Canadian elections:
We all have a short memory

by Jonathan Nzouankeu
May 25, 2004

Christie Blatchford, Globe & Mail and CFRB commentator is venting this morning: how can the Liberals dare to think that they are the only party to know what Canadians really need.

I usually don't get too involved into Canadian internal politics. After 4 years, I still consider myself "new" in this country and I like to actually "know" what I'm talking about. I just felt like sending a quick note from
someone observing with amusement the political makeup and wondering what all this commotion is about.

The mailing list is short and so will be my point: Christie is worried about how much money the Liberal government is planning on taking out of our pockets for Health care, hinting that the Conservatives would do a better job.

The CFRB broadcaster interviewing her this morning was actually pretty good, and arguing against the Liberals' statement, he tells Christie that the Liberals thinking that they are the only party to know what Canadians really need is like the Bush Administration saying that if you don't support the war in Iraq you are not a patriot. I did find it a good analogy and I disagree with that claim from the Liberals as much as I disagree with that statement from the Bush Administration. But Christie Blatchford's intellectual clumsiness led her to say "Yes, except that in the US it is a tradition to support your president in time of war". Duh !!!

Dear Christie, two thousands years ago, it was a tradition for some tribes to sacrifice a virgin young woman for the Gods of the weather to bless the agriculture, and sometimes more virgins "needed" to be sacrificed for the Gods of war to make them prevail against their enemies. I was just rolling my eyes driving to work: It is not because it is a tradition that it is right. In the world's history, some traditions have proven to be very
wrong. What is Christie Blatchford's position at the Globe & Mail again?

I only have couple of questions: What tells us that the Conservatives with have a better care of our health? We really have a short memory. Does anyone remember Kimberly Rogers?

AFTER the Conservative government in charge at the time of this tragedy decided to KEEP IN PLACE the conditions that led to her death, I sent an email to CFRB that got published here: http://dawn.thot.net/jn1.html

But don't you worry, I won't cast any vote against the conservatives - this time -, since I am a French citizen and not a Canadian citizen - just yet -. If I could vote, I would certainly not give my voice to a party that has the mind set and the mentality to believe that it is OK to keep in place and actually re-enforce the conditions that made a pregnant woman die alone in her apartment under house arrest because she dared to cheat on welfare.

I just find it appealing for a party to persist in its mistake and cruelty.

We all have a short memory, but some symbols are too powerful to be dismissed too quickly.

Yes, many things are to be said about the Liberals. Yes, the Liberals are in bed with Corporations (Bell to mention only that one) and this HAS TO stop. Yes, the Liberals are ambivalent and we don't always know what they stand for and I definitely regret that. Yes, the Liberals can say one thing and its opposite making this party difficult to trust -and in that matter, another party like the NDP are more "pure"-. But my question: who did put us out of our misery after the Kimberly Rogers tragedy by terminating this terrible lifetime ban on welfare? The Liberals.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/10/welfare_ont040110

That day, they lived up to the meaning of their name: liberty, freedom, acceptance, tolerance, compassion and caring about the others.

Some CFRB Broadcasters and commentators can campaign as much as they want against the Liberal party in Canada and I am not dismissing all their arguments. But there is one thing that they can't take away from the Liberals: by getting rid of that zero-tolerance on welfare cheaters, the Liberals showed that they actually are building a more humane society, which translates to a better society for all of us.

So if I had to vote, I would vote LIBERALS. I hate to take political sides, but between a party that is taking too much money out of my pockets and a party that claims to save my money at the expense of the weak, I chose the first one because money is not my God. Caring for the others is much more important.

Regards,

Jonathan Nzouankeu,
Niagara-on-the-lake

Previous articles by Jonathan Nzouankeu:
Lifetime ban from welfare: a message from the station that cares dd Dec. 24, 2002

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Page last updated May 25, 2004