Audrey Dwinnell won’t be voting Liberal in the next election. She won’t be voting Liberal because Monique Smith wouldn’t speak out against the government of which she is a part … in order to save Audrey’s job.

Audrey is calling upon North Bay to save her job and those of the people who also work in the hospital laundry. She wrote in her letter to the editor: “We should all be fighting to keep the laundry in North Bay as this is only the beginning.” I would like Audrey to tell me what this threat to HER job is the beginning of? Is it the beginning of her unhappiness? Or does her statement imply that the threat to her job is the beginning of threats to many of our jobs here in Nipissing riding?

Many people who pay attention to the hardships of people in this community would say that Audrey’s fate does not represent the beginning of the end for North Bay, except for perhaps in Audrey’s mind.

There have been many situations in North Bay where jobs have been lost. It is always unfortunate, sometimes it is a mistake, and sometimes it is not. As a community we have to work together to make sure our local economy remains strong, and there are good jobs for everyone who deserves one. That is something we need to do as a community.

Where was Audrey when Wal-Mart opened and expanded and put many small businesses in jeopardy? The small businesses owners who lost their (self-created) jobs might have thought of Wal-Mart as the beginning of the end. Did Audrey start a boycott of Wal-Mart to save the small businesses, declaring that to be the beginning of the battle to protect North Bay jobs? Was Audrey fighting hard against the Conservatives when they wanted to sell the ONR to CN, who would have immediately closed the shop here? I hope so, but I doubt it, because she just declared “the beginning”, so that implies she didn’t think it had "begun" yet when the ONR jobs were on the line.

I would welcome a response from Audrey detailing all of the times she fought for someone else’s job. Maybe she would like to restate when she believes the beginning began. Maybe someone whose job was saved by Audrey could write in and thank Audrey for all of her good works in the community.

In her letter to the editor, Audrey states that she voted Liberal for 30 years except for the time that she voted for Mike Harris. Does Audrey realize how many communities lost their entire hospital during the salad days of the last Conservative government? We are not talking about a hospital losing its laundry; we are talking about losing entire hospitals.

By the way, what kind of union member votes Conservative? I can’t believe Audrey would admit to that.

Monique Smith is a politician. I would be willing to bet that she understands that people will be casting their next vote based on their impression of the job that she and the Liberal government are doing. This is a tight riding. Unless Bob Wood is running, we tend to have really hard fought close elections that are won by either the Liberals or the Conservatives. There are of course a few thousand people who decide that they would not like to have any influence on the outcome by voting for parties other than the Liberals or the Conservatives.

If she does not intend to vote Liberal, Audrey faces an incredibly difficult decision. Will she cast her vote in the hopes of returning the axe-wielding deficit spending Conservatives to power, or will she decide to help return the Conservatives to power by throwing her vote into the pool of irrelevant votes by voting Green or NDP or something even more obscure. Apparently she won’t be voting for the Liberals who deliver balanced budgets while building hospitals.

It ain’t all about who does the laundry Audrey. If you are reading this, then let me say that I really hope that you keep your job, but this issue is one of many. YOU may cast your vote according only to how this government has performed for YOU. If you are your only motive, then don’t bother expecting the community to get behind you. Also, if you don’t vote Liberal, how will your vote impact on other members of this community? This is an important question for you to be able to answer; after all, you are declaring the loss of your job to be the “beginning”. How many people have already lost their jobs in this community, and would they disagree with your assessment of when it “began”? Think about them when you decide to vote, not vote, or cast a non-vote. What about people whose jobs will be on the block in the future? Would you deliver their destinies into the hands of Conservatives?

Tony Loeffen