Colin Mayes’ column (Shuswap Market News Jan. 30: “Zero tolerance for barbaric practices”) shows how out of touch the Harper Conservative government is with ordinary Canadians.
Grim news on the economy: a precipitous drop in the Canadian dollar (22 per cent in 2 months); oil trading at $45 per barrel; federal and provincial government revenues plummeting (17 per cent decline in Alberta); jobs lost and contracts cancelled locally due to downsizing in the oil patch (1,000 jobs at Suncor).
Mr. Harper could be telling us how the Conservatives intend to deal with the economic crisis. That’s what Premier Jim Prentice is doing for Albertans. Instead, the federal budget has been postponed to “sometime in April,” after the fiscal year end. This is akin to heading off on a hike without looking at the map.
Instead, the Conservatives are concerned about “foreign cultural values that will not be accepted as Canadian values.” Apparently, there is a plan for pre-election messaging but no plan for the economy. Mr. Mayes and the North Okanagan Shuswap deserve better communiqués from the PMO.
Time for a change in Ottawa.
Cindy Derkaz,Liberal candidate, Okanagan-Shuswap
