July 8, 2001
To the editors of the Toronto Star;
Tens of thousands of prairie farmers must go bankrupt because the federal government must not subsidize them. It would distort the market. It . . . well, it just wouldn't be right.
However, the same government has tens of millions of dollars to subsidize a private, for-profit business whose principal employees make an average(!) of $1,200,000 per year.
All this while people are dying in ambulances, schools are closing, thousands are sleeping in the streets, children are going hungry, and so on and so on.
Madness!
This subsidy dichotomy illustrates the number one problem with our polity: Money Votes. If you are not buying blocks of tickets to $150 a plate fundraising dinners, you just aren't in the loop.
All election expenses should come from the public purse. Political parties should not be allowed to accept donations from corporations (or unions).
We will not have true democracy in Canada as long as the government is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Corp., and the opposition is a division of Hollinger.
Wayne Smith
Toronto
[At the time this letter was written, the federal government was making noises about subsidizing NHL teams. They soon changed their tune.]
[The Star printed this, but they dropped the punch line!]