Re: "Perverted Politics" - Cyncial Sunshine, The Squamish Chief, September 26, 2003 (09.26.03)
By Canadian Alliance MP, John Reynolds

This writer Bryan Raiser you give space to is taking the old and easy way of putting together words to make a column. Your readers deserve more than a string of parapgraphs filled with sloppy observations and biased conclusions.

To begin with, he says federal politicians do very little work or spend little time making decisions of national importance. I would say that if Raiser were to try to follow most federal politicians for a month, he¹d last about one week. And if he followed his own philosophy of never asking questions or criticizing government decisions, he¹d never get elected. The Canadian Alliance took the stand on the same-sex marriage issue that the word "marriage" has a special meaning. We argued that whether a person is gay or straight, all people are equal as our fundamental belief. We believe, as do the vast majority of Canadians, that the word marriage over the centuries has been defined as a union between one woman and one man to the exclusion of all others. In fact, it was one of our Members of Parliament in the 1993 Parliament who proposed that there be a separate definition for unions of same-sex couples so that marriage would retain its traditional meaning.

As for my questioning the Liberal government about the decision to fund Squamish¹s proposed Adventure Centre, Raiser should be informed that is what a Member of Parliament is elected to do. I wanted to know what plans had been made to retain the 30 jobs* that will be lost if the Adventure Centre is to be built on that particular site. Raise obviously doesn¹t care about those people or their economic impact. I do, and asked that question on behalf of the constituents who live in squeamish and who know the importance of 30 permanent jobs in a small community. If we followed Raiser¹s reasoning, if you can call it that, we would never have asked questions about the HRDC boondoggle that cost taxpayers one billion dollars. Or we would never have uncovered the advertising and promotion scandal that are under police investigation. We would not have revealed, without asking questions, that Paul Martin promised Canadians gun registration would cost $2 million and that the costs have hit $1 billion and are still rising. George Radwanski would still be going out to lunch and dinner at taxpayer expense if we had not started asking questions.

Raiser used the expression "gravy train" and said there would be plenty more pulling into the station before it¹s all done. I have been responsible for many gravy trains that have pulled into my riding for many years. I will continue to ask questions and will continue to fuel the engine that pulls whatever gravy trains arrive at the station in the coming years. That is what Members of Parliament are supposed to do.

If Raiser thinks they should do differently, why doesn¹t he let his name stand in an election on the promise that he will never ask questions and never question the judgement of those who govern us?

READ THE ORIGINAL CYNICAL SUNSHINE COLUMN