The power
Hope, thy name is Peter Milliken (Parliament Has The Power – front page, April 28).
Jim Sinclair, North Bay, Ont.
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How does one compromise with contempt?
Noel Begin, Calgary
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Is it not the ultimate irony that we have men and women dying in Afghanistan to preserve our democratic principles while our governing party tries to destroy them?
Keith Phinney, Halifax
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Peter Milliken for Prime Minister.
Bryan Waller, Calgary
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Your editorial A Way Out Of A Needless Impasse (April 28) demonstrates a lack of understanding of some of the most important elements of what makes a democracy a democracy. Montesquieu's philosophy of checks and balances is the most fundamental right on which all other constitutional freedoms and liberties are based. Without these elements, we have no democracy. A refusal by Stephen Harper to obey the basic law of the land could be construed as treason.
David Sommer Rovins, Sainte-Adèle, Que.
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There’s something refreshingly honest about the way Ukrainian parliamentarians work out their differences (Meanwhile, In Ukraine’s Parliament – April 28), with everything being so transparent and each side’s position being so clear. Who needs parliamentary committees, backroom deals, studies by retired judges and rulings by the Speaker of the House? Get with it, MPs. Roll up your sleeves!
Marty Cutler, Toronto
And the glory?
Re Canada’s Abortion Politics Worries World Aid Groups (April 28): The Harper government has never been known for its sense of humour, but why else would it give Bev Oda the title of Minister of International Co-operation, then send her to this week’s G8 talks in Halifax as the diva of discord? Forget that, if Canada gets its way, health care for millions of women and children in the developing world will suffer. Forget that Canada is looking like a backwater of ideological ignorance. Stephen Harper has made a funny. Smile and wave.
Steve Pitt, Toronto
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Since women have been getting pregnant, there’ve been abortions. Medicinal herbs, cotton root bark, knitting needles and coat hangers. The reality of a woman’s life is that, if she’s pregnant and doesn’t want to be, she’ll risk her life to terminate. Access to a safe, legal abortion is a critical component to maternal health in developing countries. What an international embarrassment for Canada.
Nancy Watt, Dundas, Ont.
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Stephen Harper says that “Canadians want to see their foreign aid money used for things that will help save the lives of women and children in ways that unite the Canadian people.” How can blocking the international consensus to fund an initiative to improve women's health in developing countries (including safe abortions) unite the Canadian people?
Jeannie House, St. John's
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Letter writers Eleanor Moore and Diane Goudie (Vicious Circle – April 28) insist, quite rightly, that it’s not for us in Canada to decide whether a woman living somewhere else should choose to have an abortion. But that's not the issue. The question is: Should Canadian taxpayers pay for it?
Iain Clayre, Edmonton
The Khadr affair
According to your article Plea-Bargain Talks Held In Khadr Case (April 28), lawyers have been negotiating an arrangement that could lead to Omar Khadr’s release and repatriation. “But agreement from the Canadian government would be critical to any final deal, Mr. Khadr’s lawyers said.” The government – through a majority vote in Parliament on March 23, 2009 – has already decided that Mr. Khadr should be released and repatriated, so no further “agreement” is necessary.
The Senate earlier passed a similar motion for Mr. Khadr’s release and repatriation. Those decisions of the House and the Senate endorsed the June, 2008, recommendation of the standing committee on foreign affairs “that the Government of Canada demand Khadr’s release from U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay … as soon as practical.”
