Letter to the Editor

We are hearing distressing news about this government’s wanting to play a role in the Middle East crisis by sending a ship to ‘help’ safeguard Canadian lives . The Defence Minister Peter MacKay has reportedly said that the “Charlottetown will be available to assist in any potential humanitarian mission as part of a U.S.-led task force in the Mediterranean. He added that “ it could also enforce any embargoes approved by the United Nations or NATO” http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/03/02/ns-hmcs-charlottetown-libya.html)

This is building up to a potential military intervention which is the last thing Canadians want. This is déjà vu (think Iraq’s invasion based on the same ‘mad man’ rhetoric and lies of weapons of mass destruction, etc.)! That Canada wishes to take front place shows how militarised we have become, totally against our perception of a peace loving nation. How far have we deviated from the original wishes of the people? Do Canadians really want to become a war ally in yet another illegal military intervention of by a dwindling US superpower? There is no justifiable reason for this kind of action when the people of Libya have said that they do not want foreign military intervention.

This government’s unilateral decision to interfere in a sovereign country’s internal attempt to overthrow their leader is unacceptable and does not reflect the views of the majority of Canadians. Furthermore, we see this as an attack on our own democracy, having no consultation, no research on the consequences that such an act of war would cause on our economy. It further makes fragile our poor performance as an international player and causes damage to our already questionable integrity and reputation. It will certainly become an election platform as we see how unpopular the wars we have been tricked into paying our tax payers money to support is becoming.

Finally, we notice that there is much disinformation, propaganda and opinion manipulation going on in our Canadian press. This is deplorable. Please verify that our impression is accurate and act boldly in condemning what we see as attacks on our own democratic rights to receive quality information.

Sincerely

Esther Matharu
Women's Alliance Party
Parti alliance femmes

What Does Mr. Harper Mean?

“It’s not a question of illegal funds; it’s a question of the definition of spending”, quips our Mr. Harper. Does the leader of this country say that it is OK to spend ill-gotten money so long as you spend it legally? The issue of where the funds come from is so trivial that Mr. Harper reduces it to a question of definitions.

Frankly, I don't understand this logic. Does this mean that it does not matter whether the funds received are from an illegal source, so long as they are spent legally? I always thought that the name for that sort of thing was money laundering. Have the laws changed so much that money laundering is no longer a crime? Maybe the laws of the land have also become a question of definition.

It appears to me that this is exactly the reverse of what is happening to our taxes: they are legally had but are spent illegally, away from the social services, health and education and into the coffers of corporations that want to privatize everything, from our hospitals to our universities, from our day care centers to our pensions. In the meantime, they are illegally spent on buying military planes and sending ships to Libya. But that is OK because we can define spending. The second question is: guess who gets to define the spending?

submitted by Esther Matharu

TVO's AGENDA Taps Ottawa for Content

The traveling road-show of TVO was in Ottawa today gathering information from a sizable crowd of Ottawa and area citizens who gathered at City Hall to attend a day-long session. Steve Paikin was present as well as most of the TVO brass and almost as many staff as others.

Topics were all geared to the provincial election and what questions would people want answered by incumbents and those who will run against them in the upcoming election.



The Women's Alliance Party leader, Esther Matharu, was present and particularly active in two of the round table discussions, one focusing on electoral reform and the other, on the role of government.

Other topics included social services, education, cities, bilingualism, health care and energy.

Interestingly, there was no specific topic on the environment.

The program will be shown tomorrow on Monday, February 28/11, 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.