Vancouver's downtown skyline with the north shore mountains in the distance in July, 2025.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Keep the peace
Re “Military power is still, unfortunately, the ultimate power” (Report on Business, March 6): Canada’s greatest strength has always been in negotiating with major powers and creating policies that lead to peace, or maintain it.
United Nations peacekeepers are very much a Canadian initiative. It needs upgrading and adaptation to the new global situation. Why not now?
We will never rival our neighbours to the south or across the Pacific in hard military power. Having a basic defence presence, especially in the North, makes sense. But at a time when war seems perpetually immanent, we should be enlarging our presence in foreign affairs so we can negotiate truces and prevent wars.
There should be a major shift of military spending from trucks, planes and guns to training a much larger cadre in diplomacy skills. We cannot leave the negotiating in Europe and the Middle East and elsewhere to the United States, Russia and China, which have large vested interests in enlarging hard military power.
David Waltner-Toews OC; Waterloo, Ont.
Winter-weary
Re “Ontario says it will complete construction on roads to the Ring of Fire by 2031″ (Report on Business, March 3): Is there such a thing as an “all-season road” in Canada? Only if it’s oversalted and plowed relentlessly during winter, which is both very expensive and bad for the environment.
By ignoring a heavy-rail option, Ontario would commit the Ring of Fire development to the most expensive, polluting and accident-prone method of transporting mine inputs and outputs on a tonne-kilometre basis.
But, in line with other infrastructure projects, the Ford government seems to think that’s okay. Just hand the bloated tab to Ontario taxpayers, yet again.
Kenneth Westcar Woodstock, Ont.
Must-read
Re “By threatening to get rid of prison librarians, Canada is not going by the book” (Feb. 26): Does our prison system exist just to keep offenders off the streets?
Or do we believe rehabilitation is possible? If the latter – if we believe that people can change and become better versions of themselves – then we should provide programs to support that change. Libraries with trained librarians facilitating access to resources, literacy programs and other academic courses do just that.
Education opens minds and book clubs promote emotional intelligence. Prison shouldn’t be just a black box into which we throw people so we don’t have to think about them anymore.
Let’s prioritize rehabilitation, so prisoners can reintegrate safely and successfully into society when they’re released.
Andrea Black Montreal
Drawing attention to the proposal to eliminate federal prison librarians also highlights the kind of false economy that characterizes many efforts at cutting government costs.
Prison librarians, with their modest salaries, are an investment in the future whose value may not appear on cost-benefit analyses, but whose work has far-reaching consequences in individual lives. Their animation of literacy programs, support for inmates who want to pursue further education and ability to connect readers with potentially life-changing reading material is essential in creating the kind of Canada we say we want.
Philippa Campsie Toronto
On MAID
Re “A better balance is needed on medically assisted death” (Online, Feb. 22): There are so many voices who want to curb access to medical access in dying.
I wonder if these well-intended advocates have really “walked in the shoes” of those who suffer with irremediable psychiatric illnesses. Or those, like most of my elderly cohort, who desperately want advanced directives because they have seen the suffering of family or friends with dementia and want to be spared, for their sake and the sake of their loved ones.
For if they had, it is likely they would call for expanding eligibility to include psychiatric illnesses and advanced directives, as well as make access easier, not more difficult. It is a tough decision, both for the individual and those who approve and actually administer it.
Why put more restrictions and roadblocks in place, as The Globe seems to want governments to do? Surely it is the sufferers whose voices should prevail, not the pundits.
Jane Harris Vancouver
Pride of place
Re “Cities in Australia and New Zealand get the little things right. Why can’t ours?” (Feb. 28): I, too, on a recent trip to New Zealand, was struck by the prevalence of free, accessible public washrooms in towns large and small. I was also impressed by the many public gardens (also free) that seem to exist in every community.
This obvious civic pride perhaps explains one other noteworthy difference between Canada and New Zealand: In most Department of Conservation campgrounds (the equivalent of our national parks), there are no garbage receptacles. The expectation is that people take home their garbage.
And it works, for we saw no litter in any of the parks we visited.
Jack Wilson Ottawa
Let there be light
Re “What Globe readers had to say about B.C.’s decision to move to permanent daylight time” (Online, March 6): At least David Eby got it half-right by adopting a single time. Pity it seems he listened to business interests rather than health experts.
All living creatures need light to get going in the morning. Russia tried adopting daylight saving time, but had to switch to standard time for the health of the nation.
John Newell Toronto
Cessation of biannual changes to the clocks is an excellent plan, but choosing permanent daylight saving time rather than standard time would be an error.
Standard time conforms more closely with solar time, to which our bodies are tuned. Our intrinsic body clocks correlate with morning light exposure. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends permanent standard time, not DST.
Another major benefit of permanent standard time would be children going to school in daylight more days of the year.
Morley Lertzman MD, FRCPC; North Vancouver
Although there is widespread agreement to end the bi-annual time switch, it is equally clear to me there is no consensus on the merits of standard versus “summer” time.
Both have sound arguments, so how to choose? The solution should be obvious: the Newfoundland example. A truly Canadian compromise would make a half-hour change everywhere.
An added advantage would be the demonstration of our independence from our rapacious neighbour to the south.
John Williams Ottawa
My personal preference is for more daylight when I can actually enjoy it. All that most of us are doing in the morning is slogging off to whatever dark mill in which we toil.
Give me more light later, even if it’s just a glimmer during the darkest days on either side of the winter solstice. At least that glimmer at the end of another soul-sucking winter day is a reminder that longer hours of daylight are coming.
Hang in there, baby!
Michael Ireton Calgary
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com