I read with interest Steve Gunner’s comments on the retirement of MLA George Abbott.
You’ll recall that Mr. Gunner was the NDP candidate in the Shuswap riding during the last provincial election.
Mr. Gunner is quoted as saying there is an appetite for change because the “free-enterprise doctrine” is no longer working.
Mr. Gunner should know that socialism is a doctrine, communism is a doctrine but free-enterprise is what happens when individuals take personal risk to create a better life for themselves, their families and potential employees.
The entire economy of the Okanagan, the province and indeed the country depends on free-enterprise, from millions of business owners, large and small, to farmers, home business operators, the corner grocery to the large supermarket, the small hardware store to the big box outlets.
Without free-enterprise, in fact, we would enjoy few of the privileges we have today.
I am curious of what Mr. Gunner would suggest we replace it with?
A good Soviet-style five-year plan?
A government takeover of the economic system?
More red tape and higher taxes to keep the “one big government” people occupied?
Perhaps the free-enterprise system hasn’t worked well for Mr. Gunner and his NDP friends but I think he will have a hard time running on that platform in the next election.
It’s easy enough to get tired and fed up with a long sitting government because the warts are easy to spot but the danger is if we elect a group of people who are fundamentally opposed to our way of life and would send us back to the dark ages.
John Trainor, Armstrong
