Pay our respects in peace.
Reading the Toronto Star’s letters to the editor after Jack Layton’s funeral, I was surprisingly angered upon reading this letter:
A Fitting Farewell for Jack, published Monday, August 29, 2011.
How many of the thousands paying their respects to Jack actually voted NDP in the last election? How many two-faced mourners should now be ashamed of their lack of respect for Jack and the party?
It was the Greater Toronto gang that gave Harper his majority. Now Harper can rule unapposed for five grueling years. Shame!
Shirley Farlinger, Toronto
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I felt the need to respond, but I hardly thought they would print my letter. I think I ended up sounding like a douche. You tell me:
Pay our respects in peace, Published on Thursday, September 1, 2011.
Re: A fitting farewell to Jack, Letters Aug. 30
Is letter writer Shirley Farlinger saying that only those who voted for Jack Layton have a right to pay their respects and mourn? People need to “respect” Jack and the party to gain that privilege, by which she means we should have voted for him. Then she goes on to blame the Harper majority on the “Greater Toronto gang.”
In my own riding of Scarborough East/Pickering, it was votes cast for an absentee NDP candidate that split the vote and handed a Liberal stronghold to the Cons. Should I blame Jack for that?
People do not have to agree with a politician to see the tragedy of their death and empathize with their family. Save your political posing for after the mourning, please. I for one would like to pay my respects in peace.
Mike Sampat, Toronto
