Home

Letters to the Editor

The Legion deserves to be included

When I think of the Legion some of the words that come to mind are Respect, Community and Support. I personally witness first hand a small group of volunteers who are constantly trying to find ways to fundraise so they (the Legion) can write another cheque for a well-deserved charity. Upon hearing a few weeks ago about an up and coming "Pub Crawl" in Montague in aid of the Easter Seals Campaign with an 80s theme, some exciting feeling surfaced. You get to bust out in 80s styles and of course on the business side generate revenue. It all sounded lovely. Excitement ...
more

Elected officials should have to earn their power

The British-based constitutional tradition of Canada vests both legislative and executive authority squarely in Parliament and in the several Provincial Legislative Assemblies. The prime minister and the provincial premiers are not supposed to possess executive power independent of these bodies. In order to ensure their subordination, it is arguable that party leaders should be elected by their caucasses and serve at their pleasure. Parties and voters should confine themselves to respectively nominating and electing individual legislators who collectively should have the authority they rightfully are supposed to possess. Joseph Kenneth Malone Charlottetown  ...
more

How many chances to Islanders get?

The recently announced Rural Action Plan, One Island Community, One Island Future is a document formulated as the result of informative input from 1,200 Islanders through an elaborate consultative process lead by the Government appointed Rural Economic Development Advisory Council, a six member committee of well informed, well intentioned Islanders from east to west. Lloyd Soloman's letter "Government turns a blind eye to PEI's natural resources" couldn't be further from the truth. The Rural Action Plan document is advocating bio-science, renewable energy, an accelerated broadband strategy, investments in innovation, research and development, ago-environment measures and amendments to legislation in order to ...
more

Intensive French is a lot more than learning a new language

There has been much in the papers recently about Intensive French being introduced to new schools in the Western School Board. The program is at the end of its three year pilot and has shown excellent results. It will now replace Core French in Grade 6. It is not an addition to Core French, just a new way to learn. Intensive French is a literacy-based approach to teaching French as a second language that is incorporated into the core French program for five months of the school year at Grade 6. It is based on the use of French for authentic ...
more

Defending free trade? Free trade for whom?

Farmers are being squeezed by the "raw economic power" of the large corporations, and there is nothing fair or just in any of it, retired journalist Ian Pitrie told the annual meeting of the PEI Soil and Crop Association. It all starts with Walmart, the veteran reporter said. "Their business model is the exact opposite of farmers. They don't produce anything yet they wield tremendous economic power." Now the philosophy simply is "if you don't sell cheap you don't make the sale." Then in The Guardian on Tuesday, February 23 Peter Van Loan, minister of International trade debates a letter from ...
more

Animals have equal rights as us humans

The senseless killing of a fox allegedly by snowmobilers came as no surprise to me. This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding society's treatment of animals. We seem surprised and shocked when we hear about violent crimes but we will never have a non-violent society when we continue to mistreat and kill harmless and innocent animals. We learn from day one that certain animals' lives are worthless compared to human life and they should be sacrificed for food on our table. Cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, etc were not put on this earth for them to be slaughtered for our own ...
more

Invite God into your life and you'll never be alone

Our time on earth passes by so quickly. Where do we go after this life? Each person must decide for himself. The following will NOT get you to Heaven  - Going to church regularly - Receiving baptism - Reading the Bible every day - Giving lots of money to the church and charities - Attending Bible studies regularly - Doing lots of good deeds The above are important but will not get you to Heaven. Only a relationship with Jesus, God in the flesh, will guarantee a place in Heaven. Do you know and love Him? Do you obey Him? If you died tonight would you go to Heaven or Hell? In Heaven ...
more

Finding peace in troubled times

Listening to the news I thought, wonderful the depression is over and business is expanding. We play the VLTs for an extra two hours, well until 2am. What a bright idea? I wonder who could ever have thought of that? It is so sad that we promote evil in this wonderful country that the Lord gave us. We choose to gamble away our cash and waste our lives. There are so many great things to do. Our world is hungry, people are needy, homes are falling apart and we put our money into machines that are designed to win. They send ...
more

Skittish over OCI talks with government

With the spring lobster fishery behind us, it was one many fishers would like to forget. From low prices to declining catches in the Northumberland Strait, many fishers landed their gear early to cut costs and now many will prepare for other fisheries whether it be herring or tuna in the fall. Recently I sent a letter to The Graphic emphasizing my views of the current government’s handling of the lobster crisis, in particular, the handling by two former and one current fisherman with the Liberals. It was encouraging to see a response by MLA Charles McGeoghegan to Heather Moore’s ...
more

Forced to pay for more red tape

 This time of year sees the beginning of the mosquito onslaught in our area of beautiful PEI.  Over the past few years I have discovered the compound Vectobac is an effective organic mosquito control product that targets only mosquito and black fly larvae, and which can be safely applied to ponds and streams without harming other insects, fish or animals. This product is quite expensive and is most cheaply purchased through Cardigan Feed at a cost of approximately $140 for 18 kg.  ...
more