Untendered is the night
Gloria Galloway asks why the PM's communications director would be sending out breathless missives to the media "in the wee hours" that two Russian jets came within "30 nautical miles" of Canadian soil (PMO Launches Pre-Emptive Strike Against Fighter-Jet Critics - Aug. 25).
It seems to me that when the Harper Conservatives shell out $9-billion for an untendered contract for stealth fighters, the answer is obvious: Untendered is their night.
Michelle Callaghan, Saint John
.........
What a coincidence: Right about the time that the government announces the untendered purchase of 65 F-35 stealth fighters at a cost of $9-billion (plus around $16-billion in maintenance), the Russians step up their "testing" of Canadian air defences. And all of a sudden, the 12 to 18 times a year that these incursions happen is a major concern to the PMO.
Anyone with a Grade 3 education could see right through the PMO's communication strategy surrounding this matter. The fact that messages are coming from the PM's director of communications and not DND or NORAD is proof-positive politics are at work.
I would love to know to whom this less-than-sophomoric messaging is being directed. I certainly hope it's not toward the general public who, I like to think, is smarter than this - and deserves better.
R.G. McGillivray, Oakville, Ont.
.........
It would appear that Stephen Harper's government would rather risk restarting the Cold War with the Russians than face questions about its untendered multibillion-dollar contract to buy new aircraft (Critics To Launch New Attacks On F-35 Deal - Aug. 25). Normally, I would give them an F for such behaviour but D is the letter that really comes to mind: desperate, despicable, disgraceful, dangerous and disingenuous.
Tom McCann, Toronto
.........
Now that we are no longer at odds with the Ruskies, would it be possible that one of us could ask one of them to slide a Russian plane into our airspace so that we can pretend we are ready for the next Cold War?
Our brave fighter pilot would stave off the threat and we would be safe again. I've always felt we should have bought new submarines.
Dennis Parsons, Victoria
That blood-on-the-floor stuff
Surely Jeffrey Simpson (For Blood-On-The-Floor Politics, Nothing Beats Australia - Aug. 25) has, on at least one occasion, got it the wrong way round when he argues that the Australian parliamentary party system of choosing leaders by caucus vote rather than by party vote, as here, is rougher than ours. If I recall, about two years ago the federal Liberals, saddled with a politically inept academic, Stéphane Dion, as leader, unhorsed him neither by a party vote nor by a caucus vote, but effectively by a palace coup by a small coterie of party insiders. Ironically, they then selected, did not elect, another politically inept academic, Michael Ignatieff. If that was not "blood-on-the-floor politics," what is?
James Housley, Fonthill, Ont.
Caged-bird cruelties
To keep a chicken, its whole life, in a space smaller than a letter-sized piece of paper is too cruel for words (Egg Recall Shines Light On Inhumane Practices - Aug. 25). Officials of the Egg Farmers of Canada might try holding their next meeting in a phone booth to get a feel for what it's like.
Sharon White, Calgary
.........
Jessica Leeder's article on the degree to which an increasing number of U.S. states are moving away from inhumane practices in the treatment of egg-producing birds - and how most provinces lag behind - was very welcome. For those in lower income brackets, the price of humanely produced eggs is a legitimate concern; for those with mid-range incomes, there is simply no excuse for supporting the cruelties of the caged-bird system.
Don LePan, Nanaimo, B.C.
In the national interest
The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan is a provincial and national icon of strategic importance to Canada and should remain under the control of Canadians. Jeffrey Simpson (Potash: Another Sell-Off, Another Sellout - Aug. 24) has it right when he asserts a foreign acquisition of this enterprise would be another sellout. Since 1985, more than 12,100 Canadian firms have been taken over by foreign interests. That includes major companies such as Molson, Dofasco, Labatt's, Inco, Van Houtte, Alcan, Falconbridge, Hudson's Bay, Four Seasons Hotels - and even at one time - the Montreal Canadiens.
Foreign takeovers should be allowed if they are in Canada's national interest. The Investment Canada Act should be amended to change the approval criteria from net (economic) benefit to the test of whether or not the proposed transaction is in Canada's national interest. My former Private Members Bill, C-386, An Act to amend the Investment Canada Act (foreign investments) would have done just that. Not one takeover has been rejected since Investment Canada's inception. Incorporating the "national interest" test would align Canada with countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Japan - all of which review foreign takeovers in the context of the "national interest" or "public interest."
Roy Cullen, former MP, Victoria
.........
An answer to one question should help clarify whether the buyout of Potash Corp. by Australia-based BHP Billiton will be good for Saskatchewan - and for Canada. Has Vale's takeover of Inco been a boon to the country, to Ontario, to the workers in Sudbury?
Jim Hickman, Orangeville, Ont.
Venezuela, by other measures
Between 2000 and 2006, income distribution improved in 12 of 17 Latin American countries, including Venezuela. Among these 12 countries, Venezuela showed the least improvement during that period, and this is what you report in your editorial (Socialist Inequality - Aug. 24).
You fail to report, however, an important additional piece of information that is also included in the study you cite by economists Luis Lopez-Calva and Nora Lustig: In 2006, Venezuela had the lowest Gini coefficient of inequality among those 17 countries.
You also fail to report two additional pieces of information easily available, although not included in the Lopez-Calva and Lustig study. Between 1998 (the year when Hugo Chavez was first elected president) and 2009 (the last year for which data is available), the Gini coefficient decreased from 47.7 to 40.7 in Venezuela; also during that period, the percentage of the population below the poverty line dropped from 49 to 26.4 per cent.
Gustavo Indart, senior lecturer, Department of Economics and Research Associate, Munk School of Global Affairs
'Just nonsense'
As a former director-general of the census, I have been amazed by the arguments advanced by Tom Flanagan in support of the federal government's decision to cancel the compulsory census long form (Should We Just Shut Up And Do What Statistics Canada Tells Us? - Aug. 20).
To hold that the gathering of the base-data-sets upon which further sampling is done is itself a research project is just nonsense. As director-general, I developed a report to cabinet, which is still being used, that lists every question, gives its legal basis, outlines data substitutes if any, who uses the data and what it will cost to collect and process the responses. The cabinet, not civil servants, decides what to include and what not to include. In making its decision, the government consulted with none of the prime users of the data.
Mr. Flanagan complained about the antiquated way in which the census itself was conducted and how the data were processed. The current government has put such financial constraints upon Statistics Canada that research on alternative methods for gathering and processing information has been all but eliminated. Given that, from time to time, Statscan might embarrass the government (e.g. reporting a declining crime rate), the government has decided to kill the messenger.
David E. Bond, West Kelowna, B.C.
Vision in T.O.? Envision that
Cost control as a substantive culture for any organization is no bad thing; it should be part of a concerted program at the City of Toronto to eliminate waste and to search for savings (The Logic Behind Ford's Bid To Derail The 'Gravy Train' - Aug. 25). But that is not what we need in a mayor; we need vision. A deputy mayor or a senior bureaucrat should look after cost control.
The large cities in Canada hold 80 per cent of its population. The mayor should be leading the effort to change the funding relationship between the cities and the federal and provincial governments. As the old adage goes: You can't save your way to greatness. What is lamentable is that not one of the candidates has shown any real vision to date.
John Arnott, Toronto
........
If Christie Blatchford wants Toronto's next mayor to be Mel Lastman without the sense of humour, she can't go wrong with Rob Ford, a man acutely aware of the sins of others but conveniently forgetful of his own.
Terry O'Connor, Toronto