News Leader News
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- January 10, 2006
To The Editor;
Your vote can make a big difference. Every Canadian should take time to reflect and get really upset about the bungling, mismanagement, scandals, frauds and treachery of the Liberals and Conservatives during the past 20 years.
After stifling and purging opposition in their own parties, the treasonous FTA and NAFTA Oagreementsı were sneakily pushed through by both parties and we only find out later that we no longer control our own resources and that corporations (now mostly US-owned) can sue our government if our regulations interfere with their making a profit.
While these shysters deal away our sovereignty, there have been drastic cuts to social spending causing down-sizing and degradation of governmental services.
People have suffered less services and increased cost of essentials while the corporations make record profits and get more tax breaks from their political buddies.
It is imperative that Canadians, especially struggling young people get out and vote to change the balance of power from 'corporate rule' to 'social justice.' It might be our last chance to get our society back from the trend to corporate dictatorship!
- Jan Noppe, Princeton
Letter To The Editor;
Well citizens of Princeton, WHAT will it take to make you wake up and protest what this Gordon Campbell government has done to the Princeton General Hospital?
Princeton has been disgraced in the media because our hospital cannot assist in births and a baby was born in a car by the roadside in the dead of Winter because the mother was turned away from Princeton General Hospital and told to go to Penticton General Hospital - 65 miles away.
The baby couldnıt wait and the father had to assist in the delivery and tie the umbilical cord with his shoe lace.
We had a good hospital here in Princeton before the operating room was shut down and this government eliminated many beds and cut down on staff.
We have good doctors here who give dedicated and devoted service to their patients. Plus, we have lost good doctors because they cannot use their operating skills here in Princeton. The doctors cannot be blamed for this latest incident.
It is the Gordon Campbell government that must take the responsibility. If the citizens of Princeton do not protest SHAME on them!
- A concerned citizen,
Isabella Johnson, Princeton
Letter To The Editor;
Copper Mountain townsite, 1920, John Sarich born. Midwives Mrs. Corsie and Mrs. Pesut in attendance at Johnıs birth. He still resides in Princeton.
Eighty-five years later there is no maternity ward in Princeton General Hospital and childbirth is considered in only emergency situations.
In the case of Mitchell Lewisıs birth by the highway on the way to Penticton and the trauma suffered by family members it is evident that rural populations are being neglected by the centralization policies dictated by the Interior Health Authority.
This situation is more evidence that Premier Campbellıs rhetoric regarding the promotion of the so-called Heartland of BC is just more hot air.
Our elected representatives in Victoria have appointed health authorities to run the system, virtually reneging their responsibility to the public at large.
Yes, if you want adequate health services just pull up stakes and live in the nearest urban centre. If present trends continue, it will mean the death knell for hundreds of towns in our province.
- Monty Raine, Princeton
To The Editor;
History is relevant to modern politics. During the years leading up to the annexation of Austria in March 1938, Adolf Hitler implemented a plan specifically designed to assume proxy authority over an adjacent sovereign nation. It is significant to the Canadian reality, and vital, that we recognize this political annexation mechanism.
The belief that Canadaıs political system faces an external threat has been substantiated for some time. George Bush is certainly not the first to attempt to exercise authority across the border.
Hitler realized that though he had already built a strong force, he did not have the resources yet in place to proceed militarily. Adding to the problem, he had not been successful in convincing the world, outside Germany, that he faced a serious terrorist threat. The only option for the takeover of Austria was a subversion of the political process.
For those who have forgotten, Hitler converted Germany from a democracy into a dictatorship by political manipulation of the public perception of the threat of terrorism.
During the years leading up to the move against Austria, ambassadors representing the German leader aggressively sought out sympathetic contacts at all levels of Austrian government. From the Chancellery down to provincial and municipal bodies, a network of political affiliates was established. German operatives also elicited support within police forces as well the military, security services, judiciary, and the media.
Indeed, the clever utilization of an aggressive form of intrusive diplomacy, characterized by an overt manipulation of fear and a brazen contempt for the legitimate Austrian government, yielded Hitler many reliable political insurgents. He legitimized his ambassadorıs unprecedented public participation by referring to Austria and its people as family; a natural extension of Germany.
