An Open Letter To Stephen Harper

For those of you who may be feeling a bit down about where Canada may be heading with this federal election, the following Open Letter to Harper from British Columbia resident Mary Cleaver should give  to all of us who know this morally bankrupt government has to go cause to move forward with optimism.

From Mary Cleaver, October 10^th, 2015

I live in British Columbia (Canada) with my husband and two little girls. I grew up in Calgary and have many friends and family members there. I’m white and in my early 40s.

This image didn’t come with Mary Cleaver’s letter. Blame its inclusion here on Niagara At Large.

One of us is a stay at home parent, so we benefit 100% from the direct deposits in lieu of a national childcare program. We also benefit 100% from income splitting. And we can afford to take advantage of the increased allowance in our TFSAs.

In other words, we’re the picture of the family who benefits the most from your economic policies.

But we’re not voting Conservative on October 19th.

You see, you’ve misjudged us. We enjoy our standard of living, we work hard for it but it’s not the only thing that matters to us.

You assume we don’t care about our first nations neighbours, or Canadians trying to bring their family members here from war torn countries. That we don’t care about less fortunate Canadians, our veterans, or scientists.

You think we don’t mind that to save a few bucks and balance the books we axed the census, dumped decades of research from our libraries, cut funding to CBC, underspent our budgets in important departments and closed coast guard stations.

You figure we no longer want our lakes and rivers protected and that we don’t understand that climate change is a far greater risk to our way of life than Barbaric Cultural Practices.

You’ve underestimated us.

On October 19, we’re not voting for our bank balance. We’re voting for change because we want the caring Canada of our youth back. The Canada that supported our single mothers that gave us the opportunity to succeed in the first place.

Mary Cleaver

www.leadnow.ca

Niagara At Large wishes to thank one of our readers for sharing this letter with us.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)