The view of two angry white men
Dear Editor:
Weeks ago Andy Richards of Summerland urged readers to watch the marathon conversation between Pierre Poilievre and the increasingly unhinged Jordan Peterson. This is not the powerful inducement to support Poilievre that Richards thinks it is. Most of us see two angry white males with similar views reviling much of society.
Full disclosure, I could not stomach watching the entire 101 minute ordeal, but I do have several takeaways.
Unchallenged, Poilievre claims 鈥渨okeism鈥 is the root cause of the rise in hate crimes. First Nations would contend that hate crimes began in Canada more than 400 years ago. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims from the Punjab might say it existed when the Komagata Maru was pushed out to sea in 1914.
Jewish refugees trying to escape the closing vice of Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s learned that 鈥渘one is too many鈥 to be allowed into Canada. Many of those turned away ended up in death camps. Many of the 5,000 Jews admitted to Canada during the 12 years of Nazi rule were interned in Canada as potential enemy aliens.
Canadians of Japanese descent who were stripped of property and interned across our province in the 1940s would say hate crimes existed long before 鈥渨okeism鈥.
On housing, Poilievre claims we should have the cheapest housing in the world because of our landmass. But how many of us want to live in Pouce Coupe? He also talks of stripping away restrictions and regulations that inhibit housing. Fortunately, housing is primarily a provincial matter, otherwise I would fear for ALR lands and greenbelts that surround many of our cities.
While on housing, Poilievre segued into womensa国际传媒 鈥渂iological clocks鈥. This becomes more sinister with wider impact when you realize on of the sponsors of this marathon rant is the American PreBorn organization. What exactly do you have in mind?
Once I reached the 鈥渆nvironmental loons鈥, I had had enough. As a voter, I have also had enough of the Cons.
David Flater
Okanagan Falls
Trumpsa国际传媒 reverse psychology
Dear Editor:
President Donald Trump claimed God saved him when a shooter missed and only grazed his ear last year.
Trumpsa国际传媒 MAGA supporters believe whatever he says. I didn鈥檛 believe Trump then, and I don鈥檛 believe the claim now. The shooter, a young man, was simply not a good shot.
Trumpsa国际传媒 latest statement, that he prefers Mark Carney for prime minister, sounds like a similar claim to the God saved me assertion. By endorsing Carney, Trump hopes Canadian voters will turn from Carney and vote for Pierre Poilievre.
I think Trump has misread Canadians if he believes his words will be taken seriously as truth rather than as election interference.
Helen Schiele
sa国际传媒
The CBC belongs to Canadians
Dear Editor:
I listen to CBC 1and 2 all the time. Our sa国际传媒 morning and evening radio shows keep me up to date on Interior sa国际传媒 news and events. CBC music allows me to hear a wide variety of music.
With a federal election here, I am writing to draw attention to an imminent threat to Canadasa国际传媒 cultural sovereignty -- one whose urgency grows by the day, as U.S. President Donald Trump continues his unprovoked economic attacks on our country.
Following decades of underfunding and institutional neglect from governments of all political stripes, the CBC now finds itself in the crosshairs of Pierre Poilievresa国际传媒 Conservatives, who are promising to defund it altogether.
We cannot stand by and let this happen. Canadians rely on the CBC for information, news, and entertainment that speaks to their daily realities and reaffirms their shared values. Defunding our national public broadcaster would inflict immeasurable harm on our communities, on our Canadian identity, and on our democratic health as a country.
The CBC doesn鈥檛 belong to the politicians. It belongs to us, the Canadian public 鈥 and itsa国际传媒 time we put our foot down. Canadians from all walks of life are closing ranks around our institutions. we expect our elected officials to do the same. I don鈥檛 want vague promises, and we certainly won鈥檛 tolerate any more threats to our shared way of life 鈥 foreign or domestic.
Thatsa国际传媒 why I am standing with Friends of Canadian Media and its hundreds of thousands of supporters this election. When we head to the polls, we鈥檒l be voting to save the CBC. If the federal party leaders want to secure our vote, they have to stand up and support our national public broadcaster.
Mary Thurber
Lake Country
sa国际传媒 needs municipal course
Dear Editor:
$5 Golf. That is what hundreds of working-class and lower income kids are paying to enjoy hours of outdoor fun on municipal golf courses in cities around us right now, like Spokane, Vancouver, Burnaby and Calgary (next month).
We could go one step further, creating the sa国际传媒 Springs Junior Golf Club, where juniors have priority when booking starting times daily.
Combine that with all the programs (lessons, academies, free clubs, tournaments, and more) that these other cities have for kids from seven-years old and up and we would have something unique.
