Politics in Canada has hit a new low

problems (one of them is now dead, the other two are facing multiple charges).

This rebuttal letter arrived a day later. It resorted to some rather bizarre reasoning to explain why the mayor of Canada’s largest city could have sought out the company of these three less-than-distinguished gentlemen, if that photo is, in fact, real.

“He’s a mayor to all walks of life, not just to the suits,” wrote a reader who refused to give his or her name. “In the past how many mayors have you known that would have their picture taken with Toronto’s low life? It just may be that he was trying to make Toronto a safer place for his constituents who lived in fear of being on the streets.”

Two readers said the alleged crimes of Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum eclipsed any supposed wrongdoing by Toronto’s top official.

“There is no upright man to be found in Quebec’s municipal politics,” wrote Alex Sotto of Montreal. “Everyone has been tainted with some form of corruption and collusion, and the city’s untold opportunities for kickbacks is a temptation that is too hard to resist. Ontario’s woes are [small] compared to the rampant corruption in Montreal.”

“Is this the superior — though perpetually threatened — Quebec culture we peasants/barbarians in the Rest of Canada have been hearing about for the last few decades?” added Fraser Petrick.

Considering the negative tone of most of the letters we received this week, it was refreshing that at least one reader found some joy in our news coverage.

His note concerned Thursday’s front-page photo of a jazz singer who was struck by lightning earlier this month, which left her weak and with vertigo. She has now recovered, as evidenced by our front-page photo (reproduced below) showing her mid-air during a jump, with a huge grin on her face.

“Your front-page photo of Kellylee Evans showing such joie de vivre started my day (and I am sure many others) in a far brighter mood,” wrote Anthony P. Browne. “More such pictures will be welcome, as depressing reports of the unceasing corruption by our so called ‘obedient servants’ with their sense of entitlement, seem to never cease.” A number of years ago, at a time when few members of the Canadian Forces (CF) had seen armed conflict, a colleague of mine, wearing the uniform and medals of a currently serving member of the Forces, was approached by the then-governor-general at a Remembrance Day ceremony and thanked for his service in the war. I subsequently became reluctant to wear medals to such events — if our commander-in-chief was incapable of telling the difference between the medals of a veteran of armed conflict and modern ones, what chance did a regular member of the Canadian public have?

Remembrance Day is all about the sacrifices of our vet- Of all crimes, only rape comes with constant victim blaming. It is the only violent crime that tarnishes the victim as well as the perpetrator. Rape is violence, but too many people, including Serena Williams, view it as sex. Rape is not sex. It is a devastating crime where the victim’s sentence is far harsher than the perpetrator’s. The victim is handed a life sentence as the shame of the perpetrator transfers to the victim. Tasha Kheiriddin’s excellent column on the consequences of anonymity points to an important issue in our society: accountability. As a published author of science fiction, I’d like to point out another dangerous consequence of the use of anonymity: freedom of expression. My concern with increased anonymity in society is that rather than “free” the soul to express herself without fear, the anonymous soul is, in fact, risking the very freedom of expression she holds by giving in to that fear. To choose anonymity is to live in fear of censorship. In fact, she has already given in to the bully. She’s invited Big Brother in. Also, I find it curious is how the

seems to promote anonymity in its online version, where readers are permitted to post their comments without the same requirements for real name and addresses. fice is a publicly funded private enterprise. The government pays me to provide a service. Who I see, when I work and how I work is entirely up to me. I wonder why Mr. Gurney just didn’t call his own family doctor, who saw the rash initially, and have the doctor order a prescription to the nearest pharmacy to his cottage? Doctors get calls all summer long from patients, requesting prescription renewals and treatments for burns, bites and other summer time mishaps. I am shocked and dismayed that Matt Gurney was turned away for a simple condition that eventually took only seven minutes once he found medical care for his daughter. His column highlights yet again the issue of misspent public money by the current Liberal government in Ontario.

The creation of family health teams (FHT), while impressive with its array of availability of allied health professionals, removed one key element of our health-care system — the incentive to keep physicians seeing patients. Physicians are paid based upon the size of their roster, which cannot exceed a certain number. The physician that Mr. Gurney and his daughter ultimately saw likely was paid in the “fee for service model.” No wonder why he was more than happy to see the patient where the FHT was not. Your letter writer is wise to warn Quebec seniors about being unfairly treated by our health-care system. And why in Ontario it is necessary to indicate on a physician’s referral to a specialist whether a patient is over 70 years of age or not? to make public financial information, including how much they spend on political activity.” I’ve belonged to union local executives, and I know that many national unions have denied requests for financial information. Also, too often there is personal enrichment for union bosses in terms of meal and travel allowances. Hugh Segal is wrong. I was somewhat disappointed to hear that a campaign seeking to promote Israel as “secular, sexy and sassy” is causing such a stir. There still remain some common misconceptions about Israel so any campaign that promotes it as vibrant, democratic, and inclusive is a worthwhile campaign. Every advertisement has a specific target audience. The Size Doesn’t Matter program is clearly aimed at the young adult demographic and when a video like this is screened 70,000 times in a matter of days — it has met its desired objective. The opposition intelligentsia in the Soviet dominated Eastern Europe considered Pierre Trudeau not only to be a proverbial useful idiot, but genuinely too dim to understand the realities of communism. He seemed to enjoy waving to the crowds from his cavalcade, oblivious to the fact that those people were simply ordered to line up the streets. The only way to experience this great thrill was to visit a dictatorship, as he could not possibly get this type of reception in any democracy.

After I came to Canada and started to better understand Trudeau’s legacy, I realized that his fondness of totalitarian regimes was pretty harmless comparing to what he did to his home country.