It is with regret that I must inform you that I will no longer be making financial contributions to Freedom Party because I have decided to emigrate to the USA. I have accepted a position as a programmer/analyst with a firm in South Carolina to start on July 1, 1997.

There have been many factors affecting my decision, but I have concluded that there is simply no future for young professionals in this country. I am convinced that the American south will offer a much better standard of living that I could hope to have here.

Some examples:

1. Without taking exchange rates into account, my salary will be $3000 per year lower than what I am currently earning, but a calculation by my new employer's payroll department showed that my net pay will be the same, even after paying for health insurance. Bottom line: With the exchange rate, I'm about $10,000 ahead.

2. Thanks to lower gasoline taxes and lower insurance rates, I will be able to afford a car.

3. My new employer is emphatic in its policy of not instituting mandated racism in hiring and promotion.

4. Thanks to the absence of rent control, landlords are competitive. Luxury apartments are quite cheap and a deposit of $150 is considered high. (Nobody asks for first and last.) Due to lower rents, lower taxes and lower real estate costs, I will be in a position to purchase a home within two years.

Although I have found that Canada has much to offer, it has definitely become a 'paradise lost.' This point was brought home to me during the federal election campaign: It is frightening to realize that the political 'center' has shifted so far that the Reform Party, which would not end the state-run health care monopoly nor give people the right to choose whether to invest for their retirement, is nevertheless branded as a force of right-wing extremism.

Even though I will no longer be involved in Canadian politics, I do wish you every success in your continued efforts to educate the public about the importance of personal liberty.

- John LeBlanc, TORONTO Ontario, May 29, 1997

Sorry to hear that Canada is losing yet another citizen who understands what individual freedom is all about. Your story is just one of many that have crossed the desks at Freedom Party of late.

However, on the brighter side, you may be interested to know that many of our members who have moved out of province or to the United States still continue to support Freedom Party, even though they cannot take advantage of Ontario political tax credits.

Since individual freedom is a universal concept for us at Freedom Party, contributions and subscriptions received from out of province are used to help maintain our educational and lobby efforts on behalf of individual freedom everywhere. That includes the maintenance of our website, the publication of our literature and newsletters, and the provision of public speakers for interested groups anywhere in North America.

The United States you describe today was once the Canada of yesterday. The Canada of today may be the United States of tomorrow. Freedom requires eternal vigilance wherever free individuals exist and we need as many contacts and supporters in the United States as we do in Canada and in Ontario.

Here's wishing you all the best with your endeavors in the US, but we hope this isn't the last we've heard from you. Perhaps in the future, you may rediscover Canada as a 'paradise regained'. Looks like that's up to us, because nobody else wants to do the job. [rm]