Remembering the Victoria mutiny

Posted on December 22, 2011 by isitt

Ben helped commemorate a forgotten mutiny at the corner of the Fort and Quadra streets in Victoria, December 2011

On December 21, 2011, I helped commemorate a forgotten mutiny of French-Canadian soldiers that occurred 93 years ago at the corner of Fort and Quadra streets in downtown Victoria, as the 259th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (Siberia) embarked for the port of Vladivostok and service in the Russian Civil War.

I first discovered the story of the Victoria mutiny while researching my book From Victoria to Vladivostok: Canada’s Siberian Expedition, 1917-19.

Casting a critical eye on the government of the day’s reading of the Military Service Act, and the use of conscription for a theatre of war a world away from the Western Front, I joined other citizens in calling for the soldiers’ pardon and for an apology for their families.

Here I discuss the mutiny on CBC radio’s On The Island program, recorded at Fort and Quadra with host Gregor Creggie:

Link to CBC Radio interview, December 21, 2011


Download CBC radio Podcast

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Documentary Film Trailer

Posted on December 21, 2011 by isitt


Watch the Documentary Film Trailer on Youtube | En Française

Learn More!
Read about Canada’s Siberian Expedition in the Legion Magazine
Visit the Siberian Expedition Virtual Exhibition & Digital Archive

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Victoria mutiny of 1918 revived in call for justice

Posted on December 21, 2011 by isitt

Councillor leads charge to clear names of French-Canadian soldiers who refused to fight in Russia

By Derek Spalding, Victoria Times Colonist, December 22, 2011

Victoria coun. Ben Isitt and Maihanna Murphy help commemorate on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, a forgotten mutiny of French-Canadian soldiers that took place in 1918 at the corner of Fort and Quadra streets. Photograph by Adrian Lam, Times Colonist

Victoria city councillor Ben Isitt was sitting in the basement of the University of B.C. library 12 years ago when he discovered a historical event that he thought shed light on Victoria’s military past.

After years of research, he’s leading a charge to clear the names of French-Canadian soldiers who mutinied in Victoria in 1918 because they refused to fight in an overseas battle in Russia.

Isitt was joined by about a dozen people on Wednesday as he commemorated the mutiny that took place at the corner of Fort and Quadra streets. Ninety-three years ago on Dec. 21, French-Canadian conscripts in the 259th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force mutinied on the very spot Isitt stood.

The soldiers did not support Canadian forces entering a battle simply because Great Britain had sought their support, Isitt said.

He is calling on the Canadian government to pardon the men.

Isitt has extensively documented the event in his book From Victoria to Vladivostok: Canada’s Siberian Expedition. The nine ringleaders of the mutiny served a range of jail terms, stretching from 30 days to three years.

“I’m really happy today to see this history remembered by a growing number of people,” he said.

Isitt has met the families of the men in Quebec and is preparing a legal brief outlining that the Military Service Act did not empower the government to force soldiers to serve in Russia.

Linda Doctoroff sings at the site of a 1918 Victoria mutiny. Photograph by Adrian Lam, Times Colonist

“The military command admitted as much back in 1919 when it suspended their sentences before the soldiers came home,” Isitt said.

“So they came home as free men, but we think it should go a step further in that their records should be cleared or pardoned and their families should receive an apology.”

The executive director of the Victoria Francophone Society attended the event. Christian Francey said the work being done on behalf of the dead soldiers represents the ability of French and English communities to work together.

“For many, many years we are two communities, English and French here in Canada and we’ve been working together even if we have different challenges and different ideas,” Francey said.

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In solidarity with the 99%

Posted on October 17, 2011 by isitt

A thousand people gathered in downtown Victoria on October 15 as part of the "Occupy Together" movement , advocating for a fairer, more sustainable economic system. Photo: Times Colonist

Victoria, like cities across Canada, North America and the globe, has become a site of contestation, where young and old people have drawn a line in the sand against a system they believe is built upon inequality and exploitation. These visionaries offer the brightest beacon in a generation of the possibility for a better world.

The people camped in Victoria’s Centennial Square belong to a global movement, inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” protest that emerged in mid-September as a spear in the heart of the global financial system. They also look beyond North America to millions of people in North Africa and the Middle East who collectively made the “Arab Spring.”

