Honourable statesmen they are not
Re: NDP joins Bloc in not supporting Conservative attempt to trigger federal election — Catherine Lévesque and Stephanie Taylor, Sept. 19
While political machinations may be fascinating to political players and analysts, what is sadly overlooked is the expectation that our representatives behave like honourable statesmen.
A statesman would have no confidence in a government that has doubled our national debt, invoked the Emergencies Act without sufficient legal grounds, seized citizen’s bank accounts without due process, worked the auditor general and ethics commissioner off their feet, and reduced women to tears during a meeting of Parliament’s Status of Women Committee.
A statesman would have no confidence in a government that fails to inform MPs they are targets of a malevolent foreign power, or relies on foreign security agencies to identify domestic threats.
A statesman would have no confidence in a government taxing their citizens into government-dependent penury.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet have an abundance of confidence in the Liberal government’s performance.
They are no statesmen.
Marion Bacon, Kamloops, B.C.
After repeated ethics violations, spendthrift financial management, grievous overspending on procurements and the illegal invocation of the Emergencies Act, amongst other malefactions, it is clear that an election is due. Yet Jagmeet Singh declares that he will not support a non-confidence motion and that “New Democrats came to Ottawa to get stuff done and to work for the people, to fight for the people …” So what is worse than having Canada led by an incompetent? Having Canada led by two incompetents.
John P.A. Budreski, Whistler, B.C.
‘The syllabus of hate must stop’
Re: Toronto school board should know that field trips are not for indoctrination — Terry Newman, Sept. 20; and Toronto teachers should be fired for taking students to political rally — Jesse Kline, Sept. 23
As Hamas and Hezbollah use the residents of Gaza and Lebanon as human shields, so does the Toronto District School Board use our children.
Duping parents and using their children to promote anti-Israel rhetoric and by extension anti-Jewish rallying is the lowest of lows for our publicly funded educational institutions. The perversion of it all is most disturbing, that the very institution that governs the education of our young minds is supporting using children to further a cause of hatred. Grooming of children to further an agenda of hate is heinous.
The people involved should be immediately dismissed and charged with the exploitation of minors. The TDSB should be disbanded, as should any organization that would promote hateful and lying rhetoric that resonates with tones of the Hitler Youth movement, which manipulated the children of the time to get Hitler’s ideology into the family unit. Some children would report their own parents’ objections to the Nazi SS. It this where we are heading?
The path to peace and co-existence is true inclusion and equality amongst all, and this starts with our educational system. The syllabus of hate must stop. The allowance of hateful rhetoric that calls for violence is in direct contradiction with our democratic society. The future of Canada depends on what we teach our children.
Israel Ellis, Toronto
I’m left asking why teachers would expose children to such distressing circumstances during an educational field trip, when multiculturalism is held as such a core value in our public school system.
The situation that arose in this field trip reflected a breach of duty and trust by the TDSB teachers who supervised the children. At the point in which the field trip involved stigmatization and protest, it was the duty of all teachers present to intervene.
Children can be informed about history and current events, even issues that pertain to the grittier aspects of human nature like war, slavery, colonization, but it should always be done in a way sensitive to their age and intellectual development.
The focus that day should have been on inspiring children to seek knowledge and their own understanding about a complex issue (which was supposed to have been the Grassy Narrows First Nation’s long struggle with mercury contamination), in a complex world. It was a moral failure for the teachers involved to have allowed this event to turn into a protest that was divisive and upsetting to many of the students.
Please let us all agree that teachers must ensure that our schoolchildren learn in an environment free of fear and division. Let’s leave accountability for such complex and serious world issues with the grown-ups.
Karen Faith, Toronto
Wab Kinew’s tone-deaf moment
Re: Wab Kinew, of all people, should respect the right to counsel — Chris Selley, Sept. 19
Wab Kinew’s personal story of overcoming adversity to rise to the premiership of Manitoba was aided along the way by having access to counsel. Now he throws away that compelling story and torches a picture of (so far) competent governance with the asinine move to expel backbench MLA Mark Wasyliw from caucus. Not because Wasyliw did anything wrong himself, but because Wasyliw’s law partner had the audacity to provide defence counsel to Peter Nygard.
Kinew’s decision demonstrates all too well the ephemeral nature of our so-called guaranteed rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Kinew has punished Wasyliw based on guilt by association and despite the fact Nygard has a Charter right to be represented by counsel. Lawyers acting as defence counsel have to be willing to represent sometimes unsavoury defendants. But that is a cornerstone of a healthy and functional justice system, a system that helped Kinew in his personal moment of need as a young man.
It is hard to understand what Kinew was thinking in expelling Wasyliw, but his thoughtlessness leaves him looking as incompetent as federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who thought Canadians would thank him for propping up Justin Trudeau’s faltering Liberal government. Kinew brought a bit of polish to the NDP brand so badly tarnished by Singh and by B.C.’s David Eby. In one stunningly tone-deaf moment, he has thrown that away.
Paul Clarry, Aurora, Ont.
Could someone please offer PM a job?
Re: No sunny days under Trudeau — Diane Francis, Sept. 23
Diane Francis is begging for someone to offer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a job so that our country can finally be led by someone who has a vision to restore our nation, beyond the glib virtue-signalling of the past nine years.
