Thanks!

As we close up shop on another campaign I'd just like to thank all the volunteers who worked so hard on my campaign, including the sign crew and the scrutineers.

I'd also like to thank my wife and family for putting up with another campaign (the third in four years), and doing it with a smile.

Finally thanks to all of those who came out to support me at the polls. Over 1,200 votes is truly humbling and I appreciate every one.

Even though the results weren't what we hoped, there's still a lot of work to be done in our community. I pledge to stay committed and vigilant and hope that we can all work together to make our city a better place to live.

-thanks!

Q&A with Municipalities Matter!

Here's a link to the candidate interviews with the Municipalities Matter Coalition

http://mdlc-ctmr.jottit.com/candidate_interviews

Meet the Candidiate / Venez rencontrer votre candidat

Venez rencontrer votre candidat

David Hackett,
du quartier 4 à Moncton


Le samedi 10 mai de 14 h à 16 h

Parc Alexander (entre les rues Reade et Humphrey)

Gâteau et maquillage pour les enfants

Au plaisir!

-----------------------------------------

Meet the Candidate Rally


Come Meet David Hackett, your candidate in Moncton Ward 4


Saturday May 10th from 2-4 pm

Alexander Park (Between Reade and Humphrey Street)

Cake and Face Painting for the kids!

Please Come Join Us!

Say No to a Casino

There’s been a lot in the news recently about a proposed Casino in Moncton. The Province is considering multiple bids on such a project. Let me state unequivocally: This is a bad idea.

The Social Cost of video gambling in this Province is already too high, and to consolidate VLTs to a single location is not the answer. There is no net benefit to having a VLT warehouse (which is all a Casino would be), in our community. The devastating affects of VLT use on individuals and families is well documented can not be underestimated.

Unfortunately both our mayoral candidates have expressed openness to the idea, framed in the context that it will get the ball rolling on a larger complex downtown. In their view the benefits to this outweigh the costs.

They are wrong.

Even more disconcerting is that the Province seems set to accept a bid and want to push this development forward by the middle of May. Given that Council won’t be sworn in until May 26th, I find this extremely disturbing. The provincial government should wait until Municipalities across the Province have their governments in place, to determine where (if anywhere) their Casino is welcome.

I promise I will work quickly once elected to get bylaws in place to prohibit development of gaming facilities in Moncton. I encourage you to seek out the views of other Municipal Candidates on the issue as well.

This is too important an issue to go unchallenged, and I intend to do what I can to reverse course on the city’s plans for a gaming centre downtown. I hope you will join me in this fight.

E minus 14 Days!

Dear Friends,


What an exciting campaign this has become! All week on the doorstep I’ve been getting tremendous response and support. It’s extremely gratifying to see so many people in Moncton looking for a progressive change.

As we move into the next phase of the campaign, we’ll be getting our radio and print advertising ready and attending several events around the community. I’ll also continue my door to door work and will try to hit as many houses as possible in the coming days. If I haven’t been to your neighbourhood yet, drop me a line. I want to speak to as many members of our community as possible.

I’d also like to take a second to thank everyone who’s helped out so far. The sign crew did a great job this year scouting locations and have done a great job getting the signs up and keeping them in good repair. I’d also like to thank those of you who’ve provided some financial contributions. They will go a long way towards funding our advertising push and the support is greatly appreciated.

With 14 days to go, we’re in a sprint to the finish, but I strongly believe we can make a change and bring a strong voice of responsibility to Council!

Thanks, and see you on the doorstep!

- Dave Hackett

Combating Poverty in Moncton

I was at last night’s Council meeting and was pleased to see the joint presentation by Real Voice of Poverty and Mobile One in an effort to get a living memorial established for the “Unknown Citizen”, honouring not only the unknown man found frozen to death in our city this past December, but all of the unknown and nameless homeless people who have passed away unnoticed by the public at large.

It’s a great way to raise awareness for a sadly growing problem in our community. More and more people are living at or below the poverty line and are a missed payment away from living on the street (indeed, some already are).

That’s why I’ve been calling for an Anti-Poverty and Housing Roundtable. There are a tremendous number of organisations in Moncton, like the two mentioned above, all doing phenomenal work in combating poverty and its effects, but it’s not always a co-ordinated effort. I feel we could accomplish so much more if we brought the stakeholders together and hammered out some directives that I could then take to council to achieve some concrete results, whether that be a standing committee on housing, desperately needed funding, or an action plan to give more people a chance to improve their situations.

Together we are stronger, and in turn can do better for our city and our fellow citizens.

Putting in a Little Face Time...

We're now live on Facebook as well. Come visit our group here:

David Hackett for Moncton City Council

We're Live and Ready to Roll....

Dear Friends,

It is with great pleasure that I'm able to open this blog again and present myself as your candidate for Moncton City Council.

