Dion and Layton are critics of the government, loyal to the crown

Letter to the Editor, The Kingston Whig-Standard

I must protest one section of Mr. Bryan Paterson’s article, “I’m proud to be a Canadian” (The Kingston Whig-Standard, July 12, 2007) in which he tells of hearing of the deaths of six Canadian soldiers, and explains how the sacrifices being made by our troops in Afghanistan make him proud to be a Canadian. He goes out of his way to take a shot at the leaders of Canada’s opposition parties, who he claims called for a, “… retreat from Canada’s mission in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the deaths of these soldiers.”

But in fact, Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton have simply been keeping to their respective long-held, principled positions. In particular, on July 4, Mr. Layton held his news conference to reiterate his stand just before the news of the deaths hit the wires (Chantal Hébert, Toronto Star, July 6, 2007).

I’m proud to be a citizen of a country that has members of parliament whose job it is to criticize the government while remaining loyal to the crown. Mr. Paterson mentioned only the, “values of freedom and equality we believe in”. Let us also keep valuing our hard-earned democratic traditions.