Conservatives good for the country and the poor
John A. MacDonald’s recent letter entitled “New Conservative Leader should be great for the 1%” misses the mark so often it is astonishing. First, the Conservatives indeed elected a new leader with 175,00 votes less than two per cent of the population, but the new leader was elected within the party. It wasn’t a national plebiscite or a nation wide vote, so what is Mr. John A. Macdonald (there’s a certain irony in that name) talking about?
The fallacy that Conservatives do “little for the people” or the poor is yet another popular but odious misconception. Conservatives have presided over some of the most prosperous and progressive periods in Canadian history including the conceiving and inception of the nation itself. Prosperity and a powerful economy benefit everyone, including, and most especially the poor, who finally have jobs, income and a chance in life. Moreover, there wouldn’t even be a Canada if a Conservative leader had not originally imagined and fought for it.
As to caring for the people’s rights, conservatives like John Diefenbaker brought about the Canadian Bill of Rights, appointed the first female cabinet minister, Ellen Fairclough, as well as the first aboriginal senator James Gladstone and passed the Royal Commission on Health Services as well as numerous other accomplishments directed at helping the average Canadian. I could cite numerous other examples, but then again, I have mentioned all of this before.
It is conservatives who spend the most time focusing on how to reduce national debt and balance budgets, certainly not our present government who are most likely prepared, this month, to commit us to tens of billions, if not eventually hundreds of billions of dollars, more debt and government spending with the so called “economic resiliency” plan.
Incidentally, this has senior bureaucrats and even some liberal backbenchers, terrified. History shows that debt destroys nations and that includes the poor. International agencies have downgraded Canada’s economic rating and warned us about our exorbitant personal and national debt, and that will effect the vast majority of Canadians. So why is it that liberals are the ones who keep on wildly spending? It is not the Conservatives who do so.
Yes a new conservative leader has been elected and national campaigning may start soon, perhaps even with weeks. That is democracy and the electoral system at work. The people must chose who will be the next leader of Canada. They are part of the process, and they will ultimately decide who the next prime minister is. That is hardly “second place” and it is directly related to the country not secondary to it.
Perry Foster
Duncan
