This is a letter which I sent to a selection of members of parliament, in regards to foreign aid, poverty and a brief mention of our Kyoto plan.
It was sent to (in alphabetical order of last name):
- Jim Abbott, the Conservative member of parliment for East Kootenays.
- Reg Alcock, a Liberal minister that I enjoy listening to.
- Rona Ambrose, a Conservative critic I've met and respect.
- Ed Broadbent, a NDP MP that I respect.
- Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois.
- Ralph Goodale, Liberal Minister of Finance.
- Jim Gouk, Conservative member of parliment for Southern Interior (my riding).
- Stephen Harper, leader of the opposition (Conservative).
- Jack Layton, leader of the NDP.
- Paul Martin, Prime Minister (Liberal).
- Belinda Stronach, a
ConservativeLiberal whom I respect and like.
Dear members of parliament,
It's highly interesting how a group of musicians can hold a big concert and suddenly we're ready to divert billions of dollars to Africa, knowing perfectly well that much of the money will not get to the people who need it, but instead to the dictators who oppress them and keep them impoverished.
Also, why is it we are so committed to foreign aid packages to help fight poverty abroad when we have not yet even started to deal with poverty right here at home?
Another example of how we the Canadian people, are having our tax dollars wasted on useless programs which transfer the money out of Canada to other nations. Just like our so called Kyoto plan. Rather than actually trying to do something about green house gas emissions in Canada, we just transfer large sums of money to developing countries to buy "clean air credits", knowing full well that the money they are sending over there will be used to build bigger industries, which will create even more pollution.
I do not think we are getting very good value out of our tax dollars. Please don't forget, it's not your money. It's OUR money. It would be nice if we could actually use it to help our people and our country.
Just a thought.
Timothy M. Totten
I wonder if any of them will read it? Who can tell.