‘A small price to pay for the economic benefits’
Re: FIRST READING: Why the Americans would never, ever let Canada become a state — Tristin Hopper, Dec. 4; and Trump’s ’51st state’ comment has Trudeau, premiers running in different directions — Tasha Kheiriddin, Dec. 3
At his recent meeting with our prime minister, President-elect Donald Trump mused that Canada could become the 51st state. Let’s consider the possible benefits.
Under the American taxation system, Canadians would get to keep more of their hard-earned cash (no GST holidays needed).
We would finally have a leader who would unwaveringly support the only democracy in the Middle East (and not UNRWA) against the terrorist bullies who battle for Israel’s demise, and a leader who would stand up to the dangerous despots in Russia, China and North Korea and shackle Iran’s nuclear aspirations. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would be welcomed without fear of being arrested. (The U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court.)
Our armed forces would proudly serve with a technologically-advanced and well-funded military.
And our ever-falling loonie would be exchanged for the greenback, which is currently worth Cdn $1.40.
If it means not having cannabis shops on every street corner, that’s a small price to pay for the economic benefits that would accrue to the average Canadian family.
Susan Silverman, Toronto
Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state is a great idea. Given its population of almost 40 million, Canada would have a large block of votes in the electoral college and therefore a large say in picking the president. There would be no worries about tariffs on exports to the U.S., which would allow our economy to flourish. There would be no more worries about the protection of the border, and the costs associated with it. And our military would finally be well-equipped with modern armament.
It is indeed food for thought, laced with maple syrup.
Roger Cyr, Victoria, B.C.
Stand up to Donald Trump
Re: Trump is defaming Canada — Conrad Black, Nov. 30
Tariffs make for strange bedfellows, as I find myself agreeing with Conrad Black, a prominent Canadian apologist for Donald Trump’s transactional politics, despite its contradictions with moral and legal values. In this instance, however, all Canadians should unite with Black, who rightly views Trump’s threatened 25 per cent tariffs on us as a “slur,” and with Doug Ford, who finds them “insulting.” Black is correct: when Trump’s tariffs slap us in the face and defame us, then that demands a quintessentially Canadian response: polite, principled, and powerfully resolute defence.
Canada’s history has heritage moments of standing up to bullies. Loyalists came here identifying with our independent path separate from America. From Conservative John Diefenbaker’s steadfast independence against pressure from JFK to Liberals like Pierre Trudeau’s candid disagreement with Richard Nixon over Vietnam and prime minister Jean Chrétien’s refusal to join the Iraq War — all our parties have demonstrated our national backbone.
Thus Trump’s “America First” rhetoric should meet its match in Canada’s quiet strength. We’re the largest foreign energy supplier to the U.S. and our bilateral trade exceeds $960 billion. Translation? We’re not just neighbours — we’re essential partners.
Canadians, unite. Resist. Persist. Political partisanship is irrelevant when our national dignity and economic survival are at stake. Definitely strong and free, unlike Trump’s me-ism, we will typically stand on guard for the principles of mutual respect.
Tony D’Andrea, Toronto
Don’t expect new border helicopters anytime soon
Re: Liberals aware of RCMP numbers needed to boost border security — Stephanie Taylor, Dec. 3
Under urging from Donald Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has agreed to buy more helicopters for the RCMP to patrol the border. Trump may not be aware, but the Trudeau Liberals are the kings of the Pathetic Procurement Patsies. Their equipment purchase failures make their passport offices look like they run with McDonald’s efficiency. Now Trudeau may try to buy used helicopters to speed up the purchase, just like a previous Liberal government purchased old diesel-electric submarines that the British Navy didn’t want anymore. Sadly, several crewmen were injured fighting an electrical fire aboard one of them, the Chicoutimi, and submariner Lt. Chris Saunders died.
So whenever these helicopters arrive, expect that Trudeau’s Liberals will totally screw up the purchase and put the “hell” in helicopters.
Chris Robertson, Stony Plain, Alta.
