Dear Editor:
Evone Monteith’s passionate anti-Conservative letter of last week makes a strong case against the Conservatives based on the recent contempt of Parliament ruling. This ruling came out of an open, democratic process of government. Undoubtedly the opposition parties that demanded a final cost on the price of F-35 jets, and the price of new jails knew that neither figure could be provided in short order. It was a great trick to bring down the house on their part — and a huge waste of money for us in another election.
Few people outside the aviation industry realize that the F-35 participation by industry, offers Canadian aerospace and defence companies...“opportunities available to Canadian industry, currently valued at C$12 billion....in areas such as major structural assemblies, electronic systems, advanced composites, high speed machining, simulation and training, tooling, sustainment, and landing gear maintenance.” (Industry Canada) http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ad-ad.nsf/eng/ad03863.html
In other words, the F-35 program more than pays for itself and Canadian industry also moves light years ahead in competitive research and development. The F-35s are part of a multi-national aerospace development project that we should be proud to be part of, and certainly if we believe ourselves to be part of an alliance of western democracies, we should be prepared to pony up with the right planes in time of need.
Monteith’s letter conveniently avoids any mention of Liberals living above the law. I am still waiting for my money back from the Liberals over AdScam, a behind the scenes vacuuming of taxpayer money, paid for non-existent advertising so as to fill the pockets of Liberal cronies when the Liberals were in power. There are untold millions of taxpayers who were exchanged in sleazy under the table deals in the Chretien years.
And what of Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff — he’s been rewriting his family history to come off as a poor immigrant ‘like the rest of you’ — only in reality his family came to Canada as royalty with the equivalent of a million bucks. Aw, poor Michael. But how does Monteith square with Iggy hoodwinking voters with this deception? Aren’t these examples of both deception and living above the law?
Monteith also talks about green energy and the Conservatives lack of funding for it. Few people understand that green technology has nowhere near the capacity to provide for our energy needs — and it all needs fossil fuels to be built and operated anyway.
Look at: A Cubic Mile of Oil: Realities and Options for Averting the Looming Global Energy Crisis. According to the authors, every year the world consumes a cubic mile of oil — imagine a giant cube of oil one mile wide, deep and high. In terms of overall energy sources (hydro, coal etc.), we apparently consume three of these cubes per year.
To replace just the one cubic mile of oil-based energy we use per year, a mindblowing collection of alternative energy systems and infrastructures would have to be built, such as:
• 153 Three Gorges Dams, built at the rate of one every four months
• 64,000 x 25-turbine wind farms, built at the rate of 1,300 a year, and occupying 580,000 acres or twice the size of greater Los Angeles
• 2,280 nuclear power plants
• 500 surface uranium mines
• 1,000 underground uranium mines (Currently there are fewer than 450 working nuclear power plants across the whole world)
• 4,560,000,000 solar panels, built at the rate of 91,000,000 per year
• Or see this great graphic depiction: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2186
And of course all of that construction would require barrels and barrels of good old oil to power the equipment that does the digging, transporting of construction materials, operation of factories to build the equipment for these installations. Consequently in a time of economic uncertainty, it makes no sense to make huge investments in green technology that is so far from market-ready.
The Harper government is practical, and concerned with supporting small and medium sized business — the life blood of democracy. The Liberals’ Ignatieff believes the solution to unemployment is only education.
But the Harper government knows that men and women who are entrepreneurs start successful businesses with drive, determination and a dream. You know the old saying “The A students teach the B students who end up working for the C students?” Well, look at all the small businesses where people maybe don’t have degrees, but they do have great ideas, business smarts, common sense and a work ethic. And out of their hard work, they create businesses and jobs.
The Conservatives support the hard working people of Canada — they know that social programs to help those who need help can only come from a strong economy, where corporations and small businesses can thrive, pay taxes and provide charitable contributions to society. It is a fallacy presented by the Liberals, NDP and Greens that raising corporate taxes results in more benefits. The opposite — when the costs of doing business rises, businesses have to cut back in everything, employment, community support, grants, and in-house training.
Look around the world that is in chaos. You can only have a calm democracy like we have with a strong economy. The Conservatives know that and they have ferried us through a global economic super storm that is not done yet.
I vote for common sense.
Michelle Stirling