Are my expectations too high that when people write into the Black Press community papers that they have at least a modicum of intelligence behind what they say?
In her outrageous claims of treason and murder, Ms. Sylvia Mason Philbrook apparently forgot that adage that it is better to stay silent rather then to say something and be thought a fool.
• READ MORE: LETTER: Resident blames political leadership for the current pandemic
Look, Ms. Philbrook, I’m thankful that we have provincial and federal leaders here in Canada that have worked hard to flatten the curve as it is called by listening to our medical experts and scientists and don’t have time to pay attention to Monday morning quarterbackers such as yourself who have nothing of value to add to the conversation.
As for “letting” the virus into the country, that virus was already here before we knew that it had arrived by people returning from the United States. So, would you have had the government block citizens from coming home even before anyone realized that we were eventually become involved in a pandemic? In the early days, no one even knew how it was spread nor how dangerous it was. It took months before it was finally even called a pandemic.
And what you call handouts, are vital injections of funds to those most affected by the downturn in business and employment that has been caused by the necessary suppression of this virus. It is the way to prevent an even bigger financial disaster. To call them handouts is sheer arrogance on your part and speaks to your political leanings.
Yes, the money that the government has had to borrow will have to be paid back over time. It will come from taxes from our citizens and from businesses which these funds have helped saved people from losing everything during the shutdown and stopping a recession from becoming a full-blown depression.
Would you have the country not pay back the funds borrowed and just leave the billions on the books with accompanying interest charges? It is basic economics that the government has a role to play in spending money during times of trouble to prevent economic collapse and then to pay down the debt. Is that too difficult a concept to understand?
Would I be wrong to think that your entire disjointed and misinformed diatribe has little to do with the government’s handling of the pandemic and everything to do with you just not liking who our Prime Minister is?
I shutter to think what our own Trump-lite Conservative leader would have done differently, starting with reopening the country too soon as Trump is trying to do to save his political hide.
Robert T. Rock
Mission City
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