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‘Outraged by our government’s heinous blunder’

Re: Thanks to the Liberals, Canada is now the joke heard around the world — Michael Higgins, Sept. 27; Anthony Rota resigns as Speaker of the House after Nazi fiasco — Catherine Lévesque and Ryan Tumilty, Sept. 26; Ignorance of our history comes back to haunt Ottawa — John Ivison, Sept. 27; Better vetting won’t stop the Trudeau clown show — Terry Glavin, Sept. 27

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It’s the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. I’m not supposed to be writing a letter to the editor, let alone seething with rage. I should be contemplating the year gone by, seeking and offering forgiveness, and basking in the beautiful traditions of my people whose extermination was a central goal of the Nazis, whose ranks included the man who on Friday received a standing ovation from our Parliament and prime minister.

Speaker Anthony Rota’s “apology” was also enraging. He directed it to the Jewish community. But what about the Canadian soldiers who fought and died in the worldwide struggle against Nazi Germany? What about the modern Ukrainian nation now fighting against an authoritarian invasion of their nascent democracy, trying to shake off Vladimir Putin’s libellous allegations that they are Nazis? What about good people all over the world who are offended by the murder of innocent men, women and children? Not only Jews, but all humans of decency the world over should be outraged by our government’s heinous blunder.

Post script: Anthony Rota did the right thing by resigning. In doing so, he adds his name to the long list of Justin Trudeau’s underlings who have fallen on their sword for the sake of protecting our prime minister from real responsibility.

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Jonathan Schrieder, Toronto

It baffles me that a member of NATO, as well as a member of the Commonwealth, would give a standing ovation to a former member of Hitler’s Nazi SS. During World War 2, the Allies — including the British, Australians, Indians, Americans, Polish, Free French, and Soviets as well as others — made the ultimate sacrifice fighting against Nazi Germany. What took place in the Canadian Parliament dishonoured the memories of all those who served and gave their lives in order to free Europe from Nazism.

Oliver B. Steward, Norwich, England

Once again the Trudeau Liberals have embarrassed Canada in the eyes of the world. Let’s not forget to also blame Jagmeet Singh and the NDP party for keeping this band of fools in power. Perhaps now Singh will show some courage and force an election to prevent the Liberals from continuing to destroy Canada’s reputation.

Ian Box, Cambridge, Ont.

What does this Liberal government not understand about the vetting process? This embarrassment could have been avoided if somebody in government had done a bit of research.

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This is not the first time something like this has happened. During Justin Trudeau’s first disastrous trip to India, Jaspal Atwal, a B.C. man convicted and jailed for attempting to murder a visiting Indian state minister, was invited to a private reception hosted by Trudeau.

Then there was the horrible choice of Laith Marouf, an antisemitic apologist for Syrian mass murderer Bashar Assad, who received taxpayers’ money to build an anti-racism strategy for Canada’s broadcasting sector. Why has this government not learned from past mistakes?

Glen Grossmith, Canmore, Alta.

B’nai Brith demands Ottawa take this opportunity to finally open all Holocaust-related records to the public. Although Canada’s World War II policy towards Jewish immigration was, “none is too many,” our government welcomed thousands of Nazis after the war.

Canadians deserve to know the full extent to which Nazi war criminals were permitted to settle in this country. The Deschêsnes Commission final report — the only official investigation into this subject — remains largely redacted, impairing transparency and accountability.

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Anthony Rota, as Speaker of the House of Commons, took responsibility for the debacle and has done the right thing since. However, our prime minister must now show leadership by directly confronting this issue and demonstrating that Canada will no longer hide its Nazi past from its own citizens.

B’nai Brith Canada

The story within the story is Liberal House leader Karina Gould trying to wipe the Yaroslav Hunka episode from Hansard, delete it from the parliamentary records. As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, she, of all people, should know that you don’t erase history.

Howard Greenfield, Montreal

Thank you to John Ivison for pointing out that the appalling lack of historical knowledge extends into the political arena in Ottawa. That Anthony Rota, in spite of his acknowledged fine work as House Speaker, did not know that Stalin’s Russian forces fought on the same side as our allies in the Second World War is proof positive that Canadian history is very poorly taught in our schools.

Ivison also notes it was Karina Gould who thought it a good idea to erase the image of the Vimy Ridge Memorial from the new Canadian passport.

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Ivison’s last paragraph is worth repeating: “Canadians who don’t learn about Vimy Ridge or the Battle of the Scheldt may as well have been born yesterday. And as historian Howard Zinn said, if you were born yesterday, then any leader can tell you anything.”

H.K. Hocquard, King, Ont.

Making a bogeyman out of India

Re: For Trudeau, a foreign policy mess over India may be the entire point — Carson Jerema, Sept. 20

It is interesting how throughout history, insecure autocratic political leaders, when faced with overwhelming domestic issues, suddenly find a foreign boogeyman to focus on. Is it a coincidence that our prime minister, who is encountering mounting domestic problems, finds a bogeyman in the form of India? Do I smell an election on the horizon?

Mihail Murgoci, Etobicoke

Hurling accusations of offshore assassination at the world’s largest democracy without supplying the requisite supportive evidence may prove to be Justin Trudeau’s Bud Light moment. As Anheuser-Busch discovered to its ongoing regret, accommodating the cultural or political interests of a few can seriously alienate the patronage and good will of the many. I do not anticipate a market rebound in the prime minister’s political capital anytime soon.

