New Brunswick Finance and Treasury Board Minister René Legacy at a press conference before delivering the provincial budget in Fredericton on March 17.Stephen MacGillivray/The Canadian Press
Do not pass
Re “New Brunswick tables budget with historic $1.4-billion deficit, rise in health spending” (March 18): New Brunswick will add a toll for out of-province vehicles entering from Nova Scotia along the Trans-Canada Highway to help deal with its deficit. This is an example of the foot-dragging of premiers who are not honouring their agreement with the Prime Minister to prioritize abolishing interprovincial trade barriers.
In January, an International Monetary Fund report indicated that Canada’s economy could gain nearly 7 per cent, or $210-billion, in real GDP over a gradual period by fully removing internal trade barriers. Mark Carney promptly removed federal regulations, leaving the provinces and territories to attend to their own barriers.
It is time for a report card on what was one of the first “elbows up” measures to improve Canada’s economy.
Irwin Walker Hamilton
Burn rate
Re “Ontario announces $750 annual spending cards for teachers to buy classroom supplies” (March 12): Frightfully good of Doug Ford to shell out $750 to teachers for school supplies.
Can fellow professionals like firefighters and nurses expect similar largesse to purchase new bunker gear and scrubs?
It seems Mr. Ford has not spent much time in elementary school classrooms: The cash will likely be burned through by Halloween, Remembrance Day at the latest.
Adam de Pencier Elementary school principal (retired), Toronto
Fly away
Re “Doug Ford’s obsession to expand downtown Toronto airport would be economic vandalism” (March 14): An expansion of the island airport is not just a Toronto issue.
We here in Mississauga live under the noisy (and dirty) flight paths of jet aircraft entering and leaving Pearson International Airport. At the moment, our only exposure to island air traffic is the occasional stray aircraft.
An island expansion would put south Mississauga, as well as Scarborough and points further east, under a second noisy and polluting flight path. We don’t need, or want, that.
Don Taylor Mississauga
NIMBY-ism seems to be alive and well when it comes to the island airport.
Economic vandalism? This is not a numbers game.
It is indeed a matter of “vibes.” A downtown lakeside jetport is an example to me of a vision that creates an overarching aura.
Our studio worked on the island airport and tunnel in their early days. It was exciting then, and it would be exciting again now.
Peter Ferguson Ferguson Ferguson Architects North Grey Highlands, Ont.
The argument that expanding the island airport weakens the role of Pearson International Airport as a hub flies in the face of what I see as economic common sense.
It is hard to believe that a monopoly service owned by the federal government is the optimum economic structure. Evidence in other major world cities suggests otherwise: London’s Heathrow is a major hub despite the existence of Gatwick, Stansted and three others. New York has JFK, La Guardia and Newark.
Increased competition and choice are powerful and positive economic drivers. I suggest Pearson can be driven to improve by competition provided by Billy Bishop.
Jonathan Bamberger Toronto
The last time governments tried to impose a two-airport strategy, they wasted billions of taxpayer dollars.
That fiasco, which saw the billion-dollar Mirabel airport built and then mothballed, was ultimately undone by the economic folly of trying to make two large airports work in Montreal.
Torontonians should be very wary of self-serving Billy Bishop Airport “research” that seems to ignore economic and commercial realities.
David Powell Toronto
The latest foray by the Ford government to inject itself into Toronto and municipal decision-making is nonsensical. A change to the island airport to enable jet traffic doesn’t solve any problem of which I’m aware.
We have seen decisions about the Ontario Science Centre, Ontario Place, the Greenbelt and now the island airport being made with limited or illogical justifications, and without majority public support. This behaviour could be interpreted to suggest the government is acting to support private, rather than public, interests.
In instance after instance, the Ford government seems to make illogical choices to accommodate some constituency (of which I do not belong to nor, seemingly, the majority of Ontarians) and is unable to justify or use data to support its decisions.
This feels uncomfortably similar to anti-democratic movements across several Western democracies. Citizens and their active voices and votes are the only breakwall against such a flood.
Kathryn Anthonisen Ottawa
Good talk
Re “The French lesson that Canada needs” (Editorial, March 7) and “En français” (Letters, March 14): In our senior residence of mostly anglophones, we began a French conversation group, Le cercle français.
Each week, we gather together to discuss a preassigned topic of mutual interest. At our sessions we laugh and stumble through the intricacies of French grammar, but we are also celebrating our love of the French language and culture that’s part of our Canadian heritage.
One of our members is already dreaming in French.
Elizabeth Griffiths Toronto
Back in the 1960s, I did well in high-school French. Learning vocabulary and grammar, though, does not make one a French speaker.
In the early 1970s, during a trip around the Gaspé, I asked a gas station attendant, “Où est la salle de bain?”
The reply: "Quoi?" along with a puzzled look.
Confident in my high-school French, I repeated the phrase and, with sudden acknowledgement, came the reply, “Ah, toilette! Sur le côté." Our mini conversation ended there.
In the decades since, I have tried to use my limited French, only to retreat in embarrassment with "je ne comprends pas." High-school Parisian French is quite a distance from Québécois French.
David Gelder Mississauga
I was fortunate to be hired as a ski instructor in Switzerland. I thought my high-school French would provide a base to leap forward with my language skills.
Alas, I understood essentially nothing conversationally. But time progressed and, with the support of my colleagues and being totally immersed in French, the dense fog slowly began to dissipate and I could comprehend snatches here and there. Eventually I could participate in group conversations, a major leap forward.
Another important leap occurred shortly after that: I connected with my future wife, a Swiss francophone. That was strong motivation to further improve.
She was good enough to move to Vancouver with me. Here she taught in a francophone school, we became part of a francophone community and our kids went to public French school.
Now in francophone social gatherings, I am comfortable in French the entire time, though my accent will never disappear.
Mark Fields North Vancouver
Stay up
Re “Early birds have always carried a halo – but what if listening to your internal clock is actually the superior way?" (March 6) and “Sleep on it” (Letters, March 13): Lifetime night owl here. I’m also the daughter and mother of creative night owls.
We are the ones skilled in thinking outside the box. We can see the other side of an argument with ease. We can produce amazing work at the last minute. Extra clever is a label we wear with pride.
Morning people often cite Benjamin Franklin’s famous phrase to acknowledge their superiority. What they forget is that he lived a century before the electric light bulb was patented.
But if one should happen to see me before 9:00 a.m., step aside: I’m not all there.
Edie Lewis Brantford, Ont.
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