Editor:
I could not help noting the irony the other day when Stephen Harper appointed five senators to the Upper House. There they were ready to go – but, look, the House is prorogued, the Members are taking an enforced holiday (isn’t it nice to have your Christmas holiday extended by two months at full pay), and there is no where for them to go.
Harper says that the new Senators are necessary to expedite the passing of Conservative bills. But, there were 36 bills being dealt with during the sitting of the House (issues like consumer product safety and stiffer sentences for drug trafficers) and they were lost through prorogation. They will all have to come back to the House and Senate in March and start all over.
I also noted Harper’s desire to make the world better for women and children. At the same time, CIDA is cutting funding to agencies which work around the world with women and children in poverty, agencies like Kairos, the inter-church coalition that funds justice projects throughout the world. Unfortunately, there is no one in the House to debate this action and point out such discrepancies.
Finally, our Armed Forces are serving in Afghanistan, striving, and many dying, to bring democracy to that country. It is a bitter irony to me that our Parliament is closed down in the way it is. I hope global visitors attending the Olympics take note.
Catherine Christie - Abbey
