To the editor:
Re: "Stores fight against Black Friday," Nov. 16.
I'd like to express my disgust at all those Canadians scuttling across the border to shop.
I've just got off the phone with my 92-year-old mother who signed up to fight overseas for Canada in the Second World War. She is outraged at this traitorous behavior. The health of a community depends on the local businesses. They sponsor local kids teams, provide our children with entry level jobs, keep our neighbourhoods strong, pay the taxes that support our hospitals, schools and infrastructure. Canadian businesses have to pay their workers more than American ones. That's part of the reason they charge a bit more. This is our middle class, people.
How can these shoppers be so ignorant and short-sighted to not realize that every time a local store closes it puts families out of work? And I don't "buy" the argument that they are going down there out of economic necessity. I've been a single parent with a low to average income for 18 years and I don't even go to Costco.
If we want to maintain our middle class and a healthy quality of life, we need to support Canadian businesses.
Valerie Clark, Vancouver
