Editor: A recent letter to your paper by Mr. E. Bysouth (The Times, Jan 10) lauding our future prospects with a Conservative provincial government seemed a tad twisted, tipped in favour of fantasy, rather than reality.
For example, the writer should recall that years ago, NDP politician Tommy Douglas was behind the introduction of Canada’s universal health care model. Its poor administration by Conservative and Liberal governments today without proper funding is another issue. Without that care model however, Canadians would be less well off.
I say “Thank you, Tommy Douglas” for valuing the lives of all Canadians — not just the rich ones. A blanket denigration of everything NDP seems embarrassingly goofy.
Bysouth goes on to recommend the BC Conservatives, implying they are our top people “made up of former Socreds and Reformers.” whereas the NDP would represent “the bottom end” of British Columbian society.
No party is perfect, but my recollection of Socreds includes a shrieking, out-of-touch Rita Johnston, who led the Socreds into obscurity along with the questionable Fantasy Garden dealings of disgraced Socred leader Bill Vander Zalm. Another former Socred MLA, George Kerster, is a convicted child sex offender.
There were others too, and Bysouth wishes a return to their ilk? I think he’s mixed up.
Granted, when one looks at the self-serving 29 per cent pay raises our current MLAs are enjoying and listens to the two-faced Liberals like Mike DeJong talk about how teachers and other government workers should be happy with their Liberal government 0, 0 and 0 per cent wage offer, one wonders what world DeJong is buying his gas and groceries in? Is it the fantasy one his brain seems to dilly-dally in? One can’t help but agree with Bysouth that a change is needed.
Bysouth also refers to Singapore as being the “best country in the world,” according to a single economic report. That narrow view, not cognizant of the bigger picture of life in Singapore, begs a different perspective.
As of 1970, there are no juried court decisions in Singapore, and Amnesty International maintains legal provisions in Singapore conflict with the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Decisions are rendered by a single judge.
Flogging has been replaced by public caning, which is a common judicial punishment in schools and prisons. Visiting friends told me “Singapore is a beautiful place. No garbage. It’s like Disneyland — but unfortunately, it’s Disneyland with guns.”
They said Singapore is a superficial fantasy place, where omnipresent, heavily-armed police keep a brutal lid on any out-of-step civil behaviour.
Oh boy — where do I sign up for the Conservatives?
Bryn Jones,
Aldergrove