My sympathies are with the visionaries occupying the world’s squares and the 99% they believe are on the losing end of our so-called “free” market economy. Read more »

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Interview on CKNW Radio: On Jack Layton

Posted on August 23, 2011 by isitt

Ben was interviewed on CKNW Radio Vancouver on August 23, 2011, the day after Federal New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jack Layton passed away. Isitt comments on the political significance of Layton’s career and death, after he led his party to a historic 103 seats in Canada’s House of Commons — its best showing ever, which supplanted the Liberals as Canada’s Official Opposition and mobilized Quebec voters behind a federalist, social-democratic party.

Link to Interview on CKNW Radio Vancouver on Jack Layton’s passing

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On Jack Layton’s passing

Posted on August 23, 2011 by isitt

The man knew how to eat pizza. With the same seriousness of purpose and concentration that drove his political life, Jack Layton devoured two loaded slices of pizza pie at a hole-in-the-wall place on Rue St-Denis in bohemian Montreal. Jack stacked the slices one on top of the other, face in. I was captivated by the technique. Perhaps he sought to maximize his calorie intake to sustain a frenetic schedule. Perhaps he had devised a time-tested technique to keep tomato sauce and toppings out of his neatly-groomed, signature moustache.

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Canadian Hero

Posted on June 10, 2011 by isitt

It is with admiration that I read Brigette DePape’s explanation of why she disrupted the Throne Speech in Canada’s Senate chamber.

The 21-year-old parliamentary page from Winnipeg has now been fired for her defiant act. On June 3rd, she stood stone-faced in the centre of the sterile red chamber of privilege, holding a sign reading “Stop Harper.” To the shock of Canada’s PM and his coterie of MPs and senators, Ms. DePape made her protest for 20 long seconds as the Queen’s representative in Canada, David Johnston, attempted to read his prepared remarks from the Harper government. Ms. DePape was finally led out of the chamber by a grim and aged sergeant-at-arms, a memorable image broadcast across the country.

Ms. DePape has been attacked by critics on the political right, centre, and left (including remarks from Green Party leader Elizabeth May and New Democrat Jack Layton) who suggest that she should have protested elsewhere to preserve the sanctity of parliament). But she has also mustered strong support in Canada and abroad, including from celebrated American filmmaker Michael Moore, who urged Canadians “to put aside the full respect thing and bring out their inner hockey stick and get to work on preventing their government from turning into a version of ours.”

DePape has been criticized for debasing Canada’s Parliamentary tradition, but she defends her actions as belonging to another deeply Canadian tradition — ”the tradition of ordinary people in this country fighting to create a more just and sustainable world, using peaceful direct action and civil disobedience.”

My personal view is that we need more Brigette DePapes in this world, to speak truth to power and take risks. This is needed in the short term to resist the Harper Conservatives’ agenda of austerity in social spending and largesse for militarism and corporations, and in the mid- and long-term to build a fairer society. I will close with Ms. DePape’s own words:

“I think those who reacted with excitement realize that politics should not be left to the politicians, and that democracy is not just about marking a ballot every few years. It is about ensuring, with daily engagement and resistance, that the vision we have for our society is reflected in the decision-making of our government.”

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Race to the Bottom

Posted on June 4, 2011 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Daily Gleaner (Fredericton), 4 June 2011

Re: Story published May 30 called, “Time to reform public-sector pensions, city told”

The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce is wrong to attack the pension benefits of city workers.

While pension reform may sound harmless, it threatens workers whether they have pensions or not, as well as businesses that rely on consumer dollars in this community.

It’s popular these days to attack the wages and benefits of unionized workers, who have won a better deal through decades of bargaining collectively through their democratic unions.

But all workers are entitled to a decent living standard. Our goal should be to improve the working and living conditions for all workers, particularly those in the non-unionized service sector.

The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce wants to end the “defined-benefit” pension plan of city workers because it serves as an example to workers in other sectors. It shows that it’s possible to achieve financial security in old age through the collective bargaining process.

Rather than co-operate with workers across Fredericton and the province to achieve financial security (through improvements to the Canada Pension Plan as well as industry-specific pensions), the chamber is trying to push down the aspiration of all workers.

