YOU SAID IT: Yes, please stay, Justin

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YES, PLEASE STAY, JUSTIN

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Stephen Harper, while prime minister, was hated by Liberals and Justin Trudeau. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s popularity has sunk even lower; he is disliked by almost everyone in Canada, the NDP (who still support his government anyway) and even some Liberal MPs, who are sharpening their knives right now.

Yet in his delusion that he is the “rescuer” of Canada and the world, Trudeau has decided to hang on to the very end and lead the Liberals into the next election. I could not be more elated to hear that! His staying on is guaranteed to reduce the Liberals in Parliament drastically, with their MPs numbering between what the Greens and NDP have now.

The newly unemployed former Liberal MPs will have to get real jobs. Of course, the country runs the risk of having the Bloc Québécois as the official Opposition again, with its only focus being that “what’s good for Quebec is good for Canada.” But at least when they feel policies aren’t detrimental to Quebec, they don’t get in the way of government.

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TONY BORBELY
CALGARY

STEERING CLEAR OF DEBATES

I began following politics in 1987 at age 20, voted for the first time the following year and have never failed to cast a ballot in a single election or referendum of any kind.

However, I’ve deliberately never watched or listened to an election campaign leaders’ debate, including and especially those of U.S. elections. Debates tell me very little or nothing of practical use as to how the “winner” and “loser” would govern while in power. General/usual political party ideology and policy are what matter most.

The only thing debates reveal to me is oral communication (dis)ability and, by extension, who’s the best/worst politician, a profession generally not thought of as being scrupulous.

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As for the American and especially Canadian first-past-the-post electoral experience and resultant as-usual governance, they always bring to my mind “Calamity” Jane Bodine’s very memorable line in the film Our Brand Is Crisis: “If voting changed anything (in favour of the weak/poor/disenfranchised), they’d have made it illegal.”

FRANK STERLE JR.
WHITE ROCK, B.C.

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