Putting former MP in handcuffs, shackles was inhumane
It was shocking to see former MP Dean Del Mastro handcuffed and shackled in irons by the Ontario Provincial Police. This was justified as “standard procedure.”
Del Mastro’s supposed crime was of cheating in a federal election and covering up the crime. If this type of barbaric police behaviour continues, we may soon see a whole chain gang of politicians lined up in Ottawa for all of their alleged crimes.
It does not seem probable that Del Mastro would have been a “fight or flight” risk.
Shame on us for such inhumane treatment being allowed in this day and age for political crimes.
Ruth Enns, Vancouver
Why the big push to get high?
I don’t have an issue with marijuana being used for medicinal reasons. I don’t even have an issue with marijuana being used for pleasure, the same as alcohol or cigarettes. But what kind of society and culture is it that we live in when we can afford to spend so much time and effort in a fight to be legally allowed to consume another drug?
What kind of legacy are we leaving our children? Is it the right to be able to numb ourselves from everything else that is going on around us?
At times I feel like I am living through the fall of Rome, through all the gluttony and all the coliseums, blinding us from all the things in life that really matter. What does it say about anyone who spends a large portion of their life fighting for the right to be drunk or stoned, purely for entertainment?
Jesse Arnold, Richmond
Muckamuck by the saltchuck
I have been using Chinook Jargon for as long as I can remember. I’m 74 now.
It is a very expressive language and I am so happy there is a Chinook Wawa Day.
Now, I will just finish my dinner of mowitch, potatoes and vegetables — a good muckamuck by the saltchuck.
David Morton, Sooke
Team made us proud
The Canadian women’s soccer team made us all proud. Captain Christine Sinclair and her team are a class act, win or lose.
Pete Rose, Langley
Motorists pay more ...
Letter-writer Graham Clarke argues that cyclists pay property taxes, which partially pay for street improvements, thus subsidizing automobiles that wreck the roads.
Speaking as the owner of two bicycles, as a car owner, like hundreds of thousands of others, I pay for road improvements through gas taxes, registration, licensing and tolls. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention property taxes, too. The bike lanes were paid for through property-tax assessments both commercial and residential and I can guarantee you that most of these owners do not ride bikes.
And, you know, it wouldn’t all be so bad if cyclists, at least a great portion of them, obeyed the rules of the road. They don’t and they get a pass because cars are easier targets for police.
Ed Braun, Vancouver
Left-lane law was needed
Friday was a typical day, out and about. I proceeded to get behind a man in the left lane. He was using his hands to talk, while driving 15 km/h under the speed limit.
Next was another fellow who was doing the speed limit and talking on his cellphone at the same time. Oops. That’s against the law, too, isn’t it?
Then there was the Young Drivers of Canada student, with an instructor, calmly driving down the left lane, holding up traffic. If a driving instructor doesn’t know how to drive, they shouldn’t be teaching our youth. And if they are learning incorrectly, what hope is there?
A lawyer who handles ICBC cases told me a few years ago that you would not believe how many people don’t know that the lefthand lane is the fast or passing lane. It’s about time that the government gave the police some help in getting ignorant or inconsiderate drivers out of the passing lane.
June Silvester, Abbotsford