Dear editor,
I feel that Comox Valley MLA Don McRae should repudiate the notices being sent out under the authority of his financial agent, Colleen Ellison.
I’m referring to the cards now being distributed that warn recipients: “When the NDP’s outsiders knock on your door, don’t let them intimidate you into signing the petition.”
Before you jump to the conclusion that I am a supporter of the New Democratic Party, let me tell you something about myself.
I emigrated to Canada as an 18-year-old in 1957. Soon after arriving in Victoria, I found a position in the provincial government as a junior clerk in the Finance Department.
One of my duties was to act as a messenger within the department, which often involved taking documents, cheques, and assorted notes requiring signatures between the premier’s office and that of the financial adviser to the premier, the deputy ministers, the comptroller’s, and the offices of pretty well every other minister of government.
As a result of these duties, I had frequent contact with Premier Bennett and several other members of his cabinet, and I was surprised by the friendly treatment I received on all sides. The premier was especially gracious to me, addressing me, as he did to everyone, as his “friend.”
Thus I not only developed a liking for the man, but I also came to view the party he represented and the policies he followed as eminently the best that any jurisdiction could be governed by.
The downside to this view was that I bought into his party’s propaganda that electing the New Democratic Party would result in the ruination of this province. And although I have long rejected that notion, I have never voted for or supported in any way the NDP, either provincially or federally.
I became disenchanted with the Social Credit Party in 1983, mainly as a result of certain pieces of legislation it brought in that set one group of our citizens against another in a manner that reminded of Germany in the 1930s.
With the demise of the Socreds, I halfheartedly supported the coalition that became the Liberal Party of British Columbia under Gordon Campbell’s leadership.
Sadly, I soon found I could no longer cast my vote for the Liberals, but, believing strongly that I should still take part in this democratic privilege, I chose thereafter to support the Green Party.
I want Mr. McRae to know that I have been a student of politics for over 40 years. I know about other political systems, but have a preference for parliamentary democracy such as we theoretically have here in Canada.
For this reason, I did not approve of the recall legislation and had hoped the Liberals would have repealed it. I also did not approve of the legislation that permitted last year’s plebiscite against the HST, but I signed the petition to overthrow it because I wanted to see what would develop should sufficient people vote to do so.
I believe the recall campaign being conducted in the Oak Bay riding (where I lived and voted for many years before moving to the Comox Valley) will fail (I was down there over the holidays), and I reject totally the statements being put about in McRae’s name that citizens are being “intimidated” in that jurisdiction and that this will take place here in the Valley.
I am suggesting that Mr. McRae distance himself from the scare tactics being employed by his supporters. These lies constitute a bad move on their part, especially since the whole mess began with the lies told by his party upon the introduction of the HST.
I do not believe that if a recall campaign is instituted against him that I will have NDP supporters at my door attempting to intimidate me. What I find intimidating, and the reason for this letter, is the campaign being conducted by his supporters.
Please put a stop to it, Mr. McRae. It is foolish and unnecessary. Desmond Lindo,
Courtenay