Seal story

Romeo LeBlanc was the Minister of Fisheries in Ottawa. Later to become Governor-General. I was an electrician at the CNR in Pointe St-Charles. He said that those on ice against the seal hunt were thugs and that he would like to do to them what was being done to the seals. I replied in a letter to him that I would like to get him up the lane. For this I was to receive a visit from the Royal Mounted.

After coming to the conclusion that I was no danger to LeBlanc, they left. Never to darken my doorstep again. It was perfectly alright for him to provoke us but not him. Doesn’t seem fair to me or the seals.

I believe I said also in my letter to him that I was no longer proud to be a Canadian and if I should be asked to wear a uniform I would head to the bush. There must be a better way for the Newfies and the Bluenoser to earn a living. Don’t you think?

» John C. Underwood

Machismo and Montreal

I have two other theories about Montreal men’s quiet behaviour toward women [Riff-Raff, “Do the hassle,” April 6]. Maybe feminism really did get our society to a better, less machismo place. Or maybe it’s the availability of sex everywhere. No need to risk having your mom or sister or even girlfriend see you make an ass of yourself; you can just say whatever you want (and even have them pretend they like it) to any of our wide selection of strippers.

Whatever it is, having myself been victim of harassment repeatedly every day for a year in South America, I have to agree with both Sarahs mentioned in the column: Montreal is a great place to be for women.

» Marty

Second-hand smoke kills

After reading the feature on the upcoming smoking ban in Montreal, I was left with a number of questions that didn’t seem to be answered in the article [Cover, “End of a smokey era,” April 13].

Is there some sort of unwritten smoker’s bill of rights that I am unaware of? If I purchase a pack of cigarettes, does that automatically entitle me to expose whomever I want to second-hand smoke? If people want to smoke, that’s fine with me, but why should anyone’s life be shortened by the decisions of others? I suppose it helps smokers to think they are only affecting themselves and to ask why does the government have to get involved. But the fact is second-hand smoke kills. People are dying of lung cancer and they have never smoked a cigarette in their life.

» Brad Elliott, Minneapolis, MN

Wronging the rock

In Patrick Lejtenyi’s “Kyoto the target” article [April 20], he referred to “Newfie comic Rick Mercer.” In case you weren’t aware, the word “Newfie” is considered offensive by many Newfoundlanders due to its derogatory origins. I’m sure many Mirror readers would prefer not to see it in the pages of your excellent paper.

» Matthew H.

Weekly revelation

While standing in line at McDonalds on the Main early one morning, a man standing in front of me struck up a conversation. He told me God had blessed him today and said he would pay for my coffee. He invited me to sit with him and, having a few minutes to kill before court, I accepted. I thought I might be in for a little Bible talk, which I relished, since I know enough Bible to throw most Bible thumpers into a state of confusion. (I usually get them to admit that “Father” is not a name but a title, then I ask them why some priest would say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” and then trick you and never say a name.)

As I sat with the man, he started his Bible bit. He told me that in the Book of Revelation, John saw a big torch thrown down from heaven and it fell to earth and burned a third of it. He said he thought this was symbolic of a missile because a third of the waters were made bitter as wormwood. He then stated that wormwood could also be translated into English as hemlock, which was a poison, and then said hemlock translated into Russian was Chernobyl. I didn’t believe him until he produced a piece of yellowed newspaper from the time of the disaster. He had amazed me and had thrown me off my game plan. He then proceeded to tell me that he knew where Satan lived and it was on Sherbrooke. It was then I realized just how mad this poor fellow was—every reasonably sane person knows the Mirror is on McGill.

» Mike Mcmanus

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