Pump jacks at an oil well near Standard, Alta.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
10 years later
Re “Thalidomide survivors look back at 10 years of a more dignified life” (Dec. 13): I’m sure many readers share my mixture of anger and happiness in reading this: anger in recalling the unforgivable government negligence which caused unnecessary suffering, and happiness in seeing belated government compensation have real impact in helping these extraordinary individuals meaningfully improve their quality of life.
Thank you for publishing this heartwarming story. A real Christmas gift to your readers.
Michael Royce Toronto
According to Henning Sjöström and Robert Nilsson in their 1972 book Thalidomide and the Power of the Drug Companies, Health Canada’s Food and Drugs Directorate head C.A. Morrell responded to a doctor’s letter after thalidomide was removed from the Canadian market: “I think if the medical profession would take a stand … that there is every possibility that thalidomide could indeed be reinstated on the Canadian market and to this end I would encourage you to urge strongly your colleagues to express themselves to us on this question.”
Joel Lexchin Toronto
Harsh reality
Re “China’s love affair with cheap coal power means European industry can’t compete” (Report on Business, Dec. 13): This raises the broader issue of the climate dream beginning to contrast with the climate reality.
China is leading on both fronts with renewable energy and electric cars, but also expanding coal-fired electrical capacity. We know where electricity consumption is going, with more and more data centres coming in future to meet the expansion of artificial intelligence.
At some point, we will have to face reality. Getting off fossil fuels will likely be a gradual process worldwide, despite our most fervent efforts.
The focus of future climate conferences should address not only what more we can do, but also what we can do to adapt world economies and citizens to consequential higher temperatures.
Ed Dunnett Qualicum Beach, B.C.
Floor, ceiling
Re “Requiem for the courts’ imaginary offender” (Editorial, Dec. 13): I agree that the Carney government deserves a pat on the back for at least attempting to put the genie of reasonable hypotheticals back in the bottle. However, after a career prosecuting criminal cases, I would sound a note of caution.
Mandatory minimums have a paradoxical tendency to become de facto maximum penalties, an example being minimum fines imposed under impaired driving laws. In my experience, sentencing judges tend to scoff at raising the tariff beyond the already “severe” basement set by Parliament.
It is rather like a child being scolded to eat Brussels sprout, but repeatedly outlasting weary parents by choking down a bare minimum of one.
Ron Beram Gabriola, B.C.
Roadblocks
Re “An urgent prescription for our ailing Canadian health care system” (Opinion, Dec. 13): Contributor Brian Day describes well-considered ideas on improving health care.
It would be interesting to further read what Dr. Day thinks are the impediments to such improvement. He alludes to the systemically bloated bureaucracy: Civil servants dealing with civil servants, not often a good outcome for users.
Dr. Day should rip off the veneer and tell us what he really thinks.
Stephen Gross Toronto
Lost in translation
Re “Sorry, Marc Miller, Quebec’s language debate will not be ending any time soon” (Opinion, Dec. 13): “A debate that has been going on since the 1759 Conquest.”
Language was not an issue in the first decades of British rule. Proficiency in French was the hallmark of cultivated Englishmen like those who supplied the colony’s new administrators.
Language was not explicitly mentioned in the 1774 Quebec Act, which made institutional concessions to the French-speaking population. The administrators’ concern was with religion, then the key to political loyalty.
Language was made a political issue by representatives of France. Quebec’s French speakers were urged to rise up and break free from the British Empire. They were promised, falsely, that France would aid their rebellion.
Such appeals were also made in later years by French officials, up to Charles de Gaulle in 1967. These appeals made British and Canadian administrators nervous. They came to think of French as a political liability, although little was done to supplant it with English.
Peter Moogk Professor emeritus of history, University of British Columbia; Vancouver
Just do it
Re “Public good” (Letters, Dec. 13): A letter-writer suggests that lowering costs, including development charges, increases demand and hence developer profit. Therefore, don’t do it.
Somewhere in there, more houses are being built. Is that not the point? Anyone halfway familiar with new home construction would say that leaving building to the public sector is not a feasible solution. Politicians would inevitably interfere, thus ensuring a lack of activity.
Watch this space: Build Canada Homes will likely produce a lot of smoke, but no fire.
Brian Johnston Toronto
Outside the box
Re “It’s time to dream bigger than the community mailboxes Canada Post is offering us” (Opinion, Dec. 13): Canada Post could spend an estimated $1-billion to convert four million addresses from home delivery to “dreary” community mailboxes, even though Canadians are using letter mail less and less.
By contrast, Denmark’s state-owned mail service PostNord will end collection and delivery of letters on Dec 30. Last year, Denmark ended its universal, low-cost service obligation, and the price for home delivery of a standard domestic letter by a private courier now reflects the cost (at around $6).
To use a hockey analogy, the Danes decided to skate to where the puck is going.
Constance Smith Victoria
Wonderful suggestions for mailboxes and related community-building tools. But we live in an age of austerity.
On the other hand, we see some municipalities decorating existing utility boxes with beautifully designed and apt vinyl wraps. And Canada Post has a century-old habit of making beautiful and apt postage stamps.
Do I need to elaborate further?
Evan Bedford Red Deer, Alta.
When was the last time I laughed out loud reading about Canada Post? While perusing this article, actually.
Here in rural Alberta, I still have an old-fashioned mailbox with my name on it at the end of the driveway, but probably not for much longer. The idea of visiting one of your creations down the road, where our general store used to be, cheers me up to no end.
With more of that kind of imagination, maybe we’d even get the store back.
Jamie Syer Mountain View County, Alta.
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