Letters and comments, March 2

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/03/2019 (2129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Trudeau must resign

I just listened for the second time to Jody Wilson-Raybould’s testimony before the House of Commons justice committee. I also have personal experience with Justin Trudeau, both as a former member of the Liberal Party of Canada and as a delegate at the election of Trudeau as leader of the Liberal party at the Winnipeg convention.

Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, especially the part where she referenced the now-indisputable fact that multiple Canadian federal governments have often ignored the rule of law in their dealings with Canada’s Indigenous citizens (and, I expect, also whenever personal economic and political advantage made it convenient to do so), leaves me with only one conclusion: Justin Trudeau should immediately resign his seat in Parliament. He has disgraced all Canadians and exposed the underbelly of the existing Liberal Party of Canada.

Shane Nestruck

Winnipeg

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Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former attorney general, has stuck to her guns to uphold the law. In return, she was moved out of her portfolio and not one of her colleagues stood behind her to do the right thing.

Our prime minister is so arrogant that he feels he’s above the law and doesn’t have to answer to anyone. He needs to vacate Ottawa and give Canadians a prime minister who will do us proud.

Karen Lalonde

Oakbank

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I have been a longtime supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada. When the issue regarding Jody Wilson-Raybould was raised, I was not shocked. Many governments, not only the Liberals, have tried to influence cabinet ministers to make decisions that are to their political advantage. This should not extend to attorneys general, but I expect that this has occurred on more than one occasion in our past.

I listened to the questions she was asked following her presentation. Conservative and NDP MPs were very supportive, as was to be expected. However, it was the questions given by the Liberal representatives that concerned me. Challenges seemed given on the basis of a lack of understanding or attempts to spin the discussion in ways the party can use to discredit Wilson-Raybould. If these members represent the Liberal party and the values it now holds, then this is clearly a party I can no longer support. This is regrettable, as I would have difficulty supporting the present Conservative party and its policies, and I am unsure of the policies of the NDP.

Robert Spencler

Winnipeg

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Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, in calling for Justin Trudeau to resign, made it crystal clear that the prime minister “doesn’t know where the Liberal party ends and where the government of Canada begins.” I would go one step further to describe the prime minister as one who doesn’t know his SNC from a hole in the ground — a mighty deep hole indeed, one that he himself engineered and rightly fell into.

Don Warkentin

Winnipeg

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Given the revelations, the spotlight should be on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, we should not ignore Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick. On Feb. 21, his testimony before a Senate committee was unequivocal in contending the former AG was not pressured. We now know, from her own revelation, that she was pressured. As such, the Privy Council clerk’s position was one either based on ignorance or a deliberate attempt to mislead the Senate and the public. Unless he can offer unequivocal evidence to counter the ex-AG’s statements, he should not be allowed to continue in his position. He has betrayed public trust.

Don Palmer

Winnipeg

Citizens deserve to be heard

Re: Portage la Prairie council axes public question period (Feb. 27)

The Portage la Prairie mayor and councillors have been saying that the public question period after council meetings wasn’t effective and there are many other methods of inquiry to which they will respond. They also stated publicly in their council document that “council and administration are often not prepared with the data required to provide answers.”

Questions often relate to items already voted on, or about to be voted on. The mayor and councillors are suggesting that they don’t have time to prepare an answer. What does this say about their level of knowledge? They don’t have to have all the answers immediately, but they should certainly have some ability to explain their decisions or hear the concerns of citizens.

I have raised serious issues in question period that the mayor doesn’t like answering. I have emails from the previous and current chief administrative officers, in which they deliberately withheld information or answers that are required under the Municipal Act, until I pointed this out to them. What about the citizens who don’t have this knowledge and accept their refusals? I have sent emails to the mayor, council and city administration to which they haven’t bothered to reply. So they haven’t demonstrated that they were responsive in the past and now have also done away with the public question period.

As a society, we are under continual manipulation by people to withhold information or present a distorted or untrue view. It is particularly reprehensible when our municipal government does this and makes it very difficult to obtain answers.

Luanne Anderson

Portage la Prairie

Hard conversation

Re: Find the courage to express your end-of-life care wishes (Feb. 28)

I agree wholeheartedly with this article urging people to have end-of-life conversations. It indeed does take courage and can be uncomfortable. Thank you, Winnipeg Free Press, for printing what many people feel needs to take place, but may be afraid to discuss.

Just recently, my mother expressed her end-of-life wishes to me. I was unable to abide by her wishes as they went against my conscience. She did not want me to be put in this position, thus engaging a broader conversation involving other family members, some of whom agreed to see her wishes followed through.

In the end, though we hold completely different viewpoints, we were able to come away with a healthy dialogue and both of us are at peace with our decisions.

Lisa Bird

Rosser

Shed a little light

Manitoba Public Insurance should offer a course to all drivers of new-model cars. It is unbelievable how many cars and trucks are driving without their lights at night. They have no tail lights or headlights on.

Travelling behind them at 90 km/h on CentrePort or other highways is a danger. You come up behind them and notice that the dash lights are on, but nothing outside the car is lit up. Do people not look at the road and see that the lights are dim because they only have daytime running lights on? The light indicator inside the car has multiple settings.

Wake up and check your driver’s manual and learn how to turn all your lights on. Otherwise, you are a danger on the road!

Shirley Lamboo

Winnipeg