Dear editor:

I read with interest the opinion piece in The Lake Report from our Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli, (“Trudeau has mismanaged pandemic response,” Jan. 28).

Having managed two campaigns for candidates at both the federal and provincial level, and also having tested the waters myself, I have concluded that there are two types of sitting members.

One type sees an issue, does the research to understand the complexity of the problem and presents possible solutions.

The second type of sitting member, usually in opposition, is content to be lazy in research and is happy to follow the party line as outlined by leadership.

Why suggest an alternative strategy when it is so easy to simply criticize the government in power.

One might now ask what type of sitting member does Mr. Baldinelli wish to be.

Canada was fourth in line to order vaccines from Pfizer and first in line for Moderna.

But once again “my own country first” and patent agreements to shut out other drug companies led to limited supplies for Canada – and other countries as well.

Indeed, if Mr. Baldinelli wishes to find a culprit in the pandemic he can find it in then-PM Brian Mulroney's decision to privatize a Canadian drug research and production company in the 1990s. It was soon purchased and immediately moved offshore to Europe.

To the present government's credit a made-in-Canada research company – Providence – is moving into a large facility in Calgary which will soon produce a COVID vaccine as well as others in the future.

The voters of this country deserve more than an “Us vs. Them” and “Gotcha” politics mindset in Parliament. 

In this pandemic, lives are at stake. Therefore I would suggest Mr. Baldinelli and others in Parliament become part of the solution as opposed to being the armchair quarterback who is critical of every play that the coach calls yet takes no responsibility for the outcomes.

Michael Eagen

NOTL