Open letter to MP Ryan Leef:
Could you please explain to me how it is that the Canadian government can afford to continue to give millions of dollars in aid to other countries while we still have so many homeless and underpaid people here in our own country? What, because there aren’t bombs going off overhead we should be happy with whatever we get?
How about all of you folks in Ottawa try living on the streets of Canada between the months of October and April, especially up here in the North. Or better yet, how about you try to feed a family of four off what social assistance, EI or the local convenience store pays?
The Harper government just increased premiums for the Canadian Pension Plan and Employment Insurance. I assume this is to generate more revenue, yet somehow we can still afford to send millions to other countries to aid them. Not to mention the million dollars plus we just incurred to send Harper’s vehicles to India with him. What the hell?
Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for helping where we can but seriously are you folks in Ottawa not paying attention to what is happening in your very own country? How about we take care of our own house before we go worrying about someone else’s house?
How about you stop spending like there is no tomorrow and start getting real with our money? How about all of you politicians give up some of your overblown wages and benefits and start to learn what the rest of the Canadian people are dealing with?
I don’t want to sound callous but it really has become survival of the fittest and if these other countries can’t get it together, for whatever reason, that does not constitute a problem on our part. At least not one that is more important than our own struggling, starving people.
Our first and foremost concern should be the welfare of the Canadian people. The more Canadians we help onto their feet, the more taxpayers we will end up with which means more revenue and lower taxes for everyone. Once we have achieved this, I am sure we would have no problem helping other countries. But to help others when we have our own problems is a real slap in the face to those Canadians struggling to make ends meet in their own country.
Lynne Brown
Whitehorse