Letters to the Editor, March 31
SINKING SHIPS Over the decades I’ve watched hopeful voters clamouring for positions next to the gunwale of the latest ship being launched by a political party. Voters seem to believe they will get a free ride on a huge wave of personal prosperity. But the wave is a mirage, created by political hot air. Nevertheless, it’s entertaining fantasy at first, but every ship inevitably runs aground on the rocky shores of reality. Justin Trudeau, buoyed by memories of his father’s renowned Trudeaumania, created his own imaginary wave and then refitted the battered old Liberal ship. Now his ship of promises is floundering on the rocks of reality and all our drama-teaching prime minister can think of doing is throwing the country’s treasure chests overboard in a desperate attempt to keep himself afloat. Alas, this tale could have a happy ending, but it doesn’t. Erin O’Toole, the new master of the Conservatives’ outdated Harperian ship, can’t even convince his crew that the climate is changing, let alone which way the political winds are blowing. In protest, I’m going to keep wearing a Green Party of Canada lifejacket, even though I’m aware its buoyancy depends on hot air. Lloyd Atkins Vernon, B.C. (You could be a poet. But your words tell a sad tale of the state of affairs we are dealing with. End it would appear that there are only storms on the horizon)