Editor, The Times:
I checked on my neighbour the other day. She was in a fit, saying, “Here they've starved the veterans, the old age pensioners, people like myself on disability and now they want to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees! Where's the money going to come from to feed all of them!”
At first I was taken aback somewhat. I'm personally for bringing in the Syrians with very, very, careful vetting.
I'm sorry I'm not some Canadian wishy-wash politically correct! We already have a problem. How many Canadian Muslims have gone off to fight for ISIS — 50 or 60? Well, there's my point. Enough said!
Canada's advantage with the Syrians is most of them are middle class, well educated people caught in the middle of a terrible civil war – Assad on one side, ISIS on the other. Forget that so-called 'moderate opposition,' as Robert Fisk pointed out, this is mainly a phantom force with el-Nusra, the main force, being not much different from ISIS itself.
But back to my neighbour. When I thought about it I could well see where she was coming from.
Remember Harper in Davos standing up loudly proclaiming how he had robbed Canada's old age pensioners of another two years, raising the eligible age from 65 to 67? Hopefully this is one more thing that the Trudeau Liberals will repeal. Oh how toxic Harper's majority legacy is!
My neighbour gets by barely on a disability pension, which covers the basics – maybe. One can appreciate her point of view.
Stephen Hume, one of the Vancouver Sun's few decent writers, in the Dec. 10 issue, pointed out, “So let us be honest. If there are Canadians in want it is not because there is too little money.”
Hume goes on to say that it's a mater of priorities, “If we have one in five children living in poverty, 200,000 homeless people, chronic food insecurity that forces 14 million visits to community food banks every year and a widening gap between social assistance levels — B.C., one of the most prosperous provinces, ranks near the bottom.”
The Fraser Institute would dispute this and the Chamber of Commerce Board of Trade would just cheer it on.
“The argument that we cannot afford to help 25,000 desperate refugees because we’re too poor to help our own people is simply a self-deception employed to grant permission to bigotry, prejudice and misplaced fear,” Hume wrote.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C.