Letter to My Member of Parliament – Huron-Bruce Riding

Dear Mr. Lobb,

I wrote to you weeks ago with some thoughts and a few concerns.

You sent me back a form letter, which I thought was quite rude, since you were on vacation, you are a backbencher and you had time to reply if you wanted to or if you cared.

But you didn’t.

Well – Wednesday is “Speech-from-the-throne” Day…and I am sure you’ll be in your seat, listening closely.

I’m hoping that sooner or later you will send me a real reply to this letter.

Sincerely,

Jim.

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Letter to My Member of Parliament,
Mr. Ben Lobb,
Member of Parliament,
Riding of Huron Bruce,
Ontario, Canada.

Dear Mr. Lobb,

Daily, I am becoming more concerned about the performance of our government. I’ve looked at all of your speeches in the House of Commons and found them lacking.

You are my member and as such I would hope that, given the history of our riding, you would also be concerned by some of the recent developments, in the interest of your constituents.

First of all, I very strongly disagree with the decision to shut down Parliament at the New Year and also with the reasoning of senior officials; they said that the Inquiry into the Afghan detainee situation was somehow intended to cast doubt on the integrity of our armed forces. I find such arguments insulting to my intelligence quite frankly, but I’ll come back to that issue. (Just as an aside, our Prime Minister’s advisor, Tom Flanagan agrees with me).

In any case, I believe they should have stayed at work.

(One thing I am happy about is the cancellation of the March and Easter breaks. Members of Parliament should be at work…even on weekends if necessary – but in the overall picture, I doubt this is enough to satisfy most Canadians).

I’m beginning to feel that this government simply is indifferent to what the public thinks. There is a negative aspect to much of what our government has been doing.

As an example, the decision to tax income trusts is  basically an insult to all senior citizens and pensioners. Mr. Harper promised in full view of the public – back in 2005 – to NEVER tax those trusts. He said in print – on page 32 of the official platform of that year – the following: “…preserve income trusts by not imposing any new taxes on them”. But then, shortly after taking power, he broke that promise. It seems to me that he has shown a disdain for the public that is unseemly at best.

Mr. Lobb, I and many other seniors would like to know your position on this issue of Income Trusts.

Also – the Leader promised there would never be a deficit – which I’m afraid means that he isn’t the wonderful economist he has claimed to be, because lots of other economists did predict deficits. It seems to many of us that he just says the first thing that comes to mind and if it later proves to be wrong, offers some excuse or other.

Not good enough.

Another area where I disagree strongly with current policy-making, is the decision to close down the system of Canadian prison farms. And believe me, I’m far from alone in this view.

As a 5th generation Canadian who was born and raised on a farm in this riding, I am a strong supporter of our system as a means of introducing those inmates, who show promise, to a more disciplined, productive attitude and mindset. It may well be that many of these men will not enter farming or associated agricultural pursuits as a career. However I believe I can say without any fear of contradiction, that what they learn on the farms will stand them in good stead regardless of the career they might pursue following release. *I note as well that the recidivism rate for inmates who have been graduated from the farm system is far and away lower than that of the regular prison system.

If additional programmes are needed they could easily be added to the programmes of the existing institutions.

Like a great many of your constituents – perhaps a majority – I am a strong believer in common sense and practicality…therefore…since we are at present, experiencing a decline in the crime rate, it makes no sense for the government to push a “get-tough-on crime” policy, advocating the building of new prisons and/or the expansion of existing ones. By pushing this costly and uncalled-for “tough on crime” policy, the present government is merely pandering to public fear of criminal behaviour and fanning the flames, without thinking logically about rational policy – or lack of such – that is involved.

Then there is the fact that our Canadian Olympic Pavilion was built mainly by an American company…and almost all the signage advertising the “stimulus’ projects was U.S.-produced. At a time when Canadians are struggling to find jobs, exporting jobs to the U.S. is unacceptable.

The recent news about the manipulation of the “freedom of information Act” tipped the balance for me. A leader who campaigned on the promise of more open, transparent and accountable government, and who deliberately hides information that the public has a right to know about, is an untrustworthy government. Unacceptable.

Further to the decision to prorogue the parliament: anyone who looks at the decision sincerely and objectively – would have to conclude that our Prime Minister prorogued the parliament in order to avoid an embarrassing Inquiry into what appears to be a poorly-thought-out Canadian policy with respect to those Afghans arrested by our soldiers and turned over to the Afghan authorities, without proper monitoring. (In fact that is the opinion of Tom Flanagan, a former advisor to this government.). The Liberals can also be held responsible for this…but the present government ought to have made immediate corrections as soon as officials were informed. They did not. The only conclusion we can reach as a result, is that they didn’t care. Please do not try to convince me that the government did “what it could”. When the un-censored documents are produced, it will become clear that we have been deceived. The official policy had the effect of bolstering the insurgency and therefore increasing the threat to our soldiers. Further, the policy subjected our country to criticism from some of our closest allies.

Moreover, I was not impressed by the transparent efforts of our Defence Minister, Mr. MacKay and others including the P.M. – to suggest that somehow – holding the Inquiry is an insult to our Canadian Forces. In my view, nothing could be further from the truth.

The distinguished Canadian soldier, Colonel Michel Drapeau has said that, “I believe Parliament needs to leave no stone unturned in order to get to the bottom of this story.”

Soldiers are the servants of the civil government; they are subject to civilian control and direction; clearly, our civilian authorities were less than vigilant when it came to the business of detainee treatment. The problem lies with the ruling politicians and their direction…not with our soldiers.

My maternal uncle is buried in Holland…a casualty of WW2. My family has always been supportive and proud of our armed forces. I am a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, so I don’t need a pipsqueak like Peter MacKay telling me, or implying even, that because I support an Inquiry into our government’s behaviour during wartime, I do not support our soldiers. Such suggestions are deeply offensive.

My hope would be that you – Mr. Lobb – as my elected representative, will take a moment to examine your own conscience and re-think your support of some of the more questionable policies of our present government…and speak out for us.

Very sincerely

Robert James (Jim) Reed