Out here in the boonies we receive the Yukon News a few days late, but it is still much appreciated. I couldn’t help but notice that in the Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012 edition there were several items relating to services affected by federal cuts:
* The editorial cartoon about food safety - the beef recall;
* The letters to the editor on the closing of the tourist attractions, the Dawson Dredge and the S.S.Klondike;
* The article “Saving Lives in the Bush” about search and rescue services in the Yukon, written by J. Ronson.
I went to the website www.weareallaffected.ca to see that the consequences of those cuts were predicted this summer, (e.g., July).
Are we the authors of our own misfortune because as citizens we did not speak up, thinking, “Oh, some ‘overpaid’ federal employees are losing their jobs. Big deal!” Did we fail to see the trickle-down effect and to recognize that we only get what we pay for and that federal employees are not the enemy?
When will we grow up and into our responsibilities as voting constituents, each whose job it is to question the actions of the elected officials who claim to represent us in Ottawa and for Canada as a whole?
Lynne Harris
Ross River