Dear Editor,
It is with a sense of dismay and foreboding that I am witnessing the events in our Parliament this week. To have a Premier invoking the Notwithstanding clause in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms in order to undermine and influence the outcome of the upcoming election in Toronto is outrageous, to say the least. This is not a matter of national security; it appears to be a matter of a personal grudge being indulged by the Premier of our Province. Surely Ontarians deserve better that this. Former Conservative Premier Bill Davis, former Prime Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and even Amnesty International has spoken out against this travesty. Further, I have attempted to contact Perth Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece to express my dismay at this situation, and he has not replied. Our Attorney General Caroline Mulroney has not replied to my email, and of course, the Premier’s office will not give anything but a stock “thank you for your email” answer. Is this a government “for the people”? Is this what voters imagined when they cast their ballots for a new and better Ontario? Seniors being handcuffed and taken from the Ontario Legislature? We rely on the rule of law in this province. So when an Ontario Supreme Court Justice says that proposed legislation is unconstitutional, the government has a obligation to listen to that ruling, not just trample over it and all of our collective rights and freedoms. Sincerely, Juanita Wilkins
Juanita Wilkins
