Linda Leon

How can the Canadian government combat hate crimes?

Linda Leon — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 03:12:56 +0000

An open letter to:

Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration

Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety

Gentlemen,

Canadians watch aghast as intolerance, misogyny and xenophobia sweep the United States, and creep into Canada.

Six innocent men were murdered, many others grievously wounded and families harmed in Québec City on January 29. This atrocity occurred at a place of worship during prayer.

It is not a coincidence that a similar crime was committed in a African American Church in Charleston, South Carolina less than two years ago. Extreme right wing groups fomenting violence are now in Canada with connections to larger American counterparts.

Dear Justin Trudeau: Canada is now sleeping with a rabid, thin-skinned elephant

Linda Leon — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 19:20:52 +0000

Dear Mr. Trudeau,

Your father once observed that Canada's relationship with the United States was like that of a mouse sleeping with an elephant. Since the election of Donald Trump, that relationship is even more fraught with peril. We are now sleeping with a rabid elephant, which has a very thin skin and poor impulse control.

So how will your government deal with this terrible state of affairs?

I applaud your determination to keep to the high road and remain polite. However, push will come to shove at some point. How do we protect ourselves while remaining on speaking terms with a powerful government led by rabid elephants?

Have you looked to Lester Pearson for inspiration?

Referendum simply wrong tool to resolve complex questions on electoral reform

Linda Leon — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 18:18:17 +0000

On Monday, September 26, the Special Committee on Electoral Reform was in Whitehorse seeking opinions from Yukoners. Questions centered on which electoral models could, or could not, serve the North and Yukon. The ensuing discussions revealed just how difficult it will be to come up with an electoral system that serves all Canadians well. Electoral reform is a daunting project.

Most Conservatives will tell you that we should keep the First Past the Post electoral system because it works perfectly well. And it does...for the Conservative Party of Canada. (Beware of conservatives disguised as defenders of democracy.)

Open letter to Rona Ambrose on negative politicking

Linda Leon — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 22:38:10 +0000

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Open Letter to Rona Ambrose,

Interim Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Dear Ms. Ambrose,

If Yukon Liberals used the Conservatives' dirty tactics, what would their ads look like?

Linda Leon — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 16:00:23 +0000

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The Conservative Party, on behalf of Yukon MP Ryan Leef, has mailed out campaign flyers depicting Liberal Larry Bagnell as a nefarious scoundrel, painted scary red, who "BROKE HIS PROMISE" and will bring back the long-gun registry!

Dear Ryan: It's time to move on

Linda Leon — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 05:29:00 +0000

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Open Letter to Ryan Leef, MP for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Dear Ryan: Take a stand against voter suppression!

Linda Leon — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 20:08:12 +0000

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Open Letter to Ryan Leef, MP for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Voter suppression can help the unscrupulous win elections.

Negative politicking in the form of vicious smear campaigns and fear/hate mongering are straight from the playbooks of the cynical strategists who have been advising Republicans for decades and Stephen Harper more recently.

For democracy's sake, let's change Canada's voting system

rabble staff — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 18:00:26 +0000

Adopting a German-style MMPR electoral system, along with Germany's safeguards against fascism, could serve Canadians very well indeed.

Dear Ryan: Give Canada a fair democracy. Change our voting system.

Linda Leon — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 22:39:34 +0000

Open Letter to Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Recently, a German dinner guest boasted about the superiority of the German electoral system.

So I did some research to see just how superior Germany's system was to other systems, including Canada's First Past the Post, (FPTP), electoral system.

Dear Ryan: Stand up for law and order!

Linda Leon — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 01:32:02 +0000

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

When the Canadian Access to Information Act came into force under Prime Minister Trudeau in 1983, it was considered the most progressive model for freedom of information legislation in the world. The Protection of Privacy Act, companion legislation, ensures that individuals' rights to privacy are not compromised by public access to information. The two Acts are, together, referred to as ATIP.

Under ATIP, the public is guaranteed timely access to information relating to all government business.

Dear Ryan: Please don't troll me!

Linda Leon — Thu, 14 May 2015 03:48:53 +0000

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Internet trolls are people who use distortions, false dichotomies, insults, threats and other inflammatory statements to disrupt online debate. Comments from trolls are cries for attention from furious outcasts and are best ignored.

However, troll-speak is common in certain professions. Professionals who use troll-speak are coldly calculating manipulators of public opinion. Some of them troll-speak because their held ideologies are indefensible in reasoned debate. Others behave like trolls because that is where their talents lie and because they are well paid to do it.

Dear Ryan: We need to talk about political corruption

Linda Leon — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 18:13:30 +0000

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

What, in your view, constitutes political corruption?

Graft, the practice of using one's political position for financial gain, is what usually comes to mind when considering political corruption.

Senator Mike Duffy pursued opportunities for personal financial gain from his Senate position. Perhaps Duffy thought he was entitled to extra perks because of his usefulness as a campaigner and fundraiser for the Conservative Party. From the lengths that your caucus went to hide Duffy's peccadillos, it appears that Conservatives thought so too.

Dear Ryan: I don't trust the motives behind Bill C-51

Linda Leon — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 16:55:00 +0000

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

"The government made this decision because we do not believe Canadians should be forced, under threat of fines, jail, or both, to disclose extensive private and personal information."

The above statement came from the Prime Minster's Office in 2010 to justify the cutting of the mandatory Long Form Census.

Can you explain how that squares with an increase in surveillance of ordinary Canadians by the RCMP and CSIS allowed through Bill C-51, the Anti-terrorism bill?

Dear Ryan: Don't pretend the Harper government cares about free speech

Linda Leon — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:24:18 +0000

Ryan Leef
Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan.

"Does this pencil make me look fat?"

Stephen Harper held the pencil above his head.

Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, was embarrassed.

The Prime Minister had asked his most trusted advisers to help him stage a compelling, vote-winning, fundraising, reaction to the murders of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists by terrorists.

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste," said Stephen Harper, reminding them of Rahm's Rule of Crisis Management.

"Mr. Prime Minister, you look absolutely heroic! Anyone who says different gets a Revenue Canada audit!" said the Conservative Party campaign manager, Jenni Byrne.

Dear Ryan: The tragedy of the Yukon's commons

Linda Leon — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 18:14:10 +0000

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

The Tragedy of the Commons is a famous paper published in the magazine, Science, in 1968. In it, ecologist Garrett Hardin wrote about the finite resources of the planet and the impossibility of protecting those common resources without government intervention through regulations. Hardin was mainly concerned with the need for population control. But he also believed that the same principles should be applied to the protection of the environment as a commons, from excesses by industry.

Hardin studied English feudal societies where groups of commoners shared unregulated access to pastureland or "commons."