To: The Hon. Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, Ottawa

Dear Mr. Flaherty:

I am enclosing a copy of an article that appeared in today’s Halifax newspaper, stating that, of the Canadian people, “the top one per cent pay total tax rates as much as six percentage points of income lower than families in the middle. . . . the richest one per cent of families also now pay a lower tax rate than the poorest 10 per cent.”

Is this true? If so, what does it mean? Does it mean that we have to emulate the US in everything? Does it mean that Canada does not have economic freedom? Does it mean that you as Minister of Finance are dancing on a tightrope both ends of which are being held by the United States? Does it mean that we have to pay millions to a group of robber barons, bribing them to keep the wheels of industry turning and the masses in penury? Who constitute the real government of Canada?

If it is true, does it mean that government policy is more and more undermining the independence of the average person and forcing the poor to depend on foodbanks and secondhand clothing stores? It reminds me of France in the 1780s, and of the Roman bread and circuses. This in a time when the poverty gap is growing.