Dear Editor,
In a recent edition of the Stabroek News (January 23rd) newspaper entitled “Nadir says election of Opposition Leader required ‘careful consideration’”,
Speaker Manzoor Nadir attacked some of the countries that are usually friendly to Guyana, e.g. USA, Canada. Do not bite the hand that feeds is an old adage. While attacking Canada, he said “your country has the unique distinction of having a person who was never elected to Parliament serve as a Prime Minister, a person imposed on the citizens of Canada by the former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.”
Why is Mr. Nadir wrongly criticizing Justin Trudeau. Mr. Nadir needs to learn how the Westminster system of Parliament works. As Speaker of a Parliament one would think that he studied Civics or Political Science.
Perhaps Mr. Nadir only knows one system, the Proportional Representation (PR) system which is used in very few countries, Guyana being one of them. It was PR that brought his former party, the United Force, to power in a botched coalition with the PNC in 1964. The Westminster system has significantly influenced democratic governance worldwide, with countries like Canada, Australia, and India adopting variations of this model.
To think that he just returned from India, and that trip delayed the sitting of parliament and election of the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Nadir, you are a liability to the government. But then again, some leaders feel powerful when surrounded by weak people. By the way, it was Justin Trudeau’s father, the late, great Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who opened the Canadian Immigration system in 1967 to the Third World – a system that benefitted so many Guyanese fleeing the Burnham dictatorship. Are we ingrates? Prior to 1967 it was mostly European immigration to Canada. There are stories of Guyanese who would fly to England, then to Canada as it was so much easier to get in via a European country. They used a low-cost airline by the name of Wardair.