To the editor:
Harold Cotton's letter commenting on the apparent stupidity that appears inbred in Stephen Harper's Cabinet brought back memories of Mike Harris's Ontario, where many of the Harper's ministers cut their political teeth. Using the same "public safety will not be compromised" rhetoric that we are hearing now, the Harrisites gutted public health funding saying that there was no need for biological labs and scientists because "it was unlikely that a new organism would be found in Ontario". Of course, that theory was blown out the window when SARS struck Toronto, the public health system almost collapsed and people died. An inquiry into the crisis stated categorically that public health cuts were responsible for making the situation far worse than it need have been.
We now have a similar corporatist government operating on a much larger playing field and the results will, quit likely, be the same. People will die unnecessarily.
Frederick Jelfs
Vancouver
