I read the opinion titled [“Editorial: It’s time for Canada to become a republic,” May 5] and felt that I had to rebut this.
I understand that the process of being in the Commonwealth has its costs, as does NATO. However, by that logic we should close the House of Commons and buy an old hotel for the meetings as the savings could be “better spent on programs and services that benefit all Canadians.”
We could abolish the Senate and save even more money, but these are both part of the Canadian heritage that we have tried to create.
It has been well documented that the Canadian government attempted to abolish the potlatch on the grounds that it was out of step with a modern society. I don’t think anyone would actually want to prevent people from teaching their culture to their children, so why on earth is it okay to take our heritage and throw it away; wouldn’t that be equally as wrong?
Canada’s culture moves with the times and is flexible, but our history is not. Isn’t a non-partisan head of state better than the best of the worst candidates?
David Shepherd
Powell River
