LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- January 20, 2009
To The Editor;
The local NDP Member of Parliament for our electoral area seems to be still playing the game of ‘follow the leader’ according to Alex Atamanenko’s recent newsletter. Is it any wonder that MP Jack Layton the leader of the NDP Party is called Taliban Jack?
I can’t believe that Alex is promoting the failed coalition other than being in concert with the secret plans of his party leader to break up this country. Is this a nasty case of the East against the West and the French against the English speaking majority in Canada?
Yes, we Canadians saw Democracy in action last fall. I was appalled at the way the opposition leaders behaved in the House of Commons that caused the Prime Minister to call a fall election because Parliament was dysfunctional.
The Hon. Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party made the only sensible decision to let the voters have their say about what our taxpayers dollars should be producing in Ottawa. That is true democracy, not what Alex refers to by going against the voters and insanely forming a coalition of the small number of NDP and Liberal elected MPs with the support of the separatists whose goal is to drain the finances of the Central Government of Canada in Ottawa that has been provided by the Canadian tax payers.
This diabolical plot by the opposition parties endorsed the two party leaders to share the position of being the Prime Minister of Canada. The NDP only got about 40 MPs elected and the Liberals failed more miserably with only 77 MPs elected, the lowest number in the history of their party. The Conservatives increased their number of elected MPs for a total of 144 which is considerably more than the two other parties combined. Without the Bloc that’s a majority of seats which confirms the confidence given to the Conservatives by the voters.
Because the goal of both leaders in the coalition was to become Prime Minister of Canada they ruthlessly lied, deceived and slandered the Conservatives. They viciously attacked their leader, Stephen Harper, throughout the election campaign. It was so disgusting that I dubbed videos from TV to prove it.
In the attempt by the opposition parties to rule the country by going through the back door process in forming a coalition they ignored the fact that Canada was declared the #1 country in the world to protect their economy while other leaders in the G7 and the big G20 countries were encouraged to follow their example. Stephen Harper is an economist so with the Finance Minister they were held in high esteem on the world stage to deal with the disastrous effects of the planned U.S. stock market crash and the resulting economic downturn suffered by every country in the world. This was designed by the Money Masters to realize the success of their years of plotting the One World Government.
Democracy in Canada was well demonstrated by the voters who gave the Conservative Party a vote of confidence in Stephen Harper and his party. For the opposition politicians to vote a non confidence motion in the duly elected Government of Canada is to deny the rights of the voters in the democratic process. Alex says the campaign for change has started and will continue but he doesn’t give any credence to the enormous protest across the entire country for the illegal tactics of those who attempted a coup to overthrow the results of the October 2008 election.
Alex is letting his true colours fly despite the fact that he never was elected to support his leader’s secret ambitions to elevate himself in such an ungodly and bizarre process to become the Prime Minister. How long can Alex ignore the reality that the biggest change in our country has actually already occurred? We certainly have seen an ‘awakening’ of the political process in our country as Alex stated in the first paragraph of his newsletter. However, he refuses to acknowledge that the coalition is dead because the Canadian people were rudely ‘awakened’ and infuriated by the skullduggery of his leader. They got in high gear to bombard the opposition politicians with phone calls, faxes and e-mails plus internet blogs, etc. to tell them to get on with the job they were elected to do. The protest was deafening and the politicians couldn’t stand it.
The final nail was hammered in the coalition coffin when the farmers and ranchers drove their equipment from as far away as Saskatchewan to set up the biggest protest against the coalition. They demonstrated in the coldest weather with signs to ‘save our votes’ and gave speeches to wake up the coalition I see nothing ‘democratic’ about the New Democratic Party’s coalition agreement that Alex has distributed. The only hope we have is that the opposition parties come to their senses and co-operate with the official Government as the Conservatives have been asking them to do. We should give credit where credit is due to the Conservative Government for acting responsibly for the good of the country and all Canadians. The stability this country needs depends on the ability or senility of the opposition MPs when Parliament resumes to bring down the budget January 27th, 2009.
- Kay Hardy, Princeton
To The Editor;
The Princeton Royal Canadian Legion would just like to clear up a few things printed in the January 12, 2009 issue of the Similkameen News Leader.
Princeton Minor Fastball is paying for the use of our hall to run their Bingos.
We have promised them the funds they need to host their Coaches Clinic.
However, we have asked them to fundraise and to approach other avenues for funds as well.
- C. A. Glover, Princeton
Dear Editor;
During National Non-Smoking Week (January 18-24) the Canadian Cancer Society encourages British Columbians to speak out in support of initiatives that prevent youth from starting to smoke and encourage adults who wish to quit.
The Canadian Cancer Society BC and Yukon is urging the BC government to enact legislation that will see the removal of tobacco from pharmacies and align British Columbia with the rest of Canada. Although smoking continues to plague the health of hundreds of thousands of British Columbians the sale of tobacco products is still permitted in BC pharmacies. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Yukon are the only remaining jurisdictions in Canada without legislation to ban the sale of tobacco products in retail locations containing a pharmacy.
Cigarettes - which can kill when used directly as intended - should not be sold in a location designed to improve a person’s health. Selling tobacco products in places that sell vitamins and medicines sends young people the message that smoking is acceptable. It is time to get BC’s number one disease-causing product out of BC pharmacies.
Individual pharmacies have begun to embrace their own policies to stop selling tobacco in their retail locations. Of the fifteen pharmacies surveyed in Penticton, Summerland, Okanagan Falls, Oliver and Princeton, 67% have chosen not to sell tobacco products. We congratulate these local businesses for their decision to be tobacco-free.
These progressive pharmacies are making great strides on the tobacco front; however, more can, and must, be done.
Tobacco use is one of the most pressing public health concerns facing British Columbia, Canada and the world today. Tobacco use remains the number one cause of disease and death in Canada, killing over 6,000 British Columbians each year. Tobacco use is estimated to cost the BC economy $2.3-billion annually and causes 30 per cent of all cancer deaths and 85 per cent of lung cancers.
As we look towards 2010 and the goal of being the healthiest host of an Olympic Games, we must stop the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies; when you look to fill your next prescription consider filling it with a pharmacy that doesn’t have tobacco on its product list.
Let’s work together to urge our provincial politicians to ban the sale of tobacco products in retail locations that contain a pharmacy.
Sincerely,
Lyn McMullen, Interior Region President
Jerilynn Kiely, Community Action Coordinator
