I like MLA Derek Mombourquette and it will be very difficult for you to convince me that he isn't sincere when he says "Home Matters". But you'll be even more hardpressed to convince me that he's willing to depart from the messages Premier McNeil authorizes from Halifax.

If McNeil isn't going to offer any increased resources (by way of provincial Equalization), Mombourquette tells us that the leading experts in Equalization (NSEF) don't know what it is. Then he defies and directly contradicts Senator Dan Christmas as he stays on party message in Halifax and proclaims: "Cape Breton is not dying".

If McNeil says our healthcare is not in crisis, then Mombourquette and his sole remaining Liberal MLA colleague in Cape Breton - Geoff MacLellan - stay on message. They promote the new model that was rushed out at a press conference to the surprise of many doctors who didn't know it was coming.

And now Mombourquette is on a very smart branding campaign. He wants to be synonymous with the idea of the plight of Cape Breton being important. If he drops off enough small cheques (that any other party would have also delivered), if he takes photos to share on social media with smiling recipients, and if he continually reinforces "Home Matters" everywhere... he'll solidify his partisan Liberal base, and alleviate the anxieties brewing among citizens who don't feel like we're doing so well - either economically or within our healthcare system. 

The Derek Mombourquette I'd like to reelect is the one who demonstrates that Home Matters by bringing his allegiance back home to Cape Breton where it belongs.

Over the weekend, a post from a young family physician, Megan Keating, went viral. My initial intention was to just share and allow Dr. Keating's statement to speak loud and clear on its own, as it does so remarkably well. However, upon seeing MLA Mombourquette's post, I felt it would be valuable to showcase a direct contrast between the focus of the two - a Cape Breton politician and a Cape Breton doctor.

Both of them believe "home matters", but they seem to be demonstrating very different perspectives on the state of our healthcare at home:

Who are we to believe?

Is MLA Mombourquette and Premier McNeil right in their relaxed tone and insistence that there's no crisis? Are they correct that we just have to hang in there, and they're going to take care of the problematic (but non-crisis) conditions of healthcare in Cape Breton and the rest of the province without cause for further worry?

Or is a medical professional, Dr. Megan Keating, correct when she says that conditions she's experiencing firsthand in her workplace (our healthcare system) are "nothing short of a crisis"?

When it comes to the MLA launching a polished new branding campaign, and a doctor breaking her silence, I'm entirely inclined to take the doctor's word for it for now.

NOTE: The views expressed above are my own and do not represent lokol (goCapeBreton.com). Read more