OrilliaMatters received the following letter from former Conservative Cabinet Minister Doug Lewis in response to a letter from Gerry Hawes, ‘People of Simcoe North deserve better’ , published yesterday.
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A free press is important to the democratic process. Unfortunately, Orillia and area lost a major player in that process when The Orillia Packet & Times ceased publication a little over a year ago.
Fortunately, OrilliaMatters has ably stepped into the breach by providing coverage and a forum for people to express their views.
That brings me to the recent comment of “Orillia resident” Gerry Hawes on the OrilliaMatters coverage of a recent interview with our MP, Bruce Stanton.
Gerry Hawes first surfaced on my political radar in 1993 as the campaign manager for Paul DeVillers, the Liberal candidate in the federal election of that year.
As most people know, I was defeated in that election, thus ending my 13-year career as the Conservative MP for Simcoe North. Paul went on to serve for 13 years and retire to live in Ottawa.
Hawes went on to serve the Liberal Party at Queen's Park in various capacities and I understand eventually joined the provincial public service.
Now, he has surfaced locally again with a letter to the editor of OrilliaMatters in reference to the article about Stanton.
Fair comment is fair game in politics.
However, fair comment means disclosing all the pertinent facts. Hawes complains about Stanton's “partisan boosterism” without disclosing his own partisan Liberal background.
Come on Gerry, declare yourself as a Liberal. It hasn't hurt many of my good friends in Orillia who are also serving the public.
Doug Lewis
Former Conservative Cabinet Minister
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