Our community still needs a progressive voice, and still needs someone to ensure that our cities growth is managed responsibly both in an environmental sense as well as an ethical one.

Over the coming days, I'll be laying out my platform dealing with issues such as accountability, parkland protection, initiatives towards carbon reduction, upgrades of the Moncton Sewage Treatment Plant and a more active role at the municipal level in combating poverty and its effects.

In the meantime I'll see you on the doorstep, and I hope you'll drop me a line if you have any questions or would like to get involved.

-Thanks

(P.S. I'm leaving my video links from the prior election up, as they are all still relevant issues. Look for more updates in the coming days)

Letter of the Week

From "Moncton This Week" and "Riverview This Week"

Published Saturday November 10th, 2007

Appeared on page A2

To the editor:

It was with some concern (but sadly not surprise) that I read the November 3rd column from the Member of Parliament for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe [On the Hill, Brian Murphy, This Week, Nov. 3, p. 7].

To state, as he did, that the Liberals inaction over the past number of weeks was in the best interests of Canadians was the very height of gall.

It is for purely self-serving motives that the Liberals have decided to abstain from voting on key measures in the House.

By doing so they have handed Mr. Harper a blank cheque to govern as if he had a majority, knowing that Mr. Murphy and his cohorts will sit on their hands when push comes to shove.

We've seen this already, not only with the throne speech, but with the Government's corporate tax-cutting measures that will see the squeeze continue to be put on working families.

The majority of Canadians did not vote for a Conservative government, and for the Liberals to take themselves out of the game and subvert that wish is an affront to democracy.

For Mr. Murphy to further state that the NDP is somehow irresponsible for opposing the Conservative agenda (something Mr. Murphy himself was elected to do) is laughable.

The NDP has consistently stood in opposition to Mr. Harper and what we feel is the wrong direction he wants to take the country in.

The blatant truth is that the Liberals are running scared from any confrontation due to their own weakness and ineptitude.

They have a wildly unpopular leader, a veritable revolt in their Quebec wing, a financial crisis and some very public internal strife.

These are the reasons they have gladly sacrificed any pretense of principle rather than face the electorate.

Shame on Mr. Murphy for trying to spin this into anything else and in the process insulting the intelligence of his voters.

Perhaps if the Liberals and their hapless leader are unwilling to fulfill their Parliamentary duties, the time has come to relieve them of it completely.

David Hackett

Vice President

Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe

NDP Riding Association

Thanks!

Thank you to everyone for all the hard work that went into the campaign.

Thanks to Joe for the wonderful signs.

Thanks to Kathy for help with the fliers.

Thanks to George, Joe, Andrew and Jim for putting the signs up so quickly.

Thanks to Gerard for the translations.

Thanks to Andrew, Joel, Helene, Gerard, Joe C., Joe B., Ian, Greg, Pat, Jim, Dave, Shannon and Val for coming out to canvass.

Thanks to the scrutineers for taking time out to help.

Thanks to all the donors whose financial contributions made this campaign live and breathe.

Huge thanks to my wife and family who put up with a lot during the course of the campaign and did it with a smile.

And finally thanks to all the people who came out to vote. I deeply appreciate the confidence you showed in me and hope together we can continue working towards the betterment of our community in other ways.

It was a great ride and I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me soon.

-Thanks

VOTE!

Well everyone, E-Day has arrived and my volunteers are working hard pulling the vote and preparing for tonight. I'll be around all day offering rides to the polls and then waiting with family and friends for the results to come in. This is what it's all about. I'm tremendously excited and can't wait to see how it all turns out.


VOTE!!!!

The Momentum is Building!

We're just having the most fantastic responses at the door! It's been a heavy week for canvassing, visiting neighborhoods around Highfield, Cabot, Magellen, Edgett, Vail and more in the last few days. At the same time, I was able to attend a very useful meeting on the City's master recreation plan and kick around some exciting ideas for the growth of Moncton's park system. I also got to celebrate May Day (i.e International Workers Day) with some old friends and make several new ones. Somewhere along the way I also managed to snag a ticket for the White Stripes concert and spent some much needed time with my family.

This weekend the machine continues to roll. After enjoying Free Comic Book Day at both Gamezilla and Mad City Comics, I'll be back on the campaign trail, knocking on as many doors as we can in the final days. Hopefully one of them will be yours!

E Minus 7!

We're getting into crunch time with only one week left in the campaign! Things are moving at a fast pace now. We'll be all over the Ward and the City in the coming days, attending meetings and events, and of course, meeting all the people we can!

We had a great time up in Pine Tree today (if a little wet), and laid some groundwork for the Election night machinery. Tomorrow we're back on the doorstep for most of the day before heading off to celebrate International Workers Day down at the Lion's Centre on St. George Street.

Before I sign off for the night, I'd thought I'd post the next YouTube Link dealing with the Wastewater Treatment Plant. How a community manages it's sewage is something that concerns everybody and it's high time our city, in conjunction with our neighbors, began the process of upgrading our facilities.

