Trudeau’s message not fully inclusive
Re Message for Canadians, Star Touch Dec. 26 I read Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Christmas wish with profound disappointment. No doubt, the sentiments are lovely. However, what our new prime minister completely fails to comprehend is that in the Canada of 2015 he was elected to lead we have, or at least are supposed to have, a separation of church and state. We delight in our multicultural mosaic made up of so many of us who are not of a faith that celebrates Christmas.
Of course, we wish our Christian friends and neighbours a most joyous Christmas. In the same way, I hope that they wish us well on Chanukah, Diwali, and Ramadan, to name a few of the religious holidays celebrated by Canadians across the land.
My disappointment is in the fact that our Prime Minister doesn’t seem to understand that by sending Christmas wishes to all Canadians he implies that his religious holiday is that of the country and of all Canadians, when clearly it is not.
Happily, we don’t have first-class and second-class Canadians anymore than we have first-class and second-class Canadian religions. Let’s hope that next year the Prime Minister wishes us all well on Jan. 1, a secular holiday. Neil M. Abramson, Toronto Mr. Trudeau’s Christmas message would ring truer if the Canadian Defence Department’s Operation Impact had not reported that “two CF-18 Hornets successfully struck an ISIS fighting position west of Makhmur using precision guided munitions” on Christmas Day. This was the 13th day of Canadian bombing this month. Shame on Canada. Elizabeth (Beth) Guthrie, Toronto
Re Queen’s message: Don’t give up hope, Dec. 26
Her Majesty was a seasoned radio broadcaster long before the article’s mention of her first Christmas broadcast in 1952.
As Princess Elizabeth, she broadcast on the BBC’s “Children’s Hour” in 1940 and made a statement to the Commonwealth while in South Africa in 1947.
She’s had a long history of providing good PR for the House of Windsor. Ian Byers, Toronto