Dear editor,
Irrespective of what the other parties may or may not do regarding a coalition, Conservative MP John Duncan must speak to his constituents as fair-minded adults, and not as children so easily frightened.
鈥淚f we do not have a majority," he said last week, "we are looking into an abyss of uncertainty, the spectre of a coalition."
This phony fear-mongering is as toothless as SCTV's Count Floyd presenting another B-movie on Monster Chiller Horror Theatre. Well, judging from Mr. Duncan's remark, here are just some of the many countries whose situation he must find equally horrifying: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Britain, India, Japan, Australia, and Israel.
I suppose Mr. Duncan would also recoil at the thought that Winston Churchill led a coalition for five years during the Second World War. Or that Canada was founded by, and spent its first five years after Confederation under, coalition governments.
Or that under Lester B. Pearson's five years of leading a minority, he worked with the opposition to give us universal health care, student loans, the Canada Pension Plan, and the Order of Canada鈥� not to mention our Canadian flag.
That's some mighty scary stuff, kids! OK, maybe it's not so scary.
Warren Opheim,
Courtenay
