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LETTER: Maple Ridge resident says food banks a sign of capitalism’s failure

Politicians pay more attention to wealthy donors than average Canadians, letter writer argues
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Dear Editor,

Just read Friday’s “Our View,” and have to say that is absolutely right – food banks being a sign of failed leadership on the part of our governments.

Having read Professor John McMurty’s book, “The Cancer Stage of Capitalism,” decades ago, he’s a true visionary. He describes how capitalism is now being allowed to destroy its own host body; which is us, the citizens of our countries! Why, you may ask?

Well, to serve the interests of the corporations and their CEOs.

I’ll share one example for you. Our finance minister, Chystia Freeland, in her testimony before the inquiry of the use of the Emergency Act last February, stated that she had to act because top bankers were contacting her office and requesting personal meetings with her to discuss the effects of the protests on their investments.

And, of course they got these meetings and actions the next days.

Meanwhile, all of us who been alerting the various governments over the past decades about the desperate need for affordable housing, just get ignored.

Wow, they say that money talks; well, it sure does for our minister of finance in Ottawa.

And, people should remember who it was who cancelled Canada’s housing programs in 1995. It was none other than Paul Martin, the Liberal finance minister in Ottawa at the time; a multi-millionaire serving the interests of his millionaire corporate buddies on Bay Street in Toronto.

Are you starting to see a pattern here, now? When it’s the ordinary Canadian citizen’s crying out for housing, we’re ignored for years.

But, if it’s a big banker possibly losing some cash, well action is taking immediately, including suspending Canadian’s rights and freedoms.

This is why food banks are a staple in every city in Canada, and the choice of the corporately controlled politicians. The CEOs loved them for it, and fund their election campaigns, too.

Shame!

John E. McKenzie, Maple Ridge

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• READ MORE: Food bank use hits all-time high

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