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Back to Home Letters - April 5, 2012
Letters: Apr 5
La Reine du Canada, Dave & Chris Winney
We are not amused, Shastri Ablack
Re: Northbrook’s Most Wanted, The Alcock Family
Gutowski for Head of State, Thomas Paine
Democracy and letters to the editor, Paul Isaacs
La Reine du Canada
Great April 1 edition. We loved the letter from the Queen. Disappointed that the Queen won't be visiting Sharbot Lake.
You have far too much fun with all this!
Dave & Chris Winney
We are not amused
Regarding subject article on page 1 of your March 29-April 1 issue, WE are delighted that Buckingham Palace takes an interest in the activities of Central Frontenac. Nevertheless, WE are sorely offended by the lack of protocol and the displeasure shown in the letter from London. May WE suggest that an emergency meeting of Council be convened and a resolution adopted, to divert the funds earmarked for repair of the potholes (EORN-APPS, page 11), to send a delegation, bypassing the P.M. and G.G., to the Palace to protest the outrageous spying by the royal employees. As a concerned member of this community and an avid supporter of the Polar Bear Plunge, and in defense of Her Worship the Mayor, I volunteer to forego my responsibilities (?) here to personally lead the delegation. HOW DARE THEY! Do they take us for a bunch of APRIL FOOLS?!
Shastri Ablack
Re: Northbrook’s Most Wanted
My family got into a very heated discussion about what Ms. Linda Wiebe had written (Letters, March 22, 2012) how she was so offended and embarrassed that she got caught dumping her garbage in a local business’s trashcan. It was heated because all of us adults were amazed at the indignation of the writer who seemed to think that her offence wasn’t offensive enough to have the police show up at her door. (By the way, it is common safety practice that two officers attend a call, and that the police do not show up unless the complaint has been ongoing; they do have other things to be doing that are more offensive, but none the less, throwing your garbage in some else’s can is an offence as well!)
We were all trying to express our opinions at the same time, then our son showed us a letter he had written to the paper in response to Ms. Wiebe’s rant and he managed to express everyone's opinion very well. Unfortunately he did not send the letter and asked our opinion on what to do. What caught our attention was a song he had quoted that he and all students in grade 3 or 4 had to learn. It’s called One Bottle of Pop. The last verse says, "Don't throw your junk in my backyard, My backyard, my backyard, Don't throw your junk in my backyard, My backyard's full!"
Please note the Girl Guides of Canada sing this song to their children to help them learn that it’s important to take care of your own trash. Maybe Ms. Wiebe needs to learn it.
Our family salutes the local business that would not tolerate the behaviour of those in our community who feel they are immune to doing wrong. We are concerned citizens and proud shoppers at all our local establishments.
All the ALCOCK family
Gutowski for Head of State
Am I alone in being horrified by the disgusting treatment of Mayor Janet Gutowski by the British Royal Family reported in the Frontenac news last week?
I was appalled by the arrogant and supercilious tone of the letter sent from the Royal Families’ solicitor demanding complete obeisance and subservience of our democratically elected members to an unelected, undemocratic and archaic institution. For me the letter was the most eloquent case ever made for Canada throwing off this medieval institution and ushering in a new republic of Canada with our own elected head of state. It is time we became citizens of our own country and not subjects of a foreign despotism.
To me the lack of response on this matter from our federal and provincial representatives spoke volumes. Mayor Janet Gutowski, as evinced by her participation in the event for which she has been criticised for impersonating the Queen of England, is clearly just the sort of hard-working, high-minded, public spirited individual who should be a candidate for the first democratically elected Canadian head of state.
Yours sincerely,
Thomas Paine
Democracy and letters to the editor
In a parliamentary representative democracy it is the primaryresponsibility of a member of parliament to represent his or her constituents to the House of Commons and, secondarily, to their particular political party. The flow of information is from constituents through their representative to parliament.
No attempt should ever be made to subvert the good offices of a member of parliament in order to deliberately try to mold the thinking of the member's constituents for partisan political purposes. Any attempt to reverse the direction of the flow of information, either by a sitting government or a political party, represents nothing less than a perversion and undermining of representative democracy itself.
It is the responsibility of the citizens of a representative democracy to be alert to any loss of representation. Citizens must respond loudly, determinedly and publicly to any loss of representation. A representative democracy cannot exist without both a free press as the public voice of citizens and a willingness on the part of citizens to make their voice heard through the free press. It is a fatal mistake to believe that a government and elected representatives alone constitute a democracy. Without active citizens and a free press, a democracy simply does not exist.
A Greek philosopher said many centuries ago that a citizenry that doesn't pay attention to politics gets the government it deserves. His statement is especially true with regard to democracies.
Paul Isaacs
