To the editor:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has arrived in Israel with a contingent of 207 people, all of whom are travelling on the taxpayers’ dime.
I will hold my nose at the idea of six cabinet ministers, eight members of Parliament and two senators because, excessive or not, they are government members. I will also grudgingly concede the necessity of 27 CEOs of Canadian corporations … this is, after all, a trade mission.
What I cannot condone is the inclusion of 21 Jewish rabbis.
Whether you are a religious person or not, the idea that 21 religious leaders of the same faith are required on a trade mission is ingenuous at best and deceitful at worst. Given his destination, I could see a handful of rabbis going – not almost two dozen.
This is a vote-buyer for Harper. The Jewish vote in Toronto and Montreal is courted by all parties and Harper just happens to be in a position to provide an all-expenses-paid pilgrimage to 21 gentlemen who have much influence in their communities.
Harper has a long history of using taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to further the interests of the Conservative Party of Canada, as opposed to the interests of the government of Canada, which is supposed to represent all Canadians.
I look forward, in the future, to a report by this government about the increase in trade generated by these 21 religious leaders.
Diane McLeod
Kamloops
