What happened to freedom of opinion?

Dear Editor:

Last weekend I picked up an envelope with my name on it that was sitting on a table at the back of our church, from an unknown person. When I opened the envelope, the content was a clipping by MP Rachael Thomas talking about “Breaking Free from Carbon Tax nightmare of the CO2 Tax.” I wondered if the person who left it in the church realized that this is a place of worship and has no room for politics. This person should have written a letter to the editor instead of bringing it to a house of worship and could have signed their name to identify who did not agree to my opinion in my letter to the editor almost a month ago.

When I was working in the mining community of Uranium City, Sask., I had a similar experience when I wrote a letter to the editor to put a point across to my fellow engineers. I suggested that the steam plant and diesel plant join forces because this was what our superintendent would like them to be – under one roof. To my surprise when the shift engineer arrived to relieve me, he became violent and began waving his fists at me. I reported this incident to my supervisor, but he told me not to “rock the boat.” He also said, “you can be fired for putting your report to the union.” I thought, why am I paying union dues if they cannot protect me on my job for safe operation? 

There were many incidents when a shift engineer stayed at the Legion and didn’t go to work, so I was required to work double shifts. Although the money was good the mining company broke the labour standards because one could not leave the plant due to regulations.

Paul Jones, Coaldale