To the Editor,
We now know the Conservative government’s priorities for CIDA: when a two-cent vitamin aid pill can prevent blindness, when $20 of antibiotics can prevent a death from tuberculosis (and the spread of the deadly disease to dozens of others), CIDA minister Bev Oda blows the budget by shacking up in the most expensive hotel in London, one usually reserved for visiting royalty.
The attitude this demonstrates is appalling. The Conservatives have cut CIDA’s budget by almost $400 million, a decision that will result in the deaths of tens of thousands of the world’s poorest, and yet they find the money to treat their minister like the royalty she perceives herself to be.
Oda’s arrogance reminds me of Marie Antoinette, with her haughty “let them eat cake” attitude to the starving poor. It is one of gross entitlement, while children in CIDA’s care, children under her watch, die needlessly.
Nathaniel Poole,
Victoria, B.C.