Just ask the 300 or so workers at fish plants who were told this week that their jobs had disappeared.
Also check with the few dozen workers who were told this week the province would no longer support their employment organizations and they would soon be out of work.
Even ask the thousands of civil servants who are on tenterhooks waiting to see if they will have a job and a paycheque after the spring budget is made public.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Poll the NAPE workers who are seeking a new contract with a government which says there is no money to give them a raise or teachers who are facing the same financial brick wall.
And let’s not forget the hundreds of construction workers employed by contractors in Labrador who were sent packing on a moment’s notice a few weeks ago because the mining company there changed its plans on expansion.
People in this province won’t be seeing a premier any time soon grinning and shouting “we did it” after brokering a deal with Ottawa that brought renewed optimism and had Newfoundlanders and Labradorians standing a little taller with pride because we would be standing on our own feet instead of going begging to Ottawa. -
We can also throw in the reality that oil production has fallen and the billions of dollars flowing into the provincial treasury aren’t as plentiful as they were just a few years ago.
People in this province won’t be seeing a premier any time soon grinning and shouting “we did it” after brokering a deal with Ottawa that brought renewed optimism and had Newfoundlanders and Labradorians standing a little taller with pride because we would be standing on our own feet instead of going begging to Ottawa.
Brighter days may still be in our collective futures but there will be some difficult times between then and now.
Then again, maybe it’s just a sour mood hangover from a long winter that won’t go away.
