For current political commentary, see the daily political notes.
Note that "Liberal" in Canada does not mean what it means in the US; the Liberal Party in Canada is actually rather conservative in its positions.
Mr. Prime Minister:
I am just a working class housewife and mother. I have raised two very
intelligent and successful children and have been married to the same man
for 30 years. Above all I have always been proud to be a Canadian until
this weekend. (Quebec April 20-21, 2001)
I must tell you that I have never been so outraged or appalled at the way
that our government has been handling this conference.
First of all let me tell you that I am totally against violence and did
not like what happened in Seattle last year. Never the less; that is no
excuse for the undemocratic and totally un-Canadian manner that you have
chosen to deal with the protesters in Quebec City this last weekend.
You had better take a hard look at what you are teaching the youth of
today. Remember they are Canada's future and they are becoming more and
more like their American neighbours and only because you Mr. Prime
Minister are allowing our government to be more and more like the American
system.
We have never seen our government treat our young people like your RCMP
treated them this weekend and you should be ashamed of yourself for
allowing that to happen.
I have always been a Liberal. My parents were Liberals and I was proud of
that but today I am ashamed to be a Liberal because today Liberal appears
to stands for dictatorship and uncaring cruel treatment of our youth.
These young people are truly concerned about the environment and the fact
that many of the decisions that are being made which will affect their
future and the future of their children are being made behind closed doors
and without their input. They see you and your party as selling their
country out and they won't stand for it. I for one totally support them
on that issue.
There are millions of people in our glorious country who feel as I do. I
hope they take the time to write to you and give you a piece of their
mind. I don't think that many will but I am sure that they are also
fuming after what they have seen this weekend via the media.
I am also sure that they will send their message to you and your party at
election time and I for one will not be voting Liberal again.
I pray that more of our most brilliant, aspiring political youth will rise
up and begin to garner support and funds from people like myself to
organize and create a new political party that will focus on the
environment and on the best interests of our people, in the country we are
proud to call Canada. You sir, in my opinion, have not done that and I
just wanted you to know that this Canadian is not blind and I will do
whatever I can to make as many other Canadians, aware of that fact as I
can.
The internet is a powerful tool and you can't use tear gas, fences or swat
team tactics to stop us here. We are a powerful nation with money and
resources and above all the power of our intellectual youth is undaunting.
This country belongs to us and not to you or to the wealthiest in the
world. We just need to mobilize together as a nation and put the right
people in power and get rid of politicians like you who disrespect the
concerns of our youth and are willing to sell our country out to the
highest bidder.
You sir, have not had the last word. This is not the end of the
discussion because you say so. It is only the beginning and we Canadians
will have the last word. For there is power in numbers. You'll have to
put a fence up around the whole country to stop what is going to take
place now that you have provoked this nation with your disrespect for your
own people, in particular our youth, in order to impress your unwelcome
guests, who participated in this summit.
Regards,
Mrs. Amy Kalinowski
......... ......... ......... .........
This is the second letter I sent to the Media across Canada:
Dear Fellow Canadians:
I urge you to investigate what is going on at the Ministry of the
Solicitor General, with respect to how the Quebec police and the RCMP
conducted themselves, with respect to the horrifying treatment of our
young people and the peaceful demonstrators, at the Summit in Quebec last
weekend.
I watched a program on television, that had as a guest the Parliamentary
Secretary to the Solicitor Generals office. His name is Mr. Lynn Myers.
Not only did he look like a goon but he represented himself, as if he was
the head of a legalized Mafia in this country.
I sent his Ministry a scathing letter telling them just how this Canadian
felt about what went on in Quebec. Not only did his ministry have the
police dress in plain clothes and wearing head bandannas but they were
also hooded and apparently snatching young peaceful demonstrators off the
streets, arresting them for demonstrating. If this government thinks that
we as Canadians are going to tolerate that kind of intimidation by the
police, who are paid for by our tax dollars, they are in for a rude
awakening.
The people in the ministry and the police are public servants who work for
the people of Canada. Yes, they are there to protect us, that is what we
pay them for but they are not there to infringe on our democratic and
constitutional rights as a nation.
We do not live in a police state. We are living in a democracy and it is
our legal and constitutional right as a nation to organize, congregate and
demonstrate about anything that we find unacceptable in our Country.
The police were snatching our young people in order to make examples of
them, to intimidate the Canadian people, so that they would forget their
constitutional and legal right to demonstrate in the future.
Well, it backfired. Instead they have only provoked this nation. I am
sure that I speak for millions of Canadians, who watched in horror on
their televisions, at what went on in the streets of Quebec City last
weekend.
The people of our great nation are not ignorant. We are a highly
intelligent and well- informed society today and this kind of vigilante
policing is totally unacceptable.
I hope that the lawyers who are involved in the law suites that are about
to fly, take it all the way up to the supreme court of Canada, so that we
as a nation will finally have some assurance that this type of police
brutality will never happen again, during legal and peaceful
demonstrations.
Our young people were treated like criminals and the police had no right
to treat them like that. Over 2,000 cans of tear gas were used and 4,000
plastic bullets were used. Our tax dollars were not meant to be spent
like that.
One person, I understand was hit in the throat and may never speak again.
I hope that person sues the pants off of the Ministry of the Solicitor
General.
Our Prime Minister should be ashamed of himself for sanctioning such
violence from the police.
He has the nerve to send his representative for Canada, to the United
Nations to sit on a committee to the United Nations Convention on the
rights of the Child and young people. The Senator who sat on that
committee is Senator Landon Pearson. Senator Pearson agreed with the
recognition and right of the child and young people to participate in the
decision making, that affected them and required States to ensure that
their opinions were given "due weight". The Senator also said that "young
people should be viewed as more than just passive beneficiaries and that "
they should be heard as actors in their own development". Where was the
voice of our youth last weekend and how was it received by our government?
Why were their opinions, regarding their economic future and their health
with respect to the deterioration of the environment dismissed, and why
were they treated like criminals by the Quebec police and the RCMP? When
all they were doing was peacefully demonstrating, because they just wanted
some input in the decisions of their future and to be heard. The same
right that our Senator to the UN, Senator Pearson, said all children and
youth around the globe must have. I hope that you as a popular medium to
this nation, do something, to make the people of this country aware of a
very dangerous situation that occurred in Quebec.
Our democratic and constitutional rights, have been trampled, on by our
present government. We need to send a strong message to future governments
that we as Canadians will never tolerate this! We need the help of people
like you to help us do that. I hope you will see what is really going on
here and help your country because today it's our youth and some 60,0000
demonstrators and tomorrow, it will be you. Think about it,
Mrs. Amy Kalinowski
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