Businesses and workers need to send a clear message to the leadership of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce: the long-term health of this community requires fair incomes and financial security for all, rather than a mean-spirited race to the bottom.

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Harper majority bad for Canada

Posted on May 18, 2011 by isitt

Day 1 of Steve Harper’s “stable” majority government is accompanied by news that the PM has appointed three rejected Conservative candidates to the sheltered unelected refuge of graft and privilege – the Canadian Senate.

But today’s major policy announcement is the more ominous – the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board, an important institution founded in response to the collapse of Prairie agriculture and world prices in the Great Depression of the 1930s. For nearly eight decades, the board has provided a fair price to farmers while stabilizing the Prairie economy from the boom-bust cycle of the global capitalist commodity markets.

While pro-Conservative loyalists in some farm organizations will support this move, let’s hope that grassroots Prairie farmers send a clear message in defence of this successful co-operative enterprise.

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Predictions of NDP’s death unfounded

Posted on January 29, 2011 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Victoria Times Colonist, 29 January 2011

Surely Adrian Raeside has been following B.C. politics long enough to know that it is naive to depict the NDP as a “dying party” (cartoon, Jan. 21).

The New Democratic Party is no stranger to controversy or internal debate. It is composed of diverse individuals and groups, with wide-ranging views on how social change should be achieved, how resources and the environment should be managed and the role of markets and the state.

But to suggest that current debates over leadership foreshadow the NDP’s demise is not supported by evidence.

In 2001, when the Campbell Liberals reduced the governing NDP to two legislative seats, predictions of the NDP’s “death” were perhaps appropriate. But the party rebuilt and holds 34 seats. It holds power in Manitoba and Nova Scotia and, at one time or another, governed Ontario, Saskatchewan, BC and the Yukon.

After every election but one since 1932, the NDP or its predecessor, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, has formed the opposition or government in BC. Representatives of working people have held legislative seats as far back as 1900, when coal baron James Dunsmuir still dominated B.C. politics and economics.

Raeside’s cartoon reveals a predictable editorial line, attacking the NDP on whatever grounds while handling the Liberal party with kid gloves. As a historian of B.C.’s left, I predict it will take a lot more than a cartoon by Adrian Raeside for the New Democratic Party to die.

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Deal with root causes of homelessness

Posted on August 26, 2010 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Victoria Times Colonist, 26 August 2010

Re: “Picnic brigade reclaims patch of Pandora Avenue,” Aug. 22.

I live in the immediate vicinity of downtown Victoria, with all the social problems of homelessness and substance misuse outside my doorstep.

I would, of course, prefer that poor people had housing options outside our public parks. I would prefer to see those managing addictions afforded a range of treatment options, from safe-consumption sites to publicly funded residential treatment.

But rather than relegate our street community to the status of a permanent underclass, I am committed to the redistribution of resources. Our tax system provides a mechanism to take income from me (and those far more affluent) to build social housing and provide treatment. This should be a higher priority than the Band-Aid solution of policing the poor.

At the same time, we must not lose sight of the big picture: an economic system that privileges property over human rights, denying shelter to vulnerable people in one of richest countries on Earth.

This contradiction — poverty in the midst of plenty — is not new. But that does not make it any less abhorrent, nor any less deserving of root-and-branch reform.

Ben Isitt

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WFP land sales haven’t helped mills

Posted on October 6, 2009 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Victoria Times Colonist, 5 October 2009

A recent article suggests that Western Forest Products wants to sell 2,500 hectares of undeveloped land on southwestern Vancouver Island “to finance mill modernization.”

I do not believe this. WFP is as much a land development company as a forestry company. It is a major supplier of the “land bank” for Island developers who are extending sprawl into forested areas — contributing to problems ranging from climate change and loss of ecosystems to traffic gridlock on roads and highways.

How much of WFP’s profit from the sale of Skirt Mountain land in 2001 to the Bear Mountain development has been spent on “mill modernization?”

Rather than upgraded “modern” mills creating jobs and adding value to Vancouver Island timber, we see WFP moving in the opposite direction: Closing mills, exporting timber and selling off more land for urban sprawl.

The whole regime of forest tenure and land development on this island should be questioned.