One would imagine that with the thousands of litres of airplane fuel he has expended jetting around the globe, attending every conceivable boondoggle, Trudeau would have sniffed out a cushy spot somewhere.
However, when I was a human resources executive, jobs were filled based on a combination of education, relevant experience and accomplishments. Were these criteria applied in his case, Trudeau would come up short, given his lean experience as a drama teacher at a posh private school. (In what other realm would he have ascended to the role of prime minister of a G7 country, once widely respected for our values, rule of law and common decency, but now burdened by an astronomical debt load, domestic policy chaos and a tattered international reputation?)
Perhaps Birju Dattani can help Trudeau embellish his resumé? In the meantime, Canadians can only hope for the miracle of a non-confidence vote in Parliament to get us to the polls sooner rather than later.
Susan Silverman, Toronto
Back off, language police!
Re: Liberal language police come for the ‘able-bodied’ — Jamie Sarkonak, Sept. 20
A government entity decides how we should speak. How assuring.
As a person with a disability, I have no problem referring to myself as blind, simply because I’m not visually impaired.
Using accurate terms is not offensive to those of us down here in the real world.
Jamie Sarkonak is absolutely correct. The nitpicking of politically correctness has long passed its best-before date, deserving consignment to permanent obscurity.
Keep using non-offensive, yet accurate terms.
Jerry Pryde, Stoney Creek, Ont.
Leave it to Elon Musk
Re: Liberal minister dismisses Elon Musk’s satellite offer to Canada as ‘nonsense’ — Ari David Blaff, Sept. 15
It was with a huge smile that I read this story about Ottawa offering a $2.14-billion loan to Telesat to supply rural/northern Canadians with 21st-century internet services. Political vote-buying aside, I’m encouraged that a so-called made-in-Canada solution is being proffered. What is mystifying though is how easily Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne dismissed Elon Musk’s StarLink offer to deliver a matching satellite/internet service for half the price of what Ottawa is spending.
What can’t be dismissed is that Telesat signed an agreement last year with Musk’s space delivery service SpaceX to launch up to 252 Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit satellites starting in 2026. So in effect, the Canadian government calls Musk’s offer “nonsense,” but then indirectly through its agreement with Telesat helps fund SpaceX in delivering the services Musk was willing to provide for half the price. I’m sure I’m not the only person watching this government with amusement.
Paul Baumberg, Dead Man’s Flats, Alta.
‘Military presence in Arctic regions is at best nominal’
Re: Former NORAD chief questions Canada’s ‘urgency’ on Arctic defence — Tom Blackwell, Sept. 20
Tom Blackwell’s article highlights our negligence in taking reasonable steps in defending our Canadian Arctic.
Defence of Canada’s territories and boundaries is a basic, fundamental responsibility of our federal government. Our military presence in our Arctic regions is at best nominal. Our military lacks the equipment, personnel and training to mount more than a token presence in Canada’s North, let alone defend it.
In theory, our military alliances such as NATO will assist us in times of trouble. However, as Canada has been the lazy kid in the classroom, a free rider for decades, why would we expect our allies to help if we don’t help ourselves?
The Americans will assist Canada out of their own self-interest. However, the price tag for Canada might be the loss of our national sovereignty. If Americans die in defence of our country, the best we can hope for is becoming a protectorate of the United States of America.
Countries that don’t defend themselves seldom remain countries for long.
John Shepherd, Richmond, B.C.
The ‘lunatic phase’ of the election cycle
Re: MPs are suddenly delirious with election fever — John Ivison, Sept. 16
John Ivison is right: we have reached the “lunatic phase” of the election cycle.
It might also be said that we have reached the “lunatic phase” of the climate agenda, the major driver of election fever. Following last week’s byelections, the prime minister indicated his intention to stay on as leader, and his steadfast resolve to carry on with his climate agenda. Save for during the COVID lockdown, his government’s carbon-reduction targets have never been met. His heating oil exemption in Atlantic Canada exposed his climate agenda for what it is — political, not science-based.
Ottawa and the provinces have committed billions of dollars in support of EV battery manufacturing and EV production facilities only to see private-sector partners delay and/or cancel program implementation in response to softer market demand. Business appears to have a better grasp of the realities of the climate agenda.
Canada is not alone in putting politics before climate. The unelected EU remains committed to its climate targets. However, the elected government in Germany is bringing coal-fired generators back on stream following disruptions in the supply of natural gas from Russia.
Yes change is coming. But only a lunatic would continue on the same path that has failed for years. Is this what the election is about?
Robert Teskey, Ottawa
Kudos to Sharon Dunn
Re: I have breast cancer. So what? I’ve never slept better or laughed more — Sharon Dunn, Sept. 18
Sharon Dunn’s article about her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment was inspirational. I can well understand the nurse’s reaction to her upbeat attitude by telling her she had never met anyone like her. I was touched by her warmth and humanity and I can tell that her presence must be a blessing to her family and all who know her. I hope she will be in the world for a long time to come. It will be the richer for it.
Sheldon Miller, Markham, Ont.
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