Let's Talk about Taxes...

It seems to me we do things a little backwards sometimes. When the capitol budget rolls around, the city estimates what kind of services it needs to provide for the year then sets (or maintains) a property tax rate in line with this.

The problem is that shortly after that, the Province does its property assessments (which, to put it mildly, have tended to be high in recent years) and the net effect is that property taxes are significantly increased even if the tax rate remains flat.

So let's bring accountability back to the city. I propose we put forward a mini-budget to get us through to the timeframe after the assessments are in and then set a fair tax rate based on the current years assessments. So, if the assessments drive the taxes up the city can off-set this with a lower rate. This will take the guesswork and surprise out of the process and give people a fair and reasonable tax system.

Geeks on Ice!

Hey all,

Taking a quick break from the campaign to mention the "Geeks on Ice" Tournament going on all this week to help raise funds for the United Way. Its a great event for a good cause and there's lots of hockey and non-hockey related events to take in. Stop by at Geeks on Ice Tournament and give if you can.

The organisers work amazingly hard at this all year and its exciting to see how much their hard work pays off.

A Successful First Week!

Dear Friends,

What a week it’s been!

The signs are up and I've had nothing but positive comments on them so far. They are really catching people's attention. Lawn signs are now available as well. Drop me a line if you'd like one.

We've also been on the doorstep in force this week and the response has been tremendous. People are excited about injecting fresh ideas into council and making a real difference.

I'm also pleased to unveil my next YouTube Video, discussing improvements to our city’s parks, a subject I'm sure is as important to your family as it is to mine.





This weekend look for me at the Farmer's Market as well as at the Nazareth House Trivathon fundraiser on Sunday.

As always, I'll be on the doorstep and hope to see you there.

-Dave H.

Signs of Things to Come

Had a great day yesterday with the sign team, getting the signs up around the Ward. These guys always work so hard and do such a tremendous job.

We're the first campaign to have our signs out and get visibility in the Ward.

Thanks to George, Joe, Jim, Andrew and Jack for the fantastic effort. Their hard work really shows!

1 Hour to Kick Off!

Dear Friends,

It's been a busy week, and the campaign machine is revved up and ready to go. The signs are in, the nomination papers are ready and we've shot some great video segments.

Tomorrow, I'll be filing my papers with the returning officers and everything will be official.

In the coming days look for signs to go up, canvassing to begin and a few surprises as well.

I'll also be introducing a series of YouTube videos to outline some of the ideas I have for our neighbourhoods and our city.

For Example:





Expect even more in the coming days.

See you on the doorstep.

-Dave H.

Snow day!

Hey all,


Just playing around with the the new layout.

Here's a gratuitous family snapshot.

Change of Scenery on the Way

Dear Friends,

As some of you already know, I'm taking the plunge into municipal politics and seeking the seat for Moncton Ward 4 in the the May 5th byelection. I'll be retooling this blog and updating it regularly very soon. Look for a new coat of paint and some exciting new ideas for our city. I'm quoting the Times and Transcript article that ran today below. There was also an announcement on local radio. Stay tuned, lots more to come.....

David Hackett to seek Moncton Ward 4 seat

Published Wednesday March 14th, 2007

Appeared on page A3

West Lane resident David Hackett confirmed yesterday he would seek the vacant Ward 4 seat on Moncton city council in a byelection scheduled for May 7.

The married father of a five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son works for Moncton's Whitehill Technology.

Hackett was the New Democratic Party candidate for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe in last year's federal election when he impressed a number of Metro Monctonians by running a particularly energetic campaign in that contest and doubled the number of votes his party received in the previous federal election.

Hackett said, "it wasn't an easy decision" to pursue the council seat instead of trying to carry the NDP torch again in an anticipated federal election this year. It was however a goal he's long wanted to pursue.

"I had municipal aspirations looking forward to 2008, but this has sped things up a bit."

Hackett's decision came to light in a letter sent to NDP members saying he wouldn't be offering federally.

The Ward 4 byelection became necessary when councillor Chris Collins resigned last month to make his ultimately successful bid to represent Moncton East in the provincial legislature, replacing former premier Bernard Lord. The other councillor for the ward is Rene (Pepsi) Landry.

Nominations for people wishing to represent the ward will begin April 5, and run until April 20 when nominations close. Five days have been scheduled for advance polls beginning April 28 until May 3.

The sprawling ward's southern boundary is Mountain Road from the east side of Mapleton Road to the west side of Universite Avenue. It follows the west side of Wheeeler Boulevard from Universite Avenue to the north side of Morton Avenue and extends east as far as Elmwood Drive. The northern edge of the ward runs along the Trans Canada Highway from Mapleton to McLaughlin Road, but extends north of the highway between McLaughlin and Elmwood, going out to city limits north of Royal Oaks.