Ben Isitt

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The Colonist and the 1952 ‘transferable vote’

Posted on April 9, 2009 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Victoria Times Colonist, 9 April 2009

Re: “Voting systems aren’t the same,” letters, April 7.

I appreciate the interest generated by my op-ed on B.C.’s experience with electoral reform in the 1950s, which was intended to draw attention to this history.

Though technically an alternative vote system, the term “transferable vote” was used interchangeably during the 1952 election. This is confirmed by a Victoria Daily Colonist editorial just prior to the election, on June 7, 1952:

“Whether or not the new transferable vote system will do what it is designed to accomplish, spread the legislative seats in fairer ratio to the votes cast, will not be known until all the ballots are counted right down to the bottom names.”

This evidence complicates one letter-writer’s claim that “B.C. has never used any form of the transferable vote system for provincial elections.” Moreover, another Colonist editorial (from voting day, June 12, 1952) discussed the connection between the new voting system, absentee ballots and the delay in the count:

“Under the new transferable vote system, a hiatus seems inevitable… The test count undertaken recently by a returning officer and his assistants illustrates the huge task ahead.”

Two days later, the Colonist described the counting procedure as “disgraceful incompetence,” with “muddle and confusion in issuing and handling ballot papers” and an unprecedented number of spoiled ballots. The Colonist called for an “overhaul” of the new Elections Act “from top to bottom.”

 

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Lower the speed limit in Victoria to 30 km/h

Posted on December 7, 2008 by isitt

Letter published in Fernwood News (Victoria), December 2008

As a parent, cyclist and pedestrian, I’ve got a bold proposal for neighbourhood safety – lower the speed limit on all City of Victoria streets to 30 km/h.

Unnecessary, excessive, foolish?

The current limit, 50 km/h, enables commuters to race along Fernwood’s borders – Pandora, Cook, Shelbourne, Begbie, and zoom through its heart of Fernwood Road. Safety is imperiled on secondary streets as drivers scramble to navigate their way around the forward-looking street closures of the 1970s (Gladstone, Pembroke, Queen’s and Grant).

Many of these road-warriors are non-Victorians. They race to and from their homes in Oak Bay, Gordon Head, Broadmead, and other Saanich neighbourhoods. Victoria residents deal with the burden on local infrastructure and the hazards to ourselves and our children. Underscoring this irony, Oak Bay’s internal speed limit is 40 km/h.

Several Fernwood organizations and residents have banded together demanding a 30 km/h speed limit along the length of Fernwood Road. This is a great idea that I whole-heartedly support.

I propose taking this idea a step further – working with the City’s Engineering Department and Council to lower the limit on all Victoria streets to 30 km/h. Some details would have to be ironed out – including possible exemptions on a handful of arterial roads – but the general principle has many advantages. The small increase in driving times for city residents – no more than five minutes on a cross-town trip – would be worth it.

Children would be safer as drivers have adequate time to slow down and stop for changing road conditions. Cyclists and pedestrians would be safer as downtown and neighbourhood traffic mellows. Victoria would truly emerge as Canada’s pedestrian and cycling capital – and its most child-friendly city.

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Homeless ruling needs pragmatic city response

Posted on October 17, 2008 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Victoria Times Colonist, 17 October 2008

Now that the B.C. Supreme Court has struck down Victoria’s anti-camping bylaw, let’s hope that city leaders adopt a more pragmatic and compassionate approach. Too much public money has already been wasted fighting the basic principle of the right to shelter.

The issue is not whether homeless people should sleep in parks. Let’s raise the level of discussion to how we can compel the provincial and federal government to provide funds to build a home for every homeless person in our city.

Studies show that over 80 per cent of the street community are from our region (rather than “outsiders”). Regardless of their place of origin, action can no longer be avoided. The private real-estate market creates gaping holes that only people power and government action can fill.

Let’s end the cat-and-mouse between police and homeless, by putting a roof over the head of everyone in need. Surely if we can squander $1 billion on security for the Olympic Games (and another billion on highways and stadiums) we can spend the same amount of public money on permanent, safe, supported housing.

Agencies like the Victoria Cool Aid Society, Our Place, and Pacifica Housing have already proven their ability to provide stable homes for the hard-to-house. These organizations and others will eliminate homelessness as soon as citizens force their governments to provide adequate funds.

