Toronto Star | 20Dec2009 | Orest Slepokura
The Editor:
RE: "Shabby Tory smears,"
Toronto Star editorial, 20 December 2009.
Nothing has a lower benchmark nowadays than accusations of
anti-Semitism, as promiscuously doled out, seemingly, as moving traffic
violation citations by a squad of quota-seeking highway patrolmen after
Happy Hour. Last month's Conservative Party flyers distributed in
opposition ridings top-heavy with Jewish voters implying the Liberals
are anti-Semites being a prime example.
That it moved Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, Canada's onetime
attorney-general, a Jew, and a loyal partisan of the Zionist cause, to
accuse Conservatives of "false, misleading, prejudicial and pernicious
slander" is hardly surprising.
Evidently, some karmic bookkeeping is at work here, inasmuch as Cotler,
both as an academic and a public figure, had also run with the pack for
whom "false, misleading, prejudicial and pernicious slander" comes with
the territory -- and I don't mean solely the Liberal Party of Canada.
Sauce. Goose. Gander.
Sincerely,
Orest Slepokura
Strathmore, Alta
**** Published editted/censored version ***************************************
Toronto Star | 26Dec2009 | Orest Slepokura
Letter to Editor
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/742019
Nothing has a lower benchmark nowadays than accusations of
anti-Semitism, as promiscuously doled out, seemingly, as moving traffic
violation citations by a squad of quota-seeking highway patrolmen after
Happy Hour. Last month's Conservative party flyers distributed in
opposition ridings top-heavy with Jewish voters implying the Liberals
are anti-Semites are a prime example. That it moved Jewish Liberal MP
Irwin Cotler, Canada's one-time attorney-general and a loyal partisan
to the Zionist cause, to accuse Conservatives of "false, misleading,
prejudicial and pernicious slander" is hardly surprising.
Orest Slepokura, Strathmore, Alta.
****************************************************
Toronto Star | 20Dec2009 | Editorial
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/Editorials/article/741044
Shabby Tory smears
Is everyone who disagrees with Prime Minister Stephen Harper a Taliban
stooge, a raving anti-Semite or a loony-left extremist? You'd think so,
to hear the shabby low blows Harper and his cabinet are forever aiming
at any and all who dare to criticize federal policy.
In Jerusalem this past week, Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney took aim
at a Christian aid agency, KAIROS, in a speech that lauded Harper's
support for Israel and railed against "anti-Semitic despots, terrorists
and fanatics." KAIROS's sin, in Kenney's view, was its "leadership role
in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign" against Israel.
That's why the Tories "defunded" the agency, Kenney explained. (KAIROS
denies favouring a boycott or disinvestment.)
Kenney's attack, sadly, was anything but an exception.
All through the Afghan detainee affair, the Conservatives have sought
to brand Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and other critics as
unpatriotic, hostile to Canada's troops, and Taliban dupes. Yet
everyone from the U.S. government to our diplomats to the Red Cross had
warned that Ottawa was taking a risk detainees might be tortured.
And it hardly ends there. Last month the Conservatives circulated
flyers in opposition ridings with lots of Jewish voters implying that
the Liberals are anti-Semites who back Hamas and Hezbollah. That led
Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, a Jew, to accuse them of "false, misleading,
prejudicial and pernicious slander."
Last year, they scrapped a $4.7 million travel program to promote
Canadian culture abroad because past recipients, including journalists
Gwynne Dyer and Avi Lewis, were "left wing" and "radical."
And a year before that, the Tories defamed then Liberal leader Stéphane
Dion with attack ads implying he was a "sellout" or "traitor" to
Quebec's interests, not to mention a criminal.
The Conservatives invite contempt with these endless, over-the-top
smears. They discredit their party and its policies.