Everyone’s a critic

[Re: “The fresh prince of darkness,” Film, Dec. 25] I don’t read movie reviews often and maybe the style has changed but I’ve never seen a reviewer unable to separate the actor from what he portrays, as was the case in this review.

In Seven Pounds, Will Smith is paid to portray a character. The role may or (most frequently) may not have anything to do with the actor’s persona. Thus, to say “... Smith does indeed harbour guilt ...” is quite absurd. Much of the review remains in that vein.

The reviewer’s comment that Turner—a disabled character played by Woody Harrelson—has a smile “despite his disability” also displays a lack of knowledge on the reviewer’s part. Young children and many with disabilities frequently smile since it is easier to smile than to frown: it apparently takes fewer muscles!

Harrelson was playing a role, one that he probably understood better than the reviewer. If this is the quality brought to Mirror reviews, I guess it’s best I avoid them.

>>David Chandler

Illustration praised

[Re: “New Year’s Eve party guide,” Cover, Dec. 25] Thanks for the beautiful illustration by Jeff Kulak on the Dec. 25 cover!

I really enjoy how the Mirror uses illustrations. I wish that the French cultural newspapers were as illustration-friendly as you are!

>>Evlyn M.

Party? What party?

[Re: “The Mirror’s annual news quiz,” Cover, Dec. 18] By the way, there was also a celebration in Quebec, or at least Quebec City: a 400-year-old celebration!

A bit strange that you don’t give a word about it and that you only put “Canada Day celebration” on your annual news quiz’s cover. That 400-year-old celebration had a bigger coverage this summer than that 141-year-old celebration, no?

Is the Mirror a Montreal weekly? A Québécois weekly?

>>Sébastien Harvey

Give peace a chance

The situation in the Gaza Strip is inhuman and the actions and conduct of the Jewish State is criminal and must stop immediately. The inhuman situation that the Palestinian people have been living under for over two years is intolerable and must change if we want a peace process to have a glimmer of a chance.

We want the attacks against the civilian population to stop immediately. We want the massacres of the civilian population to stop; we want a more peaceful solution to be considered to end the hostility between these two long-suffering populations.

>>Fayza Rifai

Suspended Parliament
keeps us in suspense!

[Re: “Conservative comeuppance,” Angel, News, Dec. 4] Our current Prime Minister, together with the Governor-General, have managed to suspend Parliament, but at the same time have they not degraded the rule of law?

To say the former Liberal leader Dion “does not have the right to take power without election,” as Prime Minister Harper claims, is false. The fact that Harper won the recent contest is of no consequence if his party cannot control the House of Commons. Harper states, “Canada’s government should be decided by Canadians.” But that’s been done. The electorate voted for exactly this political stew. By not returning a majority, Canadians voted for the potential of “backroom deals,” as Harper calls it, or, to be neutral, coalition politics.

It isn’t the sentiment of the general public that the Prime Minister must appeal to. They won’t be sitting in Parliament when the next confidence vote takes place. Canadian democracy is enacted through its elected representatives, not via opinion polls. Giving the Prime Minister a timeout to prove how patriotic he is will not resolve anything.

And why should we be surprised? The prospect of a coalition lurks behind every vote of non-confidence taken briefly following an election. Usually non-confidence means the opposition is eager to go to the polls. But in unusual situations, the Governor-General may refuse a Prime Minister’s request for dissolution, and ask, instead, if the opposite parties are willing to form a government. Otherwise, any time a government leader doesn’t like his fresh election results, he can keep asking to go to the polls. That constitutes dictatorial abuse.

To make matters murkier, the Governor-General opted for prorogation, which isn’t so much a decision as a suspension of parliamentary procedure until we return, most likely, to another situation of non-confidence in the New Year. And then, if there’s another refusal to allow the opposition its option to rule, that will finally prove the office of Governor-General is mere decoration and incapable of defending constitutional integrity.

>>L.S. Cattarini

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