But no, not sa国际传媒. Why? Because people won鈥檛 speak up and tell the City a permanent municipal golf course would be great for our kids, young adults and young families.
sa国际传媒 mayor and council are afraid to stand up to Doug Gilchrist (city manager) and Ryan Smith (chief planner) who have been pushing the destruction of sa国际传媒 Springs Golf Course (and important flood plain) for three years, encouraging a developer to plow it up for warehouses. The city of sa国际传媒 never made a serious offer to buy the property and just need to expropriate it.
Service groups that support the preservation of the green space don鈥檛 want to speak up for some fear of 鈥渃onfronting鈥 city hall, saying the issue is political. BS, the issue is to save a floodplain that protects the surrounding farms and airport, and enhance a great golf facility.
Prominent local residents say the same thing, itsa国际传媒 political crap. And agencies that support youth absolutely want kids to have such a facility, but fear losing funding if they challenge city hall.
As we see Republicans in the U.S. cower in front of Donald Trump, are we just like a 51st state in this city, fearing a couple of city employees?
Don Henderson
sa国际传媒
When bullies bare their teeth
Dear Editor:
Re: 鈥淎n Aha Moment鈥 (letters, Mar. 19)
Sad, how often we hear the phrase: 鈥淥h, they wouldn鈥檛 do that鈥. Guess again. Given the opportunity, they certainly will.
Canadasa国际传媒 鈥淣orthern Republicans鈥 have been quoted as saying they target the 鈥渓ow voter鈥, who they tell us is the uneducated, the ill-informed, the naive and the gullible, who vote them in and then are trampled underfoot while the corporate elite are the deity 鈥淣orthern Republicans鈥 bow down to.
The reinvented Opposition Leader now eschews tee-shirts and has assumed his 鈥済rown-up-business-persona鈥, indicative of an emotionally conflicted being who will do anything to become 鈥渢op dog鈥.
As for 鈥淣o Canadian government will do that鈥, do not forget during the Stephen Harper decade, we had a federal government extremely ideologically hostile to medicare, determined to 鈥渋ncrementally鈥 starve it to death, in conjunction with eliminating any credible information to the public. Erin O鈥橳oole, during his tee-shirted campaign, stated, 鈥淥utcomes are better with private care鈥. Better for whom? Certainly not the patient.
Harper set out to 鈥渞ecalibrate鈥 Canada, utilizing family, crime, defence, even foreign policy as weapons 鈥渢o be driven by religious conviction鈥.Whose conviction? Anyone with money. Lots of money.
In 2006 Michael Fortier, lawyer, Canadian and overseas financier, multi-millionaire, and, no surprise, co-chair of Harpersa国际传媒 leadership campaign, though having unsuccessfully run in three elections, was appointed to Harpersa国际传媒 cabinet, as well as the Senate.
As you listen to the spew of Opposition ads, do you seriously expect Harpersa国际传媒 disciple, currently leading the Opposition, to have suddenly had some kind of Damascus Road experience? Someone who has been financed by the taxpayer his entire life, who has absolutely no economic good sense, who resents benefits for the less fortunate and makes no bones about it.
When slander, misinformation and outright lies are the stock-in-trade of persons convinced they can only win by cheating, lying, bullying, it is a foregone conclusion that they themselves know they are unworthy.
When bullies bare their teeth, itsa国际传媒 not because they are smiling at you .
Elaine Lawrence
sa国际传媒
Undemocratic Conservatives
Dear Editor:
For many years I was a member of the NDP, but took out a membership to the Conservative Party because I believed in the integrity of Chris Pequin.
I鈥檝e worked steadily for two years in helping Chris become the Conservative candidate in Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay. He easily sold more than 1,000 memberships in his three years of campaigning. He hosted town halls throughout the entire riding, coffee meetings, met with special interest groups and countless individuals one-on-one, all the while balancing a full-time job and being a husband and father of five children.
His hope was to be elected in a democratic, nomination meeting of party members.
I was both shocked and devastated that the Conservative party ignored the democratic process, plus its membership 鈥 both new sign-ups and long-time Tories 鈥 and handed the nomination to two-time loser Helena Konanz.
Konanz did not put any effort into the nomination process, unlike the other four who were vetted and approved by the party.
More shocking was that when Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield demanded a commitment of all city councillors on Jan. 3, asking if they were capable of completing their term, Coun. Konanz assured the citizens of Penticton that she was.
I feel this is disingenuous and she should, in all conscience, decline the nomination.
Lynn Kelsey
Penticton
