Agree to Disagree : Excuse me while I go take a valium

I am not a Liberal nor a Conservative. I’m a Humanitarian. I believe in human rights, social justice and helping the needy, at home and abroad. We are one big family. Mankind.

This week, and I refer you to page 4 of this week’s issue, I was berated for my “liberal” views.

For the record, I did vote liberal. I voted liberal because of the lack of options and because I felt Bernadette Clement, locally, would do a fabulous job representing our riding, not because I’m a hard core liberal. In the prior election, I voted conservative. I don’t label myself as one or the other, I simply vote for whom I think will do the job better. Sometimes, that’s not clear at all.

I did say, in previous editorials, that I did not think Trudeau was ready to lead. Now that he IS prime minister, however, I will stand by him, because I believe that if you want somebody to succeed, you do everything in your own power to facilitate that. Why would we want our prime minister to fail? Just so we can point fingers and say “I told you so”?

A friend mentioned this week that he felt the sad thing about the Syrian Refugee crisis is that the far right does not see that these people are human beings and the far left denies the fact that they are a potential security risk. Both sides have blinders on.

I have acknowledged there is a risk. However, there is no time. Every day they spend in Syria is potentially the last. “With each passing day there are fewer safe places in Syria,” Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, chairman of the United Nations panel investigating human rights abuses in Syria, wrote in a recent report. “Everyday decisions — whether to visit a neighbor, to go out to buy bread — have become, potentially, decisions about life and death.”

I don’t know what the solution is. I just know that If we want to help, time is of the essence. Trudeau has postponed to February, giving more time to screen, but we still need to hurry.

Many feel that Canada does not have the financial means to support refugees. “We have problems of our own, we have homeless people, unemployment, welfare!”

We also have, on any given day, thousands of people on disability who should not be on disability. We have generational welfare abusers. It’s true. You know some, and I know some. There are even those who work under the table while getting unemployment benefits. We can’t afford helping people in life and death situations, but we can afford that?

The way I see it, 25,000 refugees means 25,000 future tax payers willing to work at minimum wage, i.e. take the jobs spoiled Canadians are too good for, and contribute to the economy. They will eventually put their kids in daycares, eat out, use services, rent apartment, re-inject money in our communities.

In closing, in good Canadian fashion, I want to apologize. I’m sorry if some of you feel the paper has become too political for your liking. However, It has been like this for quite some time; this is not a recent trend by any stretch of the imagination. Over the last year, I’ve voiced opinions on gay marriage, racism, women’s rights, council issues, etc. In late 2014, I specifically warned that we were taking off the “pink coloured glasses” and would become more vocal on things that matter to our residents. It is important to remember that this is just MY opinion and It is JUST my opinion. It is not better or worse than yours, it’s just mine. If you don’t like my take on things, you can skip this page. The rest of the paper is full of good news.

But don’t ask me to stay quiet. I’ll take a stand for what I believe in any day, even if that means being called “Muslim lover “, “closeted lesbian”, “hardcore liberal” or “biased” . Editorials are by definition an opinion piece. Of course, mine will somewhat be biased! But does that diminish my editorial judgement? Apparently, only if you disagree.

The Journalist code of ethics clearly states that “Unbiased journalism does not mean that the journalists should abstain from expressing their personal opinions. However, the reader should be able to tell the difference between the articles stating facts and materials expressing someone’s opinion or interpretation of events. ” I am an editor; I write opinions. I am also a humanitarian. I love everyone. My writings do reflect that.

And if you send me your opinion, I will respect it. Until you insinuate my mental health is questionable by telling me to “go take a valium.” and equate this to me telling people to breathe. People do need to take a breather; both sides are getting very, very nasty.

As for me I’ll skip the Valium. People who run out of arguments often resort to personal attacks. to prove a point. I won’t play that game.