Toronto Sun | 24Jun2010 | Orest Slepokura
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/letters/2010/06/23/14492086.html

DADDY WARBUCKS?

Re “The G20 that ate Toronto” (Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun, June 23,2010):

Stephen Harper’s decision to host the $1.3-billion, G20 Summit in downtown Toronto is like Daddy Warbucks lighting up a fat, juicy cigar in a posh restaurant, despite the smoking ban and the annoyance of secondhand smoke to other patrons and staff tasked with maintaining hygienic standards. Sure, he could smoke elsewhere, but it would be only half the fun.

Orest Slepokura; Strathmore, Alta.

(We agree it’s disruptive, but Stephen Harper is hardly the first leader to host a G20 meeting in a major city)



[Note how the 1st half of my letter was published -- while the 2nd more important half of it with the punch line (in red, in the original below) was simply edited out.]

The Editor:

Re: "The G-20 that ate Toronto," Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun 23 June 2010.

Stephen Harper's decision to host the $1.3-billion G-20 Summit in downtown Toronto is like Daddy Warbucks lighting up a fat, juicy cigar in a posh restaurant, despite the smoking ban and the annoyance of secondhand smoke to other patrons and staff tasked with maintaining hygienic standards. Sure, he could smoke elsewhere, but it would be only half the fun; the other half being sourced to the I-can-do-as-I-damn-well-please satisfaction of throwing his VIP weight around. In outlook, it's a world away from the mid-1990s when to flag the coming frugality Prime Minister Chretien traded in Brian Mulroney's limo for a Chevrolet and axe-wielding Paul Martin then tabled austerity budgets to whittle away at deficits.

Sincerely,
Orest Slepokura, Strathmore, Alta