NO SMILES WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!

The Forgotten Communities of Choiseul/Saltibus are drowning in disillusionment, gasping for a breath of competent representation. We reminisce about the days when JMD Bousquet and Gilbert Mason graced our political landscape, providing a glimmer of hope and genuine concern for our welfare. But what about now? From Brian Charles to Bradley Felix, each representative seems to be a mere shadow of what true leadership should be.

 Drive through Choiseul Village, wander through Roblot, La Maze, Debreuil, or Rivere Doree — do you see anything worth smiling about? The answer is a resounding no. Unemployment grips our youth like a vice, squeezing the life out of their aspirations. Parents struggle to scrape together enough to send their children to school, facing the cruel reality of financial hardship. Where is the beacon of hope in all of this despair? Nowhere to be found.

The government introduced the Youth Employment Program, a lifeline for our struggling young people. Yet, our representative failed to lift a finger to guide them through the bureaucratic maze, leaving them stranded with dashed hopes and unfulfilled dreams. Can they muster a smile in the face of such negligence? Absolutely not.

And what about the Roblot multi-purpose center, standing idle like a monument to broken promises? Constructed in early 2023, it serves as a painful reminder of our representative's ineptitude. We're left in the dark, wondering when, if ever, it will be handed over to the community. Is this a situation that warrants a smile? Hardly.

The smiles have vanished from the faces of our youth, our elders, our workers, our families — from every corner of The Forgotten Communities. Is there a glimmer of hope on the horizon? Perhaps, but until then, we remain in a state of perpetual disillusionment, yearning for the day when genuine leadership will bring back the smiles we've lost. So, does our representative have anything to smile about? Maybe he'll find solace in this article or the blue sky above, but for us, the sky seems perpetually gray.