{"id":10347,"date":"2019-05-24T00:16:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T03:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=10347"},"modified":"2019-05-24T00:16:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T03:16:44","slug":"sisters-pen-letters-to-premier-on-health-care-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=10347","title":{"rendered":"Sisters pen letters to Premier on health-care, environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>MILLER LAKE WEST:<\/strong> The Premier of Nova Scotia is \ngetting two strongly worded letters from a pair of Miller Lake West \nsisters, who hope he will give some serious consideration to their \nconcerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Georgia and Ellen Rudderham are not happy with what is \ngoing on in the province\u2019s health-care system and with some \nenvironmental impacts they foresee from Northern Pulp in Pictou County; \nand the possibility of brine being put into the Shubenacadie River by \nAlton Gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So they wanted to do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe  asked our mom what could we do,\u201d said Ellen, 11. She and her sister are  students at Holland Road Elementary School. \u201cShe suggested we do  letters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within an hour Georgia had her letter to Premier Stephen McNeil all finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI knew what I wanted to tell him,\u201d said Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/file-255.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10349\"\/><figcaption>The letter written by Georgia Rudderham. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some\n of the letter to McNeil said \u201cIf he had a broken leg, he would have to \ngo to the hospital and wait there for hours and hours, and probably be \nsent home without being seen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI asked him if he\u2019d rather have a hurt foot or a doctor,\u201d said Georgia, 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also mentioned about McNeil\u2019s 2015 promise of a doctor for every Nova Scotian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI  know when you make a promise to someone you have to keep it, and that  he promised everyone in N.S. a doctor and he didn\u2019t keep that promise,\u201d  she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the start of the letter she told him she knew once \nhe saw her last name he would probably want to put it down without \nreading it. The girls mom, Stacey, has made correspondence with the \nprovincial government over the Fall River Quarry; the teachers strike; \nand Northern Pulp in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI told him if he made it to the end of the letter, it was the one thing he did that wasn\u2019t a mistake,\u201d said Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said she\u2019s hopeful McNeil will have a change of heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s  heard a million grownups say it, but I\u2019m hoping after he reads a letter  from a little girl that he will change his mind on health-care and fix  it,\u201d said Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ellen and Georgia Rudderham pen letters to Premier\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZuBfgWsHgdQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ellen, who\u2019s letter is still being finalized, is about the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m happy I am writing because he might listen if it\u2019s from someone who is younger and my age,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\n hopes her letter, coming from one of the youngest of voices, will see \nchanges that help save the environment, and not continue to destroy it \nas she feels the projects she wrote about will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf he wants an Earth that he wants to live on he might want to think about it,\u201d said Ellen, 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ellen is hoping other kids will become engaged in their surroundings and take a stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\n hope they do because he (McNeil) doesn\u2019t listen to adults, so maybe \nhe\u2019ll listen to kids,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to grow up with the \nhealth-care and environment the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MILLER LAKE WEST: The Premier of Nova Scotia is getting two strongly worded letters from a pair of Miller Lake West sisters, who hope he will give some serious consideration to their concerns. Georgia and Ellen Rudderham are not happy with what is going on in the province\u2019s health-care system and with some environmental impacts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[512,302,513,404,514,515,29,516,517],"class_list":["post-10347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-alton-gas","tag-ellen-rudderham","tag-environment","tag-fall-river-quarry","tag-georgia-rudderham","tag-health-care","tag-holland-road-school","tag-northern-pulp","tag-premier-stephen-mcneil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}