Former Web master's note:

The following letter was written by Mr. Jim Lumsden and sent to Ms. Catterrall, Newswest. It resulted from an article she wrote regarding the article's hypocrisy. On the one hand she praises the actions of our Canadian men and women in times of war and on the other she turned her back when the government decided to war with all service personnel over the pension surplus — in the name of Bill C-78. A copy of Jim's letter went to D. Pratt, Parliament of Canada. Mr. Lumsden's letter is reproduced here only through his kind permission.

Dear Ms. Catterrall:

I recently came upon your column "Time To Remember" at page 16 of the November edition of Newswest. The thrust of the article is of course the paying of tribute to the service and sacrifices of men and women in time of war. You go on to mention the contribution of those who serve as peacekeepers.

While I am in total support of the absolute need for remembrance I cannot but feel that there is a degree of hypocrisy in your column. Remembrance is not a sentiment to be rolled out in Veteran's Week or Remembrance Day. As my Member of Parliament I cannot help but wonder where your voice was when your Government was confiscating the pension fund surplus through the mechanisms of Bill C-78.

Surely you must at the least agree that a portion of those funds belonged to veterans and their survivors. If you really believe the sentiments you express in your column referred to above then you should have understood that that a tangible and true remembrance would have seen some of those confiscated funds devoted to such things as increasing the survivor benefits of veterans pension's from 50% to at least 60%, providing for the survivor benefit to the spouses of veterans who remarry after age 60 and making some allowances for the losses sustained by pensioners who's rate of pension was so severely impacted by the wage freezes of your Government.

You however chose to turn your back on Veterans when C-78 was rammed through the House.

You go on in the column to speak of your support for the creation of a new Canadian War Museum. You remind us of the generosity of the Government in donating surplus DND land for that purpose. I take umbrage however in your reference to the "Passing the Torch" fundraising campaign in the same sentence as the Government's land donation. You leave the impression that the campaign is a Government initiative without any reference whatsoever to the Friends of the War Museum who are the driving force behind that undertaking. The two do not belong in the same sentence or even paragraph.

If you really believe and mean what you espouse in your column then let us hear you stand up and publicly urge the Prime Minister and your Liberal colleagues to commit funds to the construction of the Museum with ground to be broken by Canada Day 2000. Lets stop this rhetoric about having the public show their support in a financial way before the Government shows its hand. Your stand is simply a version of your Government's style of governing by polls. This is an issue where the Government must stand up and lead.

Do so now!!! Do so before the 11^th of November!!!. Should you fail to do so, taken with your failure to oppose Bill C-78, then your sentiments with respect to Remembrance as set out in the Newswest ring hollow and are simply the politically correct thing to say in November each year and nothing else.

The Ottawa Citizen this morning suggests that if you and your colleagues do not speak up about the funding War Museum before November 11^th that the Veteran's turn their backs on you when you appear at their Remembrance ceremonies. I support the suggestion however I doubt that the Veteran's will take the suggestion and effect it as their sense of decency and fairness will dissuade them even in the face of your and your Government's hypocrisy.

If you really believe it is a "Time to Remember" then ACT NOW.

Jim Lumsden

(613) 820-0765   FAX 820-1140