Dear Editor,
There was a very informative letter recently that ended with an intriguing suggestion: “leave your preconceived notions at the door”.
I learned from the letter that senators serve until the age of 75 years. Wow! what a privileged position. So if one starts at 30, that will be 45 years of protected, non-elected employment. After that they retire with a hefty sum. Pity on us ordinary mortals who struggle almost all our lives only to retire with a measly sum.
I googled the requirements to be a Canadian senator. I was thinking, with that lofty position, the qualifications must be so stringent that one has to pass through the eye of a needle in order to be considered. Lo and behold, one of the requirements is possession of a real property worth at least $4,000! Ha, ha. The framers of our constitution sure had a good sense of humour. With that amount I wonder if you can buy a plot of land large enough where you can get buried, even if you are getting buried standing up? But wait, have yourself cremated first then your ashes will surely fit into that land. To be cremated though do you need about $10,000?
So our dear senator appeared in over 100 interviews? Nice. I learned however that the primary function of the senate is on legislation. How many bills had she introduced/co-authored? Of these bills, how many became laws. Of these laws, how many have impact on the lives of us ordinary citizens? Just recently my wife applied for the guaranteed income supplement (GIS). Service Canada replied “We are pleased to inform you that we have approved your application…”. How much did they giver her? Don’t hold your breath, it’s $84.56 a month! My wife was teary-eyed upon learning this. She can’t believe that $2.82 a day is enough to survive in Canada.
No, Emma, you can’t put a lid on ideas, preconceived or not. Ideas make humanity grow intellectually. We need ideas in order to ask hard-hitting, down-to-earth questions for the senators to ponder and consider. We need ideas to ask why Service Canada thinks $2.82 a day is enough when the federal government says that the poverty line income is $26,000 a year. When you put a lid on ideas then according to Buddy Holly “that will be the day when I die”.
Truly yours,
Federico Verchez,
Cornwall ON
