Pay those tickets! All that Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar has accomplished is to give Canadians a chilling display of contempt for taxpayers, our courts, and the justices that make these rulings.

Is Ontario Attorney General and Justice Minister Michael Bryant or Premier Dalton McGuinty going to support his fellow transportation minister in defiance of this Ontario Appeal Court ruling? This court had good reason to rule the way it did, as these electronic tickets are not admissible as evidence, and it should end there.

Look no further than the Ontario government itself to further erode Ontario justice by announcing that this ruling is meaningless. We may ask why Ontario justices are being paid for listening to arguments and make their decisions, when the Ontario provincial government is making a mockery of them and taxpayers.

Transportation Minister Takhar should be reminded that taxpayers are not willing to foot the bill using their own courts, with his anti-democratic crusade of prosecuting individuals who have received these tickets, when our courts already ruled on the matter. Who elected this present Ontario government to take out our judges?

Marcella Jordan

Ottawa

(You'd think they'd straighten out the legal issues, then tell people to cough up)

RE "Martin blasted over MP hikes" (Oct. 7): My response to the anonymous honourable MP from Ontario who fumed that "members of Parliament are worth every bit as much as judges" is: Be a judge if you want their salary.

The honourable member forgets that a three-month summer holiday and gold-plated pension awaits him while the rest of the working stiffs struggle along paying for it all. There actually should be a reduction in MP salaries to adequately reflect the quickly eroding buying power after taxes that the average Canadian is subjected to. You can tell it's the first week of Parliament, because all the talk is about salaries, and little about what's really important.

M. Irvin

(Oh, they've discussed a few important things ... like submarines)

I know most of you PSAC members must believe the sun rises and sets on your behind, but I would like to point out that not everyone who works downtown works for the government.

What gives a union the right to block the entrance of a building that has plenty of private enterprises? What gives a union the right to prevent people from parking in a garage they pay to park in?

Excuse me if I don't feel any sympathy for you people, and I sincerely hope your tactics result in an end to any public support for any shoddy agreement the government offers you. Now that I have seen the union bullying first-hand, I truly hope you don't get what you ask for, and even with all the inconveniences, I would like to see you still on the picket line at Christmas.

Patricia (Padi) Leggat

Orleans

(Seems unlikely)

RE "City soon to offer addicts free gear"(Oct. 8): Do you really think that a drug addict stoned out of his mind would care if he uses paraphernalia from somebody else? I don't think so. If he needs a hit, he wants it now, not at a clinic 10 minutes (or more) away. When injecting and smoking these hard drugs you feel nothing and don't care about anything.

D. Guerra