Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at a news conference in Calgary on Friday.Todd Korol/The Canadian Press
Money back
Re “U.S. Supreme Court rules against Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs” (Feb. 21): Immediate discussion seems to be focusing on whether and how U.S. importers will recover tariff charges.
But if it’s true that U.S. importers have mostly passed on to their customers a large part of tariff costs, who will reimburse those customers? What a mess.
Ron Freedman Toronto
Right thing
Re “Aid the Cuban people, not their oppressors” (Editorial, Feb. 18): Who is oppressing the Cuban people? For more than 60 years, the United States has imposed an illegal blockade, condemned over and over by the United Nations.
It is now preventing oil from arriving in Cuba. This will lead to severe deprivation, starvation and death.
Canada should help the Cuban people and stand up to the oppressors.
Sinclair Robinson Ottawa
There is a lot to dislike about the Cuban regime, but it has provided Cuba with literacy and health standards which surpass those of the United States. It also hits above its weight in medical aid to other countries and even offered assistance to the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina.
As an historian of economic warfare, I have no difficulty pointing out that 65 years of U.S. sanctions have played into the hands of the communist government. Their purpose is to cause distress and stimulate rebellion, and in effect prevent evolution to a prosperous and less oppressive regime.
It cannot have escaped anyone that if we are passive when the U.S. bullies a sovereign nation in our neighbourhood, then none of us are safe.
Nicholas Tracy Fredericton
Status quo
Re “Why do we have such extraordinary centralization in the PMO?” (Feb. 17): Some of the factors identified – the intensification of social media, a long era of low interest rates, governments pursuing a plethora of initiatives – apply to many federal democracies. In contrast, the massive expansion of political staff during the Harper and Trudeau eras, many of whom apparently cut their teeth in Ontario premiers’ offices, stands out.
A ratchet effect does, too: Subsequent governments rarely deconcentrate executive power. The winner-takes-all incentives of our institutions arguably shape our norms of governance more than a presumed culture of political accommodation.
Sanjay Ruparelia Jarislowsky Democracy Chair, Toronto Metropolitan University
Crossroads
Re “Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux crosses floor to Liberals” (Feb. 19): Matt Jeneroux has been my MP for more than 10 years. I must admit that I was never particularly impressed with his performance – until now.
It is refreshing, and a relief, to see the level of reflection, courage and commitment that brought him to his decision. Well done, and thanks.
Patricia Hartnagel Edmonton
I express my utmost displeasure with the floor crossing of my MP Matt Jeneroux.
Though he is voted into Parliament as an individual, I believe all his election wins since 2015 have been due to his association with the Conservatives. I never saw him canvassing in my neighbourhood, as if he knew we would vote for any candidate representing that party.
He used his personal right of floor crossing, but at the cost of disregarding all his Conservative voters, including myself. Our electoral system should be changed to stop floor crossing. I am saying this for the sake of rebuilding confidence in our system.
As far as Mr. Jeneroux is concerned, he can try running as a Liberal from my constituency in the next election – then he will know whether a party matters or not.
Mukesh Mathrani Edmonton
Bad example
Re “The post-Poilievre leadership race has begun” (Feb. 18): Two recent polls indicate a majority of Canadians are experiencing fear regarding debilitating tariffs and persistent threats to national sovereignty from a country once considered a reliable ally.
To describe these concerns as a “hissy fit” is insulting to me. Pierre Poilievre should demand Jamil Jivani’s resignation from the Conservatives, lest Canadians become convinced far-right elements of the party have again assumed dominance, however much he protested otherwise at the recent leadership convention.
Susan Swedberg-Kohli Regina
A few questions
Re “Alberta Premier defends fall referendum plans” (Feb. 21): Alberta’s Premier has generated nine questions which seem well worded to get the results she seeks.
Two questions are conspicuous by their absence. First, “Do you support the elimination of the RCMP as a contracted provincial police force?” Second, “Do you support the withdrawal of Alberta from the Canada Pension Plan?”
Past polling and government surveys suggest only a small percentage of Albertans would be in favour of these questions. It appears the Smith government loves direct democracy, but only when it can tightly control what is asked of the people.
Charles Hitschfeld Edmonton
Death and dignity
Re “Quebec’s advance-request MAID program offers a complicated example for other jurisdictions” (Feb. 18): Watching a loved one’s decline as a result of dementia is excruciating, but we can’t know for sure what that experience is like for the person inside it.
I have spent time with several people at varying stages of dementia. Some seemed sad or scared. Several seemed elsewhere. Many seemed content.
I had no way of knowing what they were thinking, hearing or feeling. In any conversation about advanced directives for medical assistance in dying, or any other context, let’s accord dignity to people living with dementia and not reduce them to a canvas for our own assumptions and fears.
Nancy Payne Lindsay, Ont.
Younger days
Re “Mandatory national service in Canada? Amid AI’s rise, that’s making more and more sense” (Feb. 16) and “Basic training” (Letters, Feb. 19): Before the 1977 community-service initiative Katimavik, there was the Company of Young Canadians.
It sought to take advantage of late-1960s idealism in a wide range of community projects across the country. Rudimentary training and small wages were supplied.
For many like my husband, who enlisted in Ontario and was sent to work in Winnipeg, it was a formative experience.
Lindsay Bryan Welland, Ont.
Closing time
Re “With the Games drawing to a close, it’s time for hijinks” (Sports, Feb. 20): The Olympics is a world, a time and place, a way of being unto its own. Indeed, how is one to understand what goes on?
Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
Jennifer Copeland Thornhill, Ont.
Why write about sports when you can write about the human condition? Bravo.
Kimberly Chan Hamilton
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