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ISIL’s reach

Re: Canadian Hostages Executed In Jungle, April 26.

Although no fault of the present government, one can be sure if Stephen Harper was still in power, the left and much of the media would be holding him and his government indirectly responsible for the brutal decapitation murder of Canadian tourist, John Ridsdel, who had been held hostage for several months.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, like U.S. President Barack Obama, is perceived to be soft on combatting terrorism and most reluctant to use the term Islamic when addressing this issue. Perhaps now our leader will discard political correctness and call this scourge for what it really is.

Stephen Flanagan, Ottawa.

When the Trudeau government pulled Canada’s CF-18s from Iraq and Syria, where with our allies it was bombing the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, it obviously was signalling we were not at war with this terrorist group. In fact, the Liberal defence minister had opined Canadians were not at risk from ISIL

Obviously with an ISIL affiliate, Abu Sayyaf, based in the Philippines savagely beheading this innocent Canadian, it is time the government actually develops a strategy to protect Canadians. Doing nothing, as we have been seeing, is no longer an option. We should not be relying on other nations to protect us from ISIL.

Larry Comeau, Ottawa.

Seniors paid for it

Re: The Welfare State Is Bust, John Robson, April 26.

John Robson makes the same mistake as most pundits in lumping social security, welfare, college loans and food stamps in one basket. Here’s the problem with that line of thinking. Social security was forcible taken out of every single paycheck that I ever earned while working in the U.S. I never once got to vote on that fact. That’s 20 years worth of payments that politicians now claim to be an entitlement I don’t deserve. Stop lumping us seniors in with welfare and college payments that really and truly are “freebies.”

Karen Turner, Mission, B.C.