Ending homelessness is not a mystery. It is a question of political will. The B.C. Supreme Court victory is a kick in the right direction.


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Liberal policies dented incomes

Posted on May 11, 2008 by isitt

Published in the Victoria Times Colonist, 11 May 2008

Statistics Canada has confirmed what many Greater Victorians have known for some time: B.C. Liberal “downsizing” since 2001 contributed to a drop in incomes. This might be a “puzzle” to economists and employers, likely because they never bore the brunt of Gordon Campbell’s cuts.

Across B.C., median incomes dropped three per cent between 2000 and 2005, after rising almost four per cent in the previous decade of NDP government. Campbell’s anti-labour policies and social program cuts go a long way in explaining this shift.

Restrictions on union organizing and bargaining slashed incomes of health-care and social-service workers. Women and recent immigrants were particularly hard hit: Wages of dietary and housekeeping staff in Greater Victoria hospitals dropped from nearly $20 per hour to around $10 per hour. Manufacturing workers also suffered from increased export of unprocessed commodities (such as raw logs to the U.S.). Social assistance cuts denied people with disabilities the meagre incomes necessary for shelter and food.

These steps were taken to “downsize” B.C. workers’ expectations and wages and expand the incomes of corporations and the affluent through tax cuts and privatization.

B.C.’s economy is now exhibiting signs of strength and a tightening labour market. But our economy has always been cyclical, and a downturn is inevitable in construction and all sectors. With Campbell’s leaner and meaner government, the downward income trend will not easily be reversed.

In the long term, British Columbia’s economic and social development is best served by a policy of equality.

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Public sewage treatment saves money

Posted on November 28, 2007 by isitt

Letter to the Editor of the Victoria Times Colonist, 28 November 2007

Why is it that Halifax can build a public sewage treatment system for $400-million (one-third municipally funded) and the CRD considers a $1.2-billion, public-private system?

The population of Greater Halifax was 372,000 in the last census, compared with 330,000 in Greater Victoria. Even if our region chooses better treatment that Halifax’s “advanced primary” system, the proposed price is too high.

A costly P3 (public-private partnership) should be rejected.

Affordable sewage treatment meets the following criteria: (1) Publicly owned, operated, and financed; (2) Resource-recovery to capture heat and energy for transit, residential, and commercial use.

This is the most cost-effective and sustainable sewage treatment option for the CRD – and the best deal for taxpayers.

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Where have all the corner stores gone?

Posted on October 21, 2007 by isitt

Published in Fernwood News (Victoria), 21 October 2007

Against the backdrop of rising land values and a booming village centre, half of Fernwood’s corner stores have disappeared in recent years. Is this a sign of gentrification?

Since 2004, the following small retailers – all operated by Chinese-Canadian families – have closed their doors:

  • Wall’s Food Market (Fernwood at Bay)
  • Gladstone Noodle House and Grocery (Gladstone beside Fernwood Inn)
  • Cook Street Grocery (Cook at Pembroke)
  • May’s Grocery (Chambers at Princess)

Three established stores and a new one – Mom’s Market – remain open:

  • Lum’s Grocery (Begbie at Stanley)
  • Arcade Grocery (Pandora at Camosun)
  • Bay Grocery (at Shakespeare)
  • Mom’s Market (formerly Gladstone Market; Gladstone at Stanley)

The loss of small retail is not confined to Fernwood. Communities across North America grapple with “Walmartization” and the impact of soaring land values on businesses operating on razor-thin margins. Chinese-run corner stores have historically provided employment and housing for recent immigrants. They offer self-sufficiency irrespective of language aptitude, and often serve as conduits to other fields of work.

In Oak Bay and neighbourhoods near and far, the closure of Chinese-run corner stores was a bellwether of gentrification. Block by block, diversity and eclectic neighbourhood features gave way to a homogenous urban form. Only recently has the clarion call of “smart growth” and the waning of automobile culture resuscitated neighbourhood-level services.

Fernwood’s future is not yet written. Vitality in our core and periphery give reason for hope. Haultain Village features the twin retailers Haultain Grocery and Adam’s Food Fair; Oak Bay Junction offers Stadacona Grocery and Freddie’s Flowers; and Wellburn’s Market soldiers on at the corner of Pandora and Cook.

