Dear editor,
In a submission (www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/letters/237087801.html), published in the Comox Valley Record on Dec. 26, there is a plea from a disabled gentleman living in Courtenay.
He informs us that he is being forced to live drastically below the poverty line because provincial government regulations ensure that every time he gets an increase in the amount of money the federal government pension provides to him, the B.C. government takes that same amount away dollar for dollar.
Ms. Clark, I remember hearing you say that you would be a government for the people and for families once you were elected. Well, I think that you were being a bit loose with the truth, for all that I have seen since you were elected is that you want to take everything that you can and give it to corporate interests, very often from abroad.
You have made things tougher for our school systems, made care more difficult to obtain for the sick and for seniors, and made life for the homeless more exasperating and have not listened enough (in my opinion) to the people who have commented on environmental issues.
Your recent appointment of a person with many years in the oil and gas industry as the Minister of Agriculture is a case in point.
I challenge Ms. Clark to read the referenced letter and then to write to the editor of the Comox Valley Record and indicate what she will do to ensure that Mr. McIntyre and the hundreds of others in his same situation do not have to do as he suggests and sit “on the edge of suicide.”
Our government has the money to do so if you choose. We often hear of the government spending money on various projects and this is an area where we need to help those who, like Mr. McIntyre, have contributed for years to both the federal and provincial tax coffers and now need our help.
I hope that our MLA will find a voice so that he can speak up and assist this person whom he represents. Don, you need to stand up and speak on this matter.
Do not just say it will pass. The public wants to hear your views. Please say something other than talk, talk, talk.
David Netterville,
Courtenay