My Opinion Letter For the Local Newspaper

Dear Readers,
While returning home from work the other day I was listening to the radio talk about how political signs were being defaced. It was stated that both Liberal and New Democrat signs were damaged but not the Conservative signs. I was saddened that these types of shenanigans are taking place here in the Okanagan. I had heard of other ridings in Canada having bull’s eyes drawn on the Liberal signs, similar to the cross hair bull’s eyes that Sara Pallins web site had drawn on various U.S. Democratic politicians. I also know that in our last Canadian election in 2008 the R.C.M.P. were investigating in London Ontario, they were trying to determined who had cut the vehicle brake lines of people who had Liberal signs on their front lawns. Since when did our elections become so hateful and divisive? What type of message do we send our children about how politics and debating actually work here in Canada? A good answer would be to look at the scandals of this government, were poor behaviour is almost a daily occurrence. For instance, the Prime Ministers hires an individual who had been convicted fraud, that same individual who is now being investigated for illegal lobbying, the same individual who at sixty-six years old has a twenty two year old fiancée. What type of people work for this Prime Minister? How would you feel if that was your daughter dating a sixty-six year old man? To me this says a great deal about the moral compass of our Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the associates he surrounds himself around. A few years ago it was a Minister who’s girlfriend had ties to the Hells Angels, or just last year the Ministers who was kicked out of caucus and the party because her husband had been pulled over for speeding and was found to be intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle, he was also found to be in possession of cocaine (all but the speeding charges were dropped by the crown). What type of law and order policies is this government trying to pull over our eyes, law and order for us but they are above the law? They want to spend billions of dollars building new prisons, but what I learned last weekend from watching a Michael Ignatieff speech, is that forty percent of the youths in prison today are native, is this Steven Harpers answer to native housing. It is shameful to hear and see what takes place for democracy here in Canada now! I find it ever more shameful to not see the media holding our politicians more accountable for their actions. In my opinion this is precisely why people think politicians are crooked, they are never held to account for any longer than a day or two, and all they need to do is run a ton of commercials during Super Bowl and other major events and that seems to change our opinion. In the last two elections we have all been told to stay the course, our future depends on it, and our economy is too fragile. Well I’m sorry but no job is worth having my moral standards reduced to nothing. Is our economy more important than healthy debate between political parties, or more important than finding solutions to some of our social issues here in Canada, or more important than dealing with global warming? This election should be fought through good honest debate of issues, rather than hateful divisive attack ads. That’s just my opinion.