... it was the beginning of the end.
Here is a letter to the editor that appeared in the Kingston Whig Standard this morning:
Every time I hear about another of our young soldiers being killed in Afghanistan, it breaks my heart. I am so grateful to the young men and women fighting on our behalf to uphold the way of life many of us take for granted. I am also grateful to the families that have raised such dedicated soldiers, and to the wives, husbands and children they leave behind to fight on the side of freedom.
It is mainly for this reason, but certainly not only for this reason, that I am appalled at the way the Canadian opposition in Parliament is trying to take over leadership of Canada.
To unseat the government by way of a coalition is to throw mud in the face of democracy - the same democracy that these young people are dying to protect. It is, therefore, also a slap in the face to the soldiers and their families if we let this happen.
We, as Canadians -regardless of which party we voted for in the recent election -must stand up and fight for all that our votes stand for: freedom, democracy and the right to choose how we live our lives. Don't let the loss of 100 Canadian soldiers be in vain.
Laurie Campbell
and here is my letter to the editor in reply (it could use some more work but I don't have a lot of time!):
Dear Editor,
It was disturbing to see the letter from a reader (Coalition scheme is anti-democratic, December 12, 2008) who showed disrespect for our courageous soldiers in Afghanistan by attempting to use them as pawns to advance her political views, and in particular to misrepresent our Westminster system of government. It is one thing to support the political party forming the government in parliament. It is quite another to accuse elected opposition MPs of being anti-democratic and un-patriotic, as the letter writer, certain members of parliament, and a parade of other editorialists have done. How much longer should we allow these people to damage our public institutions? Perhaps it is time to ask them the question, "You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"
4 comments:
Good luck getting your letter published. I am a member of the Whig Standard Community Editorial Board and they have refused to publish my pro-coalition articles in the past.
Their stance, as a publication, is anti-coalition as evidenced by a recent "our view" editorial they published.
I hope that they're willing to run your letter, as they weren't willing to run my stuff.
Ted
Your response is superb to this deliberately misleading and treasonous REFORMaTORY propaganda.
I find Laurie Campbell’s letter to the Whig disturbing on it’s own merit, without being published; and I find it very, very inappropriate due to the deliberately misleading content that the Whig has deemed to published this total bull-shit.
Last time I checked, the Kingston Whig Standard was viewed as a balanced publication, with a long history of fair, accurate and reasonable consideration for all parties.
Why has the Whig Standard so lowered their standards that their integrity and credibility are an absolute ZERO ??
About a year ago, ownership of the Whig-Standard (through Osprey Media) went to Quebecor, also the owner of Sun Media Corporation. Editorial page content started to change around then and Sun columnists started appearing in the Whig.
Congratulations on getting this printed, Ted!! I didn't know if they would do it.
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1347460
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