Letters: Change needed for the way we elect Saskatoon city council

Readers off their opinions on Saskatoon city council elections, the rejection of a federal non-confidence motion and the perception of mental health issues.

Candidates for Saskatoon city council should be banned from accepting donations from businesses or unions. Also, they should be banned from accepting individual donations greater than $50.

If you look through campaign disclosures for past elections, you see that candidates more supportive of having new facilities built got more donations from businesses involved in construction trades. Did the candidates support the new construction for the campaign donations?

Candidates won’t need so much money for campaigning if each ward has a series of debates and if they mutually agree to stop using wasteful lawn signs.

Ashu Solo, Saskatoon

NDP, Bloc show needed co-operation

Who else is tired of the name-calling and blaming and just plain bickering going on with the politicians we voted in to run our great country? If I remember correctly, didn’t Justin Trudeau win against Stephen Harper by running a campaign on his party agenda and not running hateful ads against the opposition? Hmm.

We need more co-operation and less negativity among our politicians. We are so fortunate to live here. Why not find a way to rule together to make our lives easier? Ask not what we can do for our country, but what all of you politicians can do together, to make us a better country.

Cherylle Winacott, Saskatoon

Mental illness slight in piece upsetting

In a Sunday opinion piece by Luke LeBrun of Press Progress entitled, “I cover the far right for a living. This is why I wasn’t surprised to find Canadians embedded in an alleged Russian propaganda scheme,” the editorial staff of the Toronto Star allowed an egregious and unforgiving slight against those with mental health issues to slip past.

In an attempt to clarify for his readers who he thinks consumes this right-wing propaganda, he issued the following claim without evidence, “Some of the millions consuming it might be hateful bigots. Some may have real material grievances they don’t see being addressed by governments, others may have personal trauma or mental health struggles for which they receive little support.”

From this writer’s perspective, this is outrageous for a paper that considers itself the leader in progressive thinking to allow such innuendo and misinformation onto its social justice pages.

And as for the editor of Press Progress, Luke LeBrun, I see little progress.

Jason Werbics, Saskatoon

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