But for the late-night crowd, it’s a corporate-only affair: Husky, Mac’s, and the soon-to-open (cringe) Shell Oil Convenience Mart at Fernwood and Yates.

The fate of Fernwood’s small retailers is in our hands. Hopefully, in the headlong rush to become a “destination” “have” neighbourhood, Fernwood doesn’t abandon those homey, eclectic features that drew us here in the first place. To quote Joni Mitchell’s wise words, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

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Big defence spending the wrong priority

Posted on February 7, 2007 by isitt

Letter to the Editor published in the Victoria Times  Colonist, 7 February 2007

The Conservative government’s decision to spend $3.4 billion on four “super-jets” is good news for defence contractors, but bad news for ordinary Canadians who support other priorities. Climate change, child care, housing and health and education require a substantial injection of federal funds.

But sadly, ramping up defence spending seems to be the top priority for the Harper Conservatives.

Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Gary Lunn has touted a new $300-million energy efficiency program, which essentially restores a program cancelled by his government in 2006. This investment, which is needed, is one-tenth the magnitude of a single defence contract.

Defence personnel are entitled to adequate wages and benefits, but under the cover of “supporting our troops” the Conservatives have opened the money taps for transnational firms like Boeing.

Issues like climate change and poverty pose a far greater threat to this country’s well-being. What good is having a representative at the cabinet table when that representative remains silent in the face of skewed priorities?

 

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School District 61 and the NDP

Posted on January 22, 2007 by isitt

Published in Lower Island News (Victoria), January 2007

It is not pleasant to question the actions of fellow New Democrats in a public forum like this newspaper. But sometimes it is essential, particularly when NDP members hold positions of trust and public responsibility.

We must question the decision of a majority of School District No. 61 (Greater Victoria) trustees to sell Fairburn Elementary in Gordon Head to a private real-estate developer. It should be remembered that a majority of trustees, including the chairperson, belong to the New Democratic Party.

By some strange logic, a sufficient number of NDP members voted with Liberals to sell-off 7.2 acres of public land and attached buildings to a private developer for $4.3 million.

Contrary to basic democratic principles of transparency, disclosure, and public participation, the Board majority announced this sell-off as a fait accompli without any public consultation.

The Fairburn Elementary sell-off followed similar questionable land deals. Several years ago, Blanshard Elementary was closed and leased for 99 years to privately-owned University Canada West, for $4.5-million. The university has recently put the lease on this public property for sale, for $6.5 million. Why did the School Board agree to a contract that was so favourable to the private party and so detrimental to the public interest?

I am a member of the New Democrat Party because I hold a set of principles, including a belief in public ownership and participatory democracy. Selling assets such as School Board property to private real-estate developers, without consultation, conflicts with these principles.

School District No. 61 definitely has financial woes, due to inadequate funding from the provincial government. But Greater Victoria voters elect school trustees to protect their interests from cost-cutting and privatizing governments. Voters place New Democrats in positions of public trust. It is my belief that this trust has been undermined by the sale of Fairburn Elementary and the de facto sale of Blanshard Elementary. Public trust in the New Democratic Party has also been compromised.

Fairburn and Blanshard – like Burnside, Uplands, Hampton, and Richmond – are highly valued as crucial greenspaces in these build-out neighbourhoods. Their sale to private interests for residential subdivisions hurts these communities. Moreover, their sale reveals a lack of vision of future requirements for public lands and public schools.

Where will Greater Victoria be in the year 2080, when I’m 102 years old and my daughter is 75? Where will her grandchildren go to public school and what greenspaces will they enjoy, in a much denser and heavily populated region? The costs of assembling lands for public purposes will be exponentially higher in 2080 than the $9-million the School District received for these properties.

If we don’t look ahead to the future, who will?

New Democrats in Greater Victoria need to begin asking some hard questions. I ascribe to a ‘Big Tent’ philosophy as the only means of effectively challenging the power of private interests and their political arms – the BC Liberal party and the federal Liberal and Conservative parties.

But how do we respond when the privatization ideology creeps into our ‘Big Tent’?

Nobody owns their elected positions. They are put there by voters. And likewise, they can be removed.

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