Why he won’t celebrate Canada Day
Re What have we learned? June 28 The five-year anniversary of the G20 “kettling” of civilians whose only crime was to be using Queen St. to get from A to B has passed. Worse, the deafening silence in response allowed this police thuggery to go unpunished for most of the cops involved, from the grunt on the street to senior management that condoned it. Yes indeed — it was the day the music died for many Canadians. We see it in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s continuing disdain for parliamentary processes and his, and his cabinet ministers’, seemingly unlimited arrogance; and corrupt senators, whose habitual, chronic abuses would, at a minimum, see us mere mortals immediately escorted off the premises with “dismissal for cause” — and quite likely the prospect of facing jail time. Yet instead they are still here, continuing to fleece us.
And in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s recent legislative passage of the administrative monetary penalty system for alleged driving infractions. Ontario inverts the Magna Carta. Guilty until proven, well, guilty. Give us the money. Shut up. End of story.
My point? If one wishes to celebrate Canada Day today, go ahead and do so, replete with fireworks (you already paid for them), self-congratulatory backslapping and telling yourself, “What a wonderful place Canada is to live in!”
However, the current realities have dampened my enthusiasm to partake of the neighbourhood whoop up.
When ordinary Canadians take back the country, I’ll celebrate alongside you. Paul Coulter, Kincardine, Ont. Re Where to go on Canada’s birthday, June 27 This article listed many celebrations including Yonge-Dundas Square, Mel Lastman Centre in North York, Woodbine Park, Centennial Park in Etobicoke, Celebration Square in Mississauga and others. But nowhere did I see our Canada Day Celebration in Scarborough mentioned. We have a parade and multiple events in Thomson Park. This is the second year that the Star has omitted Scarborough on its list of Canada Day celebrations. It is like we do not exist. Shirley Bill, Scarborough