Letters to the editor, October 10

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HE NEVER LEARNS

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What a disgrace. Trudeau now apologizes for taking a vacation to British Columbia, while lying on top of where he was. Now if that doesn’t show that he knew exactly what he was doing, I don’t know what he does. There are two major things that are wrong with this, the first obvious one is that he declared this holiday to acknowledge the horrible conditions that existed in these residential schools and couldn’t even bother to accept an invitation to attend the ceremony in BC, instead it was to Tofino. . Wow! We must remember that his father was prime minister for 16 years while these so-called schools were in operation. I suppose we should rename the Quebec airport that is in his name, and if there are statues in his honor, tear them down as well. Let Justin try to apologize for that. It’s good to apologize for other people’s mistakes, but not yours or your family’s. The second major problem is that Justin keeps putting climate change at the top of his list of issues to deal with and then heading somewhere spewing more carbon in one trip than most people in a year. He wants us all to eventually be on electricity alone, does that mean no more airplane travel for him, and his safety will no longer drive gas-guzzling full-size SUVs? We need to be like the United States: two terms and you’re gone. You are ruining this great country. I should resign immediately.

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Thomas robertson

Niagara Falls, Ontario.

(Unfortunately this does not surprise us)

A NATIONAL TRAGEDY

Pope Francis says he regrets the sexual abuse of children in France. I have no doubt that most of them were “white” children. He said, and I quote: “This is the moment of shame.” What about all the indigenous children who were taken from their homes? Beaten, raped, sodomized, drug tested, starved, and thrown away as garbage. He refuses to apologize. These children were sexually abused by priests. I am a member of Curve Lake First Nation and have heard many stories from elders. How many schools do you know with cemeteries? Blame it on him. It disgusts me and breaks my heart.

Glenna Hogarth-Bloomfield

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Lakefield, Ontario.

(Speechless)

FACE PLANT

A common but questionable refrain prevails among capitalist nation governments and corporate circles: Best business practices, including those best for consumers, are best decided by business decision makers. This was recently proven false, as Facebook prioritized expanding its already huge profit margin over the health of its younger users. It was shown to be false when long-term care homes put profit maximization over the well-being of their residents, neglect that resulted in unnecessarily numerous deaths from COVID-19. And it proved more untrue when the pharmaceutical industry knowingly promoted its highly addictive new opioid pain reliever. The Western business mindset and, by extension, the collective society allow the well-being of human beings to be decided by corporate profit margin measures. And our governments for the most part do not dare to intervene, perhaps because they fear being labeled anti-business by our avidly capitalist culture. Unfortunately, maximizing profits by risking the health or lives of product consumers will likely always be an important part of the nature of the big business beast. But that doesn’t mean we should give in. Rather, it should be a call to society, and especially to our elected leaders, to make the economy and jobs come first to people, not to corporate profits.

Frank Sterle Jr.

White Rock, BC

(We need to protect children)