Dear Editor,
I was reading the recent article in this newspaper entitled “New Home in the Sun”, written by Rachel Everett-Fry.
At the end of her Guest Editorial, she talks about what is on most people’s minds right now, and that is climate change. We have a Federal government that talks a good talk about climate change, but does nothing, and has missed every climate target since signing the Paris Accord. They know what to do, but don’t do it.
Then we have our current provincial government that doesn’t believe at all in climate change, and neither does its Federal counterpart. In fact, the Ford government has made a habit of making sure that the environment doesn’t stand in the way of making money for their well-heeled donors.
For most of the 55 years that I have lived in our country, that is pretty well all that we have voted for, the Red or the Blue. Small wonder nothing much changes. We are in a crisis, and we need to stop acting as if “business as usual” is going to solve things. We have had over 30 years since our first warning of what has now come to pass, and have done little about it. We need to elect governments that will do the right thing for all the people, (not just the already rich), and for our planet, if we want to leave a liveable planet for our grandchildren. The part of the editorial that prompted me to write this letter was the sentence, “Might I add that if everyone I hear expressing a desire to vote differently if only such and such a party really stood a real chance, actually took that chance, we could very well realise a significant change in representation”.
And there you see the problem. These people probably don’t vote because they see it pointless, if who they want to vote for isn’t going to make it anyway. I saw a report once where they took those that “Do not Vote”, and they used those percentages to make them into a Party. The “Do Not Vote” Party won every single province except Alberta and Saskatchewan.
All these people who are disillusioned by the system, and do not participate, have an immense amount of power, if only they could rid themselves of their apathy, and vote for what they believe in. Change is possible, but, as they say, in politics, if you aren’t a player, then expect to get played. Ain’t that the truth?
Colin Creasey,
Kemptville
