Conservatives’ disdain has no merits

DEAR EDITOR:

In an MP report, Tracy Gray suggests that if it weren’t for “this Liberal government” we’d be living like there’s no pandemic “after nine long months.”

With the Conservative magic wand, we’d be “back to normal,” our “health protected” and the “Canadian Charter of Rights upheld,” “reducing regulatory burdens.”

An appeal to the anti maskers, anti vaxxers, “freedom” fighters, conspiracy theorists and anti gun regulation supporters?

Do they suppose a majority government can be found among the above? I hope not, for the sake of the future of Canada.

Canada’s Pandemic Early Warning System deserves discussion. In spite of the importance of the network in flagging SARS and H1N1, it fell victim to Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s overall budget cuts to the health portfolio in 2012.

A 2013 evaluation predicted that without funding, extreme challenges would exist in the event of pandemic.

Yet, as of Sept. 19, 2014, the post of Chief Federal Public Health Officer had remained vacant for 15 months, and by all accounts the subsequent reports of appointee Dr. Taylor were stifled, as was all medical and scientific research.

In 2013, Harper terminated funding to the health council, formed 2003 to provide common standards and best practices in health care across Canada. The situation in our long-term care can be directly attributed to this assault on the Canadian public.

This, like the Phoenix pay system, is among many examples of the economic and societal devastation that is the legacy of the now-Opposition, and since 2015 has cost Canada billions to repair.

As the Conservatives accuse the present government of “abusing tax dollars” during this pandemic, we can see the Conservative policy of survival of the fittest hasn’t undergone any Damascus Road experience.

As to the economy and employment, we need only to review the Depression of the 1930s to see the result of no government intervention.

A master of propaganda during the Second World War suggested that if you distort the truth creatively and repeat it often enough, people will come to believe it. Effective propaganda never accepts blame, concentrates on one enemy and blames that “enemy” for everything that goes wrong. Hence the repetition of “this prime minister,” delivered with the required dog-doo inflection.

Yes, we deserve answers — as to why this is the best the Opposition has to offer.

Elaine Lawrence, Kelowna