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Graham R. Mann, Winnipeg

The wolves’ woke agenda

Re: Woke wolves dominate the culture war ecosystem — for now — Bruce Pardy, Sept. 20

Bruce Pardy’s metaphors are an insightful way to understand how the “woke” political agenda has come to dominate in Canada, but the figures that accompany them are where the rubber meets the road.

At a combined 60 per cent of the population, the zealous activists (wolves), quiet accommodators (sheep) and conflicted middle (ostriches) represent a substantial majority of Canadians, ensuring the woke wolves will continue to dominate.

A majority of Canadians have voted and continue to vote for political parties that support the woke agenda. In the 2021 federal election, those political parties (Liberal, NDP and Green) received a combined total of 52.7 per cent of all votes. In 12 of the 16 national elections since 1970, the combined vote for Canadian political parties that support this agenda has exceeded 50 per cent.

Unless a substantial political realignment occurs, an activist minority of wolves with the continued support of sheep and ostriches will continue to set the agenda in Canada.

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Gary Krieger, North York, Ont.

Put Canadians first

Re: Canada’s population grew by more than a million last year, the highest growth rate in decades — Naimul Karim, Sept. 27

Many Canadians have correctly pointed out that it was utter foolishness for the Trudeau Liberals to flood Canada with a million immigrants in 2022, with the existence of a serious housing shortage and medical and educational services stretched to the limit. What isn’t alluded to is how unethical it is to bring so many immigrants into Canada while our Aboriginal people are lacking many basic necessities.

Many of our Indigenous brothers and sisters lack access to safe drinking water, basic foodstuffs, proper medical care and adequate social services. Many live in homes tainted by mould, and their children do not encounter a robust and complete education system.

Quite simply, it is an outrage to flood Canada with immigrants when our Aboriginal people are frequently lacking the basic necessities of life. “Take care of your own, before attempting to help others,” is clearly being circumvented by Justin Trudeau’s unethical immigration policies.

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John Harley Whitlock, Brantford, Ont.

Raising the rhetoric

Re: ‘It was a mistake’: Doug Ford ends plan to allow housing development on Ontario’s Greenbelt lands — Allison Jones and William Eltherington, Sept. 21

As Ontario moves into its new legislative season and America shudders with pre-election jitters, the left/right demarcation so heavily crayoned on the U.S. political scene is currently etched into our own leftist press, notably, the Toronto paper which, in its ongoing quest to crucify the conservative cause, aligns philosophically with its left-wing cohorts in the U.S.

Saturday’s edition of this rival to the National Post raised the rhetoric with incendiary verbiage over such ground-breaking(?) coverage as: our premier’s preference for one mayoralty candidate over another, the shuffling of his cabinet, his homage paid to our British legacy (now called “off-brand” by that paper) and his support of capitalism in daring to promote the development of (albeit protected) land by changing its parameters — a situation later rectified. (Has the left forgotten the federally inspired summer immigration with newcomers sleeping in the streets because of a lack of housing?)

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The message to take from this: National Post readers should be grateful for their favourite newspaper’s more moderate, conservative style.

Susan K. Riggs, Toronto

CEBA repayment dates must be extended

Re: ‘Lipstick on a pig’: Businesses say Ottawa’s CEBA repayment extension misses crucial point — Naimul Karim, Sept. 15

On Sept. 14, the government announced repayment terms for $60,000 loans provided to small businesses during COVID under the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program. Those terms were a huge disappointment to the small business community. Intense campaigning for policy change has ensued. It is financially critical for most small businesses to retain the $20,000 forgivable portion of their CEBA loans. Yet the government only extended the date enabling this by 18 days, to Jan. 18, 2024. By this date they will each be expected to find $40,000. Where those businesses do not have such large sums of cash available, they will be forced to seek bank loans to meet the government’s deadline. This creates a problem that the government seems not to have fully considered.

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Clouds are gathering on the economic horizon. The banks have concerns about bad loans that may result. They may not have the risk appetite to extend loans to businesses who seek to meet the Q1 2024 CEBA repayment date that retains the $20,000 forgivable portion. The loans they do approve will have extremely punitive interest rates. It may be widely interpreted that the government considers the small business community to be “#TooSmalltoMatter.” However, that may not cause much political damage on its own.

We cannot know what economic conditions will prevail in 2024, but it could become ugly. In the very remote, but reasonably foreseeable, circumstance that some financial industry stress unfolds, lurks a big hidden risk. If financial support is required for any of the banks or other financial institutions, the government may become politically cornered and unable to respond decisively. Widespread decries of #TooSmalltoMatter and #TooBigtoFail cannot exist harmoniously. It must be avoided. The government must revise its CEBA policy with urgency. The forgiveness eligible CEBA repayment amount in January must be significantly reduced, or even pushed to a later date. A large proportion of CEBA refinancing loans with the banks needs to be guaranteed by government so the banks are prepared to extend the required lending, and at lower interest rates that such a government guarantee will enable.

A policy turnaround should not be perceived as weakness. Indeed, quite the opposite.

Keith Jolly, Toronto

National Post and Financial Post welcome letters to the editor (150 words or fewer). Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Email [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

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