Workers prepare Toronto Stadium, temporarily renamed from BMO Field for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, on Tuesday.COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Peace offering
Re “Winners and losers” (Letters, May 22): A letter-writer suggests that “in wars such as the one in Ukraine, there are only losers,” and “the world should build a better dispute resolution mechanism and get countries to use it.” Of course, how could we have been so blind all this time, thinking that war is sometimes necessary in the face of evil?
Let’s start right this moment. Let’s request a meeting with Vladimir Putin. But let’s not forget to bring a gift, as is traditional, for which I would suggest a wagonful of puppy dogs, unicorns and rainbows.
Michael Rende Thornhill, Ont.
Way forward
Re “With its pause on the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, the U.S. is attempting to constrain Canada” (May 20): Canada has fanned the flames. Instead of intelligent negotiating, it seems Canada chose to deliberately provoke the United States through various actions and rhetoric.
“We are shooting ourselves in the foot if we continue this anti-America hissy fit,” to quote Conservative MP Jamil Javani on his return from a U.S. trip. If a partner in potential negotiations is continually aggravated and punched in the gut, they will eventually give up trying to negotiate and turn on the agitator, particularly when they are in a stronger position.
Both Canada and the U.S. have acted as agitators. But common sense says that Canada would fare more favourably not by agitating, but positively negotiating based on its substantial strengths and assets.
Marcia Garman Medicine Hat, Alta.
A possible direction is identified for the current Canada-U.S. relationship but, in this case, I think the message is related to the possibility that Canada might not follow through on its full purchase of F-35 fighter jets.
It is only in this context where the comment that Canada has not made credible progress on defence commitments makes any sense whatsoever. But given the level of strategic thinking in this U.S. administration, which seems to be staffed by incompetents, sycophants or combinations thereof, as compared to those I have dealt with in the past, it is not clear they are capable of thinking that far ahead.
If, however, we choose not to proceed with the full F-35 purchase, we could well be headed down the road described here.
W. P. D. Elcock Ottawa
How much?
Re “Public funding to host FIFA World Cup to exceed $1-billion, PBO says” (May 21): We get 13 World Cup games at about $82-million each. Makes Maple Leafs tickets look cheap in comparison.
Can’t wait for the non-sensical spin from all three levels of government about the “benefits” derived from this wasteful expenditure.
Richard Austin Toronto
I spy
Re “PQ leader’s unfounded fears of being spied on by Ottawa are thankfully rooted in a bygone era” (Opinion, May 16): History suggests there is every reason to believe Canadian security forces are spying on the Parti Québécois or, by implication, any other politicians – and the government cannot be trusted to be honest about it.
The RCMP certainly spied on the PQ in the 1960s and 1970s. The government misled Parliament and the public about the reasons for implementing the War Measures Act.
It invested enormous resources over decades to see if Tommy Douglas was a threat to national security and it spent years spying on Cindy Blackstock, a champion of Indigenous children. Elsewhere, the CBC recently released a detailed investigation about the extensive police spying on First Nations from 1968 to 1982.
A large body of research by academics, journalists and organizations such as the Yellowhead Institute suggest that Canadians have every reason to suspect the authorities are still spying on many of them, and not just the PQ.
Ed Whitcomb Author, Understanding First Nations: The Legacy of Canadian Colonialism; Ottawa
Call for it
Re “Ottawa must boost wireless competition” (Editorial, May 15): In addition to the 50-per-cent-plus decline to Statistics Canada’s wireless price index since 2020, prices for some of the most popular plans have fallen by as much as 70 per cent during a period when prices for other essential items such as shelter, food and transportation rose as much as 30 per cent.
Telecommunications services were one of the few categories consistently helping reduce inflation. These unprecedented price declines reflect intense competition among national carriers, regional providers, flanker brands and resellers.
The more pressing issue today, then, is not insufficient competition, but a deteriorating investment environment that threatens the industry’s ability to keep pace with growing demand for connectivity. Maintaining world-class wireless networks across a country as large and sparsely populated as Canada requires sustained private investment – investment increasingly challenged by a punitive and uncertain regulatory environment.
Robert Ghiz President and CEO, Canadian Telecommunications Association; Ottawa
If you build it
Re “Do we really expect young Canadians to wait until 2060 for affordable housing?” (Report on Business, May 16): There are more creative paths to the same housing goal, and one of them is already on the table.
Mark Carney’s recent push to expand trades training and apprenticeships is exactly the kind of structural fix young people need. A Red Seal electrician, plumber or welder out-earns most generalist arts graduates within a few years, enjoys strong benefits and is far less exposed to artificial intelligence than entry-level knowledge work. These are the very people we need to build the housing supply we rightly worry about.
The missing piece is a serious rebalancing of postsecondary funding. Redirect growth toward apprenticeship infrastructure, trades scholarships and employer wage subsidies while trimming subsidies to programs with the weakest labour-market returns.
This is not an attack on the liberal arts. It is a question of whether taxpayers should keep underwriting a credential mix that leaves too many graduates underemployed and priced out of homes.
Marg McKaig Calgary
How can it be possible that the government spends billions of dollars every year to bolster the bank accounts of seniors with six-figure incomes?
I know seniors vote. But as someone who receives Old Age Security, I can promise this government that it would do more to secure my vote by redirecting this funding.
Think of the electoral opportunities. The government could significantly grow its young voter base by increasing child care funding and providing meaningful support for first-time home buyers. It could offset damage to its environmental credentials by doubling funding for climate change initiatives. (Or, as my cranky OAS-receiving partner says, just use it to fix the Canada Revenue Agency).
Young people and environmentalists are the future. Seniors, by definition, are not.
The smart policy move should be obvious.
Susan Wright Toronto
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