LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Ford, Smith letting ordinary people down
Globally and locally, we are faced with two enormous problems, climate change and gross inequalities in wealth. The Wynne government, imperfect as it was, was making some attempt to solve these problems.
Enter Doug Ford. His actions show that he thinks that government is a business, there to help the rich get richer at the expense of the poor, who are seen as just a reservoir of cheap labour. He has no regard for democracy, our guarantee of freedom, and is behaving like a would-be dictator. People in his government who had seemed to know better are letting him get away with it.
I had hoped that our local representative, Dave Smith, would take a rather different view, more like that of the real, pre-Harper Progressive Conservatives, like Bill Davis, but the Examiner article of Aug. 16 shows that this is not the case. Slow to do anything at all, Smith seems to see himself as some sort of business executive, not an elected representative. True to Conservative tradition, and unlike Jeff Leal or Peter Adams or myself, he has chosen to locate his office where it will not be accessible to people without cars. His office is not an Action Centre, as he wants to call it, and we are his constituents, whether he likes it or not. We may even be asking him to undo things already done.
Smith seems to accept the Tory doctrine that everything, including essential services, should be privatized, thus taxing the consuming public by charging for profits as well as expenses. Taxes paid yield services to the public. Profits do not.
Smith approves of the cancellation of the basic income project, saying people will make a "lifestyle " out of collecting the money, and that no useful information would be forthcoming. This is callous and untrue, and shows
that Smith has no comprehension of the situation that many people find themselves in. They want to get a foothold and make a new start in life, but without decent shelter, food, and clothes, maybe with untreated dental problems, and constantly under stress, people are genuinely unable to help themselves. Many participants in the pilot schemes were already making real progress. The cancellation of this project, as of others, such as environmental measures, is an immense waste of the money and time already spent on them, far exceeding that of the Liberal gas plant scandal. Why would the data "never have come"? It would have been exactly what we need to create a viable future in changing times.
Smith and Ford do not care
about ordinary people. I doubt the ex-GE employees will get the help they need and deserve. Our new government believes in making the rich richer, thus hastening the onset of global ecological disaster.
Too many voters believed the lies they were told. This government is still unwilling to discuss issues with the press and the public. We all need to do our best to find out what is really happening and to defend our democracy before it is too late. Jenny Carter, Hillcrest Ave., former NDP MPP for Peterborough.
Paper should report news, not make it
Premier Doug Ford has made a grave error. Not in his governing, but in angering the news media.
You can bet that anything he
does will be criticized by this newspaper.
You can see it every day in The Examiner.
Newspapers should report the news, not make the news.
This paper is obviously proLiberal. The editor is bemoaning the PC’s Ontario News Now. It explains the government’s agenda. He claims it is propaganda paid for by the taxpayer. Where has he been? On a hillside? Every politician over the years has sent out newsletters extolling their accomplishments. This includes our local Liberal MP. Also paid for by the taxpayer. Gary Harrod, Douro-Dummer Township.
Appreciation for PRHC quality of care
We already know this community is blessed with a modern, professional hospital that provides the best of care. It’s when a situation is not necessarily a textbook case, in terms of circumstance, that you really come to realize just how professional, responsive and humane the medical and support staff at PRHC really is.
My father arrived July 4 from the U.S. for his annual summer vacation at the cottage looking haggard, and in decline. It took several weeks to persuade him to leave the comfort of what was his boyhood retreat and allow us to take him to PRHC for investigations that soon revealed cancer – something he apparently had battled privately for some time. The prognosis was not good and he was gone a week later. Needless to say he was scared. However, afforded the chance to feel safe, secure and loved in his native homeland, meant everything to him.
The emergency department was jammed when we brought him in, panicking as we were. And yet somehow, he was through triage and into a bed in the blue zone in little more than a half hour (Dad was so uncomfortable he couldn’t even sit). In subsequent selfies with loved ones before his conditioned worsened he appeared at relaxed, and thankful. In spite of what he was facing, making it home and receiving compassionate care in his final hours was a gift that eased his fears, and brought him peace.
We would like to thank those who dispensed that care: Drs. Jeffrey, Kessas and Gibson, caregiving staff Bonnie, Katie, Martina and Caitlyn on D2 Palliative, and Rachel on B4 who impressed Dad with her angling skills, and her willingness to do battle with any Pike or Muskie that dared take her on. Dad was impressed by that, as he was with everyone – and quietly expressed his appreciation.
As do, we… Gordon R. Gibb, Pinewood Drive