Dear Editor:
This is not a good time for Conservatives. If all
the news out of Ottawa is true and not just excerpts guaranteed to sell newspapers, then there is no excuse. Under the bus. And let's not stop at just getting the unauthorized expenses back. Proper charges should be laid, and the whole mess, if there really is one, should go through the courts.
However, I would like to see a jury consisting of just waitresses, hairdressers, taxi drivers and home remodellers, who, after careful examinations by the Canada Revenue Agency, have always declared all income to the taxman.
In a population of 33 million, I am confident there are 12 to be found, plus a few for spares. If the verdict is jail for the senators, it would put the fear of Jo into the high-flyers, but the exercise would also put a substantial dent into our national debt, compliments
of so many little cheaters!
While we are still enthusiastic about catching cheating senators, how about re-examining how many of the 50 First Nation politicians who earned more than our prime minister and the 80 chiefs who earned more than their premiers, have reduced their incomes and have made other benefits transparent?
Just as a matter of record, I happened to travel through Wadena, Sask., on the day Senator Pamela Wallin launched her book, Since You Asked. While standing in line for the signing, I was musing how different life in a smaller community is. Ms. Wallin knew every single person by name, asked about their family and other circumstances. The child just ahead of me had her picture in the book and ended up on the senator's lap while she signed mine.
I can't recall whether or not Wallin's name was already on a street sign in Wadena in 1998.
However, if anyone suggests Senator Wallin is not a resident of Wadena, as defined by senate rules, her friends and neighbours may start a movement to separate Saskatchewan from Canada!
Ziggy Eckardt, Burnaby
