I. Smith writes (Your Views, Gazette, Feb. 21) "I shall not need the Charter to protect me .... We are law abiding people."
Good! That sort of ignorance deserves to be jailed!! What do you mean, no jail? That pesky Charter: no jail unless the Crown proves, according to the law, that I. Smith broke the law.
At least that sort of ignorance should not be published. What? A Charter right to freedom of expression, even when I. Smith is so obviously wrong? Next thing I will hear is that I. Smith made it to work this morning without being harassed by the police: the Charter right against unlawful detention. Drat that Charter anyways!
Crime rates, including the murder rate, have been dropping steadily for more than 40 years. But that is a fact, and facts have never bothered Mr. Harper’s attempts to drive the crime rate back up with his pretend "Tough On Crime" laws.
I. Smith says he has "... nothing to hide." "I do not care who reads my email ...." "If it catches criminals ... good." Centuries-old English law says that a man's home is his castle. Stephen Harper, with Bill C-51, wants to take that away, with his so-called "Tough on Terror" law. It's tough, alright, but on ordinary Canadians, not on terror.
Stalin's Communist Russia and Hitler's Nazi Germany used the same "nothing to hide" argument to establish police states. Communist China still does. Canadians fought and died to save us from that tyranny and to preserve our rights. I. Smith wants to give those rights up.
I. Smith wants to surrender our rights as Canadians. For the sake of my – and his or her – grandchildren, I can't let that happen.
Oh: am I a Liberal? You mean the folks who built up the big surplus, which Stephen Harper promptly blew away? Thank you for the compliment!
John Kennedy, St Albert
