Closure An Abuse of Democracy Princeton, ON - Friday, November 30, 2001 - by: Rebecca Gingrich Dear Editor, The Liberals using closure to end debate on Bill C-36, one of the most onerous Bills to pass before parliament, is incomprehensible. After 9/11, they saw fit NOT to call parliament back early, thereby losing an entire week when discussions could have taken place. Now there is 'utmost urgency' in passing a bill that will have debilitating affects on ALL Canadians, all done without the promised 'listening to Canadians' and making amendments to the 'secrecy of information ' part of the Bill, and heaven knows what else. Without open, honest debate in the House, providing the media time to present its content to them, Canadians are left with limited knowledge of what this Bill entails. History has taught us that democracy and freedom must be zealously guarded. When our government chooses to hide information from us, all thinking Canadian should begin to question its motives. We must not blindly accept this abuse of Parliament. We must not allow our government to dictate to Canadians which freedoms we are allowed to have. This is Canada. We have a proud history of knowing right from wrong. It was wrong of the Liberal government to have abused democracy in this dictatorial fashion. It is right for us to say “WE ARE CANADIANS, FREE TO QUESTION THIS ACTION - AND WE PUT YOU ON NOTICE NOT TO USE CLOSURE ON BILL C-42 AND GIVE YOURSELVES EVEN MORE POWERS OVER US.” Yours sincerely, Rebecca Gingrich 11 CHURCH STREET PRINCETON, ONTARIO NOJ IVO