Dear Editor
In the first election for which I was eligible to vote, I had the privilege to help elect the NDP when Dave Barrett was at the head of the provincial party. I have continued to vote for the NDP in the federal, provincial and municipal elections. I believe in the moral and ethical standards of the NDP.
However, I will not vote for any member of the Burnaby Citizens Association during the next municipal election. I am outraged at Mr. Corrigan’s attitude about the people living in and around Metrotown. As I understand it, Mr. Corrigan believes it is the responsibility of the federal and provincial governments to provide social housing. This may be legally correct, but it is morally and ethically bankrupt. To make matters worse, Mr. Corrigan’s words then appeared to blame this vulnerable population for voting for federal and provincial governments who have not built the needed social housing.
When my first child was in kindergarten, all the parents were asked to send a change of clothes. Not all parents complied with the request. One day, the kindergarten teacher told me that a child spent the time from before recess to lunch in wet underpants, pants and socks because his parents had not sent any replacement clothes. Her rationale for leaving this child to suffer was that the parents were at fault and needed to be taught a lesson. The only person that was punished was the young boy! I promptly told her to use my child’s replacement clothes if the situation were to arise again.
From my perspective, Mr. Corrigan is repeating this same situation, only with powerless adults as the scapegoats. The desperately poor tenants have no control over the vagaries of the provincial and federal governments, in the same way the young boy had no control over his parents. These people simply try to live with the given circumstances.
There comes a point when principles have to take a backseat to commonsense and empathy. Please stop blaming the evicted tenants. They are not responsible for this predicament. Amongst all of you, there should be enough intelligence, academic background and experience to solve this problem.
Mary Jo Melnyk, Burnaby
