Letters: Keep church and politics separate; proposed election changes concerning

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Optics of photograph not good for Higgs

The first time I saw the picture of Premier Higgs standing beside Faytene Grasseschi holding a kindergartener’s drawing of the Bible and the cross, I thought there must be a mistake. Was he momentarily enchanted, so much so he agreed to pose for the camera, knowing his handlers would never let the photo see the light of day? I guess not, because it appeared again on January 25, as the photo accompaniment to the Telegraph-Journal’s article on the PC party’s attempt to nominate a candidate in Moncton Centre.

The headline made me laugh out loud: ‘God help us all if this gets out’, words famously expressed by PC member Marc LeBlanc. Sorry, Mr. LeBlanc, when that photo appeared the first time, a lot came out. I’m not alone in questioning Premier Higgs’s judgment, not just for posing for such a picture, but for the message on his leadership it conveys. I am also not the only New Brunswicker who passionately believes in the separation of church and state. Christians are welcome to run for office, as are people of other faiths or no faith at all, but there should not be a whiff of suspicion they are there to enact laws based on their religious beliefs, or to upend laws that have given rights to those who folks like Christian conservatives disapprove. No matter how reassuring Higgs and the candidate for Hampton Fundy St. Martin’s try to be, the optics are not on their side.

When she was questioned in a CBC interview about her Christian conservative views as they relate to politics as published in one of her books, Grasseschi got very vague, deflecting her answer by saying she doesn’t remember the contents. We see the same vague deflection and contradiction in answering the questions put to her and Zachary Luce on the nomination process in Moncton Centre. Nothing is what it seems. I do believe it will all get out, and I hate to break it to you, Mr. LeBlanc, but God will be no help to you at all.

Anne Baker 

Saint John

Proposed federal election changes worrisome

Fear.

You can see it in the eyes of the federal Liberals. They know the Canadian public are finally aware of the treachery of their policies.

Canada has descended from a country to be emulated to a total disaster in the past eight years. Why has this been allowed? Well you might blame the cowardly NDP who threw their membership under the bus to support the Liberals.

The latest is the Liberal/NDP coalition plan to change the election rules. Really? They want to adopt the U.S. rules. They want changes to improve the write-in vote system, allow several days to vote, and voting at any poll in your riding. Mail in ballots? Really? Why not just cancel elections?

Is that really the kind of people you wish to run your country?

That’s the way I see it.

Ted Ross

Miramichi