Soldiers carry the coffin of a Canadian soldier during a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield for Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard, 46, of Bathurst, N.B., his battalion's regimental sergeant major, and Corporal Albert Storm, 36, of Fort Erie, Ont., in Afghanistan in 2006.Bill Graveland/The Canadian Press
Salute to the fallen
Re “In service to Canada, and our allies” (Editorial, Jan. 26): I was grateful enough that my Globe was delivered to my door after that dumping of snow in the Toronto area, but truly gratified when I opened it to see the list of those Canadian Armed Forces members “who did not stay back and who never made it back from Afghanistan.”
The list served as a truthful and dignified retort to U.S. President Donald Trump’s petty and insulting lie minimizing the contribution of troops from Canada and other NATO countries during the war in Afghanistan – just days after the 16th anniversary of the death there of my cousin, Sergeant John Wayne Faught, in service to Canada and our allies.
I shared the editorial with his mother and sister and other members of our extended family, all of whom, including one in the United States, were touched and grateful that the newspaper is standing up to be counted.
Greta DeLonghi Guelph, Ont.
It isn’t often the editorial brings me to tears, but today it did. Thank you for reminding us of the names of those men and women who gave their lives in Afghanistan. Initially I simply glanced down the page but later went back and read every name. To them, and to serving and past members of Canada’s military, thank you.
Peter Bull New Westminster, B.C.
Your editorial listing Canadian deaths in Afghanistan was a well-deserved tribute to our deceased Canadian soldiers and a fine rebuttal to the erroneous ramblings of U.S. President Donald Trump. Our soldiers offer a great contrast to the absence of military service by Mr. Trump, who used every available technicality to avoid it. Thank you for such excellence.
Robert N. Richards Toronto
Congratulations on your comments regarding our military contribution to the war in Afghanistan and listing our fallen. Thank you.
Lewis MacKenzie Major-general (ret’d), Bucerias, Mexico
I would like to point out an omission from your editorial. Five Canadian civilians also died in Afghanistan: Glyn Berry, a Canadian diplomat; two aid workers, Jacqueline Kirk and Shirley Case; Marc Cyr, a technician; and my daughter, Michelle Lang, the only Canadian journalist killed in this war. Michelle was killed on Dec. 30, 2009, along with four soldiers.
Arthur Lang Vancouver
‘War is peace’
Re “Western allies remain cautious about Trump’s Board of Peace” (Jan. 22): A proper board is a group of people chosen by shareholders or members of an organization to represent them. The board then chooses their chair from among themselves. Turning the pyramid on its head, the proposed billion-dollar-a-seat Board of Peace consists of a self-appointed chair-for-life who is choosing sycophants who are expected to follow his lead. If the parties to be benefited by this conclave of acolytes are the inhabitants of Gaza, where is their representation?
Jon Baird Goodwood, Ont.
When I was a boy in elementary school, the playground had its own unspoken order. The loudest kids – the ones who pushed the hardest and teased the most – held the power and used it to tilt games in their favour, again and again. The new “Board of Peace” feels eerily familiar, with no leadership term limits, the sale of permanent memberships and invitations based upon who is liked by the most powerful kid. It’s strange, and a little sad, to realize that the rules of the playground never really disappeared – and the games got bigger.
Jonathan Chapman Calgary
Re “Board of Peace” (Editorial cartoon, Jan. 26): Today’s cartoon by Michael de Adder, featuring chairman Darth (Trump) Vader heading up his stormtrooper board members, might be better titled “Bored of Peace.”
Rob Young Toronto
Peace in our time?
Re “Facing a 100% tariff threat from Trump, Canada must swallow its pride and compromise” (Jan. 24): Jeff Mahon’s Neville Chamberlain-style opinion piece is way off the mark. It couldn’t be further from the mood and humour of most Canadians. America is in the grip of a criminal government. Masked thugs intimidate, beat, detain and even kill its citizens. Do we want new agreements with them? No, we don’t. Do we want to swallow our pride and compromise? Never.
Brian H. Lane Ottawa
Jeff Mahon’s comment that “compromise is about finding a path forward where both sides see their interests reflected” is true, but it seems wildly ill-suited to the context of trade with America. Is there even a single instance where U.S. President Donald Trump has shown any genuine inclination on his own part toward compromise? More importantly, compromise requires trust, and there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Trump is remotely trustworthy.
Brian J. Lowry Fredericton
This is exactly the kind of short-sighted (some would say craven) thinking that got us into the pickle we find ourselves in at the moment. As the second-largest country in the world, blessed with bountiful natural resources, a highly educated populace, respect for rule of law and reputable international standing, Canada is clearly capable of so much more than supplication.
Terrence Downey Calgary
Educating Ontarians
Re “Algonquin College looking to cut 30 programs” (Online, Jan. 23): It is all well and good for Ontario Premier Doug Ford to tout how he is fighting for workers, but when future workers in the province cannot find the programs to get training for those jobs, there is a serious disconnect. The report that Algonquin College is planning to cut 30 programs (on top of 37 cut last year) is emblematic of the chronic underfunding of the province’s community college system. In an increasingly fractured global economy, Canada needs its citizens to be well trained in order to achieve maximum self-sufficiency. And to that end, Ontario needs to be a leader, not a laggard, in supporting postsecondary education.
Jack Wilson Ottawa
Snow angels
Re “I’ve stopped helping drivers when they are stuck in the snow. And you should, too” (Drive, Jan. 23): When I first read this headline, I thought of the great snowstorm(s) of January, 1999. My dad was driving my mom, who was in very active labour, to the hospital, and his car got stuck multiple times. He got to the hospital just in time for the doctors to do an emergency C-section with just morphine to save my brother, whose heart had stopped. He was rushed to SickKids hospital for an emergency surgery on his heart.
In order to make it to the hospital in time, my dad repeatedly had to give $20 to people to help push his car. Imagine if he also had to argue about his tire type and plead his case. We’re Canadian and we help people – even if they make bad tire decisions – because you never know if you’re saving a life.
Alexandra Tome Toronto
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
Editor’s note: In an earlier version of this article, the first letter to the editor contained an incorrect figure for the anniversary of Sergeant John Wayne Faught's death. This version has been corrected.