What’s under the floor?
No matter how many times Liberal leader Arthur Mitchell spins it — with over-repetition of the unsubstantiated and loaded terms honesty, courage, ethics accountability — he’s sure not letting the public know about the private negotiations he held with Gary McRobb and Eric Fairclough.
These private negotiations, by media accounts and their own admissions, went back months — during which time McRobb and Fairclough were not only members of the NDP caucus but attending confidential NDP election planning meetings.
I don’t buy the Liberal spin. What is ethical, honest and courageous about courting MLAs of another party with political promises? Cabinet anyone?
How many Liberal votes did these opportunistic MLAs receive in the last election?
There’s more to this story — don’t believe the Liberal hype.
Nicole Yurkoski
Marsh Lake
Support the troops
and openness
I have been following ongoing debate on the federal government’s recent decision to discontinue lowering the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower, and the openness of the ceremony when the bodies of our fallen soldiers are repatriated to Canada.
I believe that we should lower the flags on government buildings and conduct the repatriation ceremonies at Trenton with appropriate, respectful openness.
I believe that we should see these reminders of the war in Afghanistan. We should be kept aware of wars wherever they are happening.
We should not remove these reminders because they may keep the war and Canadian sacrifices in the forefront of our thinking.
Indeed, that is where they should be. War should not be relegated to the commonplace, either due to numbers of the dead and wounded, or due to the duration of the conflict.
I support our Canadian military people and their work in Afghanistan. In fact, I organized a letter exchange with a Jack Hulland School in the Yukon and schools in Afghanistan as a support for the Provincial Reconstruction Team.
Canada may be in Afghanistan for years. The quest for security requires a terrible toll and it is our duty as Canadians to be aware of, and reflect upon, this reality.
Sheila Rose
Whitehorse
Dogs running wild
Living here seasonally in the beautiful city of Whitehorse, I have come across a problem that I know for a fact has been addressed many times before.
Whitehorse is definitely a dog-walking town and it seems everyone owns dogs, but there are a few people who ruin this enjoyment for the rest of us.
This pet owner etiquette doesn’t just apply to the rest of Canada.
There comes a big responsibility along with being a pet owner. This means respecting other people out on the trail who are also walking their dogs, as well as respecting people who are out just for a solo walk.
Part of loving our dogs is training them to act a certain way in public places, or elsewhere for that matter.
We should have control over them, through a simple command or, when necessary, by snapping on a leash.
Countless times when out walking my dog, whether it be on the city trails on a leash or in the countryside, my dog and I have been attacked by free-roaming dogs that are out of control.
The owners have had absolutely no control over their dogs, which come bounding towards my dog who is on a leash.
As a normal reaction my dog becomes aggressive when we’re jumped on and wants to defend me. Soon the situation is out of control.
In meantime, the owners of the dog are yelling at them to come back to them — which is pointless as the dogs are bound and determined to try to attack my dog who is under control.
Of course, the dogs attacking ignore their owner as once again I have to fend them off and scared for us both, as I cant afford a vet bill and wouldn’t want my dog to go through the trauma anyway.
Sometimes the owner — at a distance — will yell to me that their dogs are friendly and wont hurt us.
Well, friendly or not, I personally do not want someone else’s dog jumping all over us on the trail to begin with.
I love to watch my dog go for a good run down the trail free of any restriction such as a leash, but I do know for a fact that on command she will come back to me when I call her.
My dog’s leash is always in hand for an encounter with wildlife as well as another person approaching us on the trail.
This is called respect but I realize not all dog owners here possess this.
People also have to realize that no matter how well-behaved their dog is, every dog reacts differently, depending on the situation. I respect this and have my dog under control at all times for those very reasons.
Another point that needs addressing is the fact that not everyone in the Yukon is a dog owner, and does not want another person’s dog jumping all over them.
The individual may even have a dog phobia because maybe at one time in their life they’ve been attacked. Not everyone is a dog lover.
Dawn Andrew
Whitehorse
Rough roads
Open letter to the city of Whitehorse,
I was just wondering if this year we will have the pleasure of seeing city workers fixing the roads from Ogilvie to Jarvis Street and 4th Avenue to Eighth?
These roads have been in terrible shape since I can remember — at least 14 years — and obviously they continue to get worse.
Each year I think that someone besides me (perhaps someone who looks after road maintenance for the city) would only have to look at the roads and decide that money should be spent on fixing this area.
Each year I see that no one has.
Perhaps instead of building another useless round-a-bout or wasting money on bike lanes — such as the one on 4th Avenue, which is not having the effect it was intended for — we can maintain some of the infrastructure we already have in place.
Lorraine Fraser
Whitehorse
Bears were here first
So let me see if I have this straight: a mine surveyor starts to work near a bear’s den — something a basic site-check on his part would likely have avoided.
The mother sees an unknown intruder, tall and smelling male, close to her den and cubs, and does what all mother bears have done in this, their territory, for millennia: She acts to protect them.
For this, she is summarily executed. The cubs, whose only crime is to be related to her, suffer the same fate, with no thought to taking them anywhere they might be raised and released.
Did I get this right?
If so, a few things might need to be done here: We might keep this story from leaking to the Outside.
Southerners, whose taxes pay the bulk of this territory’s budget, may hold to some unfortunate back-country stereotypes that might harm the Yukon’s interests in the long run.
Alternately, we could throw such considerations to the wind and use shooter’s logic: All bears are potentially dangerous, and since we’re here now and have guns, just massacre the lot of them.
While we’re at it, all wild mammals might cause us harm — even the smallest can carry potentially life-threatening diseases.
Get rid of ‘em. All of ‘em.
Birds? Bird-flu. Get out the birdshot, and the more lead, the better.
Species cleansing: Let’s eliminate all creatures who have the temerity to consider this their territory, just because it always has been.
Protection of the young is no excuse. Hand out the clips and rounds.
Skall Walker
Whitehorse