There is little doubt that Hitler was at the root of the terrorism which he so skillfully manipulated to his political benefit. In effect, he used the threat of terror to terrorize the population into allowing him absolute authority. He then used that absolute authority to terrorize his neighbours.
The Bush administrationıs incessant determination to influence Canadian government policy, both domestic and foreign, underscores its general contempt for our democracy.
I canıt help but wonder if the timing of the recent announcement of an investigation into Mr. Goodaleıs department has its basis in the cozy relationship between RCMP Commissioner Zaccardelli and former ambassador Cellucci.
- Robert MacKay, Merritt
Dear Editor;
The federal election was nearing and the people who werenıt completely disgusted with the parliamentary process were bored to tears. Once more they were given a choice of voting for Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum. They were thinking correctly, that a vote for either one would change nothing that matters to most ordinary folks -- that another election would cost much but change little. Then a strange thing happened; word got around that there was a new challenger in the game and he was in town to speak.
The people of the valley had come to hear a message of hope, a message that by changing their traditional voting patterns, they could actually help themselves. Many of the older people had heard fifty years of promises that had not been fulfilled. Half of the voters, in disgust, had given up voting completely. Every few years they had listened to promises that living conditions for the masses would improve, only to see their standard of living eroded even further.
Standing before them was no superman as some might have expected. There was no flowing cape, no rippling muscles and no facial mask. He was instead rather slight, with the demeanor of a school teacher. He had an air of sincerity and a gentle smile that evoked trust and so he immediately captivated his audience.
He strode purposefully and confidently to the podium. He had after all come as a friend. He explained that he had come to the valley to offer hope for a brighter future. He said that he had seen single parents working for wages that would not pay the rent, let alone put food on the table. He had also seen wealthy parents give their children the best educations that money could buy and move them into high paying jobs. He had seen poor but talented students finish high school and languish at home or work at McJobs for lack of a meaningful education. He had seen some of Canadaıs finest athletes stay home while wealthy parents sent their kids to international sporting events; thus the country was not represented by the ablest athletes. He told them that he had seen people freeze to death huddled under bridges. During his own lifetime he had seen the country go from full employment to an economy where each hamlet had its own food banks -- where those with ample means could assuage their consciences by dropping off food hampers for the needy. He explained that there was no need in this land for anyone to lack nutrition and that all citizens have the right to warm and adequate shelter. He had come with a message that ran completely counter to popular opinion -- an opinion that had been carefully nurtured by the media and the corporatocracy that rules the country -- that the country needs tax cuts to achieve wealth for all -- as well as the deceitful notion that never-ending growth is the means to that end.
He explained that the eradication of poverty will not and cannot be achieved with more tax cuts. The people, in awe, turned to each other in disbelief. This was a strange message indeed coming from someone who says that government can actually be beneficial to the people. Had we not learned in school and hadnıt the daily media message been that voting for one of two parties was the way to keep our country strong, free and democratic? Our superhero explained that the two traditional rivals in parliament created a mockery of democracy at each election -- they pretended to be adversarial while both worked for the same corporate interests. That both major parties would look for new goodies to promise the electorate, knowing all the while that in order to please their masters the promises for social reform would not be kept. After each election a new crisis would appear to negate their promises. A very important observation was made by our mild-mannered speaker -- and he wanted us all to remember -- there would only be one promise either of the two major parties would keep and that would be more tax advantages for those who least need them.
The single mother reflected as she listened. She had been working at two minimum wage jobs, not earning enough money for food and rent, while depriving her children of maternal care. Ten years ago she had believed the promise that child poverty would be eliminated by the year 2000 only to have child poverty figures double. She had heard both major parties promise to find daycare spaces for working parents. She had heard it all many times before -- but now she had a new resolve. It is time to take matters into her own hands. It is time to make democracy work for the people instead of for corporations -- itıs time to vote for effective change. This time sheıll vote for the mild-mannered superhero.
- HP Toews, Princeton
