Dear Editor:
My first connection to politics was when I lived in Deer Lake and worked in the woods supplying wood to the mill in Corner Brook. At the time Joey Smallwood’s government was in power. I stayed in woods camps that today if you put an animal in it you would be charged. The International Woodworkers of America came into the province to try and make things better for the loggers. Just as we were making headway, Smallwood decertified the I.W.A. to appease the two papers mills. The loggers lost out.
Elizabeth Marshall was a Minister in the Danny Williams Government, who made a deal with the V.O.N. in Corner Brook, when Danny came back from holidays. He reversed the deal, it being in his district. Ms. Marshall had no option only quit, a loss for the people of the province.
Cathy Bennett was the first Finance Minister in the Dwight Ball government, did a hard budget which I thought was necessary to try and save us from bankruptcy, and in doing her second budget ran into opposition from the unions, which didn’t suit Premier Ball’s agenda. He wasn’t going to lay off union workers regardless if needed or not. He didn’t fire her, but made it unbearable for her to stay in that position, so she had to quit: A loss for the people of this province.
Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice in the Trudeau Government, had a very difficult choice to make regarding SNC Lavalin based in Quebec. The story broke that the Prime Minister’s office was putting undue pressure on the Minister to make a decision that she didn’t think was right and when she didn’t go along she was ejected from the Justice Department. Finally she resigned from cabinet and the Prime Minister kept denying that he or anyone in his office put any pressure on her to reverse her decision.
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, Jody Wilson-Raybould got her chance to let the citizens of Canada know exactly what happened and for that we must be most thankful. She had the guts to stand up to the Prime Minister and uphold the law and for that she has paid a heavy price. A loss for the people of Canada.
And now we have Liberal members in Ottawa who will smear her and make her out a liar for no other reason but to stay on the good side of the Prime Minister and hopefully get elected again. We owe these people nothing.
In my lifetime I have seen a lot of dirty politics and I don’t see anything changing. All I see is people at the top doing what they like and not what the voters put them in office to do.
Too bad people like Elizabeth Marshall, Cathy Bennett and Ms. Wilson-Raybould, who try to do the right thing, are ejected by their leaders, who are only concerned about their own wellbeing.
Only for Jody Wilson-Raybould having the guts to stand up for her convictions, we would never have heard of this issue and for that the people of Canada owe her great deal of gratitude.
This Prime Minister is following in his father’s footsteps: when told there was something he shouldn’t do, his statement was “Just watch me.”
Wishing her every success in the future.
(Ret) Capt. Wilfred Bartlett
Green Bay South
wilfbartlett@hotmail.com
