Vancouver Sun letters to the editor for Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019
Credit to Author: Gordon Clark| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 01:00:58 +0000
I downloaded and read the Trudeau report from the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner. Besides rehashing the sordid mess of the SNC-Lavalin fiasco, starring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his supporting cast at the privy council, I was dumbfounded at the “Concerns and Process” section of the report. This is where the commissioner requests exemption for information from nine of the witnesses that might reveal a confidence of the Queen’s privy council.
The commissioner requests to the council and — surprise, surprise — its response was to deny access to cabinet confidences with respect to the investigation. Such notable transparency!
Trudeau goes on and on about fixing the role of the justice minister and the attorney-general so that such a misunderstanding will not occur in the future. The role is just fine the way it is — it is the prime minister’s office and a number of bureaucrats who need to abide by the rules. I sincerely hope that the channel changes next election.
Doug Cline, North Vancouver
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apparently has a very shallow grasp of his duty to all of us. As the principal lawmaker of our land, he should uphold a fundamental tenant of Canadian social order: the rule of law.
Instead, he thinks his primary duty is to save jobs, and will subvert the administration of justice to do that. Fortunately for Canada, we had a stellar guardian of justice in then-attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould. Her reward for being right was to lose both her job and her party. Trudeau’s caucus should invite a true leader and woman both of principal and judgement back into the Liberal fold.
Unlike Trudeau, Wilson-Raybould would make an excellent prime minister.
Kenneth Walton, Victoria
Supporting corruption does not create jobs but simply drives competing job-creating companies out of business. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to apologize not only for interfering in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, but for deficient economic policies that fail to provide the good jobs that more than one million Canadians actively search for today.
Larry Kazdan, Vancouver
This scathing report proves that Jody Wilson-Raybould was truthful during her testimony before the parliamentary committee, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly misled Canadians. When this story broke, Trudeau denied any involvement, then stonewalled and shut down the committees trying to learn the truth. He even blocked key people from meeting with the ethics commissioner.
Sadly, as was the case when Trudeau was found to have breeched ethics when he took his family to visit the Aga Khan, the commissioner is hamstrung when it comes to dishing out penalties. That will be left up to voters in October.
Larry Comeau, Ottawa
As a Hong Konger, I apologize to travellers who experienced inconvenience at the Hong Kong airport. Activists were holding photos and kept the aisles clear. It was the government that unnecessarily cancelled all flights.
The Hong Kong government inflicted its injury and blamed the cancellations on the protest. The government used this tactic to attempt to turn international public opinion against Hong Kong activists.
Persist in being calm and peaceful in protests. Watch your surroundings for undercover Hong Kong police, pretending to be protesters. They instigate violence to justify police using rubber bullets, bean bags and tear gas against activists.
Edward Fung, Vancouver
If the current situation in Hong Kong worsens and it becomes captive to Mainland China it may well lead to the evacuation of an estimated 300,000 Canadian passport holders in addition to refugees.
Is Canada, particularly British Columbia, prepared for such a scenario?
Mike Horton, Burnaby
When did tea companies start using tea bags that don’t rot? This spring and summer, I’ve been spreading compost from four boxes. All four have included tea bags and more of the bags have remained intact despite years of rot and bugs and worms and weather. Why?
Greg Edwards, Delta
Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com.
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