Keep playing the ‘Heart of Oak’
Re: Royal Canadian Navy considers dropping traditional marching song over diversity issues — Chris Lambie, Nov. 22
As a 10th-generation Canadian — whose grandfather, the Hon. Louis Philippe Brodeur, in 1910 introduced the Naval Service Act, which created the Royal Canadian Navy, and whose father, Rear Admiral Victor Gabriel Brodeur, commanded Canada’s Pacific Coast during World War II, and who myself retired in 1988 as a Vice-Admiral and Canada’s Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff — I have witnessed the Royal Canadian Navy marching to (and being honoured by) “Heart of Oak” in many countries.
I also would like to point out that hundreds of thousands of naval Canadians have cherished that anthem, (and gained strength, unity and courage from it), back when Canada had the third largest navy in the Second World War, and that thousands of those Canadians died in sea battles then and subsequently.
It is my very firm belief that no one serving today, and especially not the Canadian government, which has allowed the Royal Canadian Navy to decline to 23rd position in the world’s navies, has earned, or owns, the right to remove or modify Heart of Oak. Rather than waste money on such senseless idiocy, let Canada take every immediate action to strengthen our navy in these parlous times.
Nigel Brodeur, Vice-Admiral (retired)
A slippery slope for Confederation
Re: Quebec has a new autonomy playbook — Antoine Trépanier, Nov. 27
Shouldn’t there be only one constitution in this country? Quebec seems to be realizing separation without actually separating. If Quebec has its own constitution, then other provinces will surely follow suit. Can you have separate de facto countries within one country? This could be a slippery slope, and theoretically the end of Canadian federation. Canada is an extremely flexible country, but the political elasticity can only stretch so far.
Douglas Cornish, Ottawa
‘Absolutism has gained ascendency over truth’
Re: Trudeau playing with fire supporting false charges of deeply flawed ICC — Joe Oliver, Nov. 27
The violent demonstrations we have been experiencing in Canada provide clear evidence that there is something wrong with the ideology of multiculturalism. I say “ideology,” because this level of violence was not supposed to happen, according to Justin Trudeau’s idealistic worldview, which conveniently glosses over the fact that some of the world’s cultures are committed to absolutist dogmas that seek to destroy the thoughts of others, and even any possibility of truthfulness elsewhere.
Within a democracy, we do not say human individuals always know what is true, or that they could never be wrong, or that self-expression is invariably right, but there are some cultures that do make those claims.
That a particular culture might be picked on in excessive and violent ways — as has been the case with the Jews in Canada — is a clear indication that absolutism has gained ascendency over truth — a depravity that has already killed millions throughout history and now desolates democracy in Canada.
Gordon Watson, Rocky Mountain House, Alta.
More, not fewer doctors needed
Re: Jewish doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising rates of antisemitism in their profession — Ari David Blaff, Dec. 4; and Canada’s family doctor shortage: 10 million will soon lack access to primary care — Sharon Kirkey, Feb. 16
The alarming article regarding Jewish doctors thinking of leaving Canada for a safer environment should give our political masters something to chew on. By not nipping the ugliness of antisemitism in the bud when it first raised its vile head on our streets and in our universities, they have allowed it to take root. They will have been complicit in making our health services even worse than they already were if our Jewish friends and neighbours pack up and leave. The cowardice of the authorities in Canada is a national disgrace.
Ted Mead, Winchester, Ont.
At Dalhousie University in Halifax, the tuition fee for first year medicine combined with other related fees is $26,260, while dentistry is $57,840 — not including living expenses. In Europe, there are at least 22 countries with free university tuition available for all citizens.
Currently in Nova Scotia there are over 160,000 people without a family physician, which is a death sentence for many because early diagnosis and treatment are critical in many diseases.
There is no valid reason for Canadians to not have access to a free university education except that our spending priorities as a nation are misguided. Canadians spend billions for road construction but considerably less on public transportation (which should be free to use), and millions housing illegal immigrants while all but ignoring the nation’s estimated 150,00 to 300,000 freezing, hungry and sick homeless; impoverished Canadians who are forced to use food banks (Food Banks Canada reported more than two million visits to food banks in March, a record); and the one in five children who report sometimes going to school or bed hungry.
