Ontario Premier Doug Ford in Ottawa in January.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Keep going
Re “Nova Scotia reverses some budget cuts after public backlash” (March 11): This is only a start.
The government should reinstate revenue sources it thought it could afford to forgo: a cut to the HST from 15 per cent to 14 per cent and cancelling bridge tolls in Halifax Regional Municipality, for an estimated total loss of more than $300-million annually. These cuts offer peanuts in savings for individual Nova Scotians, but pose huge revenue losses for a province where deficits are expected to exceed $1-billion through to 2028.
It should also reinstate the $700,000 book publishing fund. The province stands to lose millions of dollars in book sales and tax revenues as authors are forced to seek publishing opportunities elsewhere. Cuts to other cultural organizations harm small, rural communities that depend on their programs and events for employment and tourism revenue.
The Houston government may be enjoying a supermajority, but the next election will tell how angry constituents are.
Glenna Jenkins Lunenburg, N.S.
Island-bound
Re “Ford confirms plan to seize land from Toronto to expand Billy Bishop Airport” (March 11): Jets on the Toronto Islands were stopped a decade ago by a vigorous citizen campaign and responsible officials. The decision prioritized safety and well-being of communities, schools, parkgoers and boaters along our harbour, over maximum convenience for airport commuters.
The islands are highly unusual: a vast, safe, car-free park. Island dwellers, in place for generations, assure ferry service continues year-round, benefiting millions of park visitors.
It features bike and boat rentals, rides for children, a variety of beaches and trails and an inspiring boardwalk facing out across Lake Ontario. All these activities would suffer by caving to provincial pressure for a larger, busier airport – not the first dubious waterfront plan from that quarter.
The city has been right to preserve this precious and popular asset for future generations. There are plenty of inland sites for airports that would not rob Toronto of this irreplaceable treasure on our lakefront.
Jan Noel Toronto
Not long ago, I had friends visiting Toronto from Britain. I asked what they wanted to see and they replied, “Take us to stuff we would be unlikely to see in any other city.”
I took them to the vast parkland that is the Toronto Islands and the adjacent Leslie Street Spit, a large urban wilderness area. They were duly impressed but disturbed by the planes overhead.
They wondered aloud why the city would allow an airport, with its incumbent noise, so proximal to these unique urban treasures. I would ask the same question of Doug Ford.
I replied that the island airport is here to stay, but a planned radical expansion really does threaten Toronto’s unique waterfront.
Gerald Hunt Toronto
As a Toronto resident, I am appalled at Doug Ford’s declaration that he will “seize” land from the city.
He was not elected Premier to continuously interfere in the city’s business, whether it be bicycle lanes, the size of city council or airports. It seems to this resident that the issue of the island airport should be for the citizens of Toronto to decide.
Are Torontonians in favour of more and bigger jets, with their attendant noise and pollution, disrupting daily life and spoiling the peaceful environment of the islands and downtown Toronto? Yes or no?
Call a referendum.
Karin Treff Toronto
Food for thought
Re “Pediatric society recommends cholesterol screening for kids between two and 10 years” (Feb. 28): The Canadian Paediatric Society’s position on childhood arterial plaque buildup is consistent with the dominant biomedical narrative: “Screen and intervene” with a drug.
Most health professions profess commitment to “evidence-based” practice. Yet decades of evidence support that the leading causes of death are diet-related, including consumption of foods rich in saturated fat and cholesterol, mostly animal-sourced foods and increasingly highly processed foods.
In a landmark 1990 Lancet study, low-fat, whole-food vegan nutrition was associated with reversal of coronary artery plaque. After being corroborated many times, why is this knowledge not being exploited first and foremost by our cardiologists and other health professionals?
The solution goes beyond individual lifestyle changes, which the position statement’s lead author acknowledges “aren’t enough.” Health professionals and their societies should prioritize supporting whole-food, plant-based, preferably vegan nutrition to curb the non-communicable disease pandemic, including heart disease and stroke, by primarily exploiting public health initiatives.
Elizabeth Dean Clinician scientist (retired), University of British Columbia; Vancouver
Animal affinity
Re “An evolution in how we think about how animals think” (The Sunday Editorial, March 8): For most of my life, animals were part of the background of human life. Present, but somehow not fully seen.
That changed when I adopted my first dog well into adulthood. Suddenly, what had once been invisible became obvious: another being with feelings, moods, anxieties and unmistakable joy.
Once one sees that inner life, it becomes hard to unsee it. Hurting animals stops feeling abstract; it becomes a matter of choice and of morals and values.
For me, many dog adoptions later, that realization has slowly changed everyday habits. There are fewer and fewer animal products on my plate and in my wardrobe. Not out of obligation, but because awareness changes how we act.
Kudos for the intellectual honesty, and for encouraging readers to reflect on the quiet moral choices that shape our relationship with the living world.
Pedro Barata Toronto
A bird language expert told me of a time when he was in Kenya and accompanying an animal tracker.
The tracker heard a bird cry out and stopped the excursion, saying a particular venomous snake was at a specific location. A quick inspection confirmed this was so; bird language is that specific.
Studies show that other species have specific language, too. This goes beyond animals: Consider the groundbreaking research on trees by the University of British Columbia’s doctor Suzanne Simard and her colleagues.
Indigenous peoples have been wise to the ways of other species for time immemorial. They act with respect and care, even for animals and plants they eat.
It may seem revolutionary to relate to all other species (and all other humans, for that matter) as part of our extended family, rather than others from which to plunder and profit. But wouldn’t it make us infinitely richer?
Cheryl McNamara Toronto
Canadian way
Re “Why Canadian universities are cutting sports in a race to fix fragile funding models” (Feb. 25): It is indeed regrettable that some universities are cutting intercollegiate programs. Authenticity, as noted by the U Sports CEO, may well describe the differences between the U.S. and Canadian systems.
When I was director of athletics at the University of Guelph, we had graduation rates of more than 90 per cent, while the rate at many high-profile U.S. universities today remains lower. There are many reasons for this difference, but perhaps the most obvious is that many U.S. “athlete students” view university as a route to professional sports.
Most of our student athletes attend university for an education, and sports can play an important role. It has been a privilege to see them succeed, not only in professional sports (notably in the Canadian Football League) but also in the medical, legal and business fields.
As American educator Jesse Feiring Williams notes, we educate through the physical.
David Copp Guelph, Ont.
Next up
Re “Zamboni dreams: A found poem about ice resurfacers” (Opinion, Feb. 28): There is an accompanying photo from McCormick Arena in Toronto. I played there for many years and recognize both the machine and driver.
But I want to share a story from another Toronto arena, Moss Park, where our daughters attended a hockey school years ago. The Zamboni driver was an older man who shuffled about the arena between shifts on the machine and took smoke breaks outside.
One night, the assistant coach called in sick. I saw the director have a word with the Zamboni driver. After resurfacing the rink, he sat on the bench, took off his boots, laced up a pair of skates, grabbed a stick and stepped onto the ice, where he proceeded to skate like Paul Coffey and pass like Adam Oates.
After running a series of drills for the kids, he put his boots back on, shuffled to the Zamboni and resurfaced the ice again.
Ian Kinross Toronto
Always next year
Re “The Leafs need to tank to protect their first-round pick. Don’t expect it to go well” (Sports, March 9): I have three words for dejected Leaf fans lamenting another lost season: Go Jays go!
Tom Scanlan Toronto
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