Another take on getting the facts straight
Published Monday October 6th, 2008
Letter to the editor
Mr. Power should familiarize himself with all the facts. Anyone can take a statement "out of context" and make it sound as damaging as they wish.
Example: Life sentences for 14 year-old offenders.
Sounds like all 14 year-olds will suffer life behind bars. The fact is, present laws have the judges hands tied. A judge is allowed to impose little more than a slap on the wrist to the most serious offender. The new law allows the Court to pass a sentence more fitting to the crime.
Elimination of house arrest will fill the jails.
That doesn't mean automatic jail time. It could result in stiffer fines or community service.
I don't quite get the "mismanagement" of $13.8 billion surplus.
Seems to me that money was used to cut down a portion of the massive debt imposed upon us by the past Liberal dictatorship. They ran our country's debt from $30 billion dollars in 1968 to a whopping $590 billion dollars by 1998.
Personally, I didn't mind having 11 more tax free days last year.
The Harper government may not have been as transparent as we would like but I don't think they tried to cover up something as despicable as the "Ad Scam" embarrassment.
The funding cuts on literacy, women's advocacy and Status of Women, arts and culture.
If you were to look deeper, you might find some elaborate offices vacated, less use of "gas guzzling" SUVs and a more down to our level lifestyle for those who lived off the system. Not unlike any large organization, those referred to built, as we would say in the service, a kingdom. Mr. Harper, in his wisdom, trimmed the fat. The organizations still exist and I'm sure operate much more efficiently within a budget.
Your reference to a statement made years ago. If in fact that was reported properly, equates to digging up your great granddad and chastising him for past statements.
Changes to income trusts had to be made, unless you wanted all of our investment dollars to go offshore. It could have remained as it was but Chinese ownership of Canada is unappealing to me, as it should be to you.
If, and I say if, PM Harper is guilty of the in and out scheme then it would also be fair to place the blame for the Ad Scam fiasco directly on the shoulders of Chretian and Martin.
If I recall, the Kelowna Accord was not a complete deal. There were many loopholes that would haunt us if it were not halted and rethought.
You are right about the Long Gun Registry BUT very wrong about job losses. I have to ask why would they be seeking more office space if the plan was to downsize?
Mr. Power brings to mind the preacher who says "the Bible states,money is evil". The fact is, the Bible states "The love of money is evil".
A different meaning altogether, when you read all the facts.
That's the way I see it.
Ted Ross
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Comments (3)
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I didn't like Harper before but since he slashed arts and culture funding I absolutely despise the man. Artists, musicians, actors and writers for the most part do not make a lot of money; when they do it is either the payoff of a lot of time and effort, the publics taste and their work aligning at the right moment, or (most pervasively these days) the result of a corporate marketing juggernaut cynically foisting artists that appeal to the lowest common denominator. I'm wondering what the effect on our cultural landscape is going to be.
Mr. Ross, you have talked about how you are for government censorship of the Arts. Your positions are obvious to anyone who's read this paper over a given period of time.
You are one to talk about how the Liberals imposed a "dictatorship"!
For about two years I have been reading Ross' contributions to the paper with a mix of amusement and horror. The main thing that amuses me is the bombast and repetitiveness of the letters; it's almost like a parody of both right wingers, old men yearning for the past, and press releases from the party itself. I occasionally do find much darker substance behind his arguments that suggest some deep-seated bigotry, though.
I wonder if Mr. Ross migrated to the Conservatives once the right was united and they dropped any pretense of being "progressive".