Saturday’s letters: CPC should pay for byelection

After 20 years of electing Pierre Poilievre as their member of Parliament, the citizens of Carleton selected another representative on April 28 to represent their interests. Almost immediately, the Conservative Party of Canada sought a “safe” riding for the unwanted Carleton candidate to allow Mr. Poilievre to remain in the House of Commons as the leader of the Opposition.

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I watched the opening of Parliament and found the interim leader of the Opposition to be very effective. Mr. Poilievre is not needed in the House of Commons to be the leader of the Opposition. In the Battle River-Crowfoot riding, the successful candidate, Damien Kurek, garnered approximately 82.8 per cent of the votes cast; 53,684 voters selected Mr. Kurek as their member of Parliament but it’s my understanding that he will step aside to allow Mr. Poilievre to run in a byelection.

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In view of the fact that this election is only needed to select a Conservative MP, will the Conservative Party of Canada reimburse the cost of this unneeded byelection to Elections Canada?

E.J. Miller, Leduc

Alberta’s ultimatum unrealistic

Danielle Smith couldn’t manage to organize a byelection for NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi in “weeks not months,” but expects Prime Minister Carney to acquiesce to her demands for Alberta, in that very time frame. Right.

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Patricia Hartnagel, Edmonton

Smith the throne speech outlier

No matter how one may view the continuing role of the monarchy in Canada, the majority of Canadians celebrated King Charles’s delivery of the throne speech as a unifying event in a time when our country is threatened by a would-be monarch in Washington who flaunts gold bling in his Oval Office and brandishes a possible Golden Dome defence gimmick designed to sucker Canada into statehood (which will never happen).

Mr. Carney gathered past prime ministers from different parties, former governors general, and many Indigenous leaders to the event in Ottawa, showing the potential of relationship. Ms. Smith appears to be the outlier in the generally positive mood the speech has raised. By measuring the speech against her list of demands and directives, she shows an approach to Confederation that seems more transactional than relational. Albertans should hope the relational side will kick in at some point. If not, she risks isolating herself with her demands and the bleak idea of a separation referendum designed somehow to transact leverage.

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David Gay, Edmonton

Patriotic Oilers fans loud and proud

I am 74 years old and have attended hundreds of sporting events in the United States. In all those years, I have never seen nor heard the crowd sing the national anthem as loud as those attending the Oilers playoff games.

The Oilers fans are obviously proud of their country and team. Congratulations.

Mark Zucker Cranford, N.J.

Letters welcome

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