Righting welfare wrongs

This letter is certainly not in defence of the current welfare system, but I would like to clarify recent changes to welfare benefits for single parents. Your article ["Single moms get welfare cut," Oct. 15] stated that there was a $700 difference between the amount of the benefits for single parents who were on welfare prior to the reform of the Quebec Family Allowance and the Federal Child Tax Benefit, and new applicants to the welfare system.

There is no such difference between in the total monthly income received by single parents on welfare since these changes. The difference is in the source of the income. Now the Quebec government can claim that there are no more children on welfare in Quebec! If only that meant there were no more children living in poverty in Quebec.

-Brenda Plant,
assistant coordinator, individual services
Project Genesis

Let them eat platitudes

Louise Boyne and Gerry (the honourable) Weiner have perfected Marie Antoinette politics to a new art ["The politics of sisterhood," Oct. 15]. Boyne and Weiner may believe that "the best social program is a job," but such a heartless, ill-conceived attitude is cold comfort to the homeless.

City councillors, unlike the federal or provincial politicians, are limited in their ability to create jobs directly, but are empowered in clearly relevant matters for the homeless, including social housing programs such as those offered by the SHDM.

It's sad that neither Boyne nor Weiner took the opportunity to consider innovative social housing projects prior to launching their municipal candidacies. Presumably, they would have supported the demolition of Overdale on the basis that demolishers would find jobs.

Maybe both candidates can donate their used campaign signs after the election--for the homeless to construct basic shacks--as an interim solution while Boyne and Weiner find a housing policy that is built on more than political platitudes.

-Dermod Travis

Shady review of Chilán

I'm writing in response to a review of the self-titled CD Chilán, which appeared in the October 8 issue: "This is basically Shades of Culture helping out a friend, and that's what friends are for, right? 5/10 (SC)."

It's quite obvious the critic (Scott C) did not do his homework. Shades of Culture is composed of three individuals: D Shade, Orion and DJ Storm. D Shade contributed on three of the tracks: for "Family Members," he wrote and performed one verse; for "Close Your Eyes" and "Wild Life" he provided a very, very minimum amount of ad-libbed background vocals. Orion contributed nothing.

Other Montreal rappers on the CD were Takktics and Mista Len. Both have performed with Shades, but are not part and parcel of the group. The producer was DJ Choice of the group Dubmatique. Almost all the other lyrics were written and performed by Chilán--who at the time was only 17.

I do not take exception to the rating of 5 on 10, as everyone has a right to their opinion. But I can't help but wonder if the critic listened to the CD at all--and if he did, was he able to rise to a high enough intellectual level to understand the meaning of the lyrics to prevent them from sailing right over his head?

Please understand that I have nothing negative to say about Shades of Culture, as I think they are a very talented group.

-Svetlana Markarian

Sidewalk snobbery

There was a bit of confusion in Kristian's perspective in "City of Snobs" [Oct. 15]. After he spends a couple of paragraphs describing how much of a jerk Gwynne Dyer is in everyday life, where's the irony in the fact that nobody wants to talk to him? And why would you want to talk to anybody on the street anyways? The only clear thing in the article was the inadvertent comparison of Toronto-style friendliness to a Nuremberg rally.

Get over it, ride your bike a little more considerately and, most of all, mind your own business. If I had to stop and talk to everybody I saw on the street, I'd be a very tired and ornery puppy--albeit one with a shit-eating smile carved permanently on my face. Life is short, I don't want to spend it pretending. And most of all, only my mother has the right to call me "love," not some buck-toothed, saggy, Brit storeowner. Yechh. What a thought.

-Cameron Skene
(taking only his fair share of sidewalk space) in Mile-End