An electric vehicle is charged in Ottawa on Wednesday in July, 2022.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
More things change
Re “Canada should back away from carbon capture and storage and focus on infrastructure like pipelines” (Opinion, May 2) and “The accidental statesman: How Donald Trump saved free trade, European democracy and the free world” (Opinion, May 9): I once published an article in the industry magazine Oil Sands Review titled “Why Canadians are the World’s Energy Pigs.”
The gist of the story was that we are extraordinarily huge users because our country is “rich, big and cold.” We travel long distances by automobile and air, use lots of fuel to heat our homes, and have the wherewithal to fund big functions and overseas outings.
It’s not exactly funny how quickly things can change: The term of an egomaniacal U.S. President has changed all that in extraordinary ways. I don’t want to wish my life away, but I desperately hope sanity will begin to prevail after his term is up.
Peter McKenzie-Brown Calgary
Same difference
Re “Ottawa will start tracking when temporary residents enter and exit. Perhaps it could consider actual enforcement too?” (Opinion, May 9): The Trudeau government did indeed “blow up” the immigration system and threw its doors wide open to temporary foreign workers and foreign students. What is less often mentioned is that they were begged to do so by business, which couldn’t find workers after the pandemic, and universities, which had come to rely on foreign students as cash cows to survive funding cuts.
Admittedly the Liberals, to quote Brian Mulroney, “had an option, sir – to say no." They could have told business to pay higher wages. They could have told universities to go back to the provinces and demand more money, even if it meant raising taxes. They did neither.
But, try as I might, I can’t imagine a Conservative government telling business to pay higher wages or universities to demand more money. We’d likely be right where we are, only with a different set of people to blame.
Tom Sullivan Toronto
EV compromise
Re “Honda is giving up its Ontario EV plant. It may be time to court the Chinese” (Report on Business, May 9): I drive a 2018 hybrid car. It is by far the most economical car I have ever owned, and I am presently in the market for a replacement.
Why not a fully electric vehicle? I am one of millions of Canadians who lives in a condo building that does not have plug-in capability. I am not in the least interested in driving somewhere to sit and wait for a battery to charge.
Honda should be given every incentive to switch its plant from fully electric to hybrid cars. For Canadians both urban and rural, a hybrid car makes far more sense at this time when the infrastructure needed for electric cars is not fully in place.
Elise Weagant Brockville, Ont.
Bad bet
Re “Prediction markets are a great innovation. Let’s not be so hasty to bash them” (Report on Business, May 4): This frames skepticism about prediction markets as resistance to innovation. It is not. The real question should be whether these products are appropriate for retail investors in the first place.
The comparison to exchange-traded funds does not hold. Prediction market contracts are fundamentally different products, with different risk profiles and different implications for the people buying them.
Securities regulators sometimes conclude that certain products, particularly those that raise serious concerns about retail investor outcomes, do not belong in public markets available to ordinary Canadians. That is not anti-innovation. That is responsible regulation.
Even when some retail investors want access, regulators have a duty to weigh that demand against risks to the broader investing public. That question deserves careful, transparent, evidence-based analysis and genuine public consultation. On prediction markets in Canada, that step appears to have been skipped.
JP Bureaud CEO, FAIR Canada Toronto
Breathe again
Re “Can we spare future generations from the horrors of smoking?” (May 5): People addicted to smoking suffer from many health problems, often death. The British idea to slowly raise the age when people can buy cigarettes is an important step to reduce smoking.
The health benefits are compelling, but also weighty are the environmental benefits. A cigarette filter contains non-biodegradable plastic and toxins. Each year, according to the World Health Organization, 4.5 trillion butts are casually discarded resulting in water and soil pollution.
Instead of growing tobacco plants, we need crops that feed people.
Peter Woolstencroft Waterloo, Ont.
Too long
Re “Those who don’t create intellectual property should respect the creations of those who do” (Opinion, May 2): In Canada, a work doesn’t pass into the public domain until 70 years after the death of its author or, if that individual is unidentified, as long as 75 to 100 years after its creation, depending on the precise circumstances. I find this plainly ludicrous.
What possible benefit can there be to maintaining copyright on behalf of long-dead authors? All this achieves is putting our collective culture and knowledge out of reach behind paywalls and publisher fees.
This is especially true for non-fiction work: I strongly believe that knowledge should be in the public domain to better understand our planet and, indeed, universe. Initiatives such as open-access and Creative Commons-licensed journals are an important step in this direction.
In Canada, Crown copyright lasts for 50 years after publication. By default, the government should release all public documents into the public domain or under the Open Government Licence.
Iain McInnes Ottawa
Young and old
Re “My family of five tried to cut out ultraprocessed foods for a week. Here’s what we learned” (May 9): This brought back memories of our family’s similar struggles 35 years ago. Through a series of fortuitous circumstances, we ended up hiring a woman in her 60s who loved to cook and bake but only had a husband, no nearby children or grandchildren, to benefit from her culinary talents.
She came twice a week, made dishes for that evening and some which could be reheated in the coming days. Salads were prepped with the dressing on the side so that they were good for a couple of days.
This arrangement was no more expensive than eating out or ordering in a few times a week, and much healthier. The relationship that developed lasted long after she stopped working for us.
Maybe someone could start a business bringing together older cooks and young families for the benefit of both.
Gisele Law Victoria
Opposite effect
Re “Hot tip” (Letters, May 9): “Unsolicited advice” from a “proud Winnipegger” transported me back to my first of nine winters there.
My beloved mother offered unsolicited advice of her own as I headed out into the frigid “tundra” for the first time: “Whatever you do, never lick the street signs or lamp poles.”
It sounded like a challenge to a certain five-year-old with a slightly checkered history. Less than 10 minutes later, I was frozen to the nearest street sign to our little house on Harrow Street. My mom quickly began lecturing me from the kitchen window.
She let the lesson sink in for what seemed like forever before rescuing me with a cup of hot water. While I had gone from a painful frozen tongue to the hottest tongue lashing of my youth, in hindsight it could have been much worse.
She could have warned me not to eat the yellow snow.
Jeffrey Peckitt Oakville, Ont.
Close encounter
Re “How did this teen with ADHD find her focus? In a word, birds” (May 9): I thoroughly enjoyed reporter Marcus Gee’s story. I am a birdwatcher and often go to Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Toronto, especially during migration.
I was there with a friend on Tuesday admiring a kinglet. It reminded me of the Globe story, so I shared it with my friend.
A voice near us said, “Her name is Madison Lawrence. I wrote that story.”
I checked behind me and there was a man with binoculars. So I looked at him very surprised. I asked for his name.
“Marcus Gee,” he answered.
All three of us were shocked. Here we were in the same spot where Madison had photographed a kinglet, me talking about her and Mr. Gee standing there. Fun!
Monique Fischer Toronto
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