when, like most of us at that age, you knew everything. Rosella Melanson First published in the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal June 2000.