A review of our priorities is in order.
Morris Givner, Halifax
Feds need to intervene in postal strike
Re: Canada Post strike: Pressure rises on the federal government to intervene — Dec. 4
Despite the fact that Canada Post is an “independent” Crown corporation, it provides a government service, particularly to small businesses and to rural communities. As such, the federal government needs to get involved to resolve the ongoing strike. If Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon continues to believe there is no role for him to play, then the Liberal government needs to get out of the way and privatize Canada Post so that the marketplace can fix what ails the corporation.
Paul Clarry, Aurora, Ont.
Joseph ‘Beausoleil’ Broussard was an Acadian hero
Re: Parks Canada celebrates a settler scalper, but slanders Sir John A. — Jamie Sarkonak, Nov. 25
As an eighth-generation descendant and biographer of Joseph “Beausoleil” Broussard (Acadian Redemption, 2005), I felt compelled to respond to Jamie Sarkonak’s column.
According to history, an eyewitness placed Broussard at the scene of the 1751 attack in Dartmouth, N.S., which resulted in the scalping of settlers. In his extensive research, Canadian/Acadian archivist and historian Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc has given special attention to the 1749 and 1751 Dartmouth attacks and found nothing to prove that Broussard perpetrated those acts — instead, it was most likely Abenaki and Iroquois warriors who had been driven off their lands by New England settlers and who were seeking revenge.
Sarkonak failed to mention the atrocities committed by British authorities against the Acadian population, including mass deportations (1755 to 1763) that caused as many as 5,000 Acadian deaths. Broussard is considered a hero because he fought tirelessly to defend his countrymen before, during and after they were loaded on ships, their homes were burned, and their livestock and crops destroyed by British forces. Hundreds of those not deported died of starvation and disease in refugee camps at Miramichi and near present-day Campbellton, N.B.
In 1765, Broussard led his countrymen out of exile from prisons in Halifax to a new homeland in Louisiana where today’s “Cajuns” owe him a deep debt of gratitude for transplanting our unique culture on the Gulf of Mexico. Many others — who were scattered across the world, from British prisons to the Falkland Islands, or who drowned at sea — were not so fortunate.
In response to a legal petition I launched in 1990, the Royal Proclamation of 2003 brought symbolic closure to this centuries-long debate. While recognizing the wrongs committed, Queen Elizabeth II established July 28 as an annual Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval. As part of this closure, the recent historical recognition of Beausoleil Broussard by Parks Canada and others should be widely applauded.
Warren A. Perrin, Chairman, Acadian Museum Erath, La.
Ruffling feathers over supply management
Re: Trump 2.0 will force us to solve important problems we’ve been ducking — Joe Oliver, Nov. 21
While Joe Oliver has a lot to say on the Canada-U.S. dynamic, his comments on supply management have “ruffled our feathers.” Canada will certainly have to find a new balance in its relationship with our neighbour to the south; however, it should not be at the expense of our food security. Suggesting that it would be in Canada’s best interest to eliminate policies and tools that ensure we have reliable access to staple food items and depend more on imports is simply irresponsible. Have we not learned our lesson from COVID? Claims that eliminating supply management would lower the prices of dairy, poultry and eggs are unfounded. A former finance minister must know there is a significant difference between farmgate and retail prices. Farmers do not set retail prices.
Supply management is a core part of the foundation that allows our country to flourish — it supports rural economic activity, maintains jobs in cities and delivers the homegrown food that Canadians want. With increasingly volatile world markets, rising geopolitical tensions and climate change, supply management brings stability to food production here.
David Wiens, Dairy Farmers of Canada; Roger Pelissero, Egg Farmers of Canada; Tim Klompmaker, Chicken Farmers of Canada; Darren Ference, Turkey Farmers of Canada; Brian Bilkes, Canadian